Gwobr Jonah Jones (Jonah Jones Prize)
Scene & Word’s Gwobr Jonah Jones is an award scheme for young artists. We raise funds for it through donations and sales from the not-for-profit Scene & Word Store. Through the scheme we contributed to the Young Artist Scholarship at Eisteddfod Llŷn and Eifionydd 2023 where Shauna Taylor won the Highly Commended category.
Saving public artworks
Scene & Word campaigns to save major public artworks by Jonah Jones at risk from wear and tear or physical destruction. We partnered with the Architectural Glass Centre (AGC) at Swansea College of Art to support the Catholic Diocese of Wrexham in a project totalling £66,000 to restore and relocate twelve dalle de verre windows by Jonah Jones from a closed church in Morfa Nefyn, Llŷn, to St David’s Church, Mold. We continue to campaign for a new home in Wales for his huge wall sculpture Y Bont, which remains in storage following removal from its original site in Coleg Harlech. One of our directors is Alun Adams, a leading conservation expert and former AGC Coordinator.
Exhibitions
Scene & Word supports art galleries in organising exhibitions of Jonah Jones’s work. In 2013 we helped to curate ‘The Word’, a retrospective exhibition at the National Museum Wales, Cardiff. In 2019 we worked closely with Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Llanbedrog, Pwllheli, on a major centennial show, contributing extensively from our private collections. Watercolour inscriptions have been exhibited at Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen, and Gregynog Hall, Tregynon, Newtown.
Online gallery
Scene & Word’s online gallery, Oriel Jonah Jones, collects, classifies, displays and explains his work throughout his career: sculptures, glass, paintings, inscriptions, mosaics and other media.
Books and prints
Scene & Word publishes books, prints, digital content and other media by or about Jonah Jones. Our limited edition collectors’ set, An Artist’s Life in Wales, comprised a handbound book, three full-size watercolour prints, and a CD-ROM of rare digital materials and TV footage. Currently our list includes books, prints and cards, all available through the Jonah Jones Store. Recently we launched a new imprint, Adastra Publishing, to cover the work of contemporary Welsh artists.
Creating content
Scene & Word creates and contributes original content about Jonah Jones for publishers, TV and radio. One of our directors, his son Peter Jones, was the author of the biography Jonah Jones: An Artist’s Life and the editor of a collection of wartime letters, Dear Mona: Letters from a Conscientious Objector. Peter and other directors frequently contribute to TV and radio broadcasts by the BBC and S4C.
Talks and lectures
Scene & Word welcomes invitations to talk publicly about Jonah Jones. His biographer Peter Jones has lectured at Bangor University, National Museum Wales, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, Cardiff Central Library, Merched y Wawr, Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and elsewhere.
Archiving
Scene & Word has donated important archival materials relating to Jonah Jones to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Photographs, from top: Architectural Glass Centre, Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity St David (Saving public artworks); Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw (Exhibitions; Talks and lectures); Stephen Brayne (Books and prints).