Cornish Perspectives: Contemporary Art from the Peninsula

What is it about Cornwall — with its roiling waves, windswept expanses, jagged cliffs, and glimmering harbours — that has captivated artists for centuries? Consider the list of towering figures to whom the county lays claim: Frost, Wallis, Heron, Knight, Hepworth... all of them devoted to this ancient land where they built their lives and careers. Certainly the many natural wonders deserve credit, yet even they cannot fully account for the region's generative mystique. The answer lies, perhaps, in a shared sense of continual searching, of striving to discover a vision so worthy of elaboration that one freely applies their life effort and distinct talents toward it. This endeavouring spirit is not peculiar to Cornwall, of course — but if the history of art is to be believed, it does exist in outsized volume there.

 

It is a testament to Cornwall's creative dynamism that this exhibition surveys such a broad swath of media, from oil, acrylic, and watercolour paintings to pastel drawings, mixed media collages, bronze sculptures, and ceramics. Each of the featured artists lends a unique insight — a Cornish perspective — to the collective effort, expressing the visions that animate them, casting new shadows on familiar landscapes, and pushing us to contemplate our place within it all.

 

Now as ever, Cornish perspectives recur as this storied county continues to enchant, to haunt, and to promise.