Hafod Primary school class
The Hafod, of Hafod Primary School, sits a stone’s throw away from Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, in what was once the beating heart of industrial Swansea. The original school, St John’s Church, and the surrounding ‘copperworks township’ were built by the industrialist John Henry Vivian (Glynn Vivian’s father). Its purpose was to house and educate the copper factory workers and their children. The Vivian family even went as far to change the name of the area from Hafod (Pastureland) to Trevivian, or Vivian Town. This historic connection between the school and the gallery makes a collaboration between the two all the more relevant.
Jack Jones: Zoar, Horeb and the Villiers. 1988. Oil on board/Olew ar fwrdd.
Today the pupils in Hafod Primary School are naturally drawn to explore the dynamic and shifting cultural history of the area in which they live. In this project they investigate the life and works of Hafod-born artist Jack Jones.
Jack Jones was born in 1922. He grew up just a few streets down from Hafod Primary School in Aberdyberthi Street. At the end of Aberdyberthi Street, waste from the copper factories was dumped in a tip, resulting in a copper slag-heap that dominated the horizon. Self-taught, Jack sought beauty in the industrial landscape around him, painting the people, places and landscapes of the Hafod and Landore. He described himself as, ‘The Leonardo of the Slag-Heap’.
The class researched and responded to two paintings by Jack Jones, held in the Glynn Vivian’s Permanent Collection: Zoar, Horeb and the Villiers and Landore Viaduct. Through the paintings they explored the life of the artist, the history of the area and the contemporary Hafod they know today.
Jack Jones has really appealed to the children not just because they enjoy his art but because of his links to the Hafod. They recognise the places he paints and they walk past his house on the way to school. Jack Jones is not just a painter they have no ties to but someone who is a part of who they are. – Richard Phillips (Teacher)
During workshops both in school and onsite at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, the pupils produced a body of work including paintings, sculptures, text responses and video documentary. This work was curated at the gallery in conversation with the two Jack Jones’ paintings and exhibited over the course of the summer. To complement the schools display, visitors were invited to leave their own responses to the paintings and to the areas of Hafod and Landore.
Jack Jones: Zoar, Horeb and the Villiers. 1988. Oil on board
Hafod Primary School are: Josiah | Kaiser | Mazie | Omar | Samantha | Evie-May Paras Luthra | George Scarlett | Shahria | Ayan | Bobbi | Caleb | Darcey | Darlington | Aayan Aley | Ammara | Ashviga | Sana | Ezra | Habiba | Harriet
Jack Jones is a fantastic artist because he paints the Hafod. He painted my local area where I walk to school. – Omar
I like that he draws everything around him, because Hafod was his hometown. – Harriet
I like Jack Jones painting because I like how he always put in a rubbish bin. – Darcy
I love the little details of local people. – Caleb
I love the sky colour and I like how he homes are designed and the people. – Aley
I like looking at the paintings and the colour and it is inspiring, and he growed up in Hafod and the painting has lots of detail and on the sky and he lived on Aberdyberthi Street. – Evie
I like looking at Jack Jones painting because I like how he does it of his childhood. The colours of the painting make me feel happy. Jack Jones live on Aberdyberthi Street my street. – Darcy
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery would like to say a big thankyou to the pupils of Hafod Primary School for all your hard work on this fantastic project.
