Gallery focus: Tremenheere

from MyCornwall - October/November 2021

Artist focus: Catherine Hyde at Lighthouse Gallery

GALLERY OF THE MONTH

Tremenheere

In a beautiful, sheltered valley overlooking St Michael’s Mount, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens combine large-scale exotic and subtropical planting with an evolving programme of contemporary artwork.

Outside, woodland, streams and dramatic vistas provide the perfect backdrop for the work of internationally renowned artists, who have interacted with the landscape to create site-specific permanent work. James Turrell’s Skyspace offers a space from which to view the sky, especially at twilight; while garden designer Darren Hawkes’ 2015 Chelsea Flower Show entry, featuring 41,000 pieces of slate, is now surrounded by a majestic weeping willow and old, characterful trees.

Inside, Tremenheere Gallery offers an evolving programme of curated shows from local, national and international artists across two exhibition spaces in a beautiful oak-framed building.

Anthem runs until October 9, and sees four artists drawn together in a lyrical exploration of this particular moment in time through the diverse media of sculpture, pottery, oil paint and mixed media.

The work of St Ives artist Marion Taylor and Falmouth ceramicist Julia Florence occupy the downstairs gallery. Marion’s works express notes of colour and light, shining in darkness. During lockdowns, Julia felt a deep affinity for Cornwall and many of her beautiful vases portray the colour, textures and sensuality of the county.

In the upstairs galleries, Iranian artist Masoud Akhavanjam exhibits sculptures in mirror-polished stainless steel, reflecting light in a beautifully iconic way. Like many, artist Danny Romeril yearned for live music events during lockdowns and his paintings express the excitement of live music through paint.

Joint curator Sophie Kazan explains: “Anthem means a hymn of praise or a popular song that sums up the feelings associated with a moment in time. It is also the name of the Leonard Cohen song that inspired Marion Taylor during the isolation of the pandemic. He sings: ‘There is a crack... in everything. That’s how the light gets in'."

“Janet Rady and I wanted the exhibition to be uplifting, and I think that Marion’s paintings, alongside Masoud Akhavanjam’s sculptures, Danny Romeril’s paintings and Julia Florence’s ceramics, portray a sense of time, place and a sense of hope.”

From October 16 to November 7, the Newlyn Society of Artists (NSA) celebrates 125 years since its founding in 1896. One of the longest-surviving and most prestigious groups of professional artists in the UK, the NSA currently has close to 90 members working across all disciplines, from painting and printmaking to sculpture and film, all of whom either live in Cornwall or have close links with the area.

The NSA began as a group of radical artists breaking away from tradition and seeking to create work which was fresh and unconfined by tradition. The society was established by Stanhope Forbes and other innovative artists including Walter Langley, Dod Proctor and Dame Laura Knight, who challenged turn-of-thecentury convention by painting the social and economic realities of ordinary people in real-life settings. This included Newlyn fishermen and women, their children and extended families, and the local harbours and village settings of the time.

Later came other waves of ideas, from Ithell Colquhoun, Peter Lanyon, Bernard Leach, Terry Frost, Sandra Blow and Kurt Jackson bringing new ways of seeing and making art, including Surrealism, Modernism, 1970s Pop Art and Modern Expressionism.

That line of radical thought continues today, and for this commemorative show at Tremenheere Gallery, curated by award-winning painter and ceramicist Lisa Wright, members were asked to find inspiration from the society's influential history. Accordingly, works might be inspired by a 20th century NSA artist, or ideas introduced and popularised by members over the last 125 years, such as working from real life, plein-air painting, or using freer brushstrokes or bright colours. The exhibition will also include an ‘in conversation’ event by a panel of arts writers, educators and curators.

Current NSA chair Yolande Armstrong said: "Our artists push the boundaries and make work which is challenging in its content and form and continues to explore and experiment. Many have been showing exciting work with the NSA over a period of time, while others are new and will continue to bring welcome change." "In this exhibition, presented in the lovely space of Tremenheere Gallery, you might find the work of our members moving, challenging, or simply beautiful and inspiring. In strange and difficult times, I think we all benefit from a pause for reflection, time to consider our past and our present, and to ponder our future." l

Tremenheere Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm. www.tremenheere.co.uk

Susan Kinley - HOME Julia Florence - ANTHEM