Virginia Ray – ‘Toward the Valley of Slate, Cwmorthin’

Oils and Mixed Media including Slate Dust           2022

Cwmorthin slate mine sits in a hanging valley near Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Now a place of calm and solitude, the work contemplates how man shaped this land but how nature endures.
Incorporated slate dust creates texture and reminds us of our rich industrial heritage.

Virginia’s work invites us to contemplate ideas of how Landscape has evolved and continues to evolve and regenerate through natural and human industrial processes.
At the heart of Virginia’s artistic practice is a belief in the importance of landscape in reflecting the evolution of nature and an expression of cultural identity and self.
Virginia informs her work by walking the land, recording, photographing, and retracing, the footsteps of those who once populated these areas.
Her work ranges from vast landscapes to intimate studies using an extensive range of materials on canvas including mixed media and natural materials from the land.