UWTSD’s Swansea College of Art student designs trophies for Gwobrau'r Selar
Once again this year, UWTSD’s Swansea College of Art has collaborated with Y Selar magazine to create prizes for the 2022 Y Selar Awards.
Every year, a student from the university sets out to create a unique piece of art that gives them the platform to show their creative ability. This year, Owain Davies, a third year student on the BA Graphic Design course, has created the awards. Owain is very interested in music and the link between music and pattern and the physical and visual impact as well as the historical link with art. He is very interested in designing posters, record covers and music flyers.
As Owain studies graphic design it was important that the award conveys his ability as a designer and his interest in music. Responding to the opportunity to design the trophies for this year’s awards, Owain said:
“The design for the Selar awards grew out of my year 3 project. I’m interested in how different types of music influence us. I worked with a group of participants in a session where they had the opportunity to respond physically and visually to music using ink on paper, while hearing one example of one genre at a time. To create the awards themselves, I used the group works as a starting point and added colour instead of the black and white marks again when responding to the different types of music.
It was an interesting process to develop the original ideas into graphic design. As a graphic designer the use of words is extremely important for visual communication, so I played around with type and how to place it within the design. I created each award uniquely.”
Donna Williams is the Course Director and senior lecturer of the graphic design courses at the university. She said:
“Owain Davies is currently a third year student on our BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at Swansea College of Art. We are delighted that he has had the opportunity to design and produce the awards for ‘Y Selar’.
Owain has continued to engage within his professional approach to his studies and integrate external projects within his degree programme. Owain is always a pleasure to work with, as he has a strong and reliable work ethic with meaningful design results. Congratulations Owain on an excellent job.”
Gwenllian Beynon is Assistant Academic Director of Art and Media and co-ordinator of the Welsh language provision at Swansea College of Art. She commented:
“Every year I have a lot of fun working with students in creating the Selar awards. Sometimes it is difficult for students to see how the award can be personal and true to their work but also be a prize for someone else. But every year it happens.
It has been great to work with Owain this year and see the award develop through the different processes and stages of development. Creating such a unique award here enables students to develop loads of work for their portfolios and so we are grateful to Y Selar once again for this collaboration.”
The Selar Awards are a nationally recognized awards ceremony organised by the Welsh music magazine, Y Selar. Owain Schiavone is the organiser of the event. He said:
“Our intention as y Selar magazine is to give young artists the opportunity to have a different platform to show their creative work and every year we get something different and unique. Y Selar is very proud of the relationship with the Art and Design Department of the University of Trinity Saint David which stretches back several years now. We have been very fortunate in the calibre of artists who have created the awards over the years - each offering something unique, and special prizes to be treasured by the winners.”
All the winners of the Selar Awards were announced on various Radio Cymru programmes over the past two weeks.
Further Information
Arwel Lloyd
Principal PR and Communications Officer
Corporate Communications and PR
Email: arwel.lloyd@uwtsd.ac.uk
Phone: 07384 467076