Penwith Gallery: Winter Exhibition

 The gallery is the home of the Penwith Society of Arts and provides a gallery space for it's members and associate members.  It's a really interesting building which was previously a pilchard packing factory.  I had not been there before but stumbled upon it by accident and decided to go in.  I don't always feel comfortable going into some of the smaller art galleries but the Penwith Gallery was a comfortable space to access.  It's free but you can make a donation.

The current exhibition of work by members and associate members runs until the 5th January with the next exhibition starting on the 23rd January.  When I visited, there was also a side gallery with an exhibition of paintings by Bruce Timson, but this ended on the 1st December and is being replaced by a christmas market from the 5th.  

The artists represented are diverse and in many ways, I found it more accessible than the Tate itself.  The Tate is trying to be interesting while also teaching about art.  It is partly educational.  No one wanted to teach me anything in the Penwith Gallery, they just wanted to share their beautiful art and possibly sell some too.  There was no pressure to buy though, but oh, I wanted to.  There were pieces there I really would love to have taken home.

If you look on the galleries website, and you can see information about each of the members with some examples of their work.  It's nice to have a browse although the pieces shown on the website are likely to be different to those in the gallery.

I adored Jenny Woodhouse with her paintings full of texture.  I just wanted to absorb all the beautiful detail.  I could very much imagine one at home and never being bored of it.  I also loved the work of sculpture Philip Wakeham and I found his miniatures especially enchanting.  There were so many beautiful pieces though, it feels mean to single out just two artists though.  Being honest, that was the extent of the number of names I could remember and I didn't feel comfortable enough to take photos to help me.

St Ives is a little bit of a maze and the gallery is situated just back from the harbour, closer to Porthmeor Beach.  I could easily go a different way next time and not stumble upon it.

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