The director of a Welsh arts centre will be bowing out in style with his final exhibition set to feature work by world-renowned artist David Nash.
The exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre will be the last one organised by Philip Hughes, 66, who will be retiring from his role after 33 years at the end of September.
Philip and his team have brought ground-breaking exhibitions to Ruthin, given hundreds of new artists their first chance to show their work, and attracted millions of pounds worth of investment to the region’s arts and crafts industry through grant funding.
Under his stewardship Philip oversaw the £4.3 million redevelopment of the centre, which is now regarded as one of Britain’s most outstanding venues for the applied arts.
Philip, who received an MBE in 2016 in recognition of his service to art and craft, said he was delighted his final exhibition would feature the work of David Nash.
Globally respected for his work with wood, trees and the natural environment, David, who is based in Blaenau Ffestiniog and is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has exhibited at major exhibitions throughout the world.
Philip said the exhibition, which opens on September 27 and runs until January 11, would be a perfect way to end his time at the helm of the craft centre.
The exhibition will be opened by Dr James Fox, who regularly appears on television presenting arts programmes.
Philip said: “At the exhibition, we are going to show David’s sculptures, his prints, works on paper, and some sculptures in the courtyard.
“David is probably the most important contemporary artist in Wales.
“Curator Gregory Parsons is working with David to curate the exhibition.
“It’s a fantastic exhibition for me to bow out on and for the new director Samantha Rhodes to come in on.”
According to David Nash, he was honoured that his exhibition would be Philip’s last at the centre.
The artist, who was awarded an OBE in 2004, said: “What has been great about Philip is he has developed Ruthin into the premier craft gallery of Britain, there isn’t anywhere as good as it.
“The standard and integrity of Ruthin Craft Centre has been maintained and developed and it’s rare in the world.
“Philip really understands the making aspect of art, not just the finish, and he has been so thorough and consistent.
“I have always regarded the centre as a very special place.”
David said the exhibition would feature more than 100 of his works.
He said: "I’m very much looking forward to the exhibition, the craft centre are a joy to work with and I have such a good experience there.”
Philip first started working at the centre in the summer of 1991 and became director in December 1992.
He said he was proud of how he and former deputy director Jane Gerrard were able to lead the transformation of the centre. He said: “In the early 2000s we started the redevelopment project because the building, though it wasn’t an old building, wasn’t a very good building.
“We got the money to rebuild and the new building opened in July 2008.
“Opening the new building was certainly a high point.
“My colleague Jane Gerrard, who was deputy director until a year ago when she retired, was pivotal.
“We pulled it off and it’s been successful ever since - but I wouldn’t want to do it again!”
Philip said the award of his MBE was down to the team effort at the centre.
He said: “The MBE was really for the whole team who worked there, because you don’t do it on your own.
“From what we took over and what we have now, the centre is completely different, there’s no comparison between one and the other.
“It was a tiny little exhibition space where we did good things; we toured exhibitions and as they toured to bigger venues they expanded. We now have the space ourselves to show all the sorts of things that we aspired to show.”
Through working with grant funding bodies, Philip and his team have managed to secure millions of pounds worth of investment over the years to fund artists in North Wales.
He said: “A lot of the artists that we show have had Arts Council of Wales grants, a recent example is Verity Pulford, from Eryrys, who was awarded the gold medal for craft and design at this year’s Eisteddfod in Wrexham.
“Hopefully we have helped to put a lot of money into artists’ pockets.
“We support artists by working with them in many ways; through exhibitions, but also they do short residences, they do educational work etc.
“Over the years we have shown an awful lot of people who have had their first exhibition here at Ruthin and have gone on to have careers in the arts; we show a lot of people who have just came out of college for example.
“And we have taken people’s work abroad to exhibit in the past too, such as Chicago and Barcelona.”
Philip said he had enjoyed being at the forefront of the UK’s art and craft scene, with the centre often being the first to showcase leading artists from Wales, the UK and internationally.
Those artists include influential textile designer Anni Albers while work by renowned ceramist Ruth Duckworth has also featured at the centre.
Philip said: “We were the first to show textile artist Anni Albers for example, in a long while, then Tate Modern followed us with an exhibition afterwards.
“The other exhibition which was very pivotal for us was Ruth Duckworth’s 90th birthday exhibition, which was her last exhibition. Poignant as she and her family originally found asylum in Wales from Nazi Germany”
Philip said those two exhibitions in particular were important to the growing international reputation of the craft centre, and helped it to attract work from other leading artists.