The focus of the last year at Tate St Ives has been on establishing a closer relationship with the local community through an extensive consultation on the future direction of any development to the gallery. Hundreds of people contributed to the process and using their invaluable feedback on the different options available to us, we will work closely over the coming year with our colleagues in Cornwall County Council and Penwith District Council in considering how best to take the development forward.
Tate St Ives holds a unique position as the gallery for modern and contemporary art in the South West. Not only is the gallery closely connected with the history of the St Ives School, but its architecture grows out of the local landscape. The exhibition and education programme underpins our commitment to our Cornish environment which was highlighted this year by exhibitions focusing on work by JMW Turner, Francis Bacon, John Hoyland, Tony O'Malley, Bryan Pearce and Roger Hilton. A retrospective dedicated to Janet Leach demonstrates our commitment to ceramics and we continue to support an artist residency at the Porthmeor Studios.
Light into Colour: Turner in the South West brought a significant group of over 30 works from Tate's famous Turner Bequest to Tate St Ives for the first time. It focused on pieces created by Turner on his stay in Devon and Cornwall in 1811, and on his return to Devon in 1813 and 1814, when, inspired the region's dramatic light and distinctive landscape, he produced numerous compelling and luminous works in oil and watercolour. The exhibition was seen by 62,351 visitors, and toured to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.
Our galleries, flooded with natural light, are well suited for the display of works by artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and John Hoyland who have explored colour, shape and space to create profoundly poetic and emotional art. Roger Hilton was a central figure in establishing Cornwall as an internationally-renowned artistic centre during the 1950s and 1960s, and the exhibition Into Seeing New provided an opportunity to see the full range and scope of his work.
Exhibitions dedicated to Tony O'Malley and Bryan Pearce demonstrated the enduring vibrancy of recent and contemporary art in St Ives. Sadly, Bryan Pearce died shortly before his exhibition opened, but the show served as fitting tribute to this popular St Ives artist. Art Now Cornwall, a group show of 28 locally based artists, created a dynamic debate about what it means to be an artist working in the region today, and provided a platform for Tate St Ives to further engage in supporting the development of art practice in Cornwall.
One painter not usually identified with St Ives is Francis Bacon, but in the winter of 1959–60 he stayed in the town, making work at 3 Porthmeor Studios. For the first time ever, the paintings and studies produced as a result of this residency were reunited and shown along with other pieces from this important transitional period in Bacon's career.
Residencies in those same studios continue today and are supported by Tate St Ives. Jonty Lees, a former student at University College Falmouth who lives and works in Cornwall, was chosen to undertake the fifth residency, and the works of Nick Evans, the fourth artist in the scheme, were displayed at the gallery.
Our newly-appointed Community Officer has worked closely with our education team to strengthen links with the immediate locality through a programme of activities including Super Sundays and the Community Taster Sessions, which support existing programmes by introducing new audiences to the gallery. We are also continuing to work with partners such as University College Falmouth, Creative Skills, Project Base, the Newlyn Art Gallery and Penlee House Gallery on exhibition projects and education and research initiatives, exploring and developing new ways to work in partnership and better celebrate the heritage of the region as well as the emergence of a new contemporary culture.
Many of these partnerships were developed over the seven-year period that the gallery was led by Susan Daniel-McElroy, who retires as Director in June 2007. In the future, her role will be split between Artistic Director, Martin Clark, presently Exhibitions Curator at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, and Executive Director, Mark Osterfield, the current Project Director of Tate St Ives' Phase II development.
Susan's ambition was to see Tate St Ives play an increasingly important role nationally and internationally, and her pioneering exhibitions and commissions showcased a wide range of internationally-renowned artists, from Antony Gormley and Tacita Dean to Ellsworth Kelly, who she recognised would provide fresh perspectives on the gallery’s unique setting and history.
