➜ Overview

As part of Olion //\ Traces, we are inviting proposals from artists and makers interested in developing new work through a period of research and exchange with Heneb – the Trust for Welsh Archaeology.

The selected artist will have the opportunity to learn from Heneb's archaeological knowledge and research around Aberlleiniog and Trecastell, exploring the traces of people, events and changing uses that have shaped this landscape over time. Meetings, conversations, site visits and other activities will be shaped around the artist's interests and the questions they want to pursue.

The residency will lead to a new commissioned work for the Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail, 20–21 March 2027.

We are interested in questions rather than fully resolved ideas for artworks. What would you like to explore, learn or investigate through this opportunity?

➜ Starting Points

Archaeology begins with what remains — objects, structures, materials, marks in the landscape — but also with gaps, uncertainties and questions about what can be known.

The landscape around Aberlleiniog contains traces of human activity from very different periods — from the medieval township of Trecastell and Castell Aberlleiniog to later fortifications, field boundaries, buildings and historic fish traps along the Menai Strait. The Afon Lleiniog itself cuts through this landscape, dividing Aberlleiniog and Trecastell.

Archaeology offers ways of reading these traces, but also raises questions about what survives, what disappears and how incomplete evidence is interpreted.

Your research might begin with a particular site, object, material or period, or with wider questions about how we understand the people and activities that have shaped this landscape.

Your enquiry might begin with:

• reading a landscape through the fragments, structures and marks people have left behind
• following an object, material or place across different moments in time
• what survives, what disappears — and why
• how archaeologists move from fragments of evidence towards possible stories
• maps, excavation, recording and reconstruction as ways of making the past legible
• boundaries, settlements and structures that continue to shape a landscape long after their original use
• the relationship between material evidence, memory and imagination
• what cannot be recovered: gaps, uncertainties and the limits of what can be known

These are starting points, not prescribed themes. We welcome unexpected approaches and questions that emerge from your own practice.

➜ The Residency

The residency will take place between late November 2026 and March 2027 and will be developed in conversation with the selected artist and Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology.

It might include meetings with archaeologists and other specialists, walks and site visits, access to archaeological research, records, maps and other materials, or other forms of exchange relevant to the artist's enquiry.

This is not a residential programme. Artists should expect to travel to Ynys Môn at different points during the research period. Limited overnight accommodation may be available at Plas Bodfa by arrangement.

The process is intended to give the selected artist time to learn, experiment and allow the work to develop through the residency, rather than arrive with a predetermined outcome.

➜ The Commission

The residency will lead to a new work presented as part of the Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail on 20 & 21 March 2027.

We welcome sculpture, installation, sound, performance, participatory work, moving image and interdisciplinary approaches. The work might take the form of an object, an encounter, an intervention, an activity or something we haven't anticipated.

Because the Trail takes place across woodland, waterways, historic sites and community spaces, proposals should be sensitive to their environment and appropriate to the site in which they are eventually presented.

The final form and location of the work will be developed during the residency.

➜ Public Engagement

An important part of this commission is finding ways for the research, knowledge and ideas encountered during the residency to reach wider audiences.

This does not mean that the work needs to be educational or explanatory. We are interested in how artistic approaches can open up different ways of encountering archaeology — inviting curiosity and conversation around the evidence, absences and interpretations through which we understand a place and its past.

The selected artist will take part in an informal online work-in-progress sharing during the residency. Following the Sculpture Trail, they will also participate in a public screening of the project documentation films and panel discussion in May 2027, bringing together the artists and partner organisations to reflect on the research, process and work that emerged.

➜ What We Offer

The selected artist or collaborative group will receive:

• £1,500 artist fee

• £300 materials budget

• up to £200 towards travel

• a bespoke research period with Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology

• curatorial and practical support from Plas Bodfa Projects CIC

• limited overnight accommodation where needed and available

• installation and deinstallation support

• professional photography and a short film documenting the residency and commissioned work

The artist fee and materials budget will be paid at the beginning of the project on receipt of a valid invoice.

Travel reimbursements and additional access costs will be discussed and invoiced separately.

➜ Who Can Apply

The opportunity is open to artists and makers based in Wales, working individually or collaboratively and at any stage of their creative practice.

We particularly encourage applications from North and Mid Wales, where regular engagement with the partner organisation and the landscape can be more practical, but applications are welcomed from across Wales.

Collaborations and collectives are welcome, but the artist fee and project budget remain the same regardless of the number of people involved.

Students are not eligible.

You may apply for more than one of the four Olion //\ Traces commissions, but each application should respond specifically to the organisation you are applying to. You may also apply separately to the general Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail Open Call.

➜ Important Dates

11 November 2026, midnight — Open Call deadline
25 November 2026 — selection announced
November–December 2026 — first meetings and residency begins
January–March 2027 — research, development and making + online work-in-progress sharing
20–21 March 2027 — Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail public presentation
May 2027 — film screening and public panel discussion

Exact residency meetings and activities will be arranged with the selected artist and Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology.

➜ How to Apply

Applications are made through our online application form.

We will ask you about your creative practice, why you are interested in working with Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology, what you would like to explore or learn, how you might approach the research period, and what might develop from it.

You do not need to propose a fully resolved artwork. Your application should focus on what you want to investigate, why this particular partnership interests you and how you might approach the residency.

Finalists may be invited to a brief online conversation with members of the curatorial and partner teams before the final selection.

Application deadline: midnight, 11 November 2026

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➜ Access

We want this opportunity to be accessible to as wide a range of artists as possible. The application form includes space to tell us about any adjustments or support that would help you take part. You do not need to provide medical or personal details.

If travel, site access, online participation or another aspect of the programme presents an access barrier, please get in touch so that we can discuss possible alternatives.

➜ Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology

Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology works across Wales to investigate, understand, protect and share the archaeological and historic environment. Its work encompasses archaeological research and fieldwork, historic landscape research, heritage management and opportunities for people to engage with archaeology.

Heneb's research into the Aberlleiniog and Trecastell historic landscape traces a complex history embedded in the places around the Sculpture Trail. Castell Aberlleiniog, the medieval township of Trecastell, the Afon Lleiniog ravine, historic field patterns and some of the largest historic fish traps on the Menai Strait shoreline all contribute to an understanding of how this landscape has been inhabited, used and changed over time.

For this residency, that research becomes a starting point for looking again at Aberlleiniog — not only at what is already known, but at how evidence is found, recorded and interpreted, and the questions that remain.

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➜ About Olion //\ Traces

Olion //\ Traces is an artist residency and commission programme developed as part of the 2027 Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail.

Four artists will each work with one of four partner organisations:

• GeoMôn UNESCO Global Geopark

• Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology

• Red Squirrels Trust Wales

• North Wales Rivers Trust

Together, the four commissions explore different ways that artistic practice can engage with landscape, history, ecology and deep time.

Olion //\ Traces is produced and initiated by Plas Bodfa Projects CIC, with support from the Arts Council of Wales and funding from the Sustainable Development Fund, a Welsh Government initiative on the Isle of Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), alongside vital contributions from all four partner organisations.

Questions: julie@plasbodfa.com