Whats On - Penzance / Newlyn

In the 'What's On' project I have been looking at two locations in Britain where I can discover exhibited art and photography work. I had been set the task to become a cultural investigator to find exhibitions being displayed in two completely different areas of Britain. These locations were Penzance/Newlyn and London.

Once I had participated as a cultural investigator via researching into gallery exhibitions, I've now been given the task of visiting Penzance/Newlyn. This was a trip organised for the chance to visit this provincial town to view the art and photography exhibitions that were currently being shown.

During the trip I had been documenting my experience to present on this blog some images of the galleries I've visited and Penzance/Newlyn town itself. Unfortunately some of the galleries that I visited did not allow any cameras to be taken inside.

The galleries I visited.....

Newlyn gallery
Penlee House

The exchange gallery

Cornwall Contemporary

PZ

Newlyn Gallery

The first gallery that was visited was the Newlyn gallery. The exhibited show that was being presented was called "Reality Check". This was a fascinating exhibition to view and had provided the public with a great deal of contemporary art and photography work to be viewed. The exhibitons title was quoted to "refers to the process of coming to terms with waht is actually happening, rather than what one believes is happening". I found the show very powerful and left myself thinking. These images display firstly the gallery itself and the second image is presenting some of my favourite artworks thast were being displayed in the gallery.

Penlee House

Unfortunately no cameras were allowed to be taken into the Penlee house. However I found the work highly enjoyable to view and found the layout of the gallery excellent. The Gallery showed a great traditional number of Cornish work and the title of the main exhibition being shown was called "A Cornish Childhood".

The Exchange Gallery

The Exchange Gallery was the third gallery I visited on the trip. Inside the gallery it felt all open as there was just one big main room for where work would be exhibited. The exchange had something interesting and highly contemporary to offer me as artist Jonty Lee was making a hot air balloon. The exhibition was titled "Up, Up and Away". I found the idea of this art work was a fascinating idea and the fact that he was there building it while I was in the gallery added to the great effect.

In the first image I've taken two shots of the outside of the gallery to present how it looked on the day I went to the gallery. I have placed images together like in the last image to provide the frame with a selection of frames that I took when inside the exhibition to show the tools of the trade that are helping jonty to make the hot air balloon.

Cornwall Contemporary

This was a small art gallery close to where the exchange gallery was located. The Cornwall Contemporary was a gallery where art work could be bought. The work here was mainly brought in by local Cornish artists with a contemporary style, hense the name of the gallery. I found the gallery itself rather interesting as it was fairly small and each room was rather small making the whole experience short but sweet.

The first image is the gallery from the outside. I wanted to capture how I saw the gallery on the day and that having people looking at the artwork through the window gave better attention to the fact that the work could be bought. The above image was taken from three frames and put together. I found each room short but sweet with interesting features of contemporary artworks which I felt had to be captured. Another feature that brought my attention was the stairs on one of the floors as they were very steep and interesting. I felt the three frames gave the gallery its true personality.

PZ

This gallery like the Penlee House did not allow cameras so unfortunately I have not images to document the experience. However I found the exhibition very enjoyable. Majority of the work in the gallery was photography based and held a great deal of post production in some of the images which had me attracted to as they were manipulated. I found PZ to be an exciting viewing and found the gallery to be a very simple layout and fairly small.

During this trip I have not only been taking pictures of the galleries that I've visited but I've been documenting my whole experience to gain a greater insight into the culture of Penzance/Newlyn in Cornwall. I have selected a variety of images from my day in Penzance/Newlyn to display the real Cornish town itself. A provincial seaside town that has a traditional culture for Cornwall. Each image reveals this Cornish feel to it and I wanted to use these images as I feel they are subtle in their own little ways. I would also like to think that within my images they hold a historic feel to the Newlyn Village and the Penzance Town.

Conclusion to my trip

I found the whole experience incredibly beneficial to my awareness of artwork in galleries of Penzance/Newlyn. I feel that I have become more interested to a traditional style of work and found influences from the exhibitions I have been too. My trip to Penzance/Newlyn has given me a better fascination into the Cornish culture which I hope to use for future photographic projects as inspiration. I will hope to re-visit the galleries around Penzance/Newlyn when new exhibitions are released to further my interest into art and photography.