Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Exhibition at Falmouth Art Gallery May 2025

 I saw this in Falmouth, Cornwall, Uk in May 2025, but it has toured around the country and is an annual opportunity to submit work defined in any way as drawing.

Such variety - quite a lot of intricate pattern done for its own fascination.

There’s a catalogue to consult whilst there to find out more about each artist or you can buy one.

There is drawing on paper cups by Akash Byatt, a work made out of pencils arranged, Esteban Peña Parma, and the first prize winning wall of pottery vessel forms made out of steel wire by Max L Adam’s, each casting a shadow so ingenuity and unusual materials have been selected.

 

 

Then there are complex large works with social and political meanings like Simon Page’s ‘The End of Babel’ in  ink, and a big drawing evoking the huge space of ‘Kings’ Cross station’ in charcoal by Jeanette Barnes.

Marvellous portraits are there too - Jake Spicer’s ‘Esme’ in charcoal pencil and Roy Eastland’s silver point on gesso ‘Displaced Portrait’ from a series he made from found photos.

There is work to make you think, laugh, cry and feel moved to take up a drawing medium yourself.
Anyone can enter but most I look up have a long list of qualifications and exhibitions to show.

As I am leaving I find about 12 babies in nappies each with probably their mother, on a large mat, being introduced to the messy pleasures of paint. I’m so glad adult workshops aren’t held in public in our underwear, although it might give performance artists ideas. Most of the babies look completely bewildered.
However that’s not to say it’s not a pleasurable beginning to the possibilities of art.

And the drawing show in all its variety must stimulate a wide audience.

‘The Legend of King Arthur , A Pre Raphaelite Love Story ‘ at Falmouth Art Gallery, 17 June to 30 Sept 2023.

‘The Legend of King Arthur , A Pre Raphaelite Love Story ‘ at Falmouth Art Gallery, 17 June to 30 Sept 2023. Walking into the show is to enter a different world, dimly lit, where romantic tales of voluptuous sad women and dark knights hopelessly in love with them can overwhelm the imagination. This is from a time when hundreds of hours could be spent by people paid to hand embroider and weave wall decorations. I would have liked some medieval lute music or a pipe organ to accompany my absorbed enjoyment of the brooding atmospheres and detailed narratives. One note of humour relieves the seriousness as Simeon Solomon’s cartoon is discovered, ‘Sir Galipot bearing the Holy Gruel’

It’s a treat to have some preparatory works close by the finished versions of the paintings. In the case of the ‘Lady of Shalott’ by John William Waterhouse which belongs to Falmouth Gallery, the sketch has a remarkable life and energy in the brushstrokes and the red paint looks as if it was applied that morning. The finished item has more symbols and a higher degree of finish and is less exciting.

The stories of the artists and their love interests sets add another layer of intrigue to the experience. I thoroughly recommend this exhibition, which is free to visit. Mon to Sat, 10 - 5.

Alternative Visions: Undiscovered Art in the South West

Alternative Visions. Undiscovered Art in the South West.

'Abattoir ' by Steve Burden

Falmouth Art Gallery, closed 9th December 2017

This show was first at Bristol. After Falmouth it is going to Cheltenham and then Poole. The inside back cover of the nicely produced catalogue reveals eleven logos of sponsoring bodies, including the Arts Council and Arts and Health.

Nine support days were organised and 310 artists submitted work, from which 20 were selected by four people , one an 'Outside  In' artist  award winner and three arts administrators, with each chosen artist having one work on the wall plus a rather lengthy caption and a video statement to be viewed in the gallery. In addition a group of artists with learning disabilities in Bristol had given responses to the works which  could be heard if you could work out how to work the audio system, which involved putting on headphones and inserting a microphone shaped audio device into a circular activating switch next to each painting. I think each device had one person's reactions to every piece. As I chose a very slow speaking respondent who didn't really grab my attention I gave up on this extra, which I had to get a member of the art gallery staff to explain to me.

'Wish Pond' by Pinn

All this detail about how it was presented I give because it shows that a lot of time, care and money was put into giving a lucky twenty an exposure in a mainstream municipal art gallery that maybe most would otherwise never have obtained. Seeing them on video some of the artists had a rough, battered by life quality. Many had no art education and used art as a therapeutic activity to relieve depression or other distress. Quite a few only gave their first names.  Some spoke of art being an easy thing to do  - something I felt most artists outside their sphere of mental or physical need would never say because it was so at odds with the narrative of effort and difficulty of which  artists usually speak. Some encouraged others to take up a brush or marker to try making art themselves, another thing you don't find artists who think they've achieved some status doing unless it's in a class they are being paid to teach.

If I tried to assess the work as if it had been in any mixed show say at the RWA in Bristol or the Newlyn Society I think no one would have seen it as unusual without the accompanying information about the artist's ill health or difficult life circumstances.

'Critical Mass' by Jeremy James Lovely

Some of the information would have simply been interesting but much of it spoke of problems, exclusion, mental stress.

'Pink rain and rain' by George J Harding

So, I am left with a mixture of feelings about the whole thing. It's as interesting as many shows. It wouldn't be there as it is if the health and art organisations didn't exist. It's in a way preserving a ghetto for outsiders but then again it's giving a few a treat of being seen, written about, encouraged.

'An Assortment of Characters' by Alex

What of the 290 not selected, left much as the refused of any group show, disappointed, told to try again?

'A Distant Echo over the Atlantic Ocean ' by Peter Matthews

Could the organisers have shown all the refused ones in a slide show? Should they have had a larger exhibition and been inclusive rather than reproducing the art world circumstances of some being chosen and no one knowing what criteria other than personal taste prevailed?

I took photos of some of the work. More selection and exclusion.

'Trip to National Portrait Gallery' by Peter Sutton

I was interested in the show and it made me think about the craziness of how anyone gets a break to show the world something they make. 

Alternative Visions : Undiscovered Art in the South West Dec 2017

Alternative Visions. Undiscovered Art in the South West.

Falmouth Art Gallery, closed 9th December 2017

This show was first at Bristol. After Falmouth it is going to Cheltenham and then Poole. The inside back cover of the nicely produced catalogue reveals eleven logos of sponsoring bodies, including the Arts Council and Arts and Health.

Nine support days were organised and 310 artists submitted work, from which 20 were selected by four people , one an 'Outside  In' artist  award winner and three arts administrators, with each chosen artist having one work on the wall plus a rather lengthy caption and a video statement to be viewed in the gallery. In addition a group of artists with learning disabilities in Bristol had given responses to the works which could be heard if you could work out how to work the audio system, which involved putting on headphones and inserting a microphone shaped audio device into a circular activating switch next to each painting. I think each device had one person's reactions to every piece. As I chose a very slow speaking respondent who didn't really grab my attention I gave up on this extra, which I had to get a member of the art gallery staff to explain to me.

All this detail about how it was presented I give because it shows that a lot of time, care and money was put into giving a lucky twenty an exposure in a mainstream municipal art gallery that maybe most would otherwise never have obtained. Seeing them on video some of the artists had a rough, battered by life quality. Many had no art education and used art as a therapeutic activity to relieve depression or other distress. Quite a few only gave their first names.  Some spoke of art being an easy thing to do  - something I felt most artists outside their sphere of mental or physical need would never say because it was so at odds with the narrative of effort and difficulty of which  artists usually speak. Some encouraged others to take up a brush or marker to try making art themselves, another thing you don't find artists who think they've achieved some status doing unless it's in a class they are being paid to teach.

If I tried to assess the work as if it had been in any mixed show say at the RWA in Bristol or the Newlyn Society I think no one would have seen it as unusual without the accompanying information about the artist's ill health or difficult life circumstances. Some of the information would have simply been interesting but much of it spoke of problems, exclusion, mental stress.

So, I am left with a mixture of feelings about the whole thing. It's as interesting as many shows. It wouldn't be there as it is if the health and art organisations didn't exist. It's in a way preserving a ghetto for outsiders but then again it's giving a few a treat of being seen, written about, encouraged.

What of the 290 not selected, left much as the refused of any group show, disappointed, told to try again?

Could the organisers have shown all the refused ones in a slide show? Should they have had a larger exhibition and been inclusive rather than reproducing the art world circumstances of some being chosen and no one knowing what criteria other than personal taste prevailed?

I took photos of some of the work. More selection and exclusion.

I was interested in the show and it made me think about the craziness of how anyone gets a break to show the world something they make. 

Soil Culture:Deep Roots, Falmouth Art Gallery Sept 9 to Nov 21, 2015

'Soil Culture:Deep Roots' Falmouth art gallery Sept 9 to Nov 21 2015. 

This exhibition is celebrating the UN year of soils and will be touring to Plymouth University Jan to March 2016. 

An important subject, but does it make an enthralling exhibition? 

It's unusual to see such world famous artists as Ana Mendieta in Falmouth and I was hoping maybe for too much as I entered the gallery. 

Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta's work stands out because she involved herself, specifically her own body in filmed performances in which her naked form is seen , here emerging from under stones and earth, or the space where it has been, set alight with bright flames, or left as an impression. A book available to read in the gallery is helpful in telling her story and explaining her wish to somehow enact personal rituals to be in touch with Mother Earth as if longing for a prehistoric awareness of it. It's intensely romantic to my mind, and as she died in a tragic accident at a young age the story of that incident and her husband, artist Carl Andre being accused of murder and acquitted, the vivid tragedy threatens to impede serious consideration of her art. However in this show it is the most attention grabbing and dramatic piece and nicely shown with a comfortable and beautifully crafted wooden seat opposite the three small screens. Also helpfully the time of the video is given so you know how long you might take to receive the images, which are only about three minutes and seen simultaneously.

 Suzanne Williams also uses video and contributes a page of poetic explanation but it's all too 'magical' for my liking, and it's not clear how long the video is so I did not take the time to do it justice. 

In another corner Daro Montag has a video of a circular agglomeration of writhing worms that he somehow attracted to a spot to film and I overheard a visitor saying they could watch it for hours. His work depends on getting nature to make it and he also shows a piece of film, buried in the earth and now illuminated to show how soil microbes ate away at it and produced coloured marks. 

Daro Montag

Daro Montag

Elsewhere several artists use earth to make marks and they are all using grid form to present them, rectangles by Herman de Vries, spots by Sandra Masterson, Richard Long's thumb prints, all making repeat patterns. The colours are earth colours, the excuse for the work is the soil idea but the results are pure abstract pattern making.

Herman de Vries

Sandra Masterson

Richard Long

Mel Chin

Paolo Barrile

Some ideas I really warm to, clearing a field of contaminating chemicals, by Mel Chin, shown us via an ancient looking beautifully drawn diagram, and Paolo Barrile's sweet little bottles of soil are very attractive and linked to a long project also about pollution. The ideas are important and the carrying out of them but the chart and the tin bottles seem like charming souvenirs of that. 

Adam White has an attractive watercolour map of geology of the British Isles but can't resist a whimsical jokey key of nonsense he has made up that infuriates me. 

Adam White

Claire Pentecost has a large collection of large earth ingots and drawings with all sorts of references that rather timidly hint at the evils of capitalism. 

Claire Pentecost

David Nash exchanged turf from Wales and Kensington to see what grew. 

David Nash

Andy Goldsworthy shows a lovely exuberant drawing for an earth work that he has made. 

Andy Goldsworthy

Matt Robinson piles up mud bricks from a building being made in Cornwall. They are being carefully maintained to not dry out which makes me wonder how they will fare in the inter faith Building, where I believe they will be indoors. 

Matt Robinson

That's a brief whizz round it.  It's unsatisfying somehow.  Certainly it rises awareness of soil, makes us think about it, but it's mostly a bit dry, not watered by liveliness, it needs a lot of work reading the blurb. It shows how difficult it is to make vibrant art about soil or with it and how strong is the urge to organise in grids. 

There's Ana Mendieta exhibiting her body and impressions she made with it and did things to, making a spectacle of herself, and Daro Montag, exhibiting ingenious images he induced natural living organisms to make, keeping his body out of it. 

I imagine Mendieta in a sort of sensationalist tv series getting the worms to squirm on her naked body, why the nakedness, impulse to shock, the only way she could get attention? Carl Andre , her husband , getting attention by coolly arranging bricks in a grid- bricks, mud, earth, fire, would be interesting to see them also here. 

Combine the body impression in the earth with the presumably used worm food to get worms all over the body impression? Then it's sort of Hamlet, death, transience? That's my concept, Mendieta plus Montag. 

I did buy my first copy of 'Resurgence' ecology magazine to read later, and I am still turning 'Soil' over with my mental spade.

anonymous experiments with materials provided