Porthmeor Studios Residency

25/10/2017

Discovery | 16th edition | Cornwall Film Festival | 10th - 19th November The theme for the 2017 Cornwall Film Festival is Discovery. On The SATURDAY 11 & 12 November 2017 we will return to The Poly, Falmouth for a packed programme of Galas, screening showcases and talks. Starting at 10.00am with a s...

09/10/2017

22/08/2017

Come to Porthmeor Studios to celebrate guest artists in residence, Friday 25th August 4-6pm with open studios, an informal chat by artist Danny Fox, an exhibition and a free cream tea.

Painter Danny Fox was born and raised in Porthmeor Square, inches away from the Studios but now lives in Los Angeles. Fox, who has recently exhibited at the Redfern Gallery London, Sotherby’s New York (June 2016) and Sotherby’s Los Angeles (November 2016), will talk about his work, during an informal conversation, for the first time at 5pm. Funding from the Porthmeor Fund, John Cohen Fund and Arts Council England made it possible for the new Porthmeor Artist Residency Programme to invite Fox back to St. Ives.

Artist-in-residence Katie Schwab, supported by the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Arts Council England, will open her studio while her collaborative work, made with St. Ives-based textile artists from Chy an Creet, will be exhibited in the Borlase Smart room. Katie’s recent portable mural for the Serpentine Gallery includes indigo and woven pieces made with Sarah Johnson from Chy an Creet.
Chy an Creet artists included in the exhibition are:
Camilla Dixon
Katharina Gastberger
Bear Hardy
Sarah Johnson
Milly Melbourne
Ben Sanderson
Katie Schwab

London-based Jake Clark is also a local artist returning on a self-funded residency. His recent paintings respond to 3D cardboard models and collages Clark builds and photographs with dramatic lighting. His working process as well as the final works will be on show.

All the residencies, hosted by the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust, finish at the end of August so please come to celebrate these fascinating visiting artists 4-6pm, Porthmeor Studios, Back Road West TR261NG. Come into the main entrance for refreshments and directions to the studios. The Porthmeor Studios page has updates, further information and more images.

More information about Katie Schwab who will open her studio, the Chy an Creet artists she will exhibit with in the exhibition and Jake Clark, who will also open his studio.

Katie Schwab:
Katie Schwab is an artist invited by the Porthmeor Artist Residency Programme supported, with thanks, by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Arts Council England. Some of you may have heard Katie speak about her work at one of our Lunch Break artist talks in June.
At this event on Friday 25th August 4-6pm, Katie will be opening her studio while her collaborative work, made with St. Ives-based textile artists from Chy an Creet, will be exhibited in the Borlase Smart room. Katie’s recent portable mural for the Serpentine Gallery includes indigo and woven pieces made with Sarah Johnson from Chy an Creet. http://www.katieschwab.com/
Katie’s practice interweaves personal, social, and craft-based histories, often drawing from traditions of living, making and working collectively. Her artworks take the form of installations of embroidered, woven and printed textiles, ceramic tableware, furniture and videos, drawing on the bright colours, bold shapes and abstract forms of twentieth-century modern design. She has a particular interest in the textile works of female modernists and, drawing on the multiple roles these women undertook as artists, designers, writers and teachers, her work similarly moves fluidly between gallery, learning and domestic spaces.
While at Porthmeor Studios Katie will be researching the history of textiles in St Ives, exploring the production of nets, silks and camouflage in the area. She is interested in exploring the role of women in forms of collective manufacturing and cottage industries, and will be using her time in the studio to experiment with a variety of textile techniques, including weaving, appliqué and knotting.
Bio
Katie Schwab completed her MFA at The Glasgow School of Art (2015). Recent exhibitions include Jerwood Solo Presentations, Jerwood Space, London (2016), Making the Bed, Laying the Table, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Glasgow (2016), Together in a Room, Collective, Edinburgh (2016), Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Backlit, Nottingham and ICA, London (2015) and Fresh, British Ceramics Biennal, The Original Spode Factory Site, Stoke-on-Trent (2015). She undertook the 2015 Hospitalfield Graduate Residency and is the recipient of the 2016 Nigel Greenwood Art Prize and the 2017 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Residency. She has run workshops and projects at galleries including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Serpentine Galleries, Arnolfini, The Fruitmarket Gallery, The Common Guild and Camden Arts Centre.
Upcoming:
Live Work, with Lotte Gertz and Shona Macnaughton, Glasgow Open House Arts Festival, Leven Street, Glasgow, 29th April- 1st May
The Artists' Studio, discussion with Paul Johnson and Emily LaBarge, Camden Arts Centre, London, 17th May
Foundations of a Creative Curriculum, Baltic, Newcastle, 20th May
Satellites 2016 Publication, Collective, Edinburgh (co-edited with Anastasia Philimonos, designed by Maeve Redmond)
Atrium commissions for mima, Middlesbrough
Future Plan Collection, Hospitalfield, Arbroath

Chy an Creet exhibition:
The idea behind the work/ living space in St. Ives:

The idea behind the project is to provide affordable residential accommodation with shared studio space for a small number of (selected) fashion/sportswear design graduates, within the creatively fertile environment of St Ives.

The house:

Chy an Creet was built in 1922 for Edgar and Edith Skinner, who were active patrons of the arts in St Ives between the wars. They lived in Salubrious House in the lower part of town, but moved out to Chy an Creet to be closer to their new project: the Leach Pottery. The couple had introduced their friend Bernard Leach to St Ives, and were instrumental in founding the Leach Pottery, finding investors and managing the business. It was also the Skinners’ idea to offer paid apprenticeships to students to run the pottery, which is still practised there today.

The house has been used as a small hotel for many decades, so it is a thrill to return it to something close to its original purpose: a residential space to facilitate creative work. It has also been beneficial to both parties that the house is becoming linked again with the Leach Pottery, through part-time work in the museum, study courses and visiting ceramicists staying at the house.

Katie in the house:

One of the four residential rooms was initially set aside for artists or makers working locally on short-term residencies at Porthmeor Studios or the Leach Pottery, the first of whom turned out to be Katie Schwab. Katie's interest in design and applied arts, and use of textiles and ceramics in her practice, along with her inclusive and collaborative approach to her work, have made her stay in the house a very happy and fruitful time.

Jake Clark:
Jake Clark is on a self-funded residency. A description in his own words is: 'My most recent paintings are a response to cardboard models and collages that I have made in my studio. I am interested in creating 3D structures influenced by suburbia and games like crazy golf. I am fascinated by the details of these kinds of places and how they can be re-configured within a different environment. After making the models I then photograph them in dramatic lighting. The paintings then become a strange evocation of these references. The colours are important in capturing a faded yet luminous quality.
Photography plays a key part in the earlier stages in gathering “seaside” detailing. My previous paintings were of bungalows from the Penwith area, mainly from Carbis Bay. These led to the current more abstracted structures. Seaside towns in the UK have always been a big influence on the colours and mood of the work'.
Jake's process will be on show as well as the final work.

Even though the event is now 4-6pm Jake will keep his studio open to visitors until 7pm. http://www.jake-clark.co.uk/?/paintings/

Jake is one of many artists who come to Porthmeor Studios for 1-6 month periods and fund their time here using grants, crowdfunding or their own resources. For more info please see: http://www.bsjwtrust.co.uk/apply-for-a-studio/

14/08/2017

Celebrate the residency programme at Brisons Veor, Cape Cornwall 26th August 1-4pm. There are two calls for residencies each year. Please read more about it in the following newsletter:
DEAR RESIDENTS AND FRIENDS OF BRISONS VEOR,
It is just over a year since I became Trust Administrator for Brisons Veor, and I’m very pleased now to be able to tell you about some of the highlights of the past year.

Residencies at Brisons Veor continue to be sought-after. We accept two rounds of applications each year, and each time receive over 30 proposals from visual artists, writers, musicians and and ceramicists. As you can imagine, that is a heavy workload for our Trustees, and it is by no means an easy task to allocate residencies. This year we have tried to extend the reach of our Call to Artists, and have been able to award more residencies to creatives in counties outside the West of England, in Europe and the USA, as well as artists ‘nearer to home’.

It is always a pleasure to receive feedback from our residency artists, and occasionally, as well as thanks, we receive practical gifts for Brisons Veor. Painter Amanda Oliphant donated the money that she collected as part of her Honesty Box project, after her residency last July. Ceramic artist Penny Green made 16 fantastic tiles to form a splashback behind the new oven, which we hope to install as soon as we can make time in our programme.

One of our resident-writers, Katrina Naomi, a successful contemporary poet based in Penzance, enjoyed her residency so much that she has helped us to set up a bursary scheme for four one-week residencies at Brisons. Two writers will benefit from the Bursary award this year, and two in 2018. Poet Louisa Adjoa Parker and flash fiction writer Amanda Mason were selected in 2016, and take up their residencies this year. Louisa plans to use the residency to complete a fourth collection of poetry, one which explores her experiences of adolescence based on her diary entries from the Eighties. Amanda Mason writes flash fiction, short stories and is currently working on her third novel. The bursaries are open to writers who are low-waged and working towards a collection of poetry or short stories, a novel or a play. To find out more visit http://brisonsveor.org.uk/bursary-to-support-writers-with-a-residency-at-brisons-veor/

Katrina shared her residency at Brisons Veor with artist Tim Ridley, and they have produced a film documenting their residency: http://www.katrinanaomi.co.uk/an-hour-from-here/

In addition to maximizing opportunities through the residency programme, Trustees have had to make decisions about protecting the fabric of the building, which, you can imagine, is no simple matter. Brisons Veor is situated on one of the most Westerly points of the UK, subjected to violent storms and gales, and the constant battering of the sea against the cliffs it stands on. Progress has been slow but steady, and we have to thank Annie Halliday in particular for her tireless dedication to the renovation programme. As Trust Manager since 2011, Annie has successfully applied for funding support for building projects, and has initiated many changes that benefit and enhance the residency experience. We really do owe her a great deal.

Studio by the Sea 2016

In 2017 thirty-one artists and writers will spend time at Brisons reflecting on their practice and researching new ideas. Here’s what some have said already:

‘Being surrounded by nature provided an inspiring and humbling perspective on the importance of the natural world’

‘Without doubt the variety and dynamism of the landscape and coastline, so accessible to the house, is a huge benefit to gathering inspirational source material and to my progression as an abstract landscape artist’

‘We created a wealth of material from which to work. Fourteen excellent home cooked meals. Listening to some wonderful music from the BV CD collection ‘
‘My project was to focus on getting myself out and about, be decisive, painting from life without the usual constraints that hold me back when at home. This...I did, and I felt when at my peak, which was when I exhausted myself on about day 3 or 4, the paintings had the energy and freshness that only plain air urgent painting can bring. I was able to really look at the colour in front of me and try to capture that.’
‘It was a very special time to spend two weeks in such an amazing place. It felt rich with possibilities.
The sea, the light, the dark, the constant noise of wind, motion and commotion lay down the foundation for my work. I walked. I stared. I painted. I tried, as ever, to avoid the patterns, ruts and familiar ways of working’
‘The isolation of Cape Cornwall in Winter and lack of any distractions proved to be invaluable as I was able to focus and think clearly’
We are proud that Brisons Veor continues to offer shelter and inspiration to so many creatives, and that the generous vision of our Founder, Tracy O’Kates, continues to flourish.
On behalf of the Trustees of Brisons Veor,
Patricia Wilson Smith - Trust Administrator
[email protected]
www.brisonsveor.org.uk
If you can afford a donation to the upkeep of Brisons Veor, please become a Friend of Brisons Veor, or make a one-off donation.
Your contribution will support other artists in need.

14/08/2017

Anderson Ranch offers a residency program designed to encourage the creative, intellectual and personal growth of emerging and established visual artists. Residents are encouraged to pursue a multidisciplinary approach toward their work while at the Ranch. Resident artists will be provided with hous...

14/08/2017

Our emerging artist in residence Katie Schwab has been working on this portable mural for the Serpentine Gallery family pack while here at Porthmeor Studios in St. Ives. The paper resource is accompanied by a collection of indigo mats that Katie and Sarah Johnson made at Porthmeor. The residency is supported, with thanks, by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Arts Council England . www.bsjwtrust.co.uk

Katie Schwab is an artist who explores how different hands and voices can come together to respond to issues affecting our daily lives. Katie is interested in the links between Kéré’s Pavilion and traditions of weaving, indigo fabric dyeing and community wall painting in Burkina Faso, where women pa...

25/07/2017

Please excuse us - we might be a little quiet on social media for a couple of weeks but please come to Porthmeor Studios for drinks on the eve of 25th August to celebrate our guest artists in residence - Katie Schwab and Danny Fox - and see some of their work and their studios. You will also get to hear who our next invited guest artist is and when SHE is coming plus the dates for the next Lunch Break artist talks. Watch this space from mid-August, www.bsjwtrust.co.uk and on Twitter.

24/07/2017

Here at Porthmeor Studios on Saturday 5th August 8pm, Newlyn based Trust artist Ilker Cinarel presents a one-off performance.

Newlyn-based Trust artist Ilker Cinarel presents the performance 'Flexing Around' here at Porthmeor Studios on Saturday 5th August at 8pm in the Borlase Smart room.
Porthmeor Studios, Back Road West, St. Ives, TR26 1NG - www.bsjwtrust.co.uk
www.ilkercinarel.com
http://ilkercinarel.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter:

18/07/2017

Hold the date! The evening of Friday 25th August at Porthmeor Studios - we will have drinks, guest resident Katie Schwab's work on show in the Borlase Smart room and her studio open, Jake Clark's studio open (he's in a short-let studio until the end of August) and more open studios to announce as we will have another artist in residence during August. More information to come mid-August. www.bsjwtrust.co.uk