Last Friday evening, members of the Arts Club heard a most interesting talk by Sally Moss, the Commissioning Curator at the National Museum of Wales. The title of her talk was 'Celebrating the Pembrokeshire Landscape' and it concerned the development of the new Landscape Gallery at St. David's, which will show the country's landscape and heritage through a rolling programme of exhibitions and activities. The lead partners in the project are the National Museum of Wales and the National Park Authority. When completed, the gallery will more than double the size of the Visitor Centre already established. It will be at the cutting edge of sustainable technology and will be entirely environmentally friendly. Sally Moss made members aware that there are many more elements to landscape than sunny beaches, green fields and rustic scenes. The 'hidden' landscape includes geology, the sea-bed, sounds, weather, plants and wildlife. Buildings such as cottages, houses, castles, and churches are all part of this element and link up with the historical importance of Pembrokeshire. Industrial heritage, collections of textiles, costume and porcelain come within the 'hidden landscape'. There is also a spiritual side with language, literature and poetry. The gallery will offer artefacts and paintings on loan from time to time from the National Museum. For example, the work of Graham Sutherland will once more be displayed in the county he loved. Other works international artists will be exhibited for all to enjoy. The speaker stressed the importance of involving people with the project by way of activities for families and real enjoyment of a great heritage by everyone. The new Landscape Gallery is due to open in June/July of 2008 and it is hoped that not just tourists, but we, the people of Pembrokeshire and of Wales will take advantage of this initiative. Sally Moss's great enthusiasm for the new venture was inspirational and one could not fail to join her in wishing it every success. This (Friday) evening, members and non-members are invited to a Christmas Entertainment starting at 8 pm at Church House. Fun and refreshments will be offered.
