The Tremenheer Show - setting the scene.

Last September I attended my first weekend of the Studio Practice Course at Newlyn School of Art.  My attendance had been recommended to me by Hugh Mendes, I applied earlier in the year but July was the first lesson.  I loved it from the first minute, as I suspected I would.  The first lesson was all about using different surfaces,  and it lasted all weekend.  The weekends were once every two months and focused on a different theme, paint and pigments, time spent on paintings, and scale.  

All of it building to 1st June when our end of year show opens.  Coincidentally, my birthday, so a nice birthday treat. By the time I have finished this post and put it up the show will be over.

The show took place at the Tremenheere Gallery, part of the Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens.  And I have called this blog setting the scene because it is a spectacular place that I wanted to write more about, before in a future post I talk about the show itself.

Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens are in Cornwall, about 10 minutes east of Penzance and just outside the village of Gulval.  You have to wind down a couple of single track roads (but you have to do that everywhere in Cornwall but it is well worth it.  As the title of the venue might suggest it has sculpture.  About 42 pieces I believe.  These sculptures are scattered around a large fabulous garden that stretches up the hillside from the entrance.  At the entrance is the gallery to the left, and a cafe and plant nursery to the right.

After depositing my pieces for the  show, I decided to explore and was so entranced I decided to stay for a couple of hours and sketch some of the place.  It is hard work being a piece of sculpture in this setting as you have to compete with the spectacular plants and scenery.  The way to deal with this is not to compete but to complement.
 

Forming the left hand boundary is a stream,  that pours down the hillside, forming several ponds, making mini rapids and passing under bridges.  Its banks are covered in tropical plants that thrive thanks to Cornwall's microclimate and give a rain forest feel.  It is cool and shaded here and every so often you round a corner to encounter a piece of sculpture, or a spectacular plant, or indeed both.

The path continues up quite a steep hill, the stream following you up and every so often round the corner surprising sculptures appear. One my favourites is the wall of taps you can see further up this blog.  Slightly terrifying Greek myth based sculptures also make an appearance, and a constant companion is the verdant plants.  On this path it is quite cool, the shade protects you from the sun.

As you go up the hill gantries and platforms give views of the trees below.  If you look the other way you can see the English Chanel and St Michael’s Mount.  Here, at the top of the gardens is a large round stone structure.  You go inside and it opens to an oval chamber, lined with a bench.  You can sit in there and just look up at the sky.  I highly recommend you do, and see what else the garden has to offer.