Newlyn Art Gallery: Lifeforms, Katie Lennon

This exhibition runs until the 4th July 2026

The studio is a lovely bright room.  As you walk in, you are confronted by a huge expanse of windows with a view of the sea.  It is used for workshops and there are tables and chairs laid out.  I didn't at first realise there was an exhibition in there, I was taken in by the view.  It wasn't until I turned around that I realised.

The wall opposite the windows was covered in glorious colourful shapes.  A little pop art, but this is pop art meets science.  Katie received stem cell treatment to successfully treat stage 4 blood cancer in 2022.  This only fuelled her fascination with cells, which had begun years before with diagrams in old science books.

She reduced these cells to simple colourful shapes, but beyond this, she used them to visualise her own cells accepting and working with the introduced stem cells.  It would be interesting to hear more of how the colours and shapes reflect her own internal process, because there is obviously so much more going on here than some cute colourful shapes.  This is beautiful, fun science transforming and saving lives in art form.  It is joy and thankfulness.

I really loved it and found it very inspiring.

There were five parts to the exhibition really.

The first was a larger sculpture, Totem, which sat in a window.  A reimagined totem pole featuring cells instead of spirit animals.  Bright colours and striking shapes.  I can imagine this being a focus during Katie's treatment.

Next to it was a set of twelve smaller cells on the wall.  These were shapes cut from wood.  Each was one colour, with maybe a second colour on the sides.  Some had thread wrapped spikes.  The cells were laid out in a grid.

The other side of the door, there were larger cells in a chaotic tumble across the wall.  These cells were often multicoloured and decorated in patterns from simple to complex.  It's easy to see each one as a personal journey, a silent encouragement to the cells in her body to do their thing and help her get better.

The fourth part was two sheets of wood from which the cells had been cut.  The wood had been painted and was obviously a complex shape, given the variety of cells removed from it.  It would be interesting to know more of the thought process here.

The last part was something I completely missed when I entered the room as I was so taken by the view!  There were colourful transparent decals of cell shapes on the window.

Lovely exhibition!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Box: Journey's with Mai

This exhibition runs until the 14th June 2026 Sir Joshua Reynolds is one of the greats of British painting and will be a name familiar to many.  I had no idea he was born in Plympton, just outside Plymouth though.  He is a major 18th century European painter and the leading portrait artist of the time.  He was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Art and its first president. Portrait of Omai is considered his best work and a timeless masterpiece that is one of the best pieces of British art.  In 2022 the portrait was up for sale and in danger of leaving the UK with a hefty expected value of £50 million.  It was place under a 12 month exportation bar.  The National Portrait Gallery started a fund to raise money to buy the portrait and the Getty Museum asked to jointly purchase the painting so that it could be shared between both.  In March 2023, the exportation bar expired with only half of the required amount raised and it was announced that pro...
Read more

KARST: Discord and Harmony, Beryl Cook and Others

This exhibition runs until the 18th April This was my first visit to this lovely little gallery but it will not be my last.  The exhibition was inspired by the work of Beryl Cook and included several of her works.  Other artists had been selected for inclusion based on some sympathetic aspect of their work to Beryl's.  Some of these were obvious but others needed a little more digging I think.  This made for a diverse and thoughtful exhibition with plenty of fun pieces. It's always interesting, visiting a show put together with various artists.  So many artists have a body of work that speaks as a whole as they develop a style, their own language and explore a theme.  Individual pieces do not always make as much sense by themselves, unless you have a knowledge of that artist and their work.  Putting pieces of work together from different artists changes what they have to say and understanding their relevance is an interesting thing to work out. This ex...
Read more

RAMM: Exeter's Fine Arts Gallery, Highlights from the Collection

This exhibition runs until the 9th August 2026. This one room changes regularly to give an insight in to the fine art collection.  This is a pretty impossible task as the collection contains over 7000 pieces including paintings, prints, drawings, watercolours, miniatures and sculptures.  The current display includes only around 30 pieces, so highlights is definitely a good term for this display. Looking around the room, the pieces are split in to a few different categories, beginning with portraits.  One portrait is called a Man in a Red Suit and shows a man of colour wearing a red suit.  The artist is unknown and it dates from around 1740 to 1780.  A huge amount of research has been conducted on this painting and yet there are still no clear answers.  It has been credited to Sir Joshua Reynolds and I can see why but it may also be by Allan Ramsay.  Nobody knows who the sitter is either, even though attempts have been made to link to two different free...
Read more