Cosmic eggs and floating heads: The mid-Wales village that’s home to some of the world’s most astonishing artworks

A few miles outside Welshpool you will find the charming village of Berriew.

It is the embodiment of traditional country life - tudor-style cottages, trundling tractors and a gently flowing river.

The quaint village of Berriew, home of Logan's museum

It is the last place you would expect to find a giant mirrored egg and bejewelled flying horses.

But this small village in Powys has become the artistic hub of Andrew Logan. For almost 50 years, he has been at the cutting edge of modern art, famed for his flamboyant style and surreal sculptures.

Andrew Logan, owner of the Museum of Sculpture

In the ITV series “Wonders of the Border”, Sean Fletcher meets this most colourful of creatives to find out why Berriew’s old squash courts are now adorned with Egyptian pyramids and huge musical flowers.

Although Andrew Logan lived, worked and exhibited in London he was no stranger to the Mid-Wales countryside.

He regularly visited friends in Montgomery and fell in love with the tranquility of Powys.

In 1991, he opened his Museum of Sculpture in Berriew - a dazzling collection of mirrored sculptures, and the first museum in Europe dedicated to a living artist.

One of Logan's many colourful pieces of art

"My work is about joy and life," explains Andrew. 

"And I just wanted to have it where it was available to anyone, at any time. 

"My art is colourful, it's bright and cheerful.  It brings a smile to your face.  I think if I can just do that, in my life - to make everyone smile, just once - then I've achieved something."

The museum's centrepiece is a four-metre tall egg, covered entirely by interwoven fragments of glass. The Cosmic Egg is one of Andrew's most popular artworks.

Andrew Logan's most iconic art piece - the Cosmic Egg

"I brought the Cosmic Egg to Berriew on a flatbed truck," he reflects.

"We had lots of beeps from other lorry drivers. It was very amusing.

"The Egg is about evolution. About life, death and birth. And my material is glass because I’m obsessed with mirrors. You’re playing with light.  

"I’ve had a little ceramic Cosmic Egg made and when I die my ashes will be kept inside that egg in the museum.  So after I’ve gone I’ll still be with my art."

You can see more on this story in Wonders of the Border on Thursday 6 May at 7:30pm on ITV Cymru Wales. It will then be available online at:  itv.com/walesprogrammes 


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