In 2022 we visited St Ives, certainly one of my favourite seaside towns, in the glorious county of Cornwall, the town has the wonderful Tate St Ives, and the studio of the late great Dame Barbara Hepworth who is a major influence on all British sculptors naturally including myself.
A female artist in a predominantly male work, she went on to become an internationally famous sculptor whose legacy can be seen across the world.
As usual we looked at probably all the contemporary galleries in the town that has literally 100’s of artists , there are many galleries that hold some wonderful art in many media but there was one that stood head and shoulders above the rest, found on Back street, with a small entrance down a slope the entrance is unassuming but what is inside is a total revelation.
The Penwith Gallery is the base for the Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall.
The Society was founded in 1949 by a group of artists including Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson Bernard Leach, Peter Lanyon, Sven Berlin and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, The society went on to include such luminaries as Patrick Heron, Terry Frost and even Henry Moore was an honorary member. The society also played an important role in bringing the Tate Gallery to St Ives.
The Penwith Gallery has three associates exhibitions a year, but to be included requires a vigorous selection process and so I entered the maximum of two items for the Associates members Summer show, to my delight both of my works were selected.
To add a Big Cherry to the cake of been selected, I found my work was placed at the approach to the exhibition in a room dedicated to Barbara Hepworth and included a wonderful original Hepworth Sculpture as well as the beautiful photographic portrait of the lady.
RSS Feed