St. Ives

Today's journey took us to the northwestern coast of Cornwall to St. Ives. I can't hear that name without thinking of the old rhyme from my childhood.

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Every wife had seven sacks,

Every sack had seven cats,

Every cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

Apparently that little rhyme cum riddle dates from 1730. The answer, by the way, is one.

I didn't see the wives, sack, cats or kits, but I did see a lot of art in St. Ives, courtesy of the Tate St. Ives.

The gallery is right at the seaside and is beautiful inside and out, even before you get to the art.

It's fairly small, but has a terrific collection of modern art. A circle of modern artists emerged in St. Ives in the 1940s, some fleeing war-torn London or Europe. Others soon joined them. These artists rejected the West Cornwall traditions of landscape and marine paintings to explore new ways of navigating their concerns and visions for the future. The Tate St. Ives celebrates the work of modern artists associated with the town and their spirit of experimentation.

Porthleven by Peter Lanyon, 1951:

Harbour Window with two Figures, St. Ives by Patrick Heron, 1950:

There are, however, works by many artists not associated with St. Ives, including these:

The Soul of the Soulless City by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, 1920:

L'Etang de Trivaux by Henri Matisse, 1916-17:

The Tree A by Piet Mondrian, 1913:

Swinging by Wassily Kandinsky, 1925:

The featured exhibition was Liliane Lijn: Arise Alive. I certainly don't claim to be terribly well-versed in the world of modern art, but I was unaware of her until this exhibition. Ms. Lijn went through different phases in her career, at various times painting,

drilling into plastic, painting with polymer-based ski wax, experimenting with moving shapes,

and sculpting in various materials.

There was a collection of her cones on display. I found this one most mesmerizing.

There was an interesting video/sound installation called "Soundings" by Emma Critchley. Much of it consisted of video taken deep in the ocean.

It was accompanied by voices of Pacific activists, lawyers and scientists who are trying to inform the discussion of deep-sea mining and the dangers it holds.

In the lower gallery there was a spotlight on Ro Robertson's piece, "Interlude," which combines drawings he developed on Porthmeor Beach with sculptures made at his studio nearby.

The sculpture has little cave-like areas which were designed to allow the viewer to become part of the piece. No one I saw dared crawl inside.

We left this beautiful building with its wonderful view of the beach

and walked into town. Just a warning if you venture to St. Ives: there are so many hills and cobblestones that comfy walking shoes are a must!

The seaside area is a bit tatty, but there are so many little lanes that lead off of them, with tinier lanes leading off of those.

Bruce headed out to visit pubs and I walked all around town taking in the sights.

We had lunch in town then started back up the hill to the car park. On the way I found the Barbara Hepworth Gallery, located in what was her house and studio. The small gallery in what was her flat opens out onto a sculpture garden featuring some of her large scale works.

On the far side of the garden is a workshop that looks as though Ms. Hepworth might suddenly appear and start working.

A few more hills

and we made it to the car park with its wonderful view of the sea.