The best exhibitions to see in Wales in 2016

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

We've scoured the land to bring you our recommendations of the best exhibitions to see in Wales in 2016 with everything from an archaeological fact and fiction mash-up to an ode to a nuclear power station

Kicking off this year’s programme at National Museum Cardiff, Treasures: Adventures in Archaeology (January 23 – October 20) brings together remarkable archaeological objects from around the world in an inspiring exhibition to celebrate 2016, The Year of Adventure in Wales.

The adventurous exhibition allows you to follow in the footsteps of famous explorers - real and fictional - and features star objects including an Egyptian mummy, 19th century fake French crystal skull and Indiana Jones’ whip, hat and coat.

While you’re in the exploring mood, there’s still time to catch Reading the Rocks: the Remarkable Maps of William Smith (until February 28), a display of incredible hand-drawn maps created by gentleman-geologist William Smith. These ground-breaking pieces of functional art defined Smith as the father of English geology.

Contemporary Welsh artist Ivor Davies uses destruction as the theme for his major exhibition Silent Explosion (until March 20). Linking back to work he made during World War II, and charting his involvement in the avant-garde, Silent Explosion presents a series of performances staged by Davies throughout the UK in the late 1960s.

Not to be missed when visiting the museum this year is a display of work by important Welsh modernist Augustus John (until September 30), featuring painting, drawings and prints from the museum’s extensive collection.

The Makers Guild in Wales’ gallery Craft in the Bay hosts a range of contemporary craft and applied art shows throughout the year. This year’s programme welcomes Brendan Stuart Burns’ stunning works in porcelain (January 16 – March 6); German-born Beate Gegenwart’s sculptural metal and enamel pieces (May 14 – July 10); and Shelley Doolan’s stunning sculptural glass artworks (July 1 – August 28).

The Gallery’s penultimate show explores the role of drawing in the conception and development of artists’ work in the exciting Drawing Inspirations (September 17 – November 6); and they round off the year with Vanessa Cutler, (November 4 2016 – January 2 2017) who pushes the boundaries of industrial tools and techniques to produce beautifully meticulous waterjet-cut glass sculptures.

If you’re quick you can still catch Magda Archer’s #givemeeverythingandnothingbaby (until January 24) brightening up the walls off the Caffi Bar over at Chapter Arts Centre with a little vintage inspired, sugar coated tongue-in-cheek humour.

Following this, the bold, large scale paintings of Rose Wylie take over the gallery’s walls (February 13 – May 29). Drawing on various themes and issues, often from popular culture and politics, Wylie’s carefully deconstructed practice creates energetic, chaotic imagery.

Heading north to Cwmbran, Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year’s programme kicks off with An ‘in’ with a stranger (January 16 – March 12), an exploration of the use of the weather as a metaphor for the human condition, which brings together work by four artists whose work encapsulates this idea.

Alongside this, flora (January 16 – March 12) sees artist Caroline Dear in residence at the gallery; she’ll be exploring our relationship with nature and the world around us, looking at how we physically engage with the land.

The gallery gets nostalgic in the spring, with a look back at the last 50 years of exhibitions in From Adams to Zobole (March 26 – May 14). Having featured work by thousands of artists, they’ve got lots to choose from for this special anniversary exhibition, which presents work by thirty of the most influential artists the gallery’s seen so far.

Later on in the year, the gallery looks to the future for Portal2016 (October 1 – November 19). LGAC have scoured the UK, searching for remarkable graduate artists to showcase in this exhibition celebrating emerging talent.

Heading over to Swansea, and Oriel Ceri Richards Gallery kick off the year with an exhibition of Original Artists' Posters (January 8 – February 13), created by artists to publicise their exhibitions; this show offers a rare opportunity to witness these ephemeral pieces in mint condition.

Contemporary art space the Mission Gallery explores installation, craft and curation in 2016 and kicking off the gallery’s New Year programme is Captured Moments (January 23 – March 13), an installation by award-winning artist Rhian Hâf which draws on the unique properties of glass to transmit and absorb light.

The gallery’s 2015 curatorial resident Louise Hobson then presents the fruits of her month-long labour in I'd Rather Be An Architect (March 19 – April 10) which presents a collaboration of ideas and conversations surrounding temporary and mobile architecture.

Towards the end of spring, Slipping the Trail (April 16 – June 5) sees ceramicist Philip Eglin reinvigorating the tradition of slipware by drawing on museum collections, and in particular responding to 19th century slipware from North Wales. Eglin has created a body of work that offers a contemporary take on slipware, whilst retaining a traditional charm.

There’s a treat in store for those visiting Swansea later in the year as ten original drawings by the Rennaissance artist and influential polymath Leonardo da Vinci stopover in Wales for the last leg of their 2016 tour. Glynn Vivian Art Gallery hosts the exquisite drawings in Leonardo da Vinci: Ten Drawings from the Royal Collection (October 15 – January 6 2017). The drawings will be visiting Newcastle, Dublin and Nottingham earlier in the year.

Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery presents Unmaking the Modern: The Work of Stanley Anderson (1884-1966) (February 1 – March 11 2016), bringing to light works by the British printmaker and watercolourist. Royal Academician Anderson is best known for his prints featuring British craftsmen and their ever-vanishing rural traditions.

If you’re quick you can still catch Naming the Animals, also within the university at the Ceramic Collection and Archive (until January 31). The exhibition is an exploration of the history of the animal form in ceramics, and charts this history through talismans, charms, ornaments and toys.

In rural Powys, Oriel Davies Gallery focuses on data and power. Power in the Land (February 6 – April 6) sees artist collaborative X-10 contemplating the past, the future and the complex issues surrounding nuclear power,  working around the decommissioning of the last remaining Magnox stations, Wylfa. Each artist has responded to the theme through their practice, which comprises video, photography, sound and installation.

Alongside, Chris Oackley explores the future of data in an increasingly digital world. Datacide (February 6 – April 6) is a sculptural installation, created through the destruction of hard disk drives and is designed to raise issues around the obsolescence of technology and its waste materials whilst contemplating the meaning of data.

Heading north to Pwllheli, acclaimed painter Clare Woods’ touring exhibition A Tree A Rock A Cloud (until March 6) takes to Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. The exhibition takes inspiration from the landscape, as well as from portraiture and still life, and sees Woods’ wonderfully colourful, lively paintings grace the gallery’s walls.

Visitors to Llandudno in 2016 will find a variety of exciting shows on the cards at MOSTYN, where Cuban conceptual artist Diango Hernandez holds his first solo UK exhibition. Time Islands and Space Islands (until May 15) explores the artist’s upbringing in Cuba from a western perspective and features both old and new sculptural work and works on paper.

For more art in the gallery you can also check out MOSTYN youth collective GLITCH’s  exhibition exploring collaboration, & (until May 15) and Iwan Lewis’ Uprisings (until May 22), an installation of paintings exploring a fictional narrative.

If history’s more your thing, the gallery also present War II (also until May 15). A sequel to 2014’s War I, which explored the use of the MOSTYN space during the First World War, War II discovers the history of Llandudno in World War II, paying special attention to the American soldiers stationed in the town, and tells the story of the gallery’s previous life as the ‘Donut Dugout’ where American troops would go for food and recreation.

Anything we've missed? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/art542982-the-best-exhibitions-to-see-in-wales-in-2016