➜ 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 North Wales Rivers Trust.

The selected artist will have the opportunity to learn from the Trust's knowledge and ongoing work around rivers, water quality, freshwater ecology, biodiversity and the connections between land, rivers and the sea. 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

Water runs through the landscape of the Sculpture Trail, from springs and small waterways to the Afon Lleiniog, which meets the sea at the Menai Strait.

This winter, a newly trained team of local citizen scientists will begin monitoring the Afon Lleiniog through North Wales Rivers Trust's Lab Dŵr programme, producing the first water-quality data for this river. The residency offers an opportunity to encounter this emerging knowledge as it is gathered and to explore what it might reveal.

Your research might begin with the river itself, with monitoring and fieldwork, or move into wider questions around water, ecology, movement and change.

Your enquiry might begin with:

• following a river from source to sea — and noticing what changes along the way
• what water carries, collects, dissolves, deposits or leaves behind
• discovering what becomes visible when a river is sampled and tested
• working with the first emerging Lab Dŵr data from the Afon Lleiniog
• aquatic species as indicators of conditions we cannot necessarily see
• flow, turbulence, sediment, cycles and other forms of movement
• connections between freshwater, land, weather and the sea
• the different ways a river can be measured, mapped, experienced or understood

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 North Wales Rivers Trust.

It might include meetings with Trust staff and specialists, walks and site visits, participation in water monitoring or other field activities, and access to ecological knowledge, research and environmental data, 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 invite curiosity, participation and conversation around rivers and freshwater environments — including processes and changes that may otherwise be difficult to see.

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 North Wales Rivers Trust

• 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 North Wales Rivers Trust.

➜ 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 North Wales Rivers Trust, 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.

➜ About North Wales Rivers Trust

North Wales Rivers Trust works to restore and protect rivers across North Wales, addressing water quality, habitat and biodiversity through practical conservation, research, monitoring, education and community participation. Its work extends across a wide catchment, including Ynys Môn and the rivers flowing into the Menai Strait.

One of its current projects is Lab Dŵr, a citizen-science programme enabling communities to investigate the health of their local waterways. Volunteers undertake chemical testing and identify aquatic invertebrates, helping to build a wider picture of water quality and change across North and Mid Wales.

For this residency, the artist will have the opportunity to engage with the very beginning of Lab Dŵr monitoring on the Afon Lleiniog. A newly trained team of local citizen scientists will begin gathering data from the river this winter, creating its first water-quality dataset and offering a new picture of this waterway as it flows through the landscape of the Sculpture Trail towards the Menai Strait.

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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