Monnow Valley Arts Centre was founded in 2007 as a charity and is situated in an area of oustanding natural beauty on the border of England and Wales. The Centre takes its name from the river Monnow which forms this border.
Vision
It is the vision of the trustees and managers Rupert Otten and Hanneke van der Werf, that the centre should feed the spirit and be contemplative in nature. The Centre operates an art gallery, sculpture garden, an artist's studio and residence. It curates exhibitions for its own Centre and for touring to other venues. It is a resource for local people and for the wider community whether based in England or Wales.
This vision is to be achieved by:
- Holding exhibitions which visitors find artistically stimulating and give a sense of wellbeing
- Introducing new artists to the area and inspiring them to make new works that would otherwise not be possible
- Being an educational resource for students
- Being accessible to disabled and blind or partially sighted people.
Artistic Policy
The Trustees of the centre believe that its objectives can be achieved by focusing activities on landscape painting inspired by the local topography, figurative and abstract sculpture, carved lettering (in particular standing stones with carved texts) and photography with a local theme. Where possible exhibitions initiated by the Centre will tour to other venues.
The artist's studio and residence will enable the Centre to attract artists of a national or even an international reputation to come to the area. The artist will be an artist in residence and will be available to talk about their works and to give workshops.
Nativity with Shepherds
David Jones