8:29am Wednesday 23rd May 2007
By Daniel Lombard
A LEADING Welsh artist is urging Newport council to do "whatever it takes" to bring a national art gallery to the city.
Newport is in the running for the proposed National Centre for Contemporary Art in Wales, an international-standard gallery which would house celebrated pieces from the 1950s to the present day.
Cardiff and Swansea are being considered by the Assembly but distinguished sculptor David Petersen is backing the Newport campaign.
Mr Petersen, whose works have been exhibited all over the world, studied fine art at Newport's Art College in the 1960s and later worked as a senior lecturer there.
He urged Newport council to show "political courage" and provide financial backing for the project.
Although the overall cost is expected to run into millions of pounds, he said the authority would make "£10,000 for every pound it invests".
"Newport council's chief executive needs to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao and speak to the mayor of the town," said the artist.
"He'll tell him, "the place was falling apart, but now we have money coming out of the sewers".
"The Ryder Cup's great, but if you put a centre like this in Newport, you've got something for generations."
Rosemary Butler, AM for Newport West, who was chair of Wales' culture committee until last year, says the centre would find a "natural home" in the city.
Mrs Butler has already held talks with Peter Noyes, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Wales, Newport, and city council leader Bob Bright, in an attempt to drum up support for a campaign.
She said a riverside setting and the city's excellent transport links made Newport "the obvious choice" for the centre.
The combination of existing arts spaces, including Newport Museum and Art Gallery and the Riverfront, along with the university's new campus being built nearby, "would create a magnet for art lovers from all over the world", she added.
Ron Jones, Newport's cabinet member for culture, said the council would welcome the project and that it would be an "unbelievable" addition to the city.
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