Silures Art Gallery
The Silures Art Group was set up in February 1996 and was established to be a new and progressive venture , to encourage amateur artists to be more adventurous and experimental without crossing the border into the weird or wayout art.

The group is named after the ancient Celtic tribe that inhabited Glamorgan at the time of the Romans, with a logo of a Trilobite (known affectionately as ‘the wood-louse’ by group members) which represents one of the sea going life forms of the Silurian geological period. Mud stones and shales were found throughout South Wales by rock scientists who needed a name to describe them. They decided
on the Silurian Period after the SILURES tribe of Glamorgan.

Based at the South Road Gallery,40 South Road, Porthcawl, the group meets on Wednesday nights for workshops. Demonstrations and field trips are also organised as well as a varied exhibition programme throughout the year.

Public access to the gallery is very easy. Parking is close by and everything is on the ground floor. The gallery is open at weekends and Bank Holidays. It is manned by the group members who are likely to
be working on some new project so that members of the public can see the various techniques and talk with the artists on visiting the gallery.

The group also holds touring exhibitions in such venues as Cowbridge Library, The Princess of Wales Hospital, and Bryngarw Park, in order to bring their work to a wider audience. Exhibitions have also been taken to France and Poland by members of the group and French and Polish artists have shown their work in the Silures Gallery.

Following the success of many exhibitions held by the group, the gallery has been approached by numerous artists from throughout South Wales who see the South Road Gallery as an excellent
exhibition venue for their own work. In 2003 and 2004 Alex Jackson held an exhibition of abstract
art and Fourth Dimension, a group of Gower based artists used the gallery to show their work.

The programme for 2004 included some very exciting newcomers to the Gallery with a wide variety of work. Ann Davies with her copper and pewter pictures, Bernie John with his wonderful portraits of red Indians and Maria Rostock and her beautiful drawings of wildlife. The Silures group of course presented work in different exhibitions such as Local Views and the themed exhibition called ‘Face’. As an exciting new venture, we also provided paintings on the theme of “Jazz and Music” which was shown during the Porthcawl Jazz Weekend at The Pavilion.

There will be another stimulating mix of exhibitions in 2005. From photographs to embroidery, pastel work to printing and most exciting of all

THE OPEN COMPETITION which we are holding this year. Any artists living, working or painting
in the borough of Bridgend will be able to enter a painting . There will be substantial prizes and the work chosen will be hung in the Gallery for the month of November. The gallery will be open every day in November. More details will be released shortly.