Friday 21 November 2025 - Sunday 12 April 2026
10:00 am - 4:30 pm
Purchased in partnership with the Friends of the Glynn Vivian
Glynn Vivian at Night, Thursday 20 November, 17:30 – 20:00.
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is delighted to announce the Wakelin Award recipient for 2025. The annual award is given to an artist living and working in Wales, whose work is purchased for the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
The recipient for The Wakelin Award 2025 is Lucia Jones. Previous award winners include Brendan Stuart Burns, Anthony Shapland, Catrin Webster, Jonathan Anderson, Meri Wells, David Cushway, Helen Sear, Clare Woods, Alexander Duncan, Philip Eglin, Richard Billingham, Cinzia Mutigli, Anya Paintsil and Ingrid Murphy.
This year’s selector is Jonathan Powell, artist and director of Elysium Gallery, Swansea. Jonathan said: “Lucia Jones’ practice explores memory and self-perception through paint and film. Focusing on the female psyche, she draws inspiration from b-movies since the 1950s, art history, and her own photographs, recontextualizing women as anonymized subjects in fractured and fabricated environments. These painted scenes act as cyphers for lived experience, to be glimpsed and examined. Her recent works explore the sometimes performative nature of femininity, depicting figures in spaces that blur the boundaries between the real and imagined, the revealed and concealed. They explore the tension between societal constraints and personal autonomy.”
Lucia Jones said: “The Wakelin Award has provided invaluable support to Welsh artists for the last quarter of a century, and I’m truly grateful to be a recipient. Winning this award means a great deal to me; garnering a purchase prize for a public collection marks a major milestone in my career. To be recognised by the Glynn Vivian—such a prestigious institution that has been a cornerstone of Wales’ artistic landscape for over 100 years—is also a remarkable honour. I’m proud to join the legacy of incredible artists in Wales who have received this accolade. The Wakelin Award serves as motivation and will enable me to continue creating and contributing to the arts in Wales and beyond.”
The Award is administered by the Friends of the Glynn Vivian and is generously supported by donations in memory of Richard and Rosemary Wakelin and their son Martin, who were themselves artists and active supporters of the arts in Swansea.
Dr Peter Wakelin said “The Glynn Vivian is a brilliant asset for the people of Swansea. We’re delighted that the Friends and staff of the gallery continue to use the award to strengthen the collection and support Welsh talent. My parents would have loved that.”
Melvyn Williams, Chair of the Friends of the Glynn Vivian: “It is a fantastic privilege for The Friends of The Glynn Vivian to play a role in choosing work that will become part of our national heritage. It is also wonderful to be able to support contemporary artists via the Wakelin fund to develop their careers in this way. These enigmatic and thought-provoking works by Lucia Jones will make a marvellous addition to the Glynn Vivian’s permanent collection.”
Karen MacKinnon, Curator, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery: “We are delighted with the selection of Lucia’s work and very grateful to Peter; the Wakelin family and Friends of the Glynn Vivian. The three works purchased are: ‘I can’t fit into this dress anymore’ (2023); ‘Do you want to form an alliance with me’ (2024) and ‘Fake it till you make it’ (2024). Through her work, Lucia studies the construction of femininity, often with a sense of nostalgia. These works are both inviting and unsettling and really resonate with other work in the collection. Thank you so much to Lucia, and to Jon for being such a thoughtful selector.”
The Award is administered and supported by the Friends of the Glynn Vivian, together with donations in memory of Richard and Rosemary Wakelin.
Lucia Jones
Lucia Jones is a Welsh painter. Since graduating from Falmouth University, she has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions including BEEP Painting Prize 2018 and 2024. She has also been longlisted for several art prizes such as John Moores 2020, Jackson’s Art Prize 2022 and 2023. She is also due to exhibit at the National Eisteddfod of Wales 2025. Her work is currently held in private collections in Australia, Austria, Hong Kong, Mexico, UK and USA.
Jonathan Powell
Jonathan Powell was born in Bangor in 1975. He graduated from Swansea College of Art (BA & Masters) and is a Swansea based artist. He co-founded the Elysium Gallery and continues as its manager and creative programmer. Jonathan is interested in making Swansea a creative and exciting cultural hotbed of artists and activities that spread nationally and internationally whilst bringing new audiences and creatives to Wales. He sees the arts as a potent catalyst for positive change. Jonathan is also the founder and continues to run the Beep Painting Biennial.
Richard and Rosemary Wakelin
Richard Wakelin (1921-1987) and Rosemary Culley (1919-1998) were both artists, based in Swansea from the late 1950s. They were born in Cardiff and met as students at the Welsh School of Architecture in 1939 before entering the services for the duration of the war. They married in 1947. Richard worked as an architect in private practice and later with the City Council (where his role included care and alterations at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery). As artists, they both worked in abstract styles, but they appreciated all forms of art and craft. They worked through several organisations to further the visual arts, notably the Swansea Art Society, the Association of Artists and Designers in Wales, the 74 Guild of Artist Craftsmen, the Welsh Group, and the Friends of the Glynn Vivian.
They were co-founders of the Swansea Arts Workshop in the Maritime Quarter, now the Mission Gallery. They were keen to help and encourage talented artists and craftspeople and to broaden the enjoyment of the arts in Swansea. Their three surviving children are Andrew, Sally (and her daughter Kate) and Peter Wakelin. Their eldest son Martin died in 2012 leaving his wife Christine Townley and his daughter Megan, who continue to take an interest in the award.
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