Cân y Coed Rainforest Symphony 2021 - ongoing
During a 12 month residency as an environmental sound artist across the Rainforests of Wales, Cheryl began collating the inner biorhythms within the vascular systems of trees, and using these visual readings to compose a piece that reunites the rainforests after 1000's of years of being separated by human activity, The Symphony toured across the globe for 18 months raising awareness of fragile ecologies & Cheryl was shortlisted for a prestigious St.David's Award for her Cultural Contribution to Wales, both Nationally & Internationally. For a summary of the tour schedule, please click the link below ...
Shifting Harbours - December 2023
Shifting Harbours was a Commission for the Cultural Cwtch inviting you to lean into the sounds of nature whilst flying high above the flood defence walls, with a flock of seagulls at Llanelli beach. Travelling along what was the harbour in years gone by, but that has now shifted along the shore, you'll enjoy the lighthouse at Burry Port with a bird’s eye view, racing across the sands of Pembrey beach on a cold December morning, whilst listening to music composed from the marine biorhythms of our coastline. Cheryl made an accompanying video with this piece called 'Cave Waves' giving a behind the scenes peak at how she created the sound art. The Shifting Harbours video was a beautiful collaboration between Cheryl & Jarro Wimbush of Manjaro Media. Click below to watch the films.
SiREN with POLAR SOUNDS
Filled with a desire to make a difference through her work, Cheryl was very pleased to be selected as one of 50 sound artists from across the globe to compose sound art from recordings taken at the melting ice caps of Antarctica, collated by the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB). She was sent recordings of a killer whale in the melting ice caps and composed a sound art piece called SIREN by reducing the revolutions of the whale call x100 & in so doing, creating a human-like cry, perhaps for help or as a warning, coupled with a bass like mantra that she isolated from the pit of the whale's individual whistle & echolocation.
Rewilding the Symphony Woodland Trail
In 2022, forming a partnership with FUSION Carmarthenshire, Cheryl ran a community survey to identify Carmarthenshire’s TOP TEN wooded areas by asking people to vote for their favourite places. She then planted bio-degradable QR Codes at the TOP 10 creating a Woodland Trail across Carmarthenshire, transporting visitors to Cân y Coed Rainforest Symphony.
Sound Waves
Cheryl was selected as part of a Research, Development & Mentor Program with Addo Creative Consultancy funded by The Arts Council of Wales. Her research widened access to the natural world by exploring ways of bringing sound waves and spectral frequency as contemporary art into the public realm. It became the basis for her work going forwards, repurposing hearing aid technology to compose music from visual sound. For an indepth overview of the research, click the link below.
Walk 19 Cerdded
During Covid 19, Cheryl was supported by the Arts Council of Wales National Lottery Good Causes, to create Dementia Friendly Environmental Sound Maps for Sound Memories Radio, helping older people stay connected to a sense of identity by creating nature narratives of their favourite walks. She trained a team of 5 Sound Artists & communicated through digital media with Care Homes throughout South & South West Wales. There was a series of 8 Online Exhibitions that attracted over 12,000 viewers. It was during this work that Cheryl began to appreciate the technology of her hearing aids in terms of reconnecting her with a new creative practice & she began asking herself, could her hearing aids be the art itself ? Walk 19 is still used as a memory resource by care homes and can be seen by clicking the link below.
Singing with DolphinsAs part of an Individual Award from the Arts Council of Wales, Cheryl joined the Marine Wildlife Research team at New Quay, West Wales, sailing with them to record the whistles & echolocation of Dolphins. She then created a live soundscape to inspire poetry & song in response, performing the piece at The National Botanic Garden of Wales. Children from local schools used the sound & film to inspire dance performances. Photo by Andrew Dotton @ New Quay, West Wales.
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From Wool to WeaveDuring her Masters research into Life Story with older people living in dementia care homes, and understanding the importance of sound to memory, Cheryl developed a Sound Map of Rural West Wales based on the areas where the older people had lived throughout their lives. Funded by Carmarthenshire County Council, the sound maps proved popular as a resource for older people across rural communities. From Wool to Weave was one of 8 films that Cheryl produced with farmers, weavers and residents of local farms. The videos are sited as a permanent resource at Sound memories Dementia Friendly Radio Station.
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Fall of the 3rdDuring a year long residency on the West Wales Coastline for her production, The Dragon Tree, Cheryl found that Elgar had written his Welsh idiom at Llangrannog. Whilst listening to the tides, Elgar had imagined he could hear a choir in the distance and it gave him the inspiration for his piece 'Introduction and Allegro for Strings' using the fallen third. Playing the score on an old gramophone at Llangrannog beach, Cheryl recorded the arrangement with different tides, to contextualise his inspiration.
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Many Flowers : One SunBased at the beautiful sunflower fields of Rhossili, Cheryl created a collection of sound art & poetry videos exhibited at the National Trust Website. Taking her recording equipment & a notebook, she immersed herself in the sunflower fields, spending long periods of time with her sunny subjects, enabling her to understand the collective floral response to the sea wind & ebbing tides.
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Ghost ForestThe Ghost Forest has come from the tropical rainforests of Ghana & is the inspiration of UK based artist, Angela Palmer, as a statement against deforestation. She made world ambassadors of the tree roots, installing them at Trafalgar Square, the Earth Summit in Copenhagen, & Oxford University. When they arrived at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, making their final resting statement, Cheryl was commissioned to compose music to accompany the time lapsed installation film which was then exhibited throughout the Garden & online channels. Ghost Forest is sited behind the Great Glasshouse.
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Cheryl has an extensive history as a Performer, Songwriter, Facilitator, Musical & Artistic Director, Events Organiser, Author, Presenter, Creative Digital Developer. Mentor & Arts Activist from a career in the Arts that literally expands across a lifetime. If you are interested to find out more, feel free to request her CV.