As part of the Edge of Dark exhibition at Tremenheere Gallery last October there was a showing of a series of short films made by several NSA members. A video featuring all eight films has been made, called Now and Now – click on the link to view. Best viewed on a mobile device.
The artists featured are Yolande Armstrong, Julia Giles, Penny Florence, Tim Ridley, Patricia Wilson Smith, Andrew Swan, Ken Turner and Janet McEwan. You can read more about each film in this post.
The visitors of the Wells Art Contemporary 2020 virtual exhibition have voted for their favourite artwork, and the results are in… The People’s Choice Award went to Basic Space, an oil on canvas by Somerset-based artist and NSA member Jack Paffett.
The virtual exhibition is now closed but the 2021 call for entries will open in a few weeks – so, keep an eye on ArtOpps and the WAC social media sites Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance is currently showing an exhibition of paintings by former NSA member Tony Giles. Although the museum is closed at the moment due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the exhibition is set to run until the 28th April, 2021 so perhaps there will be a chance to visit if the lockdown rules are eased. You can read about the show here
NSA member Tim Ridley has a special affinity with Tony Giles’ work and has written a review on his website.
Paintings, I always feel, should speak for themselves and bear viewing without the backup of statements and blurb. Tony Giles’s work does just that, I was taken in and charmed from the off. The bold reds of Penzance station 1989 pulled me in and then the language of simple train forms led me towards the sea and the horizon where a ship sits expectantly. A heads up that Tony was ‘into’ trains pervades, wrapped up in a naive painting style which celebrates the joy of Penzance in all it’s weird and wonderful grit and beauty.
Tony Giles in West Cornwall, Penlee House Gallery and Museum, until 28th April 2021. The exhibition Newlyn School Interiors is also on show until 17th April 2021
NSA Member Paula Whitbread-Roberts‘ current exhibition of paintings Sanguine is available to view online as the proposed opening at the Jupiter Gallery in Newlyn has been postponed for the second time due to lockdown restrictions.
The majority of the work has been produced since the first lockdown and represents her immediate environment, early morning and evening walks around the lake and quiet moments of contemplation in her garden. Paula explains about the thought processes behind her work:
My paintings invariably have a narrative and reflect my thought processes at any given time. The images within the paintings evolve from personal experiences, observations, many hours of wakefulness spent reading, walking, swimming in the sea and pools and are very much interpretations of my imagination..
During strange times and unusual circumstances, we are forced to think deeply about life, with perhaps melancholy thoughts sometimes beginning to emerge. A true sense of perspective simmers just beneath the surface of the mind or maybe thoughts are extruded from deep within the psyche…
You can take a virtual tour of the exhibition in her home gallery here.
Congratulations to NSA Members Dana Finch and Dan Pyne on the inclusion of their work in a newly published 115 page full-colour, hard cover book Of Earth, For Earth consisting of dialogue between artists, community representatives, industrialists and educators. The book aims to inspire debate about human interactions with the Earth, while our consumption of resources grows ever larger and while the environments on which we depend face an uncertain future. Dana Finch is one of the editors of the book and also initiated and curated the exhibition of the same name in March 2020 at the Heartlands Museum and Heritage Centre in Pool, Camborne. The exhibiting artists there were: Dan Pyne, Jack Hirons, James Hankey, Henrietta Simson, Heidi Flaxman and Josie Purcell. Five additional artists were shortlisted and their work appears in the book – Chloe Uden, Oliver Raymond-Barker, Hetty Wilson, Alan Smith and Alison Cooke.
The book also contains essays and short texts by a wide variety of contributors who are all involved in mining in various ways and was created as part of the IMPaCT project, (at the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter), which was funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme.
Copies of the book are available at a cost of £10 for a limited time only before they go on sale to the general public next year for around £20, and can currently be ordered by emailing D.Finch3@exeter.ac.uk . Further information at www.oefe.co.uk
NSA members Yolande Armstrong, Ingrid Newton, Gareth Edwards and Peter Ward are very pleased to have had work selected for this year’s Royal West of England Academy Open in Bristol. Unfortunately, the show has been postponed because of Coronavirus restrictions… not once, but twice now! However they have just announced that they are now selling on-line, and might be open later in December, but will (almost) definitely be open from January 2nd to March 7th 2021. To view the online catalogue click here
Yolande Armstrong, Big Auntie Minnie and Friend, acrylic on paper 60cm x 80cm
Ingrid Newton, Love in the Time of Corona 2, Inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 10cm x10cm
Gareth Edwards, Autumn, oil on canvas 105cm x 100cm
Pete Ward, Godhevyans a Gwir Statys / Suffering in Real Estate, Cornish earth pigments on salvaged board, 53cm x 92cm
Member Tim Ridley will be exhibiting new work, paintings and assemblage, at Daisy Lang, Old Bakehouse Lane, Chapel St, Penzance from the 15th of December 2020 to the 2nd of Jan 2021.
For opening times and details Here
NSA member Penny Florence has written a very interesting and pertinent essay about the recent Edge of Dark exhibition. Entitled Edge of Dark – Curating Under Covid. Reflections on the Group Show in actuality, virtually, in the rural ‘Provinces’ and how BLM matters everywhere. In the introduction to the essay she writes:
It is an exploration of the way that art can clarify the interrelation between some of the broader issues of our time: political and social fragmentation, artistic activity beyond the great acknowledged centres, and aspects of the impact of the virtual on the visual arts. Covid-19 is a part of this, not a separate phenomenon.
It is also a conversational tour round the show with guest curator Jesse Leroy Smith, where he talks about his approach to curating – ‘selecting a number of key works, placing
them and then designing the hang in response’. You can read the the PDF of the essay here.
Jesse Leroy Smith, all photos ©Steve Tanner
I remember in 2016 when we cheerfully echoed the phrase ‘May you live in interesting times’. It seems the world has become a smaller, darker and more turbulent place since then. Is there yet a place, a case to be made, for optimism?
Thankfully, artists think so. These short films seem to condense the beauty and the darkness of our new world, and urge us continually towards creative action. Pat Wilson Smith
Steve Tanner
