The Factory - at Pontardawe .

An Exhibition by degree students of
Swansea Institute of Higher Education

Head of Fine Art - John Howes and Technician - Alan Bowers consider the options.

S ponsored by
B.A.W.
Precision Engineering Ltd
Lliw Building Supplies Ltd
Bluebird Coaches of Neath
neken
SELECTAPLAS
Smokin' Dog
Top Pot Supplies
&
artcymru.co.uk

Swansea Institute of Higher Education have, this year, managed to acquire an empty factory premises for the 2001 degree show of work by students of Fine Art, Ceramics and Painting& Drawing. Around fifty artists will be displaying work at the venue, which opens with the preview on Friday the 1st June 2001 at 7:00pm.

William Wilkins has kindly agreed to open the exhibition, and the usual refreshments will be on offer.

THE PROBLEM: The factory has to be converted from a store facility into a gallery for the duration of the show. Not a problem I hear to cry! Well actually it is when you consider that the staff and students have from Tuesday the 29th of May until the Friday to construct the partition wall (some 65 metres or so) and to paint and decorate a building which has been extensively damaged by vandals over the last couple of months.

The space after a blooming good clean (thanks to B.A.W.)

Swansea Institute has an ongoing problem. Because of their success in recruiting students to the courses, over the last couple of years, the degree show has become a major organisational problem. There simply aren't enough galleries in Wales big enough to show the work of fifty students. Many of the students tend to work large scale (it's often the only opportunity an artist will get to exhibit large works) and this limits the choice of venue. Thankfully, in stepped the owner of B.A.W. Precision Engineering with the offer of their empty factory premises for the degree show.

The college has been granted access to the factory from Wednesday the 23rd of May - through to the end of the exhibition on Thursday the 14th of June 2001.

The Diary of the conversion.

Wednesday the 23rd May 2001
10:00am Arrived at the factory. Unable to proceed with work on the building due to cleaning of the factory floor by B.A.W . staff. (Thanks to B.A.W. for taking this work off our hands).
HTV arrived to televise the arrival of the students at the factory. Shots taken of the inside and Nigel Williams (Student) interviewed for the programme.

Thursday the 24th May 2001
12:30am BBC News arriving at 1:00pm. BBC have kindly agreed to film part of the conversion of the factory and will return on the opening night.
No filming today - due to the state of the building. They will attend again on Tuesday the 29th of May (to coincide with the arrival of the artists and their work).

Friday the 25th May 2001
10:30am Construction of the partition wall began today. Three members of staff, and one student, managed to construct about two-thirds of the wall. The rest of the wall will be completed on Tuesday the 29th.

Tuesday the 29th May 2001
10:30am Continuing work on the partitions and works arriving for positioning within the gallery space.
Some walls were painted today and a great deal of 'negotiations' (regarding the 'plum spots') took place.
HTV turned up to record the work and were there for a good couple of hours. The BBC , however, failed to appear. It seems that they missed out on the images of the factory as it was, before the 'tarting-up' and are now left with a little problem. It's a shame because the more publicity we get the better.
It's a shame also that the Western Mail couldn't see any sort of story in the project and the South Wales Evening Post decided not to run theirs, even after sending a photographer out to take the pictures. It's a strange world.

Wednesday the 30th May 2001
10:30am Most of the partitions are now in place. Many of the students have now selected their spaces for the exhibition. A little personal panic is beginning to rear its ugly head.

Thursday the 31st May 2001
10:30am Many of the students are beavering away , in the hope of being ready for the opening tomorrow night. Final adjustments to the partitions - to suit specific needs, and the installation of lighting is helping to gain an impression of what the gallery space will eventually look like.

Friday the 1st June 2001
10:30am Well, it's the big day and my nerves are beginning to show. Plinths and other constructions are being made ready for this evening. The BBC appeared today and began filming the space and interviewing students and staff. Shortly after they left Sarah Hibbard appeared for HTV and filmed the space. Sarah also interviewed students and staff.
The BBC are thinking of televising the show this evening. HTV will probably broadcast their show on Monday's news.

FRIDAY 1st - THE OPENING
7:00pm Williams Wilkins opened the exhibition with a very polish speech. The food and refreshments seemed to go down very well also. From a personal view, I was delighted with the attendance, probably over three hundred people came tonight, not bad for a student show eh? I somehow feel numb at the thought that the course has come to an end. I have enjoyed the last four years so much that I am terrified at the thought of now having to try and make a living out of this 'unpredictable game.' However, the exhibition experience has been an extremely valuable insight to organisation and marketing of such events. The Western Mai l actually published a short article on the conversion in today's issue (sorry for the misleading entry).

Some of the students exhibiting at the Factory

Finally, thanks to everyone who helped us in this monumental project, especially to BAW Precision Engineering , for letting us use their factory, and Lliw Building Supplies for the materials that helped us build the space.

Diolch yn fawr . (Ed)