Paul Spooner was born in Preston, Lancashire. From an early age he had mechanical interests. In 1964 he completed a pre-Diploma course at Lancaster College of Art where he made a clock and a steam engine from wood. At Cardiff from 1966 to 1969 he studied Art and Design, specialising in mechanical sculpture.
In 1974 Paul moved to Stithians, Cornwall. He made weaving looms for his wife Sue, but mainly worked as a van driver. It wasn’t until 1981 that he made his first edition of automata featuring the Egyptian Jackal-headed God, Anubis.
For the next two years he made small machines usually sold in limited editions through Cabaret Gallery in Falmouth. In 1983 Cabaret became a Mechanical Theatre (CMT) and between 1985 and 2000 it was located in Covent Garden, London, with over 40 of Paul’s machines in the collection. The exhibits now tour around the world.
Since 1986 Paul has collaborated with Matthew Smith on the design of a series of small editions. These are still made regularly for CMT by Matthew under the name of The Fourteen Ball Toy Co.
Paul has also produced two card cutout books; Spooner’s Moving Animals and The Museum of the Mind, as well as the children’s book, Red Roger.
In 1989 he was one of the main artists involved in designing and building the Ride of Life. Since then he has a had number of commissions for larger work including exhibits for the Science Museum and a group of life-size animated figures for Louis Vuitton, the luggage maker (1995). His television programme, Mechanisms (part of the Machinations series), was broadcast by Channel 4 in 1995.
Paul Spooner’s work combines humour and an obsessive attention to detail with delightful and intriguing mechanisms.
Ken Spooner was born in Staffordshire but now lives in west Cornwall. He obtained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from North Staffordshire University in the mid-1950s. He has exhibited widely in Cornwall and Gloucestershire, and his work has been shown in Switzerland and the USA.
Born in Aberdeenshire, the painter Elspeth Spottiswood was a solitary child who spent much of her time drawing and painting. After World War II she attended Camberwell & Chelsea Schools of Art, only to be deeply disappointed by the narrow and stuffy curriculum. By chance she met the artist Oscar Kokoschka, who was living in London at the time, and who gave her great encouragement.
In 1949 she married the late festival founder and agriculturist-poet Michael Milburn, and they moved to Cornwall in 1961, settling in Bocaddon, Lanreath, Cornwall. Here they brought up four sons and one daughter. He died in 1993.
Elspeth's subject matter was inspired by landscape, especially that of Cornwall. Strongly influenced by the work of Giorgio Morandi, her work was primarily concerned with distilling the essence of a landscape or object, and paring it right down to the minimal components. She was great friends with Lionel MISKIN and Patrick HAYMAN.
'For me images become significant when they contribute to creating a memory world of the imagination in which experience is contained and given meaning, as in the meeting of water and sky, the pale emptiness of sky and sea, the darkness of a mining valley, the pattern of objects on a table. It is this reality I try to explore, neither the place nor the object in itself but the way in which the image made of it can have its own imaginative reality.' (Elspeth Spottiswood, 2006)
Latterly she translated works from the Italian by Dacia Maraini (Woman at War, etc.) with the late horticulturist and garden writer, Dick Kitto (d 1999).
An experienced teacher, Mark Spray is a tutor on the three-day Cornish Landscape course at the Newlyn School of Art in Chywoone Hill, Newlyn.
Originally from Derbyshire, he moved to Cornwall in 2000. His art training was taken at Manchester Metropolitan University and then at Goldsmiths, London. His first solo show in Cornwall was in 2007 with the Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth. He works from Trewidden Studios, West Cornwall.
Mark makes a feature of incorporating parts of the landscape within his mixed media paintings.
He was born in Valaparaiso, Chile, and came to England in 1891. He studied art at the Slade School and with Stanhope FORBES at Newlyn - aged 20 in 1901, he was a boarder in the home of Mary Beer at Paul near Penzance.
Later he lived in Chelsea, joining the New English Art Club in 1919. In 1918 he exhibited with the Friday Club at the Alpine Club Gallery in London.
Squire was born and brought up in Liskeard, and his principal career was as a banker, for several years at the East Cornwall Bank in Bodmin (1851 census). By 1841 his job took him to Camborne. In 1866 the artist married Emma Fisher from Herefordshire, where they settled in Ross-on-Wye and had eight children. It seems that he regularly revisited Cornwall, and painted in Polperro in 1869. The family later moved to Swansea, Exeter and then and London (Wood). He exhibited Newlyn at the RBA in 1873, and in the same year, Watergate Bay, Cornwall at the RA. His exhibit At Newlyn, Mounts Bay, Cornwall was shown in 1874 at the RA.
His watercolour paintings of Cornish coastal scenery, including Polperro, were widely exhibited.
Julian St Clair's early years were spent in Richmond, Surrey. He moved to Cornwall from London in 1989 and is based in St Ives.
Since the 1970s he has been influenced by the Pop Art movement. His work has been collected widely, and is in several permanent collections including the Coupelouzes Museum in Athens.
Camilla Stacey is a Penryn-based artist, curator and workshop facilitator. She studied at Falmouth University.
STACEY Walter S (Walter Sydney) 1846-1929 STACEY Walter S (son of Walter Sydney) 1881-1963
It is not clear, at this stage, whether or not the artist exhibiting at Newlyn in 1911 was the father or the son, both residing together in 1901 in Hampstead, and identified in the Census as Artist/Painter and Art Student respectively. Born in Stockwell, London, Stacey Sr studied at the RA Schools and exhibited there from 1872. He married Amy, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. In 1891, the family were living in Hampstead, London, where they continued to reside until at least 1902. He was elected to the Society of British Artists (later the RBA) and exhibited at SS. He resigned his membership, however, and joined the Old Dudley Art Society (Vice President). Stacey Sr was much better known than his son.
In 1911 at NAG winter exhibition the artist, or his artist-son, displayed After a Shower and The Apple Tree. His address for 1910-1911 was New Milton, Hampshire, and this is the period when one or the other sent-into, and possibly also visited, Newlyn. By 1915 Stacey Sr was living at Newton Abbot, Devon. He spent a considerable amount of time from then on in Polperro, to see his daughter Winifred and her family, who spent each summer there.
Walter Sydney Stacey Jr married Margaret nee Westrup, a children's writer. The couple are presumed to have moved to West Penrith in order that Sydney might study at the Forbes School. He exhibited a number of times in Cornwall and in 1912 he used a St Buryan exhibiting address. Both Sydney and Margaret were active in local affairs.
Emily Stackhouse was born in Modbury, Devon, the fifth of six children born to the Rev William Stackhouse and his wife Sarah. When her father inherited the family estate of Trehane near Probus, the family moved back to Cornwall where William had been born. From there Emily was to take up her botanical researches and natural history interests, and began to illustrate these.
Her watercolours were employed by the engravers to work the fine woodcuts and steel engravings that SPCK used for the publications of the Rev Charles Alexander Johns, which included Botanical Rambles, Flowers of the Field, Forest Trees of Britain, and A Week at the Lizard.
Her immense talent was largely overlooked in her own day, despite prizes won at the RCPS, and articles published by her in the Journal of the RIC on plant life. The work of this shy, spinster lady of Cornwall has received recent attention through the efforts of the American Fine Art Dealer, Clifford B Evans, and a revival of interest in the writings of the Rev C A Johns. In 2009 her entry in the DNB was accepted for inclusion, and the story of her life was told as part of a larger biography about Johns and his Cornish circle of naturalists, by Deirdre Dare and Melissa HARDIE.
An exhibition of her work is being planned for 1-2 years time.
Amanda Stafford was born in Nottinghamshire but has settled in Penzance. She describes herself as largely self-taught, though for a time she studied portraiture and still life in Florence. She also makes jewellery.
Simeon Stafford was born in Manchester. From a young age he showed considerable artistic talent. An early inspiration was L S Lowry (whom he met, and who was greatly encouraging). In 1996 this self-taught artist moved to Cornwall, to a house with a view of St Michaels Mount - a perfect vantage point from which to paint his characterful figures, many of them based on real individuals. His work has an exuberance borne of a strong self-belief combined with a great sense of humour.
Stafford's charming and colourful watercolours and oils can be confused with the work of Fred YATES in terms of subject - naive scenes with small figures scurrying around or on the beach. His work is highly sought after and his collectors include Her Majesty the Queen.
He is represented by Whitewater Gallery in Polzeath.
Mark Stafford is a self-taught artist whose childhood holidays inspired his move to Cornwall. He works from Oak Leaf Studio in Penzance.
Studied at Kingston School of Art. She was based in Redruth, working predominantly in bronze and terracotta because she 'like[s] the feeling that it has been through fire. It is a natural process and has a spirit. My work is predominantly figurative, both animal and human, but I am also interested in abstract forms which follow natural rhythms.'
A signed oil painting on canvas of St Michael's Mount is shown (2005) on a gallery website with the description: Dramatic seascape in stormy weather. Turner's influence on Stanfield is evident. St Michael's Mount in the background. It is signed and dated C Stanfield 1853.
This appears to be the same artist as Stanfield CLARKSON, entered separately in that name which he may have used alternatively.
Stanley was born in Nottingham, though from early days his home was in North Devon, where he initiated his career in drawing and painting. He first studied Art and Design at the North Devon College, achieving distinctions for his work, and then worked for and received a first class honours degree in illustration from kFalmouth College of Arts. His studio is in Devon, but he is represented by London and New York agents who commission work widely. In 2010 he presented a solo show of work: West Penwith - a homage to colour, through The Great Atlantic Galleries.
One of the artists whose work was taken by Gallery TRESCO to the Affordable Art Fair 2010, and who exhibits regularly with the Gallery on the island of Tresco in the Scillies. (see www.gallerytresco.co.uk). The titles of his paintings reflect the love of the Islands that shows strongly in such pieces as Last Fleeting October Light, The Autumn Sun Sets Behind Bryher, Solitary Winter Beach, Tresco, and Approaching Twilight Over the Eastern Isles.
Phoebe Stannard is based at Half Acre Studios, Boscastle, on the north Cornwall coast.
Worked with G F NICHOLLS and Lewis MORTIMER on the book Picturesque Cornwall (1915) which included 32 illustrations in colour taken from paintings by the fellow artists.
John Lewis Stant was born in Dudley, Staffordshire, the son of a local butcher. Known as Jack to his family, he married Dorothy Cash in Birmingham in 1934, settling in St Ives later that year. He exhibited a collection of his etchings at Lanhams Five Guinea Christmas Exhibition in 1935. He gifted work as a prize for the STISA 1935 Arts Ball, and exhibited again at Lanhams in 1938 - although he is thought to have left St Ives by then. Stant was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
At the time of the 1939 Register he is recorded as living with his wife in Birmingham, and he was described as an aircraftsman with the Royal Air Force. His wife changed her name in 1941, suggesting that they had got divorced. He is believed to have returned to visit St Ives in 1947. That year he was charged at Cambridgeshire Sessions with obtaining money, goods and board and lodging under false pretences and was bound over for 12 months.
A number of Stant's etchings and coloured engravings of Cornish subjects, in particular those of Polperro, are dated 1953-4. In 1956 he and a partner had a business selling anemones which they were growing in St Ives. This venture was short-lived as he obtained money from customers without delivering the goods, and was consequently jailed for six months by Sutton Coldfield magistrates. After his release he moved to Tonbridge in Kent, where he died in 1964.
A recent correspondent (2012) has found a painting in his garage by this artist, the subject of which was a local boatbuilder J W Smith of Appledore, North Devon. A more recent correspondent (2016) writes: 'I have a painting by above named artist, the painting is named Harbour Scene and is dated Newlyn 1953. This painting is of pencil/watercolour.' A correspondent in 2019 has told us of two artist's proofs in her possession. They are stamped 'Warwick Galleries', signed 'J Lewis Stant' and entitled 'Tenby Harbour' and 'A Welsh Farmyard, Ewenny'. A correspondent in 2022 has told us of 'Birthplace of Bishop Vesey, Sutton Coldfield' - an artwork by J Lewis Stant which she purchased many years ago, as a gift for a family member.
A further correspondent (2022) has written to let us know of the following etchings by John Lewis Stant, an uncle by marriage. He inherited them from his stepmother, who was given them by the artist. They are: 'Tenby Harbour & St Botolph's Church, Boston'; 'The Jetty, St Mawes' - 1943; 'Upstream Polperro' - 1947; and 'Mevagissey' - the latter two being colour etchings.
We have heard of three coloured etchings by Stant from a correspondent in 2022, inherited from his grandparents who lived in the Herne Bay area. They are entitled 'Weavers House, Canterbury' and 'New Inn, Clovelly' with the subject of the third being the inside of Canterbury Cathedral.
In 2023 we were contacted by a correspondent who has a stamped and signed image by the artist entitled 'The Dart at Dittisham' featuring the Ferry Hotel.
A correspondent (2024) has been in touch to tell us of two signed engravings by the artist, 'Bishops Bridge Norwich' (1937) and 'Richmond Castle' (1938).
We were contacted later in 2024 by the great-great-nephew of the artist. He and his wife (who are based in the Black Country) have two original Stant watercolours and over 30 hand-tinted etchings. They were able to confirm that, according to family lore, he is remembered as a colourful character!
A further correspondent (2024) has told us of a coloured, signed etching by Stant, of Bourn in Cambridgeshire. This was given to her in the 1960s by her great-aunt, who was born in 1900.
Possibly the twin sister of Rose Emily STANTON, who painted animals and still-life, with an address in Stroud, Gloucestershire. The artist exhibited at the 12th Exhibition of NAG in 1899.
This artist has been entered here due to the title of his work, however there is no record of him with this name in the standard dictionaries. There is, however a Horace Hughes S, with the same dates listed in Benezit whose death occurred in New Rochelle, NY (1914), having departed London the previous year, and a Horace Hale S, in Johnson & Greutzner, exhibiting 1880-84 from New Brighton in Cheshire (1882). All of these may refer to the same artist (or may not). As Private Eye might say: 'shurely, some mistake!'
Probably some relation to the artist Blair Hughes Stanton.
In the autumn exhibition of the RBSA (North Room) in 1900, Ethel Stanton exhibited Beach: Newquay, priced at 4 guineas.
New entry - information needed.
Sophia Starling is exhibiting work at the Newlyn Art Gallery 19 July - 27 September 2014, with Kate TERRY and Sarah Kate WILSON. The invitation card states that the artists 'explore colour, abstraction and construction in a diversity of media.' Jack DOHERTY also has a selling exhibition of ceramics in the Studio Cafe, Marie Claire HAMON is exhibiting in the Picture Room from 19 July-23rd Aug, followed by Gareth EDWARDS from 25 August-27 September (2014).
The Honourable Mary Grey was the daughter of the 8th Earl of Stamford, otherwise known as the Rev Harry Grey, a wandering and dissolute clergyman who had ended up before his preferment to the title, with his wife, Lady Mary Grey, at the Cape in South Africa. When his wife died, he married his housekeeper, Martha, who was a Cape-coloured woman. With her he had three children, one of which was Mary, said to be very gifted.
In 1917 at Paddington Registry office, Lady Mary became the wife of poet-occultist Roland Meredith STARR, and the two set out with a plan to found an artists' colony in West Cornwall (as many have done before and since!). They remained married until 1930 and she died soon after WWII.
An advertisement in the St Ives Times for an Artist's Exhibition: at The Cottage, Treveal, running from 11th-14th September 1917, includes Meredith STARR, Horace J WOOLEY and Lady Mary STARR. The works were said to "demonstrate new methods of execution and conception."
The artist's birth name was Herbert Close, a name which he changed to Roland Meredith Starr at about the age of 20 when he began to write for the Occult Review (edited by Aleister Crowley). He had been born at Prestbury House, in Hampton, Richmond, Surrey, the son of a wealthy industrialist and his wife. Primarily he was a poet and occultist, and due perhaps to his association with Crowley who spent a great deal of time in West Cornwall, he arrived - newly married - in St Ives with his wife, Lady Mary Starr, and colleague Wooley, with the idea of establishing an artists' and spiritualists' centre. In Cornwall and in the same area at the time was the writer D H Lawrence, who mentions Starr briefly (and dismissively) in his correspondence.
An advertisement in the St Ives Times for an Artist's Exhibition: at The Cottage, Treveal, 11th-14th September, includes Meredith STARR, Horace J WOOLEY and Lady Mary STARR. The works were said to "demonstrate new methods of execution and conception."
Subsequently, it appeared that the reception for their plans was not especially welcome, and their centre was established in Devon instead. They were part of an esoteric and literary circle linked to the Indian Guru, Meher Baba, who Starr is credited with introducing to the West. He did not follow Meher Baba for very long, and the centre existed only briefly.