Delyth’s paintings are resonant with her memories and the domestic details and spaces of her childhood.
She merges reality and imagination in her compositions, where bowls, tablecloths, jugs, cups and saucers often populate her painted spaces.
They speak to her “as in the child’s dream in which toys become animate, as if uncanny” (Martin, 2006, p.53).
Delyth’s practice is led by the inspiration that comes from these everyday objects; the often-unconsidered subjects of domestic life; objects that evoke memories, strong emotions and tell stories. These inanimate possessions represent people’s lives, the memories embodied in their physicality. The well-used and handled artefacts tell her their tales and she moves away from reality, intuitively weaving other narratives into the work, opening windows to hidden layers of meaning. Stories remembered from childhood: Family fables, myths, rhymes and superstitions passed down through telling and repeating, passed down and altered with each telling, like Chinese whispers.
The objects she works with are firmly rooted in memory, family and home: “An accumulation of domestic memories embodied in multiple familial objects” (Perry, 2013, p.35). A sense of place in time: Houses and rooms, remembered and imagined; the domestic space. But her work is not all about memory, as the process leads her, she is led to delve further into the different themes and issues that surface; letting the objects facilitate diverse narrative exploration and allowing the viewer their own interpretation, their story.
As she paints out and paints over, building the layers, elements of figuration move towards abstraction. The work is quiet, contemplative and solitary. The stories are told at an emotional level, stilled and quiet, the paintings whisper their secrets.
References:
Martin, Rosy (2006) ‘Curating the Museum of Sources: Stilled Lives, Memory, Mortality and the Domestic Space’, in Stilled: Contemporary Still Life Photography by Women. Cardiff: Ffotogallery Wales Limited.
Perry, Gill (2013), Playing at Home: The House in Contemporary Art. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
Delyth was brought up in the small Welsh village of Penclawdd, on the edge of the estuary on the north Gower coast. She studied Illustration at BA, and MA Visual Communication. After leaving art college she had a successful career represented by a top London Illustration Agency. Her passion for die-cut and 3D paper products then led her to set up her own award winning small publishing company, before turning to painting.
She is a Senior Lecturer at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD.
SUNDAY TEA 76 x 101cm acrylic on canvas
THE TEA PARTY 90 x 120cm acrylic on canvas
READING TEA LEAVES 90 x 122cm acrylic on canvas
GRANDMA'S HOUSE concertina artist's book 20.5 x 516cm
THE ADULTS from artist's book
WHITSUN TEA from artist's book
HOME IS WHERE THE HURT IS from artist's book
NOBODY HEARS from artist's book
DON'T TELL from artist's book
PEEPING from artist's book
RED COAT from artist's book
UNDER THE TABLE from artist's book
GRANDMA from artist's book
TEA PARTY from artist's book
BROKEN from artist's book
ONE for SORROW 142 x 111cm acrylic and graphite on canvas
Detail from ONE for SORROW
SEVEN for a SECRET 142 x 111cm acrylic and graphite on canvas
HERE COMES the BRIDE 76 x 57cm acrylic and graphite on paper
ONE for SORROW Concertina 15.3 x 34cm acrylic and graphite on paper
CONCERTINA in SLIP CASE
ON YOUR HEAD BE IT from 'Ghosts of Gone Birds' 42 x 29cm acrylic and graphite on paper
C o n t a c t
delythlloydevans@gmail.com