Cornwall is well known as a hub for creativity and the arts. As a business that guides and facilitates self-expression in the spaces in which our clients live we are often concerned with and working within the bounds of the built and functional home environment. How our clients go on to decorate their homes, and the art and ornaments that they hang on their walls and display, is also of interest to us and can often inform our work from the outset.
We’re fortunate to have so many inspiring artists in Cornwall.

Not far from us, on the outskirts of Rock, Projects Twenty Two is a purpose-built art space. There are several studios and a large and light-filled gallery, and in March 2024 the team behind Projects Twenty Two, Directors Kristie and Jethro Jackson and curator-at-large Dr Matt Retallick, launched their programme of curated projects with their first group exhibition of contemporary art from Cornwall, Kaleidoscope.

Projects Twenty Two in St Minver

Their aim is to champion both the artists living and working in Cornwall, and Cornish artists further afield, who they believe to be inspiring, exciting and original, to create exchange and relationships between artists and visitors.

Kaleidoscope, which runs until May 7th 2024, features the work off 11 artists working across a variety of mediums. The space at Projects Twenty Two has allowed Dr Matt Retallick to hang pieces with room to breath, so that the work of each featured artist can be viewed individually and a diverse collection can sit within the same room.

Crossings by Cornish artist Spencer Shakespeare

Among the exhibited works is a large painting, Crossings, by Spencer Shakespeare (whose studio is near Launceston) described by Dr Retallick as being a landscape with “a dream-like radiance”. From the opposite end of Cornwall are a number of artists from the hub of St Ives and West Penwith; Clare Wardman’s naturally dyed woven canvas installation, Virginia Bounds’ paintings that “retain a sense of motion, appearing to endlessly oscillate and unfold before the viewer, or Iain Robertson’s abstract ‘dynamic and spirited journeys in shape and colour.”

Iaian Robertson's oil on canvas, Naima, 2022

From the studios on either side of the gallery space, established local artist Jethro Jackson is described as unearthing a sense of belonging through his layered, bold, paintings informed by ancient and contemporary Cornwall. Alistair and Fleur Mackie have two of their entrancing ‘Fragments’ mobiles hanging. They are made from fragments of plastic fishing floats recovered from beaches, caves and cliff-crevices on the nearby coastline on spring low-tides and painstakingly balanced together. Their work is a comment on our relationship with nature, with this particular series of work being complete once the beach is finally clear.

Twelve Fragments (green) by Alastair and Fleur Mackie

When the Kaleidoscope exhibition closes Dr Retallick has planned a rolling programme of individual and small group exhibitions. Each will last around six weeks, adding to the depth and dynamism of contemporary art on display in this part of Cornwall.

Manacled and Another Green Flash by Cornish artist Tony Plant

We encourage you to pay Projects Twenty Two a visit, to enjoy Kaleidoscope or afterwards during any of the subsequent exhibitions. We’re excited by this addition to the Cornish art scene and, given the close connection between art and the spaces in which it is displayed and enjoyed, will be focusing more on the amazing community of artists in Cornwall on here in the future.