New Seren Stacey exhibition blooms for ‘No Mow May’ at Dinefwr in Llandeilo

Fifteen wildflower watercolour paintings will be displayed in the outer hall of Dinefwrwith a launch event and talk at 2pm on Saturday 20 May.   

The launch coincides with Plantlife’s #NoMowMay, an annual campaign encouraging lawns and green spaces to be left to grow for the benefit of nature. 

The paintings by West Wales based artist Seren Stacey inspire everyone to learn more about nature by looking at plants growing in their locality.

During lockdown,  Seren spent 20 minutes every day painting a different species of plant growing in her small front garden, which had been left uncultivated since 2020.

Seren researched the Welsh names for many of the wildflowers in her paintings. It is hoped that the exhibition will inspire everyone to spot nature close to home; whether in a yard, garden, park, hedgerow or verge.   

Artist, Seren Stacey said:  “We let nature thrive in our small garden during lockdown and were surprised with what began to grow. Even though I’m a Welsh speaker, I soon realised I didn’t know the names of the species in the Welsh Language. So, I started to paint and research them – the more I found out the more I wanted to know!  

“It was fascinating to find that some have up to 30 names, often quite poetic or deriving from folklore. How did they get that name? What’s the meaning behind it? 

“As my understanding increased, I found that I felt more connected to each subject, a sense of ‘hiraeth’ and being closer to the land. Nature thrives around us if we let it – I hope everyone can discover something new or interesting growing close to them too. You don’t need a big garden to explore and encourage common wildflowers and plants. Whether it’s an 10ft garden or an 800-acre parkland, the ideas about increasing biodiversity are the same.”

Kathryn Campbell, Programming and Partnerships Officer at Dinefwr said: “We’re incredibly pleased to be able to share Seren’s work and celebrate this exciting project at Dinefwr over the summer.

“Biodiversity is such an important topic in our current times. We hope that visitors might learn something new on their visit and perhaps even be inspired to do something for nature closer to home or find out the common names for the everyday plants in their own locality.”

(Lead image: Kate Dunwell)