Cheryl Beer

'Cheryl Beer is the voice of the trees ' Kirsten Manley, Coed Cadw 'Cheryl has given the trees a beating heart' Bruce Langridge, National Botanic Garden of Wales

Cheryl Beer works with the vascular systems within nature, repurposing hearing aid & biomedical technology to compose music led by the natural world, Interested in the relationships between sound, music & the environment, her cutting edge innovations in ecomusicology raise awareness of nature in crisis by embodying a visceral sense of place. Playing now, is a piece of tree-led music. Delving beneath the bark, Cheryl has collated the inner biorhythms of an oak sapling, using these digital & visual readings to compose music. The sapling you are listening to is shown below, miraculously growing on a seemingly dead tree trunk at Coed Felenrhyd Rainforest.

PLAYING NOW : Acorn Sapling

Cheryl explains how becoming suddenly hearing impaired, with hearing loss, tinnitus & hyperacusis, shaped the way in which she now composes with nature -

'I remember waking up & thinking, 'Why have the birds stopped singing?' Overnight, my life changed radically. Until then, I'd been a full-time musician. Whilst waiting for my NHS hearing aids, discombobulated, I retreated to the woods & learnt an awakened understanding of how the natural world nurtures well-being. Compelled to 'pay back', nature, when I discovered that we have rainforests, right here, in Wales, it became my calling to raise awareness of their exsistence. With moss carbon dated back 10,000 years the Rainforests of Wales are part of the most significant eco-history across the globe & yet remarkably, people are unaware of them ... '

Cân y Coed / Song of the Trees Rainforest Symphony reunites 5 fragile pockets of Celtic Rainforest across Wales. Cheryl's innovative practice has unearthed a previously hidden song tapestry from beneath the bark, weaving a biorhythmic composition from the vascular system of trees, fern & moss. Made possible through an Unlimited Main Commission funded by the Arts Council of Wales, Cheryl spent a year working with the rainforests. Her Symphony Tour launched at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, providing a QR portal for visitors to experience Cân y Coed. Garden Curator, Alexander Summers explains why Cheryl's work is so important ...

Where can I hear it?

If you would like to find out more about Cheryl's residencies in the rainforests or you're simply intrigued & fancy a behind the scenes peak at how she works with nature - then have a browse through her Podcasts & Videos, with Welsh translations, Or maybe, you'd like to listen to her live Audio Descriptions, recorded by Cheryl & her Hearing Assistant as they bathed in the belly of the rainforests.

Daeth Cheryl i Gymru gyntaf yn ei harddegau ac erbyn iddi orffen ei gradd gyntaf ym Mhrifysgol De Cymru, roedd wedi cwympo mewn cariad â'r diwylliant, y bobl a’r cefn gwlad – Cymru yw ei chartref bellach ac, er nad yw'n siarad Cymraeg, mae'n chwilio am ffyrdd o gynnwys yr iaith yn ei gwaith.

cymraeg

Commissioned and supported by Unlimited, celebrating the work of disabled artists, with funding from Arts Council of Wales

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE TOP 100 PIONEERING WOMEN FOR HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARTS ( WWEN : 2020 )

Cheryl is an Arts Associate with the Arts Council of Wales. She is also currently a Consultant with the Hear We Are Project as a Deaf Creative Mentor

Sea Whisperer ...

Cheryl's research into notating the visualisation of nature sounds came as an AHA moment when based at the flood defence walls of the Millennium Coastal Path, as part of a mentorship with ADDO Creative, during the pandemic. She realised, by applying the same technology that audiologists use during hearing tests, ie/spectral frequency & digital sound, she could measure the notated pitch of the sea & compose music led by the natural world. The first notated recording she made was a wave in slow motion during high tide. For Cheryl, it sounded like the morning call from the temple roof, a call to prayer, for others it is a warning from the deep ... See what you think by pressing play & watching her end presentation for the work. Due to the significance of this research, Cheryl has archived the full findings here, so that you can delve more deeply. Click the link below to find out more.

SOUNDWAVES R&D

Welsh Language Transcript

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

IMAGINING OUR FUTURE

Cheryl was invited to take part in 'Imagining Our Future - Conversations on the Arts in Wales' - a 3 day event organised by the Arts Council of Wales. In preparation, she was commissioned to engage with a thought provoking exercise devised by internationally acclaimed performance artist & curator, Marc Rees, evoking a personal perspective regarding climate justice in the Now & for the future. Joining Cheryl were Vikram Iyengar, a dancer & choreographer from the Pickle Factory in India & London based Multidisciplinary artist, Ffion Campbell-Davies. After the film showing, all 3 Artists sat on a panel & responded to questions about how environmental action & the climate crisis embed within their practice. The response to the films & conversation was such, that the Arts Council of Wales are planning to exhibit them further.

#futureartswales

#PethauBychain
@ Wales Arts International

Cheryl's digital poem 'Bard Beneath the Bark', commissioned for the Disabled People's Cultural & International Manifesto, is currently being exhibited by Wales Arts International as a Case Study for a more equal Wales; part of #PethauBychain curated by acclaimed immersive artist Marc Rees, #PethauBychain is a campaign to connect the cultural sector with the 7 goals of the Future Generations Act for a more prosperous, resilient, equal, healthier, cohesive, vibrant & globally responsible Wales.

Disabled Peoples' Cultural
& International Manifesto

Cheryl was commissioned to create a piece for the launch of a game changing new Manifesto that responds to articles 30 and 32 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Disabled People. Her piece, ‘Bard Beneath the Bark’ draws a comparative dialogue between the discourse of climate crisis & the position of disabled people, both within the cultural arts sector & wider society. Bard Beneath the Bark opened the launch, which live streamed into 8 different countries.

H2O @ COP26

Cheryl's innotive film about climate change, H2O, was showcased by Wales Arts International (WAI) as part of their Cymru COP26 Campaign for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. WAI enable international work in the arts through collaborations, projects, networks and communication, offering a gateway between the arts of Wales and the world. The film was made at Coed Lletywalter Rainforest during Cheryl's residency with Coed Cadw & the Celtic Rainforest Project. To watch H20, click the link opposite & visit Wales Arts International website.

Climate Justice & the use
of art as a tool of change

Cheryl was commissioned as an Unlimited panelist addressing how artists use art as a tool for highlighting Climate Emergency. She was also invited as a one of 4 leading disabled artists addressing Climate Change to pitch her work as an Environmental Sound Artist. Her film H2O was shown to key members of the industry looking for creative ways to address the emergency. In addition her photograph of Coed Felenrhyd Rainforest became the title image for the debate.

Everything Change

Earlier this year, Cheryl was invited to take part in a tri-national event between Wales, India & Canada, about the Climate Crisis. Headed up by Taliesin Arts Centre at Swansea University, Dharka Literature Festival in India & Award Winning Author Margaret Atwood, in Canada - 'Everything Change' is a radical call from the world of creativity to open conversations & provocations about new & innovative ways of addressing the crisis. During COP26, the Everything Change Team collated & published the work from the event. Cheryl's commission can be seen in the link opposite, as part of Changing Justice.

Community Sound Art

As the Founder & Director of Sound Memories Dementia Friendly Radio Station, Cheryl designs & delivers projects t0 support older people in creating their own Memory Resources, through Life Story & Nature Narrative. This work has won a GOLD National Award from the Wales Care Forum, was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Drama from the University of South Wales & Cheryl's Health & Arts Empowerment Model was published in a co-paper written with Nick Andrews for the International Journal of Storytelling in Health. In addition, Sound Memories Radio won an Excellence in Digital Media Award from the Celebration of Arts & Culture. Throughout the pandemic, Sound Memories quickly became an inspirational online resource, bringing the virtual outdoors to the older community, through partnership working with older people themselves, & the organisations that support them. Click the photograph tobe taken to the radio website for more details.

''Cheryl is a creative humanitarian. Her visionary projects enable sustainable social change & impact Arts & Health strategy at the very core of Welsh life. ''