All the very best for 2020 !

UPDATE

This (part 3) is now available 

HERE - as an e-book

and as a paperback - HERE

2019 That Was...

...so, looking back on the year, it seemed a bit 'front-loaded', starting off with three major creative projects: YMYL-2-EDGE was already underway and bridged nicely from 2018 into 2019 with my mentoring of nine artist-makers as they innovated their practice by exploring cutting-edge tech at Pontio's fabLAB in Bangor, culminating in the exhibition and associated programme of events - you can remind yourself of all that entailed HERE...

Then there was the Lead Creative Schools Project at Rhos Street School, in Ruthin, which I helped to facilitate, mostly 'behind-the-scenes' this time as the Arts Council of Wales Creative Agent. I think it went really well and developed naturally from initial concept to final outcomes with the pupil group really taking ownership and steering it all to success with the expert guidance of our Creative Practitioner, Elfin Bow - if you want to see what I consider to be a great example of Creative Learning through the Arts watch the short video below, and if you want to know more about what the Lead Creative Schools initiative is achieving, then you can read all about it HERE...

Around the same time, I was also taking part in a major 'artists takeover' at Plas Bodfa (more on that HERE) and producing work for my solo exhibition INTER⁁VERBA as part of the BBC Get Creative Festival and incorporating a Pop-Up Museum with Storiel at Blaenau Ffestiniog Library and Oriel Maenofferen Gallery. Some of the work premiered as part of that exhibition is now featured in the selected archive of Art Projects HERE, or click on the thumbnails below for some examples...

 

The Red Sparrow Press published the first two parts of THIS in paperback and then the latter portions of the year were mostly consumed by writing and restructuring the 'final' installments (see top of this post). Illustrations for THIS were featured in the exhibition 'Folklore and Fairy Tales of North Wales' at Oriel Ty Meirion (see previous post HERE) and the books were a focus of several creative workshops and storytelling appearances at the wonderful RSPB Conwy... where there were badges!

...and talking of badges - I was chuffed to be recognised with a 'Top Writer in Art' virtual 'badge' for my work editing, and writing for, The Signifier, an arts publication for the Medium platform - you can check that out HERE 

Wales and its Fairy-tales at Oriel Ty Meirion

A selection of prints featuring my illustrations for This, That and The Other are currently on show in a mixed exhibition at Oriel Ty Meirion Gallery, Dyffryn Ardudwy, one of the most exciting small galleries in Wales. The show, which runs until 5 January 2020, has the theme of 'Folklore and Fairy Tales of North Wales'.

[Check gallery website for opening times and to plan your visit.]

Folklore and Fairy Tales of North Wales at Oriel Ty Meirion Gallery
a magical, mixed selection of superior quality art including prints and paperbacks by Remy Dean
...that lovely ceramic starling in the middle is by local potter, Jane Williams

My prints are a signed and numbered edition and you can also browse and purchase paperbacks of my current epic fairy-tale fantasy, This Part 1 and This Part 2, as well as my spooky short horror novel, Final Bough, a contemporary tale of the supernatural with a traditional twist, set against the legend-rich landscape of Snowdonia and inspired by local folklore.

You can read some of my relevant articles online at Folklore Thursday HERE

Folklore Talk, Storytelling and Book Signing Event

Oriel Ty Meirion, 21 November 2019

free event, but booking required

Event Programme

1. THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER - an introduction to the Folklore of the Three Realms 

"A lot of folklore is concerned with other realms. Worlds that exist apart, yet overlap or interact to varying degrees. It is this aspect that aligns many features of myth, folklore and religion around the terrestrial realm we all share… and the idea of the Three Realms has been repeatedly explored through stories, art, psychology, and now the existence of separate realities is widespread in scientific thought. Why does the belief in the Three Realms persist so prominently across multiple cultures spread far and wide, geographically and historically?"

2. THE FOUND HOUND - retelling a traditional Fairy-Story of Wales 

"How you care for any animal in need is one way the Fair Ones of Wales judge you & decide whether to bestow epic curses or life changing luck.

3. CHATS and BOOK SIGNINGS

Red Sparrow Writers : LIVE

I will be storytelling, chatting and hosting creative workshops at THIS live all-day event, alongside Zel Cariad, co-creator of This, That and the Other, and with fellow writer Kim Vertue, author of Welcome to the Dragon Café, which was illustrated by Zel!

Please note that the morning events and exhibition of fantasy illustrations are open to all visitors to the reserve (free for members) and the afternoon storytelling sessions and illustration workshops are ticketed events with limited places, so please book directly with RSPB Conwy

via e-mail : conwy@rspb.org.uk

by telephone : 01492 581025

event details at RSPB Conwy 

All of your ticket price goes directly to support the RSPB and the beautiful, essential RSPB Conwy Reserve!


🠔
click on flyer to enlarge


visit The Red Sparrow Press for info and updates

THIS parts 1 and 2 OUT NOW in Paperback

This week saw two new paperback editions of This, parts one and two, published by The Red Sparrow Press. This comes after much anticipation and slowly building sales of the exclusive e-books on Amazon. So, thank you to all who have already purchased the first two parts of This for Kindle, or read them on Kindle Unlimited, for making This possible...

This, That and the Other Book One: THIS (Parts One and Two)
 by Remy Dean with Zel Cariad 

This That and the Other is imaginative fantasy, on an epic scale. The story follows the special friendship between two girls who embark on a magical adventure together, across the three realms. It is a modern fable inspired by fairy tales and folklore, in the tradition of children's classics like The Neverending Story, The Box of Delights, The Chronicles of Narnia… and suitable for all who love magical adventures.

Here are the blurbs from the back covers:

PART ONE : THAT REALM, WHEREIN WE HUME DO DWELL

It began a long time ago, but for Rietta, it really began when she met Carla, another very special and extraordinary person, and realised that they shared the same dreams. Or perhaps it all started when Rietta and Carla found the severely injured dog in the woods, becoming firm friends as they tried to nurse it back to health and happiness. Then there was the 'thing' that they glimpsed watching them from the shadows, and the mystery of the missing standing-stone… but when they find the key to another realm, well, then things really start happening!

You can preview and buy This part one on amazon HERE

+ + UPDATE + +  

 for duration of schools closure 2020 

This part one is presented as a freebook at Medium 

via this special link HERE

PART TWO : THIS REALM, WHEREIN MAGIC YET FLOWS

Rietta and Carla have stepped into another realm. Now they are lost in a wonderful world of natural beauty, magical wonder and very real peril. They find reluctant allies among the spirits of the great Greenwood, before setting out to find Dreamers Dell in the hope of fulfilling their promise to help the Fair Ones. Along the way, they meet a mechanician, with his amazing mechanical animals, and fall-in with a band of Elfyn warriors.

When they are introduced to a mysterious and sinister mumblebone, they soon realise that things are getting much more dangerous than they ever expected. Though, as the girls discover more of This extraordinary realm, they also discover that they, themselves, may be even more extraordinary.

You can preview and buy This part two on amazon HERE


Part three is set to follow later this year and is expected to be released in both e-book and tree-book formats - watch this space... and if it is not too much to ask, do help to spread the word - you can tweet @RedSparrowPress and let them know that you enjoyed the books, and you could post a little review on amazon or on GoodReads. Those reviews really do help small indie publishers like The Red Sparrow and their authors, like me! Another BIG thank you for that!

The Red Sparrow have also asked me to contribute to an official This, That and The Other blog where I will answer readers' questions and write the occasional 'behind-the-scenes' post about the inspiration behind the books and hopefully share some insights about the background to the characters and events in the story - which you can check-out HERE and watch it grow...

INTER⁁VERBA

EXHIBITION OPENS 24 APRIL until 7 JUNE 2019

check HERE for details of private view, workshops, artist's talk,

at Oriel Maenofferen Gallery, Llyfrgell Blaenau Ffestiniog Library

part of

find out more about 

GET CREATIVE 2019 at BBC ARTS

also taking part in this 'artists takeover' in the run-up to the solo exhibition:

click image for more info

at the same time, you can also see my work in the Stable Block Gallery at Plas Tan y Bwlch

and a couple of pieces in the Open Exhibition at Storiel, Bangor Museum 13 April - 15 June 2019

all the above is mentioned in this interview feature for the Cambrian News

which you can read as a PDF by clicking the thumbnail image below

Close 2 the Edge

Since June, this year, I have been Mentor for Helfa Gelf's Edge2 Programme
and I am now curating an exhibition at Pontio, Bangor, of the work produced

Mae'r byd celfyddydol a’r byd technolegol yn dod at ei gilydd i archwilio ein profiad dynol yn y byd modern: arddangosfa o weithiau a gynhyrchwyd yn ystod rhaglen YMYL-2-EDGE Helfa Gelf yng Ngofod Arloesi Bocs Gwyn Pontio, o ddydd Sadwrn 19 Ionawr tan ddydd Sul 10 Chwefror 2019. (11:00 - 17:00 dydd Mercher i Sadwrn ac 12:00 - 17:00 ddydd Sul.) 

Art meets tech to question our human experience within the modern world: an exhibition of works produced during Helfa Gelf's YMYL-2-EDGE programme in Pontio’s White Box Innovation Space, from Saturday 19 January – Sunday 10 February 2019. (11:00 – 17:00 Wednesday to Saturday inclusive, and 12:00 - 17:00 Sundays)

Details from the Edge2 exhibition at Pontio's White Box

For  more info on the Edge2 Programme and to read the original call-out and brief, CLICK HERE

You can read interviews with Edge2 participating artists at IAWN = the Integrated Arts & Writing Nexus:

• Lorna Bates
• Stephen Green
• David Thomas
• Susan Cantrill-Williams
• Sarah Holyfield
• Ann Catrin Evans
• Emily Meilleur

EDGE 2 Curator and Artists' Talks 

A Helfa Gelf Workshop / Networking Event

Wednesday 6 February 2019 

The Edge 2 mentoring and exhibition programme has been a great opportunity and a fascinating process for the mentor/curator and artists involved. To hear more about their experiences using new technologies to innovate and push boundaries in their creative practice, do join us at Pontio, White Box/Bocs Gwyn, Level 2, Prifysgol Bangor, Ffordd Deiniol, Bangor, LL57 2TQ

[ Sorry, both events SOLD OUT ]

Curator and Artists Talks at Edge2

Regenerating the Doctor

FROM THE REMY DEAN ARCHIVE : 1998

Interviews with the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, 

Director Graeme Harper,

and Producer John Nathan Turner

Nearly 30 years ago, the Doctor was going through a very dark time... It seemed that it was not the Daleks, the Cybermen nor the Master who proved to be the Doctor's nemesis, but Jonathan Powell, aka 'The Controller' (of BBC1). The Doctor attempted to escape his fate through the big screen with the movie, starring Paul McGann, in 1996. Then all went quiet...  

It was twenty years ago, in 1998, that I conducted the following interviews with three key players who had witnessed the show's demise, and also provided a glimmer of hope that it may one day return. Little did I know back then, that it would not happen until Julie Gardner, Head of Drama at BBC Wales, joined forces with Russell T Davies to reboot Doctor Who... in 2005. That was a hiatus of 16 years, meaning that a whole generation of British children had been denied the experience of growing up with 'their Doctor' to provide hope and inspiration. 

Now, with the impending new series featuring a completely new regeneration of the Doctor, to be given form by Jodie Whittaker, and with Chris Chibnall as the new show-runner, with a new format, and a new Sunday time-slot, it seemed an ideal opportunity to re-publish these historic interviews, which have only previously been published on paper in The 5 Times issue 16. 

...these interviews are now archived on my Medium Profile

Projects 'Archive'

I will be adding an archive to highlight a selection of projects, both past and on-going, including information and sample images that are representative of the associated works.

check out the art 

HERE

for my writing, read samples
HERE

DYS PH ASI A

 “In this exhibition I have selected recent works that consider the differences

between intended meanings and interpretations. This is a continuing exploration 

of poetic landscapes, both real and imagined, searching for common-ground for 

writing and visual art to cohabit.” - from Artist's Statement

ARTIST'S TALK on Wednesday 10 January 2018 at 17:30

Remy Dean : Dysphasia : Partial List of Works 


‘Land Poems’ (2017)

Digital prints made with a photographic process using colours sampled from landscape. Compositions are guided by the interaction of lines using poetic rhythm and metre. Although the 'poems' are linear in structure, they may be ‘read’ in multiple directions, beginning from any square. It was my intention to capture the essence of the land through its colours and transient moods. My initial approach to this photography series was informed by the famous ‘lozenge’ paintings of Piet Mondrian.

This set of 'Land Poems' was produced as part of this year’s Creative Residency at Plas Tan y Bwlch, the Snowdonia National Park Authority's Environmental Study Centre, in Maentwrog, Wales.


‘Writing to Escape…’ (2015 – 2017)

Ongoing series of prints resulting from written drawings of visual and narrative stimuli. Expressing emotions whilst avoiding the deliberate formation of words and so, perhaps, circumventing the cultural dogmas often attached to words and languages. One perceptive viewer described this as, "a tiny form of dance, recorded visually". Precedent for this kind of approach can be found in the calligraphic scroll paintings of China and Japan, and in the modern works of Joan Miró, Cy Twombly, Franz Kline, Hans Hartung, and others…


‘The Stars, at Our Feet’ (2016)

iron : leaves its mark upon the slate in nebulae of rust in a starscape of tiny pits and scratches left by the footsteps of quarriers. The slate, once above their heads, now at their feet, reflecting the infinite night above. Ancient mineral memories… of the blood, of the land, of the stars : iron

The poetic image of slate miners returning to their barracks on a rare, clear night, their heavy work-boots splashing in the puddles, mixing the reflection of the stars with their own. This and the recent classification of the Snowdonia National Park as a Dark Skies Reserve were the seeds for this series of photographs, its title suggested by an old poem by an anonymous Cwmorthin miner. Produced as part of my 2016 Residency at Plas Tan y Bwlch.

You can read an article about The Stars, at Our Feet in EGO Magazine HERE


‘Cicorc Conwy’ (2015 – 2017)

Before setting off on longer than usual voyages, sailors would have ‘one’ last drink in their local pub before embarkation onto their ships and boats. They would enjoy a favourite tipple, smoke a pipe and sometimes they would make a small model dog with corks and match-sticks. These tiny cork companions would travel with them to distant ports in exotic far-off lands and upon their safe return would be gifted to their children. A limited edition, hand-made series of these objet-avec-courte-histoire will be available for adoption, each with accompanying information and story booklet.

‘The Questing Beats Back-Catalogue’ (2017)

A selection of re-issue CD covers from obscure, or non-existent, bands signed to the legendary 1980s art-rock/alt-punk label based in Stoke-on-Trent.


‘Sugar Rush’ (2015 - 2017)

A series of objects, photographs and information commenting on the shaping of the local landscape and culture... taken with a spoonful of sugar. From sugar and slaves… to sheep and slate…

'#Moelwyns' (ongoing, since 2007)

Selected prints from the series of photographs documenting my attempt to capture the ever-changing moods of  the Mynyddau Moelwynion mountain range, the transient atmospheric conditions that only people who are lucky enough to live here, in Snowdonia, really get to know. I see the Moelwyns and walk their slopes almost every day of the year... They remain the same, yet continually change. They never get old. To keep up with this series on twitter, click here.


'Illustrations for THIS' (2017)

Illustrations for the forthcoming illustrated edition of This, by Remy Dean with Zel Cariad, Book One of the This, That and the Other trilogy - imaginative fantasy, on an epic scale. The story follows the special friendship between two girls who embark on a magical adventure together, across the three realms. It is a modern fable inspired by Welsh fairy tales and folklore, in the tradition of The Neverending Story, The Box of Delights, The Chronicles of Narnia… This is published by The Red Sparrow Press