The one-week experimental workshops at the St Ives School of Painting, developed by its principal Roy Ray during the mid-eighties, became so popular that local demand for similar one-day winter sessions prompted him to create what became known as the Friday Workshops. Under the direction of the artist John Clark, these sessions enabled many people from all parts of the community to develop a more personal direction in their work. Following Roy's retirement in 2000, the sessions continued to evolve when John was joined by Ges Wilson and Marion Taylor.
The work exhibited by recent members of the Friday Workshop, now known as the Porthmeor Group, demonstrates a diversity of subject matter, direction and technique by those who meet once a week in winter to share and enjoy their creativity and to take risks in the pursuit of their artistic goals.
fifth annual exhibition
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The 5th annual exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints by members of the Porthmeor Group will open on Saturday the 18th of October in the Mariners Gallery (The Crypt), St Ives. The exhibition will be open until the 31st of October 2008. 10.30 to 5.30 pm daily There is an international flavour to the group with members coming from the USA, Holland, Germany and Ireland, as well as from the UK and of course locally from Cornwall. The inspiration for the work on show is as diverse as the artists' responses, from landscape, natural forms, the human form, and the narrative of human existence with its pains and pleasures. The artists use a variety of media to transform their experience into contemporary images that range from the figurative to the abstract.
Jenny Campbell's intuitive works try to communicate aspects of her identity and experience from the position of her 'female gaze' in an inherently patriarchal world. Cynthia Davis creates beautiful paintings through her use of technique and colour, and shows that light and colour can be used to great effect. Lillian Elliot enjoys self-portraiture. "The search for form is challenging and the incidental self-analysis intriguing. I intend to explore it further. Carol Hosking-Smith is interested in creating opposite poles of movement and stillness through improvised abstraction. Doris Lindemann further explores her recent theme of traces and relics left in and below the landscape by humans over the millennia,her abstracted images as usual revealing her passion for texture, light and movement. Diane Rush reaches for a psychological edge in her painting and collages, using the head image as the carrier of stories depicting the depth and richness of human experience. Landscape is Tamsyn Williams' subject. Her paintings take time because she is always making changes, building up layers, scraping away, producing the weathered, organic feel of the green spaces she is inspired by. Sharron Page Stock's intuitive paintings reflect a long term fascination with texture and colour, based on nature. She uses many layers to achieve a feeling of time and place in her most unusual abstract images. Tony Sutcliffe's new work is based on Wagner's Ring Cycle showing his interpretationnof scenes just before people have arrived or just after they have left. Reina de Weijer's major inspiration this time is the ancient underground cave-like structure at Trelowaren known as 'Halligye Fogou'. With mixed media, she seeks to achieve quietness and simplicity at first glance, then a deeper meaning. The paintings of Anita Plume have a strong, moody atmosphere creating a romantic narrative for the viewer to take on. And 'Like a prospector searching for seams of ore', Paul Stayne excavates the canvas with paint and brush trying to find exciting passages of colour and texture which emerge from his working process. |
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inaugural show
In 2002 Ges developed the idea for an exhibition by the regular participants of the Friday workshops, and successfully applied for funding to the Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chest, part of the Penwith Community Development Trust.
This inaugural exhibition by the artists now known as the Porthmeor Group took place in June 2004. It demonstrated a diversity of subject matter, direction and technique by those who meet once a week in winter to share and enjoy their creativity and to take risks in the pursuit of their artistic goals.
porthmeor group founded
Porthmeor, Cornish for big, sandy cove, is the name of the beach we overlook from the studio we work in in the St. Ives School of Painting. It is a fantastically beautiful beach at any time of day or year, and it is a miracle that we manage to drag ourselves away from the studio windows long enough to produce any work. It seemed an appropriate name for the group.