Gwrych Castle Residency

Gwrych Castle in Wales offers two Royal Drawing School, Drawing Year alumni a self-directed two-week residency in September 2024. Gwrych Castle is a Grade I listed country house near Abergele in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It was built between 1812 and 1822 and is one of the first attempts at replicating true medieval architecture in Europe. The castle stands in 250 acres of gardens and grounds and has extensive views over former parkland including a deer park and the Irish Sea.

The residency opportunity offers the two artists accommodation and use of a shared studio space for two weeks at Gwrych Castle. Artists are provided accommodation within the estate’s extraordinary buildings. For the first week artists will stay in Ty Crwn a historic beach house on the Castle grounds which is situated 50 meters from the shoreline with views over the Irish Sea and Pensarn Beach and for the second week artists will stay in the Castles 19th Century Gate Lodge, originally the principal and ceremonial entrance to the Gwrych Estate.

The residency is a unique opportunity for two artists to spend two weeks on a self-directed residency within the historic grounds and buildings of Gwrych. The artists in residence are encouraged to work on their own self-directed practice and to be inspired by their surrounding location. As part of the residency the artists will be invited to host an open studio for the final weekend of the residency.

Residency dates: Monday 9 – Monday 23 September 2024

Open Studio dates: Saturday 21 and Sunday 22nd September 2024

Artists in residence are provided with accommodation and studio use, please note that travel, materials and food are at the artists’ own cost.

Applications are now open for the Gwrych Castle Residency. Application deadline 5pm Tuesday 7 May 2024. The residency jury will meet in May 2024 to review all applications. The Gwrych residency is only open to alumni of the Royal Drawing School’s postgraduate programme, The Drawing Year. If you have any questions regarding the residency, please contact residencies@royaldrawingschool.org

This residency is kindly supported by Gwrych Castle.