We believe that a love of creativity is innate in all of us. From the objects we use to the clothes we wear, to what we watch and listen to, creativity is at the heart of who we are.
Our dedicated gallery space in our Falmouth shop hosts a year-round programme of short exhibitions by Cornish artists. Everything from large oil paintings to smaller watercolours we always have an exquisite variety of artwork on show. Many artists run workshops or hold “meet the artist” sessions to coincide with their exhibitions so you can learn more about their work in person. Please see below for details on current and upcoming displays.
The scale, energy and movement of the beautiful Cornish coastline are what Chloe Woods most enjoys capturing; the contrasting natural colours of the landscape against the fluorescent and primary colours of the harbours, boats and beaches.
Working quickly and loosely, on location, in her sketchbook, she returns to her home studio to translate her sketches and memories into larger, contemporary pieces. Using an exciting range of mediums; acrylic paint, collage, charcoal and oil pastels, Chloe commits the vivid colours and textures of the Cornish coastline to the canvas.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Mick Dobie
24th October - 25th November, 2023
Local favourite, Mick Dobie returns for his third exhibition at Inspire Makers following two successful shows in 2021.
Showing a brand new collection of paintings Mick further explores his love of the Cornish landscape and seascape.
Mick finds the simple act of painting therapeutic. Concentration comes easily, with hours passing in what seems like minutes. Art can take you into your own world in so many ways.
Mick became captivated by Cornwall since moving here 15 years ago to study Fine Art at Falmouth. Currently Mick spends his time painting outdoors around the River Helford. Constant changing light brings a different feel each time he returns to his regular stomping grounds. Long walks with his dog Fergus feeds his inspiration.
Mick works with watercolour, acrylic and pastel mediums. He hopes his paintings resonate with viewers. Should his work achieve this, then it can only serve to strengthen his enjoyment of the medium.
Georgia Parkin-Jones
28th November - 23rd December, 2023
Georgia Parkin-Jones was born and lives in Cornwall. Having experienced a portion of her childhood growing up in rural France as well as residing on Dartmoor, she is widely inspired by and actively seeks out the natural world that has encompassed her life growing up. She offers the viewer insight into her world, a fragmented place of her external and internal self, resulting in very ethereal works. Georgia works predominantly in oil, water mixable oil and charcoal.
Georgia studied at Plymouth University and received a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Photography. She is currently undertaking part time study in counselling, aiming to combine her practices and work as an Art Therapist,
alongside her personal Art practice.
Previous Exhibitions
Rosemary King – Extra Texture
29th August - 23rd September, 2023
Rosemary King grew up in the Norfolk countryside and her love for photography began at a young age, when she was gifted an Olympus OM-1 by her father.
Rosemary studied photography at Norwich College, continuing her studies to earn a degree at the University of Northampton. During this time she developed her skills for analogue photography, strengthening her understanding of the processes and developing her own style.
Rosemary shoots all of her work using analogue equipment, all her images are developed and printed by hand in her darkroom at her home in St Austell.
“There are so many factors to consider when shooting with film, my preference is to shoot in black and white, I feel this emphasizes the shapes, tones and forms of the subject matter, and allows for more control over light, shadow and grain. in the darkroom.”
Rosemary’s work is an abstract, emotive view of the beauty of natural forms.
Maggie Cochran – Summer Vibes
25th July - 26th August, 2023
The light in Cornwall has a magical quality, captivating artists and visitors over the years. Nowhere is it more striking than in St Ives, that slip of land jutting out into the Atlantic, surrounded by white sand beaches.
Maggie Cochran’s paintings are inspired by that light and by the tracks and marks left behind on those beaches as the sea goes out, and how the light reflects off the wet sand. She is also captivated by the light at low tide on the rockier shores of Falmouth. Always it is the shallow waters as the tide retreats that capture her imagination.
Maggie’s paintings give a sense of being in that landscape which she loves, with the prevailing light and weather. They capture both a moment in time but also a sense of timelessness in the movement of the tides.
This new collection of work celebrates everything she loves about a Cornish summer, bringing hints of yellow and pink to the fore.
Catching the Light
Ocean Shallows
Erica Ankers
27th June - 22nd July, 2023
Erica Ankers is an artist living and working in the South West, taking inspiration from the beauty of nature around her to create modern abstract landscapes and seascapes. She believes a landscape should not reflect a photographic representation of a scene, but instead capture the mood and emotional connection to the place and moment in time.
She works with soft pastels in a unique style that marries soft blurred tones with bold strong marks. Using vibrant colours, loose textural marks and strong compositions drawn from the light, colours and textures found on her explorations of the sea and countryside, Erica creates semi abstract paintings that allow the viewer to make their own interpretation of the image. Evoking feelings and memories, of special times, people or places that ultimately spark a deep connection with the viewer.
Audrey Kellow – My Cornish Colours
30th May - 24th June, 2023
Originally from near Helston in Cornwall, Audrey was first inspired to paint in oils at school in the mid 1960’s. It was also her first introduction to strong colour and shape, which still forms the essence of her work.
Audrey returned to education during the 1990’s as an adult student, and completed an OND and HND in Illustration and Design at Falmouth University, Falmouth, Cornwall. After this she gained a Teaching Certificate and Cert Ed, and tutored adult education classes for local colleges and private classes for several years.
Audreys’ original home area of ‘Greatwork’ a small mining hamlet in West Cornwall, sits between the Tregonning and Godolphin hills from the tops of which both coasts can be seen. Her work has a narrative background, sometimes being merely the ‘feel’ of a place and sometimes part of a personal childhood story. The colours used reflect the strong emotional bond she has with the far West of Cornwall and natures patterns. Her colours have recently become more vivid, reflecting reactions with nature during lockdowns. Her work is primarily in oils on paper, canvas or board.
Over a period of time Audrey has worked on several commissions for private clients, for brochures for a local college, and for Hyperion records. More recently she has focused on producing fine art for galleries, and has sold paintings both at home and internationally. Audrey has exhibited at various venues and galleries in Cornwall and Devon, more recently invited to be part of ‘Cornish Perspectives’ at The Thompson’s Gallery near Marble Arch in London.
Audrey has lived in different places over the years, but now lives in Helston.
Jon White – The Sea Within
2nd May - 27th May, 2023
Having grown up in Cornwall, Jon White’s practice has always been informed by the sea and the rugged coastline. He draws inspiration from walking the south west coast path and seeking to bring the ‘felt’ elements of these walks back to his studio in Falmouth.
He describes his work as having a slow process and rhythm that often leads to quick and intuitive bursts. These bursts are often the tipping point that bring a painting into its fullness.
Jon trained under world renowned artist Makoto Fujimura in both his New York and Los Angeles studios and in 2022 became the UK’s first certified Kintsugi instructor through Academy Kintsugi. Having lived in the USA and also France, the importance of understanding different cultures also inspires Jon’s work.
The Descent, Mixed Media on Board
The Sea is a Miracle, Mixed Media on Canvas
Ode to the Sea, Oil on Canvas
Artist portrait of Jon White
Becky Van Vestraut – Warmed by the Light
4th April - 29th April, 2023
Becky Van Vestraut lives and works in Falmouth, where she is inspired by the beauty of the sea, waves and dramatic skies. The connection with nature and the joy of looking out to sea are what her paintings strive to recreate for the viewer. She is fascinated by capturing fleeting moments as the sea, sky and light change with the weather and time of day. Moments such as when the sunlight sparkles on the horizon, or streams out from behind dark, heavy rain clouds, or as the colours in the sky at sunrise or sunset are reflected in the sea.
Beginning with photographs taken on her walks, she uses them to make sketches and oil studies to explore the colours and composition for larger paintings. Her paintings evoke calm and tranquility as well as the vastness and energy of the sea.
Sharon Bruster – Rockpooling
7th March - 1st April, 2023
Sharon Bruster lives and works in St Mawgan on the North coast.
The Cornish coast is Sharon’s sole inspiration, most specifically the water’s edge and the spaces between high and low tide. Walking, photographing, gathering, writing haiku, sketching, collage and painting are all part of Sharon’s daily practice. In creating a series of paintings, exploration is key – with each series of work she investigates new ways to express her fascination with this landscape.
Rich surfaces, colourful coastal palettes and expressive mark-making draw the viewer closer and evoke memories of favourite coastal places. Shapes, colours and textures observed at the meeting of land and sea are constant motifs in her work.
Victoria Pond
30th November - 24th December, 2022
Having spent most of her life in North Wales and Cornwall, Victoria Pond has always appreciated the beauty of her natural surroundings. Despite having sketched the countryside around her for much of her life, until now she has largely exhibited figurative work.
Whether figurative or landscape, drawing from observation is the foundation of Victoria’s practice. She regards it as an ongoing process of discovery that feeds her work in all other areas. When working more intuitively, whether abstracting the landscape or extracting it from the imagination, instinct is more of the essence than intellectual perception.
Victoria uses various surfaces and mediums – acrylics, oil paints, charcoal, pencil. As different materials and surfaces lend themselves to different techniques, marks and moods, she doesn’t like to be tied down to one or the other.
Victoria Pond resists the demand for her work to have a prescribed meaning and believes its meaning rests in the reaction of the viewer. This is not to say that she does not preside upon various reoccurring and often opposing themes both practical and philosophical, such as surface and depth, pattern, order and chaos, isolation and connection, but these may or may not concern the onlooker who will take from it what is relevant to them.
Chloe Woods – Bright Light, Blue Night
18th October - 26th November, 2022
Chloe Woods feels lucky to live in Cornwall, where so many find inspiration. She enjoys the process of a piece coming together, the wrong turns, the rectifications, the looseness, the precision, the contrasts.
The vivid colours and textures of the Cornish coastline are what Chloe most enjoys capturing; the natural colours of the landscape against the fluorescent and primary colours of boats and harbours, and the twinkling of lights against the inky night sky and quiet water.
Working quickly and loosely, on location, in her sketchbook, she returns to her home studio to translate her sketches and memories into larger, contemporary pieces. Using an exciting range of mediums; acrylic paint, collage, charcoal and oil pastels, Chloe makes confident marks to bring those contrasts to the canvas.
In 2020 Chloe Woods was ‘Highly Commended’ by the SAA (the UK’s leading art hub) for her painting ‘Yellow Stripe’ and in September 2021 was excited to have won her category of the SAA ‘Artist of the Year 2021’.
Debbie Martin – Navigating the South Coast
27th September - 15th October, 2022
Everyone loves a map, particularly of their favourite destination. Debbie Martin of Cornish Paper Cut Art has found her niche of repurposing vintage maps to create vibrant and colourful works of art whilst retaining the original detail. All hand cut with a scalpel, this exhibition features large scale maps of the Cornish coast.
Debbie Martin started her business in 2013 after completing a UAL Diploma in Art and Design in Nottingham as a mature student. Moving with the family to Cornwall inspired her to start designing paper cut artwork. Her graphic style is vibrant in colour and her main body of work is a grid style repeat design that has colours laid out in a specific way to encourage the viewer to scan across the colours. It was also designed to bring colour to neutral walls in the home.
Cornish Paper Cut Art has appeared on the front cover of Cornwall Living and The Fowey Festival of Arts & Literature, with features in local magazines. She has a regular customer base who collect her pieces so she regularly create new themes and bespoke work.
Debs will be doing a paper cut demonstration from 11am to 1pm at Inspire Makers on Sat 1 October as part of Form Art Festival.
Phil Irons – It’s All About The Detail
6th September - 24th September, 2022
Phil Irons is a professional designer who has worked in the creative industry for over 30 years. More recently he has picked up his pencils again and rediscovered his love of drawing producing some intricately detailed work with a focus on buildings and architecture.
Phil finds drawing therapeutic and can get lost for hours in the detail. He is inspired by his surroundings and is very much in his element in an old boat yard or derelict site; his camera and sketch book is always with him – never wanting to miss an opportunity to capture the beauty of a dilapidated building or rusty, corrugated roof!
His doorways collection was born in the recent lockdowns where, during daily walks around his home town Penryn, he was inspired by the beautiful doorways that he passed – people are always delighted when they see their own doorway in the collection.
Phil has exhibited for the Pastel Society and the Society of Graphic Fine Art also locally at the Poly in Falmouth and the Carbon Gallery in Penryn.
The wild and enticing energy in Hannya’s works have in common her fascination with the untameable characteristics of nature, the sea, and the relationship between her photography that documents her life of travels.
Known for her vibrant and colourful response to the natural world, Hannya paints from her feelings and impressions, and her subjects range from brilliantly lit skies and vivid depictions of natural light to panoramic naturescapes.
Hannya draws inspiration from her life as a sailor and is influenced by the peaceful yet majestic work of Turner, whilst harbouring elements of organic abstract expressionism.
Her creativity is not bound to Falmouth and The New Forest, she’s widely known for painting on stormy seas or out in the elements working with mixed media on canvas and board.
Hannya’s work is currently held in private collections here in the UK, USA and the Caribbean.
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