Our City: Reflections from Bangor’s young people

Bangor’s Art Project with Catrin Williams

The new MuralA brightly coloured mural depicting Bangor’s scenes and characters, as seen by the city’s young people, was revealed recently. The mural was created by local School pupils at Ysgol Tryfan and Maesgeirchen Youth Centre as part of visual arts project, Ein Dinas (Our City) organized by Bangor University’s Pontio project and Gwynedd Arts Forum. The mural is on hoardings and provides an eye catching focus for the Pontio project, part-funded by the EU’s Convergence European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government, which is to open to the public in the Spring of 2013.

Local artist, Catrin Williams has been running a series of art workshops with Nia Owen, Bangor Secondary Schools Youth Officer, working with the young people of Bangor to create the huge mural on the hoardings surrounding the site on Deiniol Road, Bangor, where the building site of the new Arts and Innovation Centre will soon be taking shape. The result includes a collection of portraits of those who created the artwork as well as people who are important to them, their friends and family… and one or two other famous characters!

Professor Fergus Lowe, (centre) Cllr Dorothy Bulled, Mayor of Bangor, (left) Deputy Mayoress Cllr. Sylvia Ann Humphreys and Catrin Williams congratulate the muralists. Professor Fergus Lowe, leading the Pontio project at Bangor University said at the unveiling: “This project has provided an opportunity to make use of a large space to develop the creative skills of local young people and nurture the community’s sense of ownership of the new centre.”

“This provides a fantastic opportunity to use the space for a piece of public art which will not only draw the passers- by’s attention to the immense artistic potential of the building rising behind, but also creating an art work in its own right, inspiring us, both young and old, by its wide visual appeal,” he added.

Catrin Williams is well known in North Wales’s art circles- and beyond. Her public art works have led her to communities from Blaenau Ffestiniog to North Uist Island in Scotland. Her own art has exhibited all over the British Isles. Said Catrin:

A detail from th ePontio mural A detail from the Pontio mural“Bangor is really important to me as a city. This is where I was inspired by the late Peter Prendergast to become an artist myself. I hope through this project to transfer that same sense of inspiration to today’s Bangor young people.”

Nia Owen, Bangor Secondary Schools Youth Officer said: “It has been a pleasure to see the young people develop during the workshops. Their art skills have improved and it is fantastic to see the fruits of their labor on display in such a prominent location in the City.”

The Ein Dinas project gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Bangor University, the Arts Council of Wales and Gwynedd Council.

Publication date: 14 December 2010