Artsfest 2007

For workshop photographs and the 'Big Draw' 2007 see:-

http://www.fishguardartssociety.org.uk/2007 EventsWorkshops.html

Seaways Bookshop, Carole King, Mike Charlton Optician, Jean Pugh ,SB Sports,Sheila Knapp Fisher, The Natural Healing Centre,Carole King

The Principality, Peter Kitney, Tenby House,Frederke s'Jacobs. The Local, Glenn Ibbitson, Peter's Fruit and Veg, Eirian Short

Open and Selected Exhibitions – Monday 2nd April - Sat 14th April 10am-5pm
At Fishguard Infants School, Sladeway, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, SA65 9NY

The Selected and Open Exhibitions were full of exciting and stunning painting and three dimensional works. Our Ancilliary Exhibition in Siop DJ in the middle of town drew visitors to an interesting selection of works and film shows.

Opening by Tamsin Dunwoody AM in Ysgol Bro Gwaun, Primary School, Sladeway, Fishguard 1st April 2007

Dianne Walkey, Dianne Heeks, David Owens, Andie Clay, Barbara Price, Stella Watras, Jane Hemmings

Thanks to Dave Edwards for bringing Thomas Leeb to our attention ....It was a great night. Thomas Leeb lived up to all his reviews. He was very, very good!

A small town stage in a quiet corner of west Wales, Saturday night a cosy bunch of mainly baby boomers a couple of youngers and a couple of olders. The stage is dusty-barren apart from a beautifully crafted guitar on its stand and a microphone on its stand . The hum of conversation slips into silence as the lights dim and Dave Edwards who has organised the gig , introduces Thomas Leeb.
Thomas walks on stage, classic troubadour, a few words, a few twiddles and then we are into the meat.

I listened to Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent on my uncle's Dancette as he quiffed and brylcreemed in the 50’s, travelled across the Pennines on Lambretta’s to bop to northern soul. Saw Zeppelin at Bath and railed at reggae and punk like a true reactionary until the best of both sunk into the acceptance of a broadened hard drive. Too many years later most things sound like mush and I can hear the ripped off riffs and copied croon as pastiche turns to cloned caricature. Kids brought up in the soup of radio gaga regurgitate without the excuse of irony. Talent stunted by small expectations, fame hungry, without form.
So as with the taste of processed pap an older like me begins to feel all is tasteless possibly due to age and satiated appetite. And yes it has all been done before so what’s the chance of silverthread insights or lime bite freshness?
Just Thomas, his guitar begins to echo the input of a very original input from a guy who will not be tied down to the fact that a guitar is not a drum or a harp or marimbas.
Just Thomas and his guitar and ten fingers and thumbs and a couple of boots becomes a one man band that rips up and reshapes… only Clapton… only Marley… only George Harrison, you could only do it and get away with it in my ears if you were at least as good as them. in your own way!

Biography
(from last.fm)
Austrian born Thomas Leeb plays a style he calls 'the bastard child of acoustic fingerstyle'. This style owes as much to percussive techniques as traditional fingerstyle guitar as his tunes are usually punctuated by slaps, pops and beats. Adding to the overall effect is his frequent use of ringing harmonics. The resulting blur of busy hands and fingers has to be seen to be believed.
His repertoire consists of self-penned numbers, traditional tunes and occasional covers such as Guns 'n' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine and Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff.
Leeb released his first album, the now out of print Reveller, as a precocious 17 year old. However, his unique style didn't come into full force until his 1999 album Riddle. He has since released two further albums Spark in 2004 and Upside Down in 2005.
Along the way he has picked up a number of influential fans including Woody Mann, Alex de Grassi and Eric Roche who was his guitar teacher, "for about five minutes and then I heard him play".

Reviews and Comments"20-Finger-Guitarist"
"Guitar Magician"
"Guitar Acrobat"
"Leeb regularly takes his audiences by storm."
Various Newspapers
(Austria)
" Every last fibre of his guitar is wrung dry to produce either rhythm, bass, chords or melody and very inspiring it is, too. Upside Down is indeed an album full of joy and spirit."
Acoustic Magazine
(UK)
Thomas' technique and compositions have certainly put him into the 'world's greatest unknown guitarists' category [...] He has to be seen to be believed.
Guitar Techniques Magazine (UK)

Tregwynt Mansion, Granston, Castle Morris
Alex and Mike read from their latest published Books, answer questions and discuss their works.

Alex Barr moved from Manchester to Pembrokeshire in 1996 with his wife Rosemarie. He won third prize in the National Poetry Competition 2000. His second collection /Henry's Bridge,/ published last November by Starborn Books, contains many poems inspired by living in this part of Wales. His first collection, /Letting In The Carnival/, was published in 1984 by Peterloo Poets. He is a founder member of Bee Line Theatre Company, which so far has toured two productions locally and is planning a third.
Mike Sharpe was born in 1933 in Alfreton, a coal-mining town in Derbyshire. He was educated at the local Grammar School and, after National Service, went to Reading University where he graduated in English and Philosophy He was later awarded an M.A. for his research into the early novels of D.H.Lawrence. For 15 years he was Head of the English Department at St. Bartholomew’s School, Newbury and, while there, wrote documentary plays and verse dramas for BBC Schools’ Radio. In 1988, he retired to a cottage and nine acres in Pembrokeshire with his wife, Gill, and began writing poetry. A pamphlet of his poems, Incomers, was published by Shoestring Press in 1999 and last year a collection of his poems, Almost, was published by Envoi Poets. A children’s story, Trapped, about the employment of children in Victorian coal-mines is due out in August, published by Anglia Young books.

Poetry at Tregwynt Mansion. Photographs by Doug Macleod