AmeriCymru:  How did this idea for the Swansea map come about?

Rose:  I’ve been involved in some international art collaborations with fellow artists Melanie Ezra and Alban Low; Melanie lives here in Swansea and Alban is from London. Alban approached Melanie and me to get involved with his idea to publish a group of 10 artist maps. We jumped at the chance because it’s so different to the normal tourist maps that get produced; this is about our feelings about Swansea, what we like about the place as citizens and artists. It’s a chance to do something different and focus on the things we think are important about the city.

AmeriCymru:  How did you and Melanie go about compiling it?

Rose:  First of all we met up to discuss the little idiosyncrasies that interested us around the city centre. Swansea is full of art, culture and history and we wanted to put in the things that fascinate us. We ended up with a huge list, far too many for the format. The next stage was to go through our existing artwork to see if we had images that would correspond in some way to the places we had chosen. Because of the timescale, we couldn’t realistically do new work and it’s an interesting process to use existing work for a different purpose.

Then we narrowed it down to 18 locations that can be walked easily across the city centre, taking in quirky and historical places as well as the seafront. Melanie took the lead on the layout of the visuals, while I researched facts about the places we chose to put on the map. We’re fine artists, not graphic designers so we decided not to get too bogged down with computer graphics packages and instead laid out the pictures and text onto a sketchbook around Melanie’s hand-drawn map, a bit like we’d work into our own sketchbooks or work boards anyway.

Once the map section was finalised, we put together the rest – the front cover, a biographical section on each of us and a final page giving a list of weblinks to many of the interesting sites we’d had to leave off.

AmeriCymru:  Care to tell us a little about the reaction to the map?

Rose:  The map was launched at an exhibition in London at Sunbury-on-Thames in 2015. There were loads of people there and a lot of maps sold. All the maps, a set of 10, were very well received. Since then, there have been a lot of Internet sales of the Swansea map, not just local but also from Australia and the USA where they’re a hit with ex-pats. The map seems very popular for birthday presents and wedding gifts and some parents have bought them for youngsters about to move to Swansea. It’s ridiculously cheap so it’s a quirky and affordable present to give and people seem to like our different insight.

Locally, there’s been a lot of interest because we’re showing people a new way to look at their city. Many locals didn’t realise what’s around them, you take what’s around you for granted and sometimes you need to see things through new eyes.

AmeriCymru:  What is your favourite part of Swansea?

Rose:  Oh that’s a hard one. The map takes in Dragons, Doctor Who and the Da Vinci Code; street art, sand and Granny’s Custard; galleries, museums and allotments. And a castle! Swansea’s a great place but if I had to choose one part it would be the beach. I walk along it most days and even though it rains a lot, the climate is reasonably mild and the beach is fringed with palm trees! There are the remains of an ancient petrified forest when the tide is out with clay deposits that were originally used for the earliest Swansea potteries; it’s a fine, orange terracotta when it’s fired but black and sticky in its natural form. The clay dissolves into a sludge that we locals call ‘Granny’s Custard’, it squidges between your toes!

AmeriCymru:  Where can our readers go to purchase a copy of ’Swansea: On The Map: An Artist’s Walk’?

Rose:  It’s available directly from the publishers, Sampson Low Ltd…….
http://www.sampsonlow.com/

…. and from Amazon, here’s the link -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swansea-Artists-Walk-Melanie-Ezra/dp/1910578061/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429604582&sr=1-2

And here are the technical details:

Published April 2015
ISBN 978-1-910578-06-3
A3 fold out map
Author – Melanie Ezra and Rose Davies
Editor – Alban Low, Melanie Ezra and Rose Davies
SLB0014

AmeriCymru:  Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Rose:  It’s great that so many people in the USA are interested in Wales and I hope this map motivates people to find out more about the area around Swansea. Melanie and I both publish daily blogs that feature life in Swansea as well as art and culture, so please feel free to drop by and visit us in the blogsphere. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Rose Davies (Rosie Scribblah) is an artist and printmaker, scribbler and ageing headbanger. She works directly from life, carrying a sketchbook at all times looking for any opportunity to have a scribble. She works from her studio in Wales, UK where she lives with her husband and cats, who often feature in her drawings and blogs.

Blog:  https://scribblah.co.uk/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rosie-Scribblah-Printmaker-and-Scribbler/149442308432211?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Twitter:  @RosieScribblah

Melanie Ezra is a UK-based fine artist who works using her own original photographs to create beautiful and intricate collages. She often works in series, providing visual responses to external stimuli such as literature, science, and music. She considers herself a specialist in the deconstruction of time and the extension of the moment.

Blog:  http://melanieezra.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/melanie.ezra?fref=ts
Twitter:  @melanieezra