An artist living on the Eisteddfod’s doorstep has been awarded the festival’s prestigious Young Artist Scholarship. The £1,500, given buy the Friends of the Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy, was awarded to a multi-disciplinary artist from Dolgarrog.

Hannah Cash, 21 years, has recently graduated in Fine Art at York St John University and her work combines drawing, choreography and film.

The selectors - artist Manon Awst, independent curator Bruce Haines and craft and design specialist Teleri Lloyd-Jones – were unanimous in their decision to award the scholarship to the young artist.

Bruce Haines said: “Hannah Cash is operating in the centre of an intriguing interdisciplinary web of activities. She is a performer and a cinematographer, a director and a choreographer, a location finder and her own archivist. The intertwining bodies in a landscape is a trope that provides a rich source of material historically that can be found in museums across the country, spanning 18th-century painting to early 20th century photography, sculpture and early experiments in video art of the 1980s.

“We are in no doubt that Hannah Cash will be emboldened by this award to pursue her dreams with a vital mixture of idealism and pragmatism. It was a happy coincidence to discover at the end of the selection process that she comes from a village just a couple of miles down the Conwy Valley from where this Eisteddfod is being held. We will look forward to seeing more of her work in whatever form it should take in the years to come and are sure that the promise of what her work proposes at the Eisteddfod in Llanrwst becomes a fond part of her own history.”

Hannah Cash’s aims to pursue a MA course in either Fine Art or the Moving Image. In the meantime the young artist is eager to learn more about dance and movement.

“I have been working in collaboration with my twin sister Jasmine, who is a dancer, through developing and playing with movement in the landscape, growing on my long-standing interest in dance. This has moved my work into new and exciting directions.

“My work explores the movement of bodies and involves a physical engagement within a landscape, it examines the encounter between drawing, choreography and film in order to investigate the forms of thinking-feeling-knowing - approaching film making as collage.

“My aim has always been to return home to Wales, to build on the art scene in the area and highlight the beauty of the landscape in Snowdonia through my film work.”

Hannah Cash’s video installation ’Tirwedd’ (landscape) is exhibited in Y Lle Celf (visual arts pavilion) at the Eisteddfod.

Wales’ galleries have already expressed an interest in Hannah Cash’s artwork.

Young Artist Scholarship

The Young Artist Scholarship is awarded to the most promising candidate to enable him or her to pursue a course in a recognised school or college of art and design or attend master classes. The scholarship is open to those under 25 years on 31 August. Short-listed candidates will be expected to prepare a portfolio of work and submit a letter of application describing how the scholarship will be put to use. The work submitted may be displayed in Y Lle Celf. The successful candidate may also be offered space at the following Eisteddfod's Lle Celf to display his/her work.

Y Lle Celf is realised in partnership with Arts Council of Wales