Criccieth - Welsh Incident

2019

This local initiative was a response to Robert Grave’s poem ‘Welsh Incident’. The poem is a satirical depiction of conflicting ways of describing events, based around mysterious ‘somethings’ that emerge from a cave near Criccieth. The sculpture presents this in visual form, as a series of engaging sculptural elements on Y Maes, the town green.

The 1.7m high pillar in layers of limestone contains a pierced opening reminiscent of a cave, leading the eye to a line of three rounded, organic shapes. These ‘somethings’ are made of white concrete, polished and textured to reveal beach pebbles and sea shells. Organic and abstract, they nonetheless have the feel of Criccieth’s seashore, their shapes referencing shells and sea-washed pebbles.
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Robert Grave’s poem describes the sound of the ‘somethings’ being “like groaning to oneself on Sunday morning in Chapel, close before the second psalm”. My ‘somethings’ are hollow forms with holes on either side, creating sounding chambers; safe to climb on and providing informal seating and playful photographic opportunities.

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