Welsh arts centre director retires after three decades

PHILIP HUGHES will step down from his role as director of Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales at the end of this month after 33 years in the role, passing the baton to SAMANTHA RHODES, who joins from Bluecoat Display Centre.

During his tenure, Hughes led a £4.3 million redevelopment of the centre and drove support for emerging artists through exhibitions, residencies and educational programmes.

“From what we took over and what we have now, the centre is completely different; there’s no comparison between one and the other,” said Hughes.

“It was a tiny little exhibition space where we did good things; we toured exhibitions and as they toured to bigger venues, they expanded. We now have the space ourselves to show all the sorts of things that we aspired to show.”

He noted that over the years, many artists who had their first exhibition at Ruthin, some of whom were fresh out of college, have gone on to have careers in the arts, and that the gallery has exhibited work abroad in places such as Chicago and Barcelona.

“Hopefully, we have helped to put a lot of money into artists’ pockets,” he added.

The artist DAVID NASH, whose exhibition will be the last overseen by Hughes, said the departing director had moulded Ruthin into the “premier” craft gallery of Britain, adding “there isn’t anywhere as good as it”.

“The standard and integrity of Ruthin Craft Centre has been maintained and developed, and it’s rare in the world.”