Granite and Gesso

Alfie Bradley is a British sculptor who after creating a sculpture of a gorilla using spoons for Uri Geller, had an idea to create a sculpture using knives.  At the time, knife crime was dominating the headlines and Alfie wanted the sculpture to help educate and change attitudes around knife crime.  The idea for the Knife Angel was born.  He wanted the sculpture to be large so that it really impacted viewers, in more ways than one.   At the time, Alfie worked at the British Ironworks Centre and it was the centre that helped Alfie bring his vision to life.  The centre began by creating 200 knife banks.  Amnesties were held so that knives could be safely surrendered.  Knives came from all over the country to the British Ironworks Centre where they were sorted, sterilised and then blunted with some also having the handles removed so they could be used in the wings.  Some of the knives were still in evidence packaging and contaminated with bodi...

This is an ongoing exhibition that has been recently redeveloped. The problem I have with this gallery is that every time I visit, I focus on the temporary exhibitions and so have sadly neglected the downstairs permanent exhibitions. Cornwall with it's varied geology and history of mining has a huge variety of rocks and minerals.  The museum has an important collection and this gallery has always aimed to exhibit as much of this as possible.  It used to be full of lovely old wooden display cases and was just rammed full of stones.  It was a little overwhelming and hard to take everything in, because there was just so much!   In redeveloping this exhibition, it is clear they have understood that people can only take in so much of one type of thing.  There are still beautiful old wooden cabinets, but not as many as before.  There are more items of mining history, more paintings relating to mining, more objects relating to to the rocks and minerals. ...

This exhibition runs until 4th May 2026 This exhibition features the wildlife photography of Lewis Jefferies as he documents the activities of the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow.  Lobster numbers can be delicate as they are a prized species for fishing.  The aim of the project is to help ensure as many hatchlings survive as possible to be released back in to the sea.  There are strict laws on the size of lobsters that can be landed but it is also not allowed to land females bearing eggs of females that have been marched with a V notch in their tails.  This helps protect the lobster population for the future. Locally a number of fishermen are licensed to land females carrying eggs.  These lobsters are then taken to the hatchery, where the hatchlings are reared in special conditions until they are large enough to be released. The Hatchery has become a centre of excellence for lobster research and additional hatcheries have been created or are in development ...

This is an ongoing exhibition. This gallery explores Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations with a wide range of artifacts and displays.  It is clear that a lot of time and effort has been made to ensure this exhibition is engaging for children.  Interspersed between the the different cabinets of artifacts there are child friendly activities, or at least, the remains of them.  Any with removable parts seem to have long ago been decimated, which is a shame but pretty inevitable.  I am not sure how long this exhibition has been in place but it is quite a few years! For all this, the exhibition is clearly very much beloved and it is always the busiest room whenever I visit.  Children really like it.  I understand the fascination with these civilizations with their stories of Gods and Goddesses, beautiful artifacts and convoluted histories.  They are often taught in school and I remember being fascinated with them when I was younger. As I grow older thoug...

This is a small ongoing exhibition. Phil Whiting is an artist that looks at the consequences of conflict, change and loss and is best known for works that depict industry in decline.  He lived and worked in west Cornwall for many years and the industrial landscapes of Cornwall inspired many pieces.  He was not limited to Cornwall however with works exploring Flanders, Ground Zero and Auschwitz-Birkenau.   This exhibition consists of four works in a small corridor area.  I am not sure why I have not written about them before, because I stop and admire them every time I visit.  This industrial Cornwall is familiar to me and one I love, warts and all.   These paintings are dark and foreboding and very textural.  The palette is limited.  In smaller pictures, many details are suggested blurs in a gloomy dark landscape with glowering skies.  One painting is very large and depicts Geevor.  The paint is layered on and worked in a very ...

This was a short exhibition that finished on the 14th March 2026 This was an art exhibition featuring pieces from the Schools Art Collection.  This collection was formed by Cornwall Council for use in schools to allow children access to art including paintings and sculptures.  The collection is now hosted by the Museum but the pieces continue to be loaned to schools for assemblies, one off lessons as well as being used in the museum for workshops and display. The collection began in 1961 when an anonymous donation was made to help primary school funds.  It was decided to use this money to enrich the lives of school children by introducing them to interesting and high quality art.  Various local artists went on to donate pieces or sell them at minimal cost.  The first piece to be donated was a small bronze sculpture of the collie dog 'Frisky' by Jacob Epstein.  This piece was so popular that Cornwall Council agreed to put money aside each year for the scheme...

It's really difficult to write a review for this performance because it is obvious that every aspect of the production was put together by people at the top of their skills.  It's just, it wasn't for me, although there were aspects I can appreciate a lot and found very interesting. My biggest issue was the music.  The score was composed by Thierry Pecou, a modern French composer.  I understand that composers like this are important.  They push boundaries and this is a well regarded genre of music.  It's just not comfortable, for someone like me, to listen to.  I get that art is often to move people out of their comfort zone.  I wouldn't have minded sections of such music, but the entire performance, and the curtain opener performance, were set to it I understand that this is probably an elevated sort of performance, more art than entertainment.  It's just I don't think I have that sort of palate.  I think many people in the audience were also...

Josie Ko was a visiting artist in September 2025 at Tate St Ives.  She worked with members of the public and community groups to co-create sculptures.  I had not spotted this display as you walk straight past it to get to the gallery entrance and I had never noticed it when leaving the gallery before.   This display shows one of the three blue beings that were made and inspired by Nigerian, Scottish and Cornish sea myths.  Ko specifically explores black British culture and how it is often hidden with black women particularly invisible in art historically.  These blue beings were inspired by the fir gorma which are Scottish mythical beings that some believe were actually enslaved North Africans brought to Scotland in the 9th Century by the Vikings. I love seeing pieces like this because I like to learn something.  I also enjoy this sort of project that helps bring people in to art and makes it more accessible and fun.  The piece looks like it use p...

This exhibition runs until the 28th March 2026 In the Lanyon Gallery there was an exhibition by six artists which included sculpture and pictures that explore the landscapes of Penwith. Tom Leaper is a sculptor and his pieces have very strong forms.  I like the geometrical aspects of much of his work.  Convergence Point was a hung piece of shiny stainless steel with many pointy angles and was my favourite of his pieces.  I also enjoyed the more sinuous forms and there was a lovely tall thin sculpture with two arms I didn't get the name of. Jason Lilley's pieces were more abstract with Below the Stones, Bosporthennis and Above the Coffin Path.  I think Above the Coffin Path was my favourite as the ferns really appealed to me. Sophie Fraser is well represented in the gallery as a whole at the moment and her paintings in this exhibition were just as lovely.  St Michael's Mount through a veil of trees, before the storm as both beautiful and touching.  Sun Trees...

This exhibition runs until the 28th March 2026 I really enjoy the members exhibitions at the Penwith Gallery and the Associate Members Exhibitions too, although I admit I missed the most recent one of those.  The art is always of an excellent standard and it's such a lovely space.  I could spend thousands of pounds here, if I had it... The gallery always has great photos online of it's exhibitions and it is always worth having a look if you can not make it in person.  There was as always a lovely range of art and sculpture, including ceramics.  Some of my favourites  were Sophie Fraser's stunning Ruby Sunset, towards Madron.   I always enjoy Jenny Woodhouse's work and the work in this exhibition was no exception.  Evening was a beautiful study of the last of the light hitting the sea, in places, while the rest slowly descends in to shades of grey. Stephanie Sandercock's, Echoes Beneath the Surface was another I very much enjoyed.  Golden Ligh...

This exhibition runs until the 28th March 2026 The Penwith Gallery has a side room they rent to artists who want to have a small exhibition and at the moment, the artist there is Kimmy Hussey.  I really liked the art displayed, it was very bright and sunny.  If I took some home with me, I wouldn't put it in my bedroom, where I want to go to sleep, I would probably put it wherever I eat my breakfast most often.  It would certainly help wake me up! Kimmy paints still life's and landscapes and they are recognisable.  It isn't her approach to form that makes her truly surprising, its her sense of colour.  It isn't even that her colours are not right.  It's more like she sees through an over-exposed camera, so that all the colours are turned up so bright, some of them slide into the neon range.  As a result, her work feels joyful and exuberant, but also definitely vivid.  Walking in to her exhibition was just getting a hit of summer sun, especially as ...

The St Ives Society of Artists has been around for nearly 100 years (next year is their centenary).  St Ives has long been popular with artists and the railway made it easier for them to move there.  The society was founded to raise standards.  In 1945 they took over the Mariners Church on Norway Square and eventually, members began to exhibit their work in the Crypt, the lower floor of the church.   Nicholson, Lanyon, Hepworth and others split from the St Ives Society of Arts to form the Penwith Society of Arts. The societies popularity waned as original members aged, tastes changed but the Society to include both contemporary and traditional work and Tate St Ives also helped to rejuvenate the art scene in St Ives.  The Crypt gallery had been used for 40 years by the St Ives Operatic Society but when they moved out it reverted into a gallery. The society has around 75 members and they host three exhibitions of members work in the Mariners Gallery each year...

This exhibition runs until the 6th March. Four artists have come together to put on this exhibition.  Each of the artists is very different in style and material.  This exhibition looks at how such differences come together and connect and what emerges from this. Jaki Marshall was my least favourite artist in the sense, that I wouldn't want to take any of her work home with me and have it on my walls.  Her art is not comfortable beauty, it's an emotional voice shouting out into the world, making you stop and react.  I can see her work being in museums, it has something to say and it is not quiet.  Abstract and emotional images of females bodies.  As a woman, I appreciate what she has to say and I want her to keep saying it.  It's really important.  Uncomfortable things often are. Graham Pullen is a screen printer and I really liked and appreciated his work.  As someone from a printing family who has worked with technical drawing, I really app...

This space is available indefinitely and is an updated version of the original Your Space. Anna Farley is an autistic artist who develops inclusive and accessible spaces that are interactive and inviting.  It would be easy to assume that these spaces are just for children, but I think there is a lot for adults in them as well. Ithell Colquhoun was an artist, writer  and occultist who spent the later years of her life in Cornwall.  She was very much inspired by the Surrealists and identified as such although she was only loosely affiliated to the Surrealist movement.  She loved biology and often included studies of plants.  It's not surprising, given her interest in the occult that her work often explored the conscious and subconscious, dreamscapes, spirituality as well as gender and sexuality.  While her work is sometimes considered dark and macabre. Not surprisingly, it is not the dark and macabre that has inspired this version of Your Space, but her billo...

This exhibition runs until the 12th April 2026. It's taken me a little while to get to this exhibition, for one reason and another, but I am so glad I finally did!  In some ways, I don't really know what to say about .  I saw a lot of things and it is going to take me some time to process everything I saw.  I think this is because in some ways, I was feeling things that were polar opposites.  The space had much of the films had a meditative quality.  I felt very calm and relaxed after my time at the exhibition.  I think it's a very dreamy space.  On the other hand, some of the things were uncomfortable or challenging.  For instance, giant snake on a huge screen.  In some of the films, I just don't know exactly what it was I was actually seeing. Let's go back a bit.  The space was incredible and completely transformed from my previous visit.  The gallery has two rooms.  The first room is smaller and leads to the second much larg...