Western Morning News (Saturday)
Gallery gives an ‘Open Call’ to emerging artists
Frank Ruhrmund sees online exhibition of 10 artists at Far & Wild Gallery at Perranporth
Aware of the difficulties faced by artists early in their careers in getting accepted by galleries at the best of times, let alone now when faced with Covid-19 and lockdown, Alicia Livingstone, curator and director of the Far & Wild Gallery at Perranporth, decided to present her first ever Open Call online exhibition, which began yesterday, Friday, May 22. As she says: “I wanted to give a platform for talented emerging artists to exhibit work in a commercial gallery setting. I thought this would be an exciting way to promote and support them.”
On answering her Open Call, entrants had to be living or working in Cornwall, and to have completed an arts, design or creative degree, or an accredited teaching course within the last five years in the South West, including the year-long programme at either the St Ives School of Painting or the Newlyn School of Art. In addition, the Far & Wild Gallery also welcomed submissions from previous students at Falmouth College of Art, Penwith College, Truro College and Plymouth College of Art.
Such was the initial overall response to her proposed Open Call project that, to join her on the judging panel and help in selecting the final 10 artists whose works would make up the online exhibition, Alicia Livingstone invited established artists Henrietta Dubrey and Kerry Harding, who have since said: “We were overwhelmed not only by the quantity but also the quality of the entries, their standard was so high it was difficult to decide upon just the 10 needed for the exhibition.”
The lucky 10 are: Pip Bryson, formerly a doctor who specialised in psychiatry, but is now a painter, who gained entry here via a mentoring course at Newlyn School of Art in 2017; Rebecca Caroline, who is a current graduate of Falmouth College of Art’s MA photography course, and whose photographic prints are part of her MA project; Laura Drayson, a graduate of Falmouth University, who works with gold, silver, gem stones and natural materials in the creation of her wearable sculpture;
Megan Fatharly, a graduate from Falmouth College of Art, whose line work and subtle intricate layers come together to form individual narratives in her explorative drawings of the everyday.
Also Judith Lakeman Fraser, whose current work reflects her concern with the threat to the landscape from global warming, and who was part of the Porthmeor programme in 2019 at the St Ives School of Painting; Louise Hamilton, who studied at Falmouth College of Art in the early 1990s and two years ago was also part of the Porthmeor programme, and who is fascinated by archaeology, and of the people who came before us and lived and survived in the landscape; Jasmine King, a graduate of Falmouth University, who likes to experiment with different materials to give new perspectives to her embroidery; Clementine Nield, who was a student of master printer John Howard in his Penryn studio for a long while, and who says: “My work could be as much at home within the pages of a book as on the walls of a gallery.”
Also Jacky Paynter, who first studied graphic design at the Redruth School of Art, now part of Falmouth University, returned to painting via the St Ives School of Painting’s Porthmeor programme, and whose paintings capture the atmosphere of St Ives, while showing her love of colour, texture, line and drawing; and Sue Watt, who not only experienced the Porthmeor programme a couple of years ago, but also recently enjoyed a solo show in the Penwith’s Studio Gallery, who shows a body of work which began when studying the effects of a hand-made spinning toy made for her disabled son Tom.
Altogether an appealing collection of paintings, jewellery, textile design, printmaking, photography and even more, Open Call can be seen online at www.farandwildliving.co.uk until May 31.