Art Collective Resident Artists
Tania Bryan
Fine Artist, Director & Treasurer
MEET THE ARTIST
Fine Artist, Director & Treasurer
Tania graduated from Howard Gardens UWIC in 2006 with a BA in Fine Art Painting and Drawing and went on to achieve a Post Graduate Cert in Education and worked as a Lecturer teaching Fine Art at a local college which she embraced for 12 years. Then in 2018 went on to developing NONaffArt, with the ethos of supporting the local and wider community in promoting and sustaining a creative culture to support emerging artists and graduates which feedback into
creative industry. Tania is a local artist based in Caerphilly Borough.
Tania has a vast portfolio of work in tutoring and mentoring working alongside vital welsh universities. Tania has been lead artist in multiple community and sculpture projects along side the well known NONaffArt collective. Tania has worked tirelessly to develop art in the community alongside Caerphilly Council and other partners such at the Art Council of Wales and the Newbridge Memo.
Wellness at the heart of all NONaffArt projects Tania helped develop the first covid outdoor Land Art display 2020 at Cwncarn Forest in partnership with Cwtsh wellbeing network. She is also well known and respected for designing and making the large Willow sculptures ‘Brans Swarm of Bee’ and ‘Brans Treasure’ situated at Cwmcarn Forest 2020 – 2022
Tania was also creative project developer of the ‘Love Locks Sculpture’ based at Blackwood in partnership with BMI, this was a popular community sculpture that took place in lockdown with over 400 decorative padlock packs sent out to community so they could participate in the development of the sculpture to aid with well-being and creative activities during a particularly difficult period. The sculpture wasdesigned and build by Tania and her fellow artists at the collective.
Tania shown work internationally building a reputation in further a field.
Outside of Tania’s teaching and director role she enjoys painting and drawing a diverse subject matter, however, if she had to be selective she would predominately always choose nature and painting pieces from her long walks. Tania has a fascination with the over exposure light but experiments in many forms of art and media, she often prefers to work intuitively and see where her creative process takes her.
Email: tania.bryan@nonaffart.com
Frank Aitken
Fine Art Printmaker, Director & Secretary
I am a fine art lecturer at a local college where I have been teaching a wide range of subjects for over 20 years. I graduated from Cardiff University with a degree in Fine Art and have completed a PGCE in post compulsory education.
I have delivered lessons and workshops to a wide audience during my time lecturing including further education, additional need learners and adult education. I have delivered subjects across many disciplines within art, design, media, fashion and even have experience teaching music theory and composition.
In my own work I experiment with a range of techniques and processes from landscape, portrait, to abstract compositions that explored the relationship between colour and music. Fine art and printmaking being my preferred specialism, however I have used other disciplines like sculpture, right through to creating audio soundscapes and music.
One of my main themes in my work is the exploration between meaning and language.
Email me: frank.aitken@nonaffart.com
Olivia-Jade Antonio
Fine Art Ceramicist
I am a graduate of a ceramics course. I studied at Cardiff Metropolitan School of Art and Design and am now an artist in residence. I like to hand build sculptural vessels using clay. The forms of these vessels are loosely based on the human figure, focussing primarily on gesture and characteristics that build up to individuality. I find these characteristics through studying the figure and creating 2D drawings and turning them into 3D forms.
Email me: olantonio97@outlook.com
Martin Browning
Ceramicist
Martin is a figurative ceramic artist who explores the relation between materiality, metaphorical content of clay and the human figure. He has exhibited in the Ghosts in Armour exhibition (2010 – 2014) in the European Parliament, Bilbao in Spain, in the UK and USA (Santa Fe).
He was also on Spanish T.V. and a featured artist in the book ‘Ghosts in Armour’ (an international collaboration between twenty-one artists exploring cultural change due to the closure of traditional industry in working class communities and the loss of long held social roles and identities.
He has had many art commissions for both public and private patrons including a commission by the Seren Group for a commemorative plaque that was unveiled by the former Welsh Assembly leader Rhodri Morgan.
Martin’s work seeks to express the material metaphors that exist between clay and the human form and allow his figurative forms to live.
Talking about his work and philosophy, he says that “We all have within us what the Portuguese call ‘Saudade’, translated as an inexplicable longing, an unnamed and enigmatic yearning of the soul. This feeling lies within the realms of inspiration and imagination. Ultimately, through the territories of material expression, the quietness of gesture and form, and the aesthetics of process”.
Louise Soale
Fine Artist
I have a BA HONS degree in Painting and Drawing from Swansea Institute and have worked in Community art-based projects and Art education. I have studied in Caerleon for my PGCE before starting a teaching career for Newport Council in Adult education and Youth work. I also worked as a lecturer in a local college for the past 18 years to present.
My work is heavily inspired from the landscape around me, the walks, and memories of the walks that I have taken throughout lockdown to current day. My surroundings, memories, weather conditions, lighting, colours, and textures are important to my work, and I try to capture this in my studies. I don’t class my work as finished or complete- but more in the process of recording a sense of place.
Philip Davies
Fine Artist
Born in Newport, Wales and currently living in the Rhymney Valley, Caerphilly. I studied Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff. Graduating with my B.A. (Hons) and as a Master of Fine Art. I am a mixed media artist and use film, sound, installation, drawing and painting to create my visions.
The thin line between imagination and reality is whare my artwork emerges drawing inspiration from myth, symbolism, unconscious thought. I am deeply interested in the unnatural, the strange and mysterious. This interest has instilled in me a sense to explore and represent the enigmatic in my artwork.
My art is how I converse with these experiences, my own way to comprehend the world through creating a personal language and symbolism that interacts with my deepest inner thoughts.
Art Collective Associate Artists
Menna Evans
Fashion & Textiles Designer
Hi I’m Menna, I graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University with a First Class Honours in Fashion Design in 2021 and started my Brand Naturesthreadss soon after leaving.
Within my practice I focus entirely on Creating Sustainably by hand through a variety of different textile techniques. My work is inspired by nature and the idea of making something from nothing. Within my practice I like to work on a no waste policy, ensuring any waste produced can then be fed into another technique to create something new, this ensuring a continuum of sustainability.
For more information about my work click here
My Website https://naturesthreadss.co.uk