Mary Lloyd Jones: Layers at the National Library of Wales.
Mary Lloyd Jones is one of Wales’s most important artists. She was born in 1934 in Pontarfynach (Devil’s Bridge) and trained at Cardiff College of Art. She has been exhibiting her work since the 1960s, forging her way to becoming one of the most influential figures in Welsh visual art. Over the years, her work has taken her all over the world, but it is to the landscapes of Ceredigion that she returns for inspiration.
Through her bold use of colour and layers of varied marks, Mary has developed a distinctive visual language that brings together the personal and the historical. Her work moves between painting and textiles, where the process of working with fabric is integral to the meaning. The marks that cover her large canvases come from a wide range of sources - from prehistoric carvings to systems of language - reflecting the ways in which people have sought to record and interpret their world.
JONES, Mary Lloyd, Iaith Cofio © Mary Lloyd Jones / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - The National Library of Wales
JONES, Mary Lloyd, Red Yantra © Mary Lloyd Jones / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - The National Library of Wales
JONES, Mary Lloyd, Cwm Rheidiol © Mary Lloyd Jones / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - The National Library of Wales
Mary Lloyd Jones: Layers celebrates Mary’s life and work. Drawing on a career spanning more than six decades, and an extensive archive recently gifted to the Library, the exhibition explores the themes that have shaped her work: landscape, language, historical marks and identity.
You are invited to trace the evolution of her work and to celebrate a lifetime of vibrant creativity.
Exhibition highlights include early geometric works, experimental textiles, Mary’s personal archive, and the abstract, colourful landscapes she is best known for.
Mary Lloyd Jones: Layers is at the National Library of Wales from 25 July 2026 - 10 April 2027. For more information please head to the National Library of Wales's website.
