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Wakelin Award

Formerly known as The Richard and Rosemary Wakelin Purchase Award, this award aims to assist Welsh artists of merit whose work is not yet well represented in public collections and to add works by such artists to the permanent collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. The Award is administered by the Friends of the Glynn Vivian and results in a work of fine art or craft being purchased for the collection annually. The winning work is also put on display at the Gallery.

Both Richard and Rosemary Wakelin were artists, based in Swansea from the late 1950s and worked in an abstract Modernist style but possessed an appreciation of all forms of the visual arts. They worked through several organisations to further the visual arts, notably the Swansea Art Society, the Association for Artists and Designers in Wales (with whom they founded the Swansea Arts Workshop, now the Mission Gallery), the 74 Guild of Artist Craftsmen, the Welsh Group and the Friends of the Glynn Vivian. They were keen to help and encourage talented artists and crafts-people, especially those struggling for recognition, and to broaden appreciation of the arts in Swansea.

Wakelin Award Winners

2022 – Ingrid Murphy

2021 – Cinzia Mutigli

2020 – Anya Paintsil

‘Hold’ – Ingrid Murphy, 2022.
Porcelain, lustre, electronics (midi system/processor/speaker), table.
Courtesy the artist.
City and County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection.

Sweet Wall – Cinzia Mutigli, 2020.
Installation view.
Courtesy the artist.
City and County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection.

Mair at Cylch Meithrin – Anya Paintsil, 2020.
Acrylic, wool and synthetic hair on hessian. 42 x 36 inches.
Copyright the artist, courtesy of Ed Cross Fine Art.
City and County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection.