The Cultural Triangle

Evaluation of our community engagement project

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Introduction The Cultural Triangle 1

Exhibitions 3 Artist of the First Falmouth Art Gallery Porthmeor Past and Present

Commissions Commissions and Acquisitions 9

Community Engagement Baby Jam Sensory workshops 14

Family Workshops 15

Winnie’s Wanderings 17

Formal Learning 21

Other Workshops 23 The Cultural Traingle Visiting artists 25 (Clockwise from top: Working with older people 27 St Ives, Falmouth, ) Volunteers 29

Acknowledgements 31 The Cultural Triangle Introduction Falmouth Art Gallery is run by Falmouth Town Council which cares for a highly eclectic collection of 1,700 artworks many of which celebrate ’s rich artistic heritage. The collection is used to inspire community engagement for audiences of all ages and abilities. The Cultural Triangle project follows on from the hugely successful John Singer Sargent community heritage project (2009-12) which not only secured an important artwork for Falmouth Art Gallery’s Collection but also set out an infrastructure and strategy to ‘celebrate Falmouth’s rich artistic heritage’ through an ambitious new marketing campaign then titled ‘Cornwall’s Creative Triangle’. This project failed to get backing from but it was felt that the heritage impact was compelling. The clue to the project is in the name Cultural Triangle and the intention to elevate Falmouth’s artistic heritage to a level on a par with that of Newlyn and St Ives. The project focused on art produced since about 1880 by artists practicing in this geographical triangulation and included a year-long programme of exhibitions which began in February 2014 with Artists of the First Falmouth Art Gallery and ended in January 2015 with Porthmeor Past and Present. These exhibitions provided the impetus for new commissions and a wide range of workshops, performances, and volunteer opportunities which continued till the end of March 2015. In this fourteen month period the gallery had 50,686 visitors with 12,154 experiencing some form of enhanced engagement made possible by Heritage Lottery funding.

2 Exhibitions The Cultural Triangle project was launched with the exhibition Artists of the First Falmouth Art Gallery (8th February-19th April 2014) which attracted 7,571 visitors. This exhibition celebrated the opening of the first Falmouth Art Gallery on Grove Place in 1894 and featured works by many of the artists both Falmouth based and Newlyn School who exhibited there in the twenty years leading up to the WW1. The exhibition required many hours of painstaking research by our team of volunteers which included combing Artists of the First Falmouth Art Gallery. through microfiche back-copies of local The project terminated with the newspapers for reviews of the exhibitions exhibition Porthmeor Past and Present (29th held at Grove Place. Thus we discovered who November 2014-21 January 2015) curated by exhibited in 1894 and in many cases what. the architect M J Long who was responsible We traced works at for the recent award winning, HLF funded Museum and Gallery, Royal Cornwall Museum, conservation project for Porthmeor Studios. Alfred East Gallery in Kettering, Rupert We worked with the Walker Gallery to bring Maas Gallery, Abbott & Holder Gallery and an important Julius Ollson which was the star some paintings from private Collections. feature of Porthmeor Past and MJ curated The exhibition, accompanying catalogue the six artists whose Porthmeor studios and programmed talks have helped to raise the were renovated by her in the Porthmeor profile of Falmouth artists H S Tuke, Charles present gallery. The exhibition was very well Napier Hemy and William Ayerst Ingram. received and 5,842 visitors were recorded. Mid-way through the year we also staged an exhibition Black and White inspired by an exhibition of the same name originally staged by H S Tuke and William Ayerst Ingram in November 1894 which attracted such “I have been coming here most of my life luminaries of the day such as James McNeil and everytime I learn a little bit more and Whister, Lord Leighton and H M Queen today’s exhibition has been wonderful. What Victoria to exhibit. a brilliant idea - to recreate the first hanging. To accompany this exhibition, we Lovely exhibition, thank you” produced a black and white catalogue of Geraldine Maynard photographic portraits of famous artists working in their studios, inspired by Hampshire 4 Instead of a Switch Gallery we have introduced our new Limelight wall which is a six day gallery for anybody who wishes to exhibit their work. We began in May 2014 and have been fully subscribed and now have a waiting list till the end of March 2016. Exhibitors are as diverse as the school age winners of the Falmouth University schools art competition to local art societies, amateur and would be artists and makers. We also gave our baby prints a bit of a break in the Community Gallery by hanging an exhibition of the photographic portraits taken by volunteer Martin Howse that complimented the exhibition Black and White and formed the basis of that catalogue. We also “Very impressive Exhibition especially the modern reactions of the current hung the artwork created by students artists. The film is especially expressive of the qualities that the symbiosis of working with Porthmeor artists Iain Robertson and Clare Wardman as historic buildings, artist and architect are trying to conserve and take forward.” part of the Cultural Triangle project. John Lowe, Dorchester

6 8 Commissions and acquisitions Digital engagement to reach new In the allotted time, we commissioned audiences was a priority in 2014. To this end our most ambitious automata to date we commissioned two stand-alone bespoke The Cornish Cultural Triangle made by Keith desks (one at wheelchair height) with fixed Newstead. It depicts Dame Laura Knight in her touchscreen tablet displays. We launched these studio in Newlyn, Dame Barbara Hepworth in as part of Black and White with a digital project her studio in St Ives and Grace Gardner a local helping to develop an app called Elements Falmouth artist asleep in bed (where she gets her of Pattern. We trialled this app with school best ideas. The automaton is electric powered children, Stroke Club, Falcare (Mencap) and and has a very clever sound track and will be a other community groups as well as members of permanent legacy of the Cultural Triangle project. the public. The tablets were reprogrammed for Porthmeor Past and Present with audio interviews conducted by the architect M J Long with Porthmeor artists and a film about Roy Walker. The tablets have since been reprogrammed to showcase Urban Uprising skateboard film and permanent access to our collection.

A video of this is available to watch via our You Tube channel at:

http://bit.ly/1Ln5EU2

10 For Winnie’s Wanderings (see page 17), These workshops attracted 15 new we commissioned a replica Victorian performers and culminated in an evening paint box from papier-mache artist Philip performance in the gallery on the 18th Cox. This was used by Glyn Winchester December which was attended by a further as part of her costume interpretation. 35 people. Shallal is an accessible dance To explore a different aspect of the company and we are really pleased that the Porthmeor Past and Present exhibition, we gallery can be used in this way, despite the worked with Shallal Dance Company in the awful acoustic and environmental conditions. autumn to help launch Shallal 2, a Falmouth- The legacy of this project is our based branch of the main Newlyn company. continuing involvement with Shallal 2, who The gallery spaces were offered free so that will be working on a new commission in the company could recruit new performers 2015/16. We are also supporting Shallal and for use as a rehearsal space for three artists by part funding a residency project at sessions. Porthmeor studios.

12 Community Engagement

Baby Jam sensory workshops for 0 - 6 months

Working with under fours is fast becoming one of Falmouth Art Gallery’s most popular activities to the extent that as part of the Cultural Triangle project we not only introduced the new Baby Jam sensory workshops but we also exported them to Museum reaching a whole new “Thank you so much for audience who fed back that there was nothing like the Baby Jam session this this at all in Helston. Baby Jam and Baby Paint are a fantastic way for new mums, dads, grandparents morning! Our littles absolutely and carers to meet each other in an informal but loved it, they had a fantastic stimulating environment. Figures increased from time exploring all the different 499 (2013) to 1175 (2014). In addition, our textures, smells, sounds and toddler’s group Little Fingers were engaged with objects around them. Cannot the exhibitions Artists of the First FalmouthCommunity Art Gallery Engagment wait until next time! Will and Porthmeor Past and Present with the ‘what’s in be recommending this to the suitcase’ activity inspiring the children to create collages and improvised performances in the gallery everyone.” which were inspired by the artwork on the walls. Krystina Hunking, Baby Jam mum 14 Family Learning

We did a ‘Victorian dress up and draw’ Between April 2014 and March 2015, workshop; a ‘Varnishing Party’ workshop; ‘Set Sail’ we delivered 167 activity sessions and - making H S Tuke inspired fishing boats out of events, both on and off site, involving scrap materials; ‘Clouds at Dawn’ drawing dramatic 5,721 participants of all ages and clouds inspired by the works of William Ayerst abilities. Ingram; ‘Beyond the Painting’ exploring the stories contained in the paintings particularly Percy Craft’s Hevva Hevva, ‘Pots Away’ where we looked at all the various terrracotta and porcelain pots in the paintings; ‘Still Life’ inspired by Sophie Anderson and Ellen Genn’s flower paintings. These workshops were run by Saturday education facilitators and a selection of the artwork produced was displayed in the Community gallery, situated in the main entrance to Falmouth’s Municipal Building. They were framed and captioned professionally by the Collections Team and volunteers. Throughout the project we have been developing a process led ethos towards both informal and formal learning. What we discovered during this process is that families like the opportunity to have somewhere to sit and experiment together, without being told what to do. The ‘Doodle Time’ concept of offering a self- led activity on Saturdays and during school holidays has continued to thrive with a recent record figure of 80 family members taking part in the Doodle Time activity in one day.

“Really good art gallery, it’s good beacuase you can actually do stuff, instead of just look.” “Educational, creative and fun! India Gill, Somerset Lovely exhibition, lovely space.” 14 Helen Boyse, Kent 16 Winnie’s Wanderings “It was a terrific opportunity for a broad range of people.” Glyn Winchester Winnie’s Wanderings was a logical combination of three ideas in our funding application:

* a printed trail of Falmouth’s artists’ houses * 6 x 90 minute walk and sketch sessions led by an artist * a programme of river cruises

We used the character of Winifred Freeman (Charles Napier Hemy’s sister in law and a very good watercolourist in her own right and one of the artists of the first Falmouth Art Gallery) to create Winnie’s Wanderings - a living costume interpretation trail led by education facilitator Glyn Winchester - leading school children, families and general visitors on a trail around the Falmouth artists’ houses and important scenes that they painted combining it with a ‘plein air’ sketching activity. We also decided to use Henry Scott Tuke’s We discovered that many of the current paintings of tall ships from our collection to inspire owners of the Falmouth artists’ houses did school children to create artwork in preparation not want to have their houses distinguished for Falmouth Tall Ships regatta which took place in nor did they want their houses put on a August 2014. This activity linked to the KS1 and 2 special map so we abandonned the idea of ‘Art on your Doorstep’ topic. Our freelance artist a printed leaflet. However, in preparation facilitators, Jo Lumber, Sarah Scott, Tony Johns volunteers Michael & Linda Bickford and Glyn Winchester worked with 891 school and Glyn Winchester did considerable children from 19 different schools all within the research. Glyn then applied this Cultural Triangle area, during the summer term. knowledge to her Winnie’s Wanderings.

18 “It was my first time on the river and first time to meet other artists and crafts people Instead of producing a printed resource The sketches and notes that they made in the from the area since moving here in the summer. What an evening, what a sunset, we created a social media campaign engaging gardens were then used back in the Gallery to so inspiring, I now want to get out on the river to so some more sketching. One of our online audience and new audiences to create monoprints and watercolour studies. the special moments was when I had been telling firiends about the wonderful the rich artistic heritage of Falmouth using These activities culminated in a ‘float #CulturalTriangle. This included commentary and sketch’ on a Fal river cruise boat that photos in the foyer of the library [Art Gallery] and about the photographer. I was on the community programme and a series of followed the river on a flood tide up to banging on about them on the boat and to my suprise Pam Tongue introduced ‘wow’ facts about artists of the First Falmouth and back. It was a fabulous evening me to Martin Howse, my head is still buzzing with the excitment of it all.” Art Gallery. During the project we gained and we had all ages on board sketching while Julie Howe an additional 600 likes on Facebook, 900 ‘Winnie’ talked about the famous artists who followers on Twitter and 550 followers on had lived on and been inspired by the Fal. Instagram. Winnie’s Wanderings is now a We are now hosting a sketch club once permanent fixture in the gallery’s calendar and a month for all comers and have offered local is a unique school’s offer if we need to split art societies the opportunity to hang themed a large group in order to deliver art/heritage exhibitions in our community gallery space. As workshops. part of the First Falmouth Art Gallery exhibition we showed a photograph of Henry Scott Tuke painting a portrait of Howard Fox outdoors in his garden (now the Fox Rosehill Gardens). The portrait was loaned to the exhibition by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. The Fox family owned many of the big houses and gardens in the area. They were polymaths with an interest in exotic plants. We delivered a walk and draw session around the Fox Rosehill garden with primary schools from the and Newlyn area using the rare seedpods they found and telling Victorian plant hunting tales.

20 “An important aspect of the project was how the students and their art were taken seriously. Beacuse Formal Learning for of the small group size there was plenty of time to discuss art and other issues and students were Young People in Education warmly welcomed by practicing artists. The project made for some excellent memories, a wider appreciation of art and an increased sense of self-esteem which was especially noticeable with the This project was a great opportunity to two boys who took part.” reach out into the community in the Cultural Triangle area. Two strong examples of this were Tony Johns, Gallery Education Facilitator evolved by our Gallery education team working with young people from the Nine Maidens pupil referral unit to produce digital imagery inspired by a visit to St Ives and Porthmeor Studios. The resulting work was then projected at the Art Gallery and the participants in the project were invited to spend the afternoon doing a workshop in the gallery. The results inspired us to apply for the Max Reinhardt Literacy Award to work withYear 9 boys from Penryn College on a Dystomaton project promoting literacy through the use of our unique automata collection. Workshops reinforced their KS3 English topic which was dystopia. Tony Johns and Jo Lumber also delivered similar workshops with a number of home educated children (aged 2 - 15 years old) at the gallery. “I just wanted to say thank you for sending Sarah along for our Blown Away workshop today. It was excellent! The children enjoyed every minute. Please pass on my thanks to Sarah, she was so lovely and the children responded really well to her. The work they produced was brilliant. I followed on in the afternoon with some more expressive work using music, movement and words! It was a special day for us all” Judith Lea, Teacher Perranarworthal School 22 Other Workshops

In March 2014, gallery education facilitator Tony Johns led a workshop with a group of cultural geography students from Exeter University, Penryn Campus using the exhibition Artists of the First Falmouth Art Gallery as a prism. This workshop ended up having two strands. The main strand was focused on a group of 11 Falmouth University Art Foundation students who worked with Porthmeor artists Iain Robertson and Clare Wardman and with Tony who mentored the students during the project. The project explored the heritage, atmosphere and inspiration of Porthmeor Studios and culminated in artworks created by the students in response. Each response was different and explored a conceptual approach using their own practice as a starting point. The resulting exhibition ‘Hidden Fingers’ was hung in our stairwell community gallery and included audio, painting, installation, performance, 3D sculpture and graphic design. Students were encouraged to hang their works professionally and also wrote personal statements about their work and their experience. This exhibition was seen by 6,543 visitors. The other strand involved working with local home educated groups during the exhibition Porthmeor Past and Present using the exhibition and location as inspiration.

24 Visiting Artists During the project, the funding has allowed the gallery to work with over 50 local practicing artists, inspiring all ages in a variety of ways. In November 2014, for Takeover Day (in partnership with Kids in Museums), we invited children from Tregony Community Primary School to create artwork inspired by Iain Roberston’s Mega Jazzy and to curate their own exhibition in the community gallery. Local artists, Penny Macbeth and Suzanne Crook collaborated to create an installation celebrating the Cultural Triangle project. Penny was commissioned to create a soft multi-sensory sculpture and various props for Baby Jam. She also worked with Pool Academy (located at the heart of the triangle), teaching KS3 pupils how to knit and wrap weave. Suzanne worked with Marlborough Primary School to create a series of mixed media canvases, linking into their Art on your Doorstep topic, which were auctioned by the children to raise money for their school trip abroad. Beano and Dandy cartoonist, Nick Brennan invited families into the gallery to have a masterclass where they learnt how to draw cartoon versions of the characters featured in the exhibition displays.

24 26 Working with Older People We have been keen to explore ways of working with older people and had hoped to deliver 12 Memory Cafe sessions in the gallery space. After discussion with several care homes we concluded that it was very difficult for dementia sufferers and their carers to get to the first floor gallery and it was also very disorientating. We therefore chose to pilot ‘creative well-being’ workshops at Trevern, a local care home, with groups of 5-10 both mild and severe dementia sufferers who rarely get to go out. The sessions were run by Laura Menzies who joined the gallery as a young volunteer when she was at the university a couple of years ago. We helped her train in dementia care and she is now so committed that she has just won a Winston Churchill travelling scholarship to investigate best practice in dementia care in the United States. We are hoping to find funding to continue these workshops as the feedback is “ One of the best things really positive and it seems to make a difference. was that after you had all All members of the education and gone, Elizabeth who has front of house team attended a full-day training session fulfilling or achieving an very few words, beckoned NVQ Level 2 in Dementia Awareness. me and said ‘thank you’ . She was unable to hold a paint brush and paint but she certainly got something out of the afternoon. Even noisy Betty thanked me later.” Carol Simpson

26 28 Volunteers We have an unusual profile of volunteers in comparison to other heritage organisations in Cornwall in as much as 90% of our volunteers are students. We have very limited space to work with volunteers and pride ourselves on good quality placements that offer CPD for young people. The success of this project would not have been possible without the dedication from our volunteers. Together they clocked up a staggering 70 days working on exhibitions and research and a further 64 days assisting with community engagement. Outstanding contributions were made by Anita Stern, Martin and Vivienne Howse, some young volunteers fron Newlyn and Eddie Callis. The Cultural Triangle project provided opportunities for Anita, a Lumens placement from Leicester University to work with the gallery team, supporting workshops, exhibition preparation, installation and interpretation. Photographers Martin and Vivienne spent 36 days visiting 23 artist studios in the Cultural Triangle area. The black and white portraits were exhibited and formed the basis of the Black and White catalogue. Five young people living in the Newlyn and Penzance area were mentored by poet and performer Sally Crabtree over 30 days to devise a performance and series of family workshops in Falmouth’s busiest week (Falmouth Week in mid August). The volunteers gained valuable experience of working to a brief, responding to a colllection, working with a varied audience and evaluating the project. Eddie Callis volunteered to do research for the Porthmeor Past and Present exhibition, and created props to support the Shallal 2 performance in the gallery, as well as performing in it himself. 30 Falmouth Art Gallery would like to thank the following for their contribution towards the Cultural Triangle project Acknowledgements Funders & Sponsorship Falmouth Town Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, Hine Downing, Long & Kentish

Museums Abbott & Holder Gallery, Alfred East Gallery in Kettering, Belgrave St Ives, Gwavas Collection, Kettering Museum and Art Gallery, Newlyn Art Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, Penlee House Gallery & Museum, RCPS Tuke Collection, Royal Cornwall Museum, The Royal Institutuion of Cornwall, Rupert Maas Gallery, Sandra Blow Estate, Walker Art Gallery.

Schools & Colleges Archbishop Benson C of E Primary School, Bosvigo School, Constantine Primary School, Falmouth Primary Academy, Falmouth University, River Academy, GEMS Bolitho School, Godolphin Primary School, Illogan School, Kennall Vale School, King Charles Primary School, Marlborough Primary School, Mawnan C of E Primary School, Mousehole Primary School, Mylor Bridge CP School, Nine Maidens AP Academy, Penair School, Penryn College, Penryn Primary School, Perranarworthal CP School, Pool Academy, Richard Lander School, Sithney CP School, St Erme with Trispen Primary School, St Francis C of E Primary School in Falmouth, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Falmouth, Tregony CP School, Truro School, Truro School Prep, School.

Community Groups FALCARE, Falmouth and Penryn LOOK Group, Home Educators, Murdoch and Trevithick, Shallal Dance Company and Shallal 2 Dance Company, Sketch Club, Trevern Nursing Home.

Artists, Curators & Individuals Nick Brennan, Steve Collinson, Philip Cox, Suzanne Crook, Paula Ross, Martin and Vivienne Howse, Robert and Susie Jones, Amy Lanyon, MJ Long, Penny Macbeth, Keith Newstead, Jacqui Owen, Iain Robertson, John Tonkin, Clare Wardman, Ben Whorwood.

And finally to the Falmouth Art Gallery Team and volunteers Linda and Michael Bickford, Henrietta Boex, Tamsin Bough, Jean Carr, Pat Collinson, Deb Collinson, Sally Crabtree and the Sweetshop of Words Team, Charlotte Davis, Beth Deuters, Glen Freestone, Lottie Hinton, Alex Hooper, Isobel Howe, Tony Johns, Ros Leggett, Jo Lumber, Laura Menzies, John Owen, Gemma Rhodes, Natalie Rigby, Anita Stern, Bob Walley, Pat Webster, Melanie Whelan, Amy Whittington, Donna Williams, Glyn Winchester, Ian Wright, Jackie Yeomans. 32