Blowing up a Storm in Porthleven

We have had a truly wonderful review of our Storm Front exhibition on our facebook page that we really want to share. Thank you to Ruth Marler for your extremely kind words:

Blowing up a storm in Porthleven

STORM FRONT
The Lifeboat Art Studio, Porthleven 21- 22 Dec 2013

It is not often that one is fortunate enough to stumble upon a jewel of an exhibition and even less likely when that exhibition is only in existence for such a short period as the winter solstice weekend.

Curated by Natalie Lauren & Cathy Evans, the two halves of “midsummer nights creative nights”, “Storm Front” at The Lifeboat Art Studio, Porthleven presented a small, perfectly-formed selection of works celebrating “Cornish Storms in Winter”.

Discovery of the venue in Porthleven, with its unique spirit and location, inspired the duo to invite artists working in a wide range of mediums to submit pieces that embodied the theme “Storm Front” for inclusion in this exhibition.

As tempestuous waves assaulted the structure, the stark interior offered eleven pieces for contemplation. With titles such as, “the calm before”, “tempest”, “elements”, “shelter in the storm”, “aftermath” and vestige” it is tempting to consider these works almost as stations of the storm.

Each piece had its individual merit, none being of more or less artistic value than the next but the overall strength lay in the art as a body of work by a group of artists carefully selected by the able curators who in their own works demonstrated a skill for assembling more than one of a kind. Cathy Evans' “elements” a group of found slates allowed nature to be the 12th artist in the exhibition, displaying the marks left on hundred year-old roof tiles whilst Natalie Lauren using mixed media of watercolours, inks, pigments and paints appeared to have drawn inspiration from the square format of the Lifeboat Art Studio windows as well as the closeup details of the coast in her contribution. As someone whose own ares of practice is primarily in textiles I was delighted to see, “Sense of a Cornish Storm” a large piece by Zoe Howarth, executed in hand-dyed silk that echoed the conditions outside the gallery. She also created the atmospheric fabric covers on the exhibition catalogues.

Natalie Lauren and Cathy Evans (midsummer nights creative events) are clearly a team to watch out for in the future.

Ruth Marler