We were delighted to welcome Cheon Pyo Lee to the Swansea Canal today. Cheon is the canal’s Artist in Residence for the next six months. The visit is sponsored by the Arts Council of Wales, Glandwr Cymru, and Addo Creative Arts Consultancy based in Wrexham.

Cheon watched and videoed us working on the Trebanos Lower Lock restoration. We got to know him over coffee and he then walked with me along the canal from Pontardawe up to bridge 7, close to the Glantawe Outdoor Academy.

Cheon said: “I am excited to be the first resident artist on the Swansea Canal.  I look forward to learning from this historically rich site and also experiment with new approaches towards art making. I want to involve the local community and fellow artists in the work I do.”

He was born in Korea but moved to Paraguay with his family when he was eight. He is now based in New York. His work studio while in Swansea will be at the Museum store on the site of the Old Copper Works, Hafod.

Cheon will be back with us next Tuesday and we look forward to showing him a lot more of the canal and its bridges, locks and aqueducts. We hope he will have fond memories of everything he does here in Swansea.