Blaenau Ffestiniog artist Remy Dean is gearing up for a new exhibition in his hometown.

INTER/VERBA opens at Oriel Maenofferen Gallery at Blaenau Ffestiniog Library on 24 April, alongside a Pop-Up Museum by Storiel.

As part of that, Remy will host a creative workshop for adults on the afternoon of 24 April. The exhibition opening and an Artist’s Talk with Remy will take place that same evening, from 5pm to 6pm.

It’s a busy time for the Blaenau artist who, at the same time, has work on show as part of a huge artists’ takeover of Plas Bodfa in Anglesey, involving more than 60 local artists in one place, but Remy is used to being busy!

An artist and author of a dozen published books and more than 50 features in national newspapers and magazines, Remy is also a Lead Creative Schools Agent for the Arts Council of Wales, a storyteller, curator, lecturer on art and folklore, and hosts creative workshops.

His latest novel, THIS, is the first in an epic fantasy-fairy-tale trilogy: THIS, THAT and THE OTHER.

Inspired by local folklore and written with his daughter Zel Cariad as creative consultant, this is his first book for children and young adults.

Remy’s art has recently been exhibited at Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Oriel Ynys Môn, Llangefni, and a selection of his work is currently on show in the Stable Block at Plas Tan y Bwlch, Maentwrog.

Originally from Newport, Gwent, Remy “moved around a lot”.

“I was part raised ‘down south’ with early schooling in Cambridge and Surrey, and then ‘up north’ with middle schooling in Lancashire,” he said.

“I did an art foundation course at Wigan College of Mining and Technology and from there went to college in Stoke-on-Trent where I got a BA Honours degree in audio-visual design.

“To broaden my experience, and back-up my arts qualification with practical administration and business skills, I went on to postgraduate studies in Blackpool.”

But art took a back seat for a while, as Remy explained.

“I started out as a freelance journalist, writing about all sorts of things, but usually things related to arts, music and cinema.

“I wrote for national newspapers including The Guardian and The Independent and eventually I found myself in the enviable position of having big publishers come to me with book commissions.

“I wrote biographies and critiques about Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch, Nine Inch Nails, Suede, Nirvana, and Celine Dion!”

In the mid 1990s, when Remy became a ‘family man’, he decided to move back to Wales and took on a project to renovate an old bakery in Blaenau Ffestiniog that had been derelict for well over a decade.

“When we first moved in, it was possible to stand in the cellar and look up through three floors, and the roof, to see sky above!

“There were a lot of butterflies overwintering in one of the bedrooms, perhaps 30 or 40. They were mainly tortoiseshells, I think. It was really magical when they all woke up in the spring and fluttered out of the open windows to freedom! A great omen. Now it is a cosy home where I live with my wife, daughter and dog.”

See this week’s north papers for the full feature, available in shops and as a digital edition now