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Last week when I announced my @pallanthousegallery staircase comisison I shared with you the images of Cross Waves alone on an empty beach, a myth ! St Ives is far from empty and sculpture might look like it just exists but it takes a big labour of love.

Here me @eleanorturnbullartist and @bro_mate Robin Sullivan are with @sharp_the_artist on the camera taking the sculptures from @porthmeorstudios down to the quiet(er) end of Porthmeor beach. Swipe along to see the journey which to us felt like a procession. The sculptures came alive as soon as they were outside and even I was a little dazzled by their colours interacting with the strong sun light and reflections from the water.

I’m pleased to carry on sculpture making in St Ives despite how tricky it now feels to do compared to some slightly quieter times of the past when there was some more space. Nobody wants to hear the grinding and drilling of metal in the middle of st ives now, let me tell you. Thankfully I got to use what was one of the old fishing cellars at Porthmeor which made it doable and I had these well seasoned sculpture heads who are experienced in navigating the Cornish terrain- whether car parking or public realm sculptures stuff.

It was an unforgettable experience to get in the water with my sculptures with this crew followed by the most blissed out swim of the year so far. Also not pictured (was too busy enjoying it) was the perfect post sculpture swim lunch and cocktail at @st_eia . If St Ives can teach a person anything about being artist it’s to combine life and art and work and fun.

Thanks Eleanor, Robin and SHARP X and St Ives 💙

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There is no new water… is an ongoing, iterative programme, where the material, dialogue and our collective understanding of our work deepens with each session. A cumulative knowledge is building with this community group, histories and stories are surfacing, some from seldom heard voices, some known to us - giant systems of extraction, which we live alongside - all relating to the ocean.

Looking back on the last session Ocean as Mirror, with community members and our speakers @bram_thomas_arnold & @sarwarskuse @sapphos_plymouth I’m also pulling other images together from project research carried out by @alesavias and I in Plymouth.

This session led us from a colonial history of the sea to the (current and historical) military uses of the Sound to its ecological future and as a mirror / barometer / oracular.

Here’s are the prompts we discussed with Nasia and Bram (full transcript to follow at some point).

~Can you speak to the idea of what water holds…what does it mirror? Futures, memories, trauma, forms, stories, histories…in relation to both the history of the Sound as a port and its future…

~What do you think is gained / or what is made possible by defining a huge body of water as a national park? What shift might it create in our consciousness?

~Can you imagine a tool or an instrument or object which coastal communities and towns could use to reconnect with the sea and the waterways that feed it?

~What does the phrase ocean justice mean in this work?

For each workshop session we use a ceramic pot we commissioned the brilliant @bro_mate to make to carry our collective keywords. More on this soon… from fellow collaborator Anne-Marie Culhane.

Images
Map of edges
Dr Nasia Sarwar Skuse in conversation
Dr Bram Arnold in conversation with Cornish dictionary
Portrait of Mai (Omai) by Joshua Reynolds and
Bread Fruit etching - @theboxplymouth Plymouth ‘Journeys with Mai’
Historic image of Plymouth Circe 1950
Lobster / Crab pot
Participants drawings, Saphos and more mapping

There is no new water is commissioned by Take A Part & supported by @thegulbenkian as a part of the
@plymsoundnmp project.

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“Landscape isn’t just a physical thing; it’s there within us.”

We are thrilled to welcome the incredible @bro_mate to the Festival. They will be appearing @ashburtonarts today, Saturday 2nd May at 11am, in an event called Art, Place and the Ancients: remaking the past. Robin will be chatting with @lithicality about their fascinating work which bridges sculpture and performance and is deeply rooted in the prehistory of the British Isles.
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Also today @ashburtonarts we have at 0930 @rebeccambeattie in “Bewitched by Dartmoor , 12:30 Archaeologist Dr Lee Bray with Traces of Our Ancestors, and 14:00 @stone_lands @mssophiepierce @kirsteen.mcnish with Love Loss and Landscape

Then, if that were not enough, there will be a Mummers Play at @field.system at 1530 followed by the fantasic @grimspoundmorris and @newton_bushel_morris dancing outside @ashburtonarts
Full deets on website - link in bio -
Come join us it’s going to be a fabulous day !

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Two Together residency | Artist pair spotlight

Reflecting on their recently completed Two Together Residency at @PorthmeorStudios, Claye Bowler (@clayebowler) and Robin Sullivan (@bro_mate) discuss the evolution of their collaborative enquiry into the material site of Cornwall:

‘Initially visiting neolithic stones, and locations of known queer history, the residency evolved into an in-depth inquiry mapping the local landscape and specifically the many holes of west Cornwall.

We explored the functionality and interactivity of these holes. Re-categorising them as portals, hiding places, cruising sites, sites of voyeuristic entrapment, or of elemental penetration.’

🔵 The Two Together: Porthmeor Studios Residencies is an open call residency for pairs of visual artists held in partnership between @FreelandsFoundation and Borlase Smart John Wells Trust. Two Together enables an artist to invite a new person into their practice as a basis for peer learning through open-ended exchange and material exploration, living and working together across a month-long residency at the historic @PorthmeorStudios in St Ives.

Photos: Alban Roinard (@alban_roinard).

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some @porthmeorstudios artists Cornwall exhibitions and open studios from March and April.

@clayebowler and @bro_mate in Porthmeor studio 5 as part of our 2026 @freelandsfoundation residencies. Thinking about landscape, stones, holes (types and functions of) and so much more. A real treat to host.

@naomifrears What Was I Thinking @auctionhouseart . The films were perfect timing for me, especially the one about clothes and funerals. I’ve been thinking a lot about funerals recently and had quite a specific conversation about what to wear. So, as someone who loves a pair of clogs, it was strangely wonderful timing to read what felt like the voice in my own head.

@_sarahwoods @royalcornwallmuseum as part of What the Land Remembers.

@abigailreynoldsartist Walking A Cappella @newlynexchange which closes 2 May so this is the last week to catch it.

@sharp_the_artist showing Once We Were Held as part of @flammcornwall at end of February.

@wink_k_moe at Anchor, hosting an
open studio to close her 3 months.

And not Porthmeor but to squeeze in @silenceinseeing @animamundigallery 🕊️

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Making megaliths from scratch is a wonderous thing. Even more so when these are bringing people together today just as they did in the past.

Robin Sullivan, one of the most innovative artists working with place and pre-history anywhere, will be talking about his new additions to the megalithic landscape of Britain as a fantastic addition to the @dartmoortorsfest line up. Robin has kindly stepped in at the last minute to replace Peter Randall Page, who sadly will be unable to join us due to ill health (get better soon Peter x). Like all of us Robin has been very much inspired by Peter's art and the landscapes of moor and stone that they both live and work in.

@bro_mate works with clay and other materials to make deeply personal and engaging social artworks that bridge sculpture and performance including spectacular open air ceramic firings. Recent works include a major new public art commission for Newquay making 3 new megaliths in bronze from over 400 casts of places around the town that people there feel are special. The hope is that these will become new meeting places and sites of community. Proudly queer and very open about his bi-polar disorder Robin brings new perspectives to ancient ideas.

So please support Robin by coming to his talk - Art, Place and the Ancients: Remaking the past - on Saturday 2nd May 11:00 at Ashburton Arts Centre @ashburtonarts More information through the Dartmoor Tors Festival website – link in bio.

#megaliths #ancientstones #westcountry #contemporaryart #festival

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🔥YOO HOO RAKU🔥 @bro_mate was kind enough to leave us with his Raku kiln after coming over and leading us through our first firing.
Our first Raku Workshop is in the diary, initially for Open Access members only but after we have the process well-oiled we will be opening it up to all of you 🤩 Also, Robin gave us a top tip that apparently the firings are improved with a bottle of wine- something to bare in mind 😂

#rakufiring #raku #potterystudio #pottery

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A light-filled day spent in Newlyn and St Ives hearing @abigailreynoldsartist talk us through ‘Walking A Cappella’, her 2-part exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery and Penzance Exchange.

So fascinating to hear Abigail speak of making glass from seaweed and sand of the beaches nearby, and the sounds that landscape offers us.

Followed by a visit to @tremenheeresculpturegardens and Porthmeor Studios, spending time with the exquisite work of @sarah_ball_artist and hearing from @clayebowler and @bro_mate about their @freelandsfoundation research residency exploring portals, ancient monuments, movement and slippages.

Huge thanks to Abigail and @bethgreenacre_london for organising the day and hosting us ✨

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🏄🏻‍♀️🥞

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@bro_mate and I are having an open studio this coming Saturday at 5 Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, Cornwall 1-5pm

We've been here in Cornwall for the last month exploring the mythic, neolithic & explicit landscape

Ps, if delving into our expansive, deep, cavenous, veiny..research isn't enough for you..it's also St Ives kite festival just around the corner 1-3pm too

Two together residency supported by Freelands Foundation

@freelandsfoundation @porthmeorstudios

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These two 🫶🫶@clayebowler and @bro_mate at Second Hand @auctionhouseart

Final day to catch Part Two — 11am–4pm Closing event today from 4pm till late
Auction House The Buttermarket Redruth TR15 2PP

Looking forward to seeing what they’ve been up to during their residency at @porthmeorstudios , supported by @freelandsfoundation as part of the Two Together programme — bringing together artist pairs for shared learning and exchange.

Join @clayebowler and @bro_mate for their open studio to close the residency:
Saturday 28 March, 1–5pm Porthmeor Studios, St Ives TR26 1NG
 All welcome
#SECONDHAND #contemporaryart #redruth #stives

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