Gemma Pearce was born in Dorset and spent her childhood on the Isle of Purbeck. From a family of artists, she became a student at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art & Design. She then took a BA (Hons) degree in illustration from Bath University, and has come to painting by this route. Since 2000 she has been living in Mousehole. With her friend the jeweller, Leigh BERRY, she was a partner in the running of the Seastar Gallery in Mousehole. Through the gallery, now the Julia Mills Gallery, much work of local artists can be viewed on a regular basis.
Born in Crowlas, near Penzance, to the Warmington family, she married Walter Pearce in 1928. Her first child, Bryan PEARCE, became the celebrated naive painter. She began to paint in the early 1950s and exhibited in mixed shows at the Penwith Gallery, as an associate of the Penwith Society of Arts from 1956-63. She also attended the St Ives School of Painting, as did her son. They exhibited together at Penwith and Newlyn Galleries, and later in their attic studios at home. She stopped painting herself to manage her son's artistic career, which she did with flair and enthusiasm and great loving care until her death in St Ives.
Her friends among women in St Ives were artists Marjorie MOSTYN, Isobel HEATH, Shearer ARMSTRONG and Misomé PEILE, as mentioned by Janet AXTEN in her delightful book, Bryan Pearce and his Artist Friends (2004). One of her portraits, Greta, Daughter of Sven BERLIN, 1958, is included as a colour plate in that book (p42).
Pontefract and lived in London and St Mawes, Cornwall, the artist produced a phenomenal 107 works now in Imperial War Museum. Having served as the official Naval War Artist in both World Wars, he also produced lithographs for propaganda purposes in WWI and painted naval subjects for the War Artists Committee in WWII.
In 1930s, he continued both his marine painting and poster work and became in demand from railway companies for tourism posters. He wrote several books on sailing and was a keen sailor himself. Out-spoken critic of modern art.
Pearson was the son of William, a journeyman broom maker, and Eliza, and was born in Lambeth. In the 1880s he took up a traineeship in metalwork with the Home Arts and Industries Association in London. He became a ceramics designer and decorator with William de Morgan working with decorative tiles and blanks, the patterns of which were later reproduced in his copper work designs. While working with de Morgan and in ill health, he was discovered by C R Ashbee, the designer and social idealist, who offered him the chance to be a founder member of the Guild of Handicraft, a co-operative of Craftsmen then being set up in Whitechapel. He and John Williams became the Guild's first metalworkers in 1888.
Following a dispute with his colleagues, Pearson resigned, and for a time he worked independently both as a ceramics designer and as a maker of repousse metalware - mostly in copper - producing chargers, vases, firescreens, mirror frames and the like. A few months later, he was invited by John Drew MacKENZIE, a young painter and designer, to join him in Newlyn where he would instruct the teachers in the Industrial Class set up to help young fishermen learn new skills. Moreover, Pearson was able to bring with him improved techniques, most notably the jealously guarded innovation of beating the copper out against a block of lead rather than the much less responsive pitch.
Pearson stayed in Newlyn for some six years, and the designs originating from his de Morgan days (mythological dragons, strange animals and birds, galleons, trees and fruit) can be seen in both his own work of this period and in the work of the students. He learned new and more local subjects derived from the sea and the local landscape. Towards the end of the 1890s, Pearson returned permanently to London, and in 1901 acquired a new home and workshop in Hanway Street (W1). He continued to teach from there, to decorate ceramics and to beat copper, and both Liberty and Morris sold his work in this period. In 1929, he closed his workshop and retired to Canvey Island(Essex ), where, a few months later, he died. At his death, his occupation was described as 'art connoisseur'.
Julie Peart's painting takes as its subject matter botanical illustration and landscape.
The granddaughter of landscape artist George Edgar TREWEEK, Sue Pease studied initially at Falmouth School of Art, graduating with a BA in Fine Art from Bath Academy of Art in 1975. Subsequently she became an art teacher and adult education tutor.
In 1989 she moved to Cornwall, settling in Redruth, where she works from a studio in the garden of her home. She made the transition from figurative work to abstraction in 2009, when a fascination for pebbles inispired her to create paintings based on their natural patterns.
Caroline Pedler was born in Cornwall but moved away to Portsmouth, then Bristol and Bath, returning to the county in 2005. A commission in 1997 from Hallmark Cards UK marked the start of a career as a professional artist. Two years later she illustrated a children's book for Readers Digest. To date she has illustrated around 50 books, many of which have been published worldwide.
From the early 1990s onwards Pedler's work has been shown in Bath and Bristol and since graduating with an MA in Illustration-Authorial Practice in 2011, she has been exhibiting her fine art work widely in Cornwall.
Alongside her art practice, she lectures, mentors and runs workshops in St Agnes and Plymouth College of Art. She is a tutor at Newlyn School of Art (2016).
A Cornish-born artist, Vivian Pedley returned to Cornwall in 2021 after 35 years. During this time he worked in studios in Montreal, Newfoundland, New South Wales, Los Angeles and London, exhibiting his work both nationally and internationally.
Melanie Peer describes herself as 'Artist in Nature'. She grew up in Scotland, then moved to London, where she obtained an MA in Painting from Chelsea College of Art. She settled in Cornwall in the early 2000s.
Peile was born in Southsea, Hampshire, and in 1930 she moved to St Ives,studying at the St Ives School of Painting under Leonard John FULLER with additional instruction from Enraght MOONY. She had also studied art in Rome.
From 1944 to 1949 she was a member of STISA, when with other artist friends she became a founder member of the Penwith Society of Arts. Though she had been one of those in St Ives without a studio (1947) she later moved into the Piazza Studios where she worked next door to Hilda JILLARD. Another good friend was Wilhelmina BARNS-GRAHAM. Together the three of these held a grand 'Extra Show Day' in 1953.
For some years in the 1970s she lived and worked in Malta, while keeping in close touch with her Cornish colleagues. In 1973 she shared an exhibition with sculptor Denis MITCHELL In Valletta. Ill health and advancing age caused her finally to leave Malta and return to Cornwall where she died in the early summer of 1983.
Her support of St Ives and its artist community was long-lasting and special friends were Shearer ARMSTRONG, Mary PEARCE; in 1975 Bryan PEARCE painted a portrait of her, and in the late 1980s the Newlyn Art Gallery held a studio sale of her remaining work. A purchase from that sale, of a beautifully crafted mixed media collage, The Madonna of Rio, inspired the beginning of the collection which has grown to become the Hypatia (Cornish) Collection of Women's Art.
A native of Blackheath, London, he joined a professional touring company at the age of 19 and appeared in the gala performance to mark King George V's Coronation. A former West End theatre producer, he retired to Cornwall in 1928 to devote himself to painting and etching, but nonetheless found his dramatic talents in great demand.
In subsequent years he devoted himself to stage management and producing, also founding the Cornwall Shakespeare Festival (1933). Although his art seems to have taken a back seat, he became involved with STISA in the 1950s when he lived at Blue Hills, Ludgvan, Penzance, and worked from the Loft Studio, St Ives. The Princess Royal bought one of his pictures from an exhibition in Harrogate at this time.
A relative of the artist has contacted us (2020) with the information that he is in possession of an oil painting of Porthmeor Beach by Ernest Peirce.
The artist was born in Redruth, Cornwall, the son of a mining engineer who emigrated to western Canada with his family soon after he was born. The whole family returned in 1901, and Claughton attended the Slade from 1907-1911, making there a life-long friend in the artist Paul Nash.
In 1912 he visited Italy for the first time, and was greatly influenced by Fra Angelico and other Florentines, thereby positioning himself differently from the on-going developments between Pre-Raphaelitism and the modernists progressing in Britain (Roger Fry's Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition that same year). Imprisoned due to his declared Conscientious Objection to WWI, he and his wife, Marie 'Kechie' Tennent, also an artist, moved to Overstrand on the north coast of Norfolk upon release in 1919, and then in 1927 to Southrepps nearby, where they remained for the rest of their lives.
Pellew began wood engraving in 1923, exhibiting with the newly founded Society of Wood Engravers, and his subjects, based on the revival begun by William Morris and inspired by Thomas Bewick, were country images. In 1925 he exhibited The Return, featuring a village which is probably Mousehole in Cornwall, which indicates at least a further visit to his native Cornwall. Portrait of a Shy Norfolk Artist is a sensitive and loving pen portrait of an extraordinarily skilled artist, who is less well known than he should be.
Leah Pellow works from Krowji studios, Redruth. In 2013 she undertook a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Falmouth University. This was followed by a BA (Hons) in Painting from Camberwell College of the Arts in 2016.
Teresa Pemberton translates the beauty of landscape, coastline, river and garden into vibrant, glowing canvases. She obtained a BA (Hons) degree in Painting from the University of Hertfordshire in 1996, and has worked full time as an artist ever since. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and her work is held in collections worldwide. She lives in east Cornwall and works from the Ocean Studios complex at the Royal William Yard in Plymouth.
Jess Pemberton came to Cornwall to study Fine Art at Falmouth University. Her portraits are an expression of her thoughts and inner conflict. Her work attempts to capture states of feeling, exploring the 'commonality between people'.
Christine Penberthy is an artist, author and book illustrator who was born in a village outside Birmingham. At the age of 15 she attended Sutton School of Art. She has lived in St Ives since 1962.
Marriage and motherhood meant that her career had to be put on hold, but when time permitted she attended life classes at St Ives School of Art during the 1960s, and was taught by MARJORIE MOSTYN and LEONARD FULLER. In 1991 she completed a foundation course at Falmouth School of Art.
The artist was born into the fishing community and brought up in Mousehole, near Penzance. He began painting in 1936, attending the Penzance Art School for some years before WWII. Later he went on to study in Athens, Exeter and Bristol and did not return to Mousehole until 1956.
Most of his active artistic career took place after WWII, and Pender participated in many group and solo shows locally. In 2008 Penlee House Gallery and Museum mounted a major retrospective of his work, and their website provides ample information about the artist. Two of his paintings are in the permanent collection at the RCM.
He was married to Madeleine, who survives him and who is an active supporter of the Friends of the Penzance Art School and the Friends of Penlee House.
Amongst the class members in copper working at the same time as John CURNOW, George MILDREN, and John Edgar LAITY from about 1912 up to WWI. Some pieces marked JP may be his work. One of the later coppersmith-artists at Newlyn.
Penhale was born in Port Talbot, the son of Stanley Penhale (1900-1967) and his wife Nancy Llewellyn (1909-1996). His schooling was at Fowey Junior School, Fowey Grammar School, and completed at Bridgend Boys Grammar School in 1967, before studying at the University of Warwick at Canley.
After some years working and painting 'up in England' he returned to live in North Cornwall in 2002. From 2006 to the present he has been a member of the Penwith Society of Artists. He has also served as the Vice Chair of the Cornwall Watercolour Society from 2005.
The Penlee House Art Gallery & Museum is the municipal repository for the history of the surrounding area of the Land's End. It is also the gallery of choice for art exhibitions focussing mainly on the work of artists of the early Newlyn and St Ives schools/colonies up until the mid-20th century. The West Cornwall Art Archive and this website works in tandem with Penlee House, and the Director of Penlee House is a Trustee of the charitable trust which supports it. An excellent bookshop stocks the books that are mentioned in the reference sections of these entries, as available and in print.
The history of Penlee is fully explored on their own website.
The Museum has a collection of many thousands of photographs of the area from as early as 1870 and actively collects works by photographers working today - including artistic, landscape, genre and press photographs. The collection includes works by photographers such as Francis FRITH and VALENTINE, and also by local photographers such as Robert Hawker Peniel PRESTON, John MOODY, John GIBSON, RICHARDS and PENHAUL, etc. Some photographic albums are held within the collections, including albums originally owned by the Branwell family, an album of photographs of the Newlyn artists at work and play, and others of more topographic interest. Copies of the photographs can be ordered for personal use (copyright permitting).
A former member of Taking Space, an exhibiting group of women artists.
A photo of Ian Penna was featured in the Cornishman (11 Aug 2011) together with his Immeasurable Mass sculpture, an impressive part of the 'Uncharted Landscapes' exhibition at the Mariner's Gallery, St Ives (until Sept 3).
Penna's large works are a 'mine cap plug complete with brass plate and pillars which as well as reminding one of Cornwall's past mining industry is also an essay in space, dark and light, and ends with his Rabart's Time Piece, carved from solid acrylic paint.' (F Ruhrmund, p33)
Born in Castleford, Yorkshire, the son of a Wesleyan minister, he trained with a firm of architects at Leeds before setting up on his own. He was a successful architect before he retired to take up painting, unsurprisingly he was particularly attracted by interesting buildings and old bridges, the design of Wesleyan chapels being one of his specialities. In 1935, after retirement and determined to learn to paint, he and his wife Hilda travelled through several Mediterranean countries.
In 1939 they settled in Carbis Bay, Pennington studying at Leonard John FULLER's St Ives School of Painting. He put on exhibitions in St Ives in the following years, featuring Sicily and the fruits of a five month sketching tour of Southern Spain and Morocco. His oils, particularly of St Ives street scenes, show the influence of John Anthony PARK. Before the Second World War, he was a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists and a candidate for their hanging committee afterwards. On the death of his wife in 1957 he moved to Chichester, joining local societies but still exhibiting with STISA until 1959.
Gwynne Penny's work has been widely shown in Cornwall and beyond.
She has undertaken a number of short courses at St Ives School of Painting, as well as online courses during the pandemic lockdown.
In September 2022 she performed a temporary installation on Porthmeor Beach, created from driftwood and stones.
The artist was born in Redruth, Cornwall, the son of Richard PENPRASE and his wife Susan Ann. He studied art at the Redruth School of Art and as a student he had nine sheets of drawings and studies purchased by the Victoria & Albert Museum. He also assisted his father in church decoration and restoration, with drawings.
In 1911 he moved to Belfast as a teacher in the College of Technology, College Square, from which he retired 42 years later. He exhibited his work at the Royal Ulster Academy and at the Ulster Arts Club of which he was President.
In 1936 he began to build 'Bendhu House' at Ballintoy, County Antrim. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland showed his work in special exhibition 1977, and he died the following year.