Clare Conrad English, b. 1948
‘I have loved St. Ives ever since my first sight of it from the train as I approached around Carbis Bay – alone, aged 18. I remember it so well – a brilliant, sunny day – the island spread out with sea all around it, like a 3D map, breath-taking: the colours and light have been a major influence on my work. As I walked around the streets, cosy and picturesque, but with an underlying, dramatic sense of history and past hardships, my love of the visual effects of weathering and chiaroscuro was born and has stayed with me.
‘My work is an exploration of colour and texture inspired, mainly, by the effects of light and ageing on architecture, artefacts and landscape. My technique of layering vitreous slip onto wheel-thrown vessels, vases and bowls provides a rugged texture, which contrasts with the satin-matt glaze inside. The pots are fired to stoneware temperature in an electric kiln, which gives me total control over the subtlety of the finished colours.
‘My approach is to combine artistic expression with traditional craft skills and an innovative decorating technique. Form and contrast were my initial concerns, with particular interest in the contradiction of fragile, yet protective, strength, for example that of shells and ancient helmets, together with aesthetic obsessions of chiaroscuro and visual drama. Travel in southern France and Italy, with the region's light, sun-baked colours, sense of mellow antiquity and faded splendour was the catalyst for experiments with colour and texture.'
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CHRISTMAS SHOW online
22 Dec 2022 - 7 Jan 2023If summertime in St Ives now seems a distant memory – with the recent cold snap – you can now enjoy reliving those happy memories of summer by the sea...Read more -
PENWITH RHYTHMS: ANCIENT AND SACRED LANDSCAPE
Cornwall’s Prehistoric landscape is the focus of this exhibition of guest artists’ works 23 Oct - 27 Nov 2021The dramatic landscape of west Cornwall has captured the imagination of writers and artists for three centuries, and now this ancient and sacred landscape is explored and celebrated anew in...Read more -
RELOCATION
11 Sep - 24 Oct 2020The opening collection at our new premises at 22 Fore Street is a changing showcase of artworks by some of the many established and emerging British Artists whom we represent,...Read more -
RENEWAL
28 Mar - 30 Jun 2020After a long winter of being battered by seemingly constant storms and now the Coronavirus-19 lockdown, Porthminster Gallery begins its 2020 season of specially-curated seasonal shows with an online exhibition...Read more -
COASTAL RHYTHMS
PAINTINGS & CERAMICS BY FOUR ARTISTS 28 Apr - 9 Jun 2018A selling show of new paintings by Angela Charles and Sara Dudman, and new ceramics by Clare Conrad and Sarah Perry, inspired by Cornwall’s changing coastline. The show explores both...Read more -
COAST 10: EIGHT ARTISTS AND THE SEA
13 May - 10 Jun 2017We are very excited to announce our tenth coastal-themed exhibition 'COAST 10', celebrating the wonderful Cornish coastline through the eyes of eight of your favourite established painters and ceramicists:Read more