Watch artists live at work at the Cardiff M.A.D.E gallery Cardiff art graduates perform live at ‘ReLAY’ exhibition by KellieWilliams Have you ever walked past Cardiff M.A.D.E [makers, musicians, artists, designer’s enterprise] on Lochaber Street in Roath and wondered what’s inside? The intriguing artsy store is a community interest company that hosts monthly exhibitions and competitions and sells the most prestigious art pieces created by local emerging artists in the city; a place where locals and art lovers can browse and buy everything from handmade cards, to ceramics, t-shirts, paintings, and local produce. The gallery director Zoë Gingell works relentlessly each month to seek out artists in Cardiff to feature their work in the upcoming gallery exhibitions. Zoë said, “We run an exhibition programme which changes every six weeks, with the emphasis on showcasing local artists to the Cardiff community and building the audience profile up. We combine open calls to see who is out there, with curated group shows, and then solo exhibitions with emerging artists, as part of our role as mentors to develop and foster artist’s careers.” ReLAY Exhibition The current exhibition, ReLAY, has been in session since 2020. A lengthy project that has explored ‘joint language’, connecting four local artists who specialise in various art forms to work together collaboratively on the same pieces throughout the pandemic to create art that celebrates ingenuity and adaptation. The four artists working on the project are Eden Dodd who specialises in fine art, before venturing into drawing; Mylo Elliott came from a graffiti background and then went on to fine art. Mylo and Eden really enjoyed the work each was creating on an individual basis and decided to collaborate and work together, creating the ReLAY exhibition. The other two artists in the project are Kitty, also known
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as Caitlin Flood-Molyneux, specialises in abstract pieces, and Abi Birkinsaw works with “still life.” Abi enjoys painting what is around her in her domestic environment and includes a little humorous text in her art. Kitty and Abi joined forces and became the second half of the ReLAY project, designing art pieces together. Zoë said, “The idea of this project was to push the artists out of their own comfort zones, into responding to fresh input laid down by their ReLAY art partner facing new ground, quite literally. In that way creating avenues for them to look at their own work from a fresh perspective.” “They decided to do a series of collaborative drawings.
