For his first group show at Tiwa Select, titled Coetir, founder Alex Tieghi-Walker looked to his upbringing in the bucolic beauty of the Brecon Beacons in south Wales
On the fifth floor of a building in Tribeca, in the pulsing heart of New York City, lies Tiwa Select – a gallery space that fuses art and design, with an emphasis on craft. Founded by Alex Tieghi-Walker, who up until fairly recently was based in Los Angeles, though he grew up in rural south Wales, the space is a place to discover artists and makers who make beautiful, original objects in their own way and with their own hands.
Tiwa Select’s latest exhibition – the space’s first group show – actually takes inspiration from Tieghi-Walker’s upbringing. Championing craft through the lens of nature and natural mythologies, the show is titled Coetir, meaning woodland in Welsh, and explores our relationship to forests and trees. The exhibition brings together work from a variety of makers, including Emily Frances-Barrett, who created a vase made from items she mudlarked from the River Thames; Jim McDowell who hewed a beautiful bowl out of a block of granite; Earth Landing Project who fashioned a rainbow-rope light out of cast resin; and Vince Skelly who whittled a chair out of California Bay Laurel and Redwood.
Below, Alex Tieghi-Walker discusses the origins of the exhibition and what unites the creators on show.
“I founded Tiwa Select back in 2021, although it was a lot more informal and was more of a spontaneous pop-up gallery than anything else. I opened my first permanent space just under a year ago in New York’s Tribeca. The gallery functions more as a sort of cultural centre, hosting dinners and local community organisations alongside the art programme.
“Coetir is about our relationship to forests and trees. It’s less about works looking like, or visually referencing the look of a forest, and more the mythologies of woodlands. I’m a nature boy myself and was brought up with the Brecon Beacons National Park in my garden, with regular excursions to forests, mountains and archaeological sites. I wanted my first group show at the gallery to link to all of those places in a way and to feel very personal.
“There is a lot of craft heritage and culture in Wales. For such a fascinating corner of the world, Wales receives very little attention .. which is also what makes it so special. Wales was never very cool so it ran its own agenda.
“This show champions nearly every form of craft I’ve shown in the past – from ceramics, through glassblowing, metalwork and woodwork, as well as newer forms of craft. It includes a lot of the regulars I’ve shown before – like Vince Skelly, Dana Arbib, and Earth Landing Project – plus a few new artists I’ve always admired who I thought would respond particularly well to the theme.
“Uniting the artists is a sense of spirituality, and channelling that through the lens of nature and natural mythologies. A lot of the artists tapped into the more unusual colours, and senses one might find in woodland – there are pieces that move, pieces that make noise, pieces that catch the light and project it around the space. I love Max Zinser’s cast glass tables, based on Stelae, or standing stones created by various cultures around the world with the idea to ‘catch’ or listen to desires. The cast glass catches light in an incredible way.
“Overall, I’m hoping that people connect with the works and wander around the space with the same awe they might find from wandering around in nature.. allowing small details and elements of the work to pique curiosity and to engage with.”
Coetir is at Tiwa Select, 5th Floor, 86 Walker Street, New York, until July 27.
