Now I am packing to get back on the road leaving the countryside in Tedburn St Mary, Exeter where I started a creative art work with Billie Mallet. I am carrying on my memories a little bit of her art stories and colorful art. I am heading to St Ives a beach escape with an art tradition that takes us back to the end of XIX century, when many artists sought refuge looking after a cheaper area with big warehouses to let. On the fifties St Ives became trendy, from a fishermen’s village and summer holiday refuge to an artistic creative cluster.
I will be hosted in Carbis Bay where Virginia Woolf had her summer house and got the scenario of her book, To the lighthouse, being a big fan of her makes me really thrilled and reading her book I realize how influenced she was by the landscapes and art traditions of the location. Also the painters Naum (Cornwall Artists Index) and Miriam Gabo set their residence there on the 30s, seeking refuge from the war before moving to the US where they represented an important role on constructivist art movement.
St Ives is located in Cornwall County on the South East of England. Its astounding landscapes inspired generations of artists who there set their studios and founded numerous art movements. Artists such as Paul Feiler, Barbara Hepworth, Denis Mitchell, Gil Watkiss, Daphne McClure, and many others mastered the art of sculpting, landscape, abstract, and op art paintings.
My rough plan was suggested by Billie who lived and studied painting in St Ives herself and had the opportunity to meet many artists on the 60’s. First, I will visit the Tate St Ives Gallery to learn more about the local art history and then I will visit different art galleries whilst stopping for a conversation with local arts managers to take advantage of my visit and promote the works of some artists I am bringing in “my luggage”. To finish the seven days in the location and following Billie’s recommendations I will spend some time at Barbara Hepworth Studio and Museum, where I am supposed to take a picture for her.
The train GWR (Great Western Railway) follows scenic byways throughout the coast, foggy landscapes and dark sandy beaches are followed by small towns, docs and bays filled with boats along the way, and red rocky formations compose the scenery of this trip one train station after the other to my final destination, St Erth. I crossed the Devon County and entered Cornwall. The good thing about taking the train…
In St Ives I will come along with my lap top and introduce 4 different artists: Billie Mallet, Rona Neves, Otavio Avancini, and Rubiane Maia. The idea is to see how much openness and reception the galleries’ managers will give me to connect and talk about art without a previous recommendation of anybody else. Sounds crazy on a world where business happen based on personal recommendations. Indeed it is intimidating, but we gotta take the chance and start somewhere, supporting the arts is a passion I carry with me and here in UK I am reconnecting with amazing people and Brasilian artists that are worth promoting. Whenever possible, while traveling, I will also share my experiences about some of these people.
CROSS, Tom _ Catching the wave, Contemporary Art & Artists in Cornwall, Holsgrove House, 2002.
DAVIES, Peter _ St. Ives Revisited, innovators and followers, Old Bakehouse Publications, 1994.
Pictures: landscapes, train, set featured image