Granite and Gesso

Abigail Reynolds April 12th 2026 Ahmet Dogu Ipek November 5th 2025 Aidan Hicks March 4th 2026 Aisleigh Anne February 20th 2026 Alfie Bradley March 29th 2026 Alice Mahoney April 12th 2026 Allan Ramsay April 23rd 2026 Amy Albright February 20th 2026 Andrew Barrowman May 30th 2026 Anna Farley November 5th 2025   March 3rd 2026   Annabelle Buxton April 23rd 2026 Anthea Hamilton April 19th 2026 Barbara Hepworth November 5th 2025   December 8th 2025   March 4th 2026   March 14th 2026   April 23rd 2026   May 11th 2026 Bernard Leach April 23rd 2026 Beryl Cook January 13th 2026   April 2nd 2026   April 2nd 2026   April 2nd 2026   April 16th 2026   April 19th 2026     Bryony Fulton  3rd June 2026 Carlos Zapata May 11th 2026 Caroline Walker 3rd June 2026 Caz Taylor  May 30th 2026 Charles Napier Hemy  May 11th 2026 Charlie Binns 24th June 2026 Charlotte Jones  February 20th 20...

The Cornwall open studios event first began in 1998 and was based in Falmouth and Penryn initially.  The event grew to cover Cornwall and some of Devon before being handed over to Creative Kernow in 2004.  In 2025, Creative Kernow announced they would no longer run the event but the next day Jeremy Sanders announced that a new group called Cornwall Open Studios would take on the event. Any serious artist living and working in Cornwall can become a member which means they are included in the directory of artists on Cornwall Open Studios website and take part in the annual open studios event.  Members can either open for all nine days of the open studio event or they can open for the two long weekends only, giving a total of six days. This year, the event has coincided with half term, which obviously sees a large influx of people to the county.  The first weekend was Saturday 23rd May to Monday 25th May with the second weekend being Friday the 29th May through to Sunda...

This exhibition runs until the 30th May 2026 Walking in to the Auction House this time, I was greeted by some ceramics, a wall of pictures and a film.  Although I looked at the ceramics first, it was the film that really made sense of everything for me.  The film was set to a dance track put together by Simon and showed images of people and pottery.  This sounds simple but it was clear to me that a counter-culture prevalent in my teenage and student years as being referenced.   In the 90s, dance culture, raves and ecstasy, was a big thing.  It caused a lot of outrage amongst polite society, so even if you were not part of it, it was hard to be completely oblivious.  After the death of Leah Betts, there was a lot of talk about the dangers of taking Ecstasy. The music in the film directly reference a style I remember from the 90s and would relate directly to raves, even though it is a new piece of music.  The people in the film were obviously feelin...

This was the second programme of films in the epic pass we brought for £16.  They are available for 7 days once you have brought them and we absolutely made time to watch all of the films. The first film was 109 Below (14 minutes) and this film was quite extreme and emotional.  It was based on Mount Washington, known for its extreme weather and incredibly difficult conditions.  It followed a group of volunteer rescuers as well as someone who was rescued.  It is not a comfortable film.  Everybody involved has their lives change.  The film though shows that for all the heartbreak, pain and hardship, these events can shape lives in the best of ways.  Tragedy can give people the direction they need to lead a good life. Ian (8 minutes) is a look at Ian Eliot, a Queenslander rock climber who is still climbing at the age of 72.  Watching him climb is inspiring.  He is not doing safe easy climbs, he is there clinging to overhangs by his finger tips....

We have continued to watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival collections held online for watching the UK and Ireland.  This time, we took advantage of an offer to by a pass for both the the red and blue 2025 Mountain programmes for £16.  As you only get 7 days with the mountain film passes, you need to make sure you will have time to watch all the films! This programme begins with the film Dolomites (33 minutes) which was a really great film.  Kilian Bron is a mountain biker known for making films.  This film differs from those short action packed visual extravaganza's in that the focus is on the process.  We get to meet the team and watch them explore the Dolomites.   We see how they set up shots, how they film the sequences.  We see their thoughts and feelings, their reactions.  Then at the end, we get to see the beautiful edited film of the trip.  I loved learning about the Dolomites, a mountain chain I have not visited.  I learnt...

Having attended one of this years Banff Mountain Film Festival showings at the Hall for Cornwall, we learnt that some of the previous programmes are available online.  Today we paid £10 for a pass for the 2024 Ocean Film Programme.  This particular pass gives three days access to the films.  I was able to play the films on my laptop and cast them to our TV, which made for an enjoyable viewing. The six films are combined into one with a presenter introducing each film.  The total play time was just over two hours.  I admit, much of the time I am listening to the TV, rather than watching it.  These films though, are so beautiful and interesting that I really watch them.  They are thoughtful and inspiring and often emotional. We began with Call of the Cold which followed three men on a trip to Iceland.  They went free diving in the Silfra Fissure, where you can touch two different continents as they are torn apart.  They went ice climbing inside...

This exhibition runs until the 4th July 2026. These displays are not curated in any particular category or theme, instead they are an eclectic mix from different artists, styles, media and themes.  I enjoy exhibitions like this, where it is made clear to me I am to enjoy each painting individually and not hunt for some deeper connecting theme that isn't there.  The art on display was lovely. The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society has a unique collection of some 280 pieces by Henry Scott Tuke and these are currently on long term loan to Falmouth Art Gallery.  Tuke is well known for his maritime paintings as well as his interest in painting nude youths, in a non-sexually explicit way.  Although his popularity waned after his death, in the 70s he was rediscovered by a new generation of openly gay artists.  Elton John collects his work and loaned several pieces to Falmouth Art Gallery for an exhibition in 2008.  He also received a painting as a posthumous chris...

This exhibition finished on the 9th May 2026 Falmouth Art Gallery commissioned a number of automata by local artists.  The town has a history of automata makers and one lecturer at Falmouth College of Arts had persuaded many artists to explore them int heir practice.  The smaller automata then toured the county visiting different memory cafes.  These are social groups run to help those with dementia and other memory affecting conditions as well as their caregivers.  The aim is to give emotional support and a sense of community while reducing social isolation.  The automata gave people something to interact with and talk about, as well as being something enjoyable in their own right. The first room contained a number of larger automata which had been too large to go on tour while the second room displayed the smaller automata along with photographs of the automata being used at the Memory Cafes. The inventiveness of the automata makers was impressive.  There...

Falmouth Art Gallery is run by Falmouth Town Council and takes up part of the first floor of the Library building.  This is a grand old building with a lovely entrance hall with stairs that split part way up to a galleried landing.  The entrance hall and the walls of the landing above have also been used to display art.  Overlooking the stairs a large 15 foot by 11 foot window is now home to Cornwall's largest contemporary stained glass window.  Over 2000 people were involved in the making of this window with the design produced by users of the charity Falcare .  There is also a lovely glass mobile that hangs down over the stairs. As you go up the stairs, if you take the right fork, there is a little staircase that splits off.  It is well signposted to Falmouth Art Gallery.  The first room is where the highlights of the collection display is, as well as a shop and a toilet.  For those unable to use the stairs to reach the gallery, you can walk to...

The Auction House is a small arts venue in Redruth that I only recently discovered.  It is in one of the buildings that make up the recent Buttermarket redevelopment which includes a food court and events space and connects to the market. The Auction House is on the corner of Bond Street and Station Hill, right by Alma Place and Station Road, where these four roads meet at some traffic lights.  It's a slightly staggered cross roads.    If you come via train from Penzance, you can walk straight out the station and turn left down Station Road, I would cross over straight away.  At the bottom, turn left, away from Alma Place which leads into town, towards Bond Street.  The Auction House is right on the corner with Station Hill.  There are a few steps up in to the Auction Centre on this corner.   When you leave, you can cross Station Hill and proceed along Bond Street.  Immediately after you go under the railway bridge, there is a turning ...

Redruth is an old mining town, close to Camborne and the two are joined now by a merging of villages to make CPR, Camborne Pool Redruth.  Camborne and Redruth still retain very distinct identities though. Redruth is perhaps a little unfortunate in that it's main shopping street goes straight up a hill that is relatively steep.  I am sure it puts some people off shopping there, I know it does put me off sometimes. The town has retained a lot of good things though and there has been some really good redevelopment over recent years.  I think one of the biggest things is that its theatre / cinema was not demolished, as so many were.  Luckily, Redruth never warranted a modern multiplex.  This theatre is such a boon with local theatre groups and national tours using it alike. One of my favourite places is St Rumon's Gardens .  In 1859, St Rumon's Hall was built on a site which has religious use going back to the 1400s, though the collection of buildings there has...

This exhibition ends on the 2nd May 2026. I really enjoyed this exhibition, it was small but mighty.  I could definitely relate to the thoughts it contained but I had not really taken those thoughts and clarified them in to their own little bundle before this show.  Beyond that, it made me laugh... Walking in, you are greeted with a film.  It's split into scenes.  I actually came in to the last one which was about thoughts on a train, which felt very appropriate as I came to the exhibition by train.  Central to the exhibition was thoughts on clothing.  How we try and settle on an outfit, trying things on.  Some things we thought great in the changing room just don't fit in to our lives when we bring them home.  We want to express ourselves and be comfortable and we judge our outfits way to hard.  She reminds herself that no one cares what we wear and if they have seen us wear it before.  Naomi realised this process was similar to her wor...