Born on 1 March 1888 at Chislehurst, she came to Newlyn in 1907. Fryn shared Myrtle Cottage with her cousin Cicely JESSE, Mrs Shaw and her daughter, Dod (later Doris Shaw PROCTER), and another friend, Clare WATERS. Ostensibly she came to paint at the FORBES SCHOOL, but worked for the first year or so in charcoal, and simply enjoyed living in Newlyn independent of her family and with friends. Another pupil of the Forbes School, and son of the prominent artist and writer Norman GARSTIN, was the future novelist Crosbie GARSTIN, and he became seriously enamoured of Fryn, though ultimately their mutual attraction came to nought.
She wrote The Look Backwards in 1907, and at the request of her closest friend, Elizabeth FORBES, wrote a play to be put on at Christmas, called The Corpse, the Coffin and the Coughdrop, a Melodrama in Three Palpitations. In 1908 she began what became 'Her Intermittent Diary' (which only lasted for the year) and edited the two volumes of The Paper Chase, a journal of essays, poems and prints published by Elizabeth Forbes. It was Fryn who gave Elizabeth the nickname of 'Mibs' by which she was fondly known until her death in 1912. Fryn was based in Cornwall until 1910, but continued in close contact with the Forbes family (and visiting Mibs in France where she had gone to try and recuperate from a 'tubercular' condition, that was, in fact, a cancer).
Fryn married H M Harwood, was reviewed by Rebecca West to be one of the four most beautiful women in Britain, and wrote a number of successful novels in later years, including A Pin to See the Peepshow, The Lacquer Lady, The White Riband, and others. One of the earliest of her published novels, The Milky Way, was dedicated to her friend Elizabeth Forbes.
Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and Jevons was in 1891 a boarder at Treveal, Zennor. He had come from Liverpool in 1890, being a close friend of Sigisbert Chretien BOSCH REITZ.
At the Opening Exhibition of NAG in 1895, the reviewer of his painting remarked on his powerful work Old Cornish Firs - tall firs with a background of shaggy, moorland. Wood locates him between 1894 and 1896 in Cornwall, when he exhibited two paintings, Evening and A Cornish Lane at the RA. However in both of these years, Johnson & Greutzner report addresses for him also in Liverpool; he may have maintained studios in both places.
Whybrow finds him working with the St Ives Colony, with an address at 7 The Terrace, in her earliest 1883-1900 list of artists in and around St Ives, and he was also a signatory for the Glanville letter, sent in November 1898 in response to artists' concerns about proposed over-development for the town. However, he appears to have purchased his home, Roswick Cottage at St Martin on The Lizard peninsula, and removed himself to it in 1894, keeping-up with his St Ives and Newlyn friends from there.
It is clear from looking at the two bookplates that Edmund George FULLER designed for him (reprinted in Tovey 2009) that his primary occupations, aside from painting, were his animals and his garden, not to mention his reading. In any event he was still in Cornwall and living at St Martin on The Lizard peninsula in 1907.
Rebecca Jewell is a botanical painter based near Helston, taking inspiration from the natural beauty of Cornwall.
Simon Jewell is a landscape painter and photographer based in Mawgan, near Helston.
Born in Newlyn on 5 February 1886, and married to Albert Owen Jewels who died in WWI, Mary Jewels preferred to be known as a natural painter rather than primitive or naïve. She mainly painted in oils, her subjects being landscapes, portraits, fishing and harbour scenes. She was a close friend of Dod PROCTER, and her sister, Cordelia was married to the sculptor Frank DOBSON. Her subjects remained truly Cornish, as she did not travel further afield.
Never having any formal training, Jewels's introduction to painting came in 1915 when she was given a blank canvas and paints by Cedric MORRIS and told to "cover it by evening". She considered herself to be a Newlyn painter, though little interest was shown in her work and St Ives was more welcoming, she first exhibited in London in 1928, persuaded to do so by Augustus JOHN who was a family friend.
Whybrow comments 'Mary was involved with both the early and later Newlyn school of painters. She lived so long that she spanned the generations. John WELLS, on looking at her painting Cornfields with Peasants, dubbed her the English Van Gogh.' Reviewers continue to remark that she had interesting talents although has been largely overlooked amongst those who continue to focus on Alfred WALLIS as 'the naïve' treasure. It has been suggested by Canney, in his Newlyn Notebook, that at her best, Jewels may well have influenced Christopher WOOD of whom both she and her sister 'Delia' were very fond.
A Solo exhibition of her work was held in Newlyn 1977, the same year in which she died.
Jo Jewers works from Trewidden Garden Studios in Buryas Bridge, near Penzance.
She exhibited from the Bluebell Studio in 1949 at the St Ives Show Day, and in the 1950s from the Piazza Studios. She was a known painter of genre and landscapes in oils and watercolours.
Her painting, Massacre of the Innocents, is in the Permanent Collection of NAG, and an archive file about the artist is in the WCAA.
Graham was born in Kent and studied sculpture at Maidstone College of Art. Moving to Cornwall in 1985, he has designed and produced a remarkable range of metalwork and wooden sculptures both for exhibition and for sale in galleries. He employs scrap metal and junk items primarily to construct figurative work - with a preference for dogs and insects.
Pete Townsend of The Who purchased his largest piece, a three metre high 'Iron Man'. He acknowledges the influence of science fiction, Jacob Epstein the sculptor, and perhaps even his dog, who he enjoys walking! He has often worked with the sculptor David KEMP, and regularly produces large-scale constructions for theatrical and festival events. (2001 - Brittain & Cook).
His unusual items such as candelabra built of old iron and nuts and bolts, and his charming wooden figurative stands depicting butlers and maids, give great pleasure and delight in homes of his private collectors.
Tim Joel was born in Isleworth, London. His parents, Paul and Judy JOEL, live and work in Mousehole, Cornwall where they run The Little Picture Gallery. He was brought up to appreciate all forms of art.
He graduated from Napier University in Edinburgh in 1999 with a BA Hons degree in Photography and the moving image. He travelled widely and began to paint seriously in 2000 while in Thailand. He lived for a while in Germany and became involved with the Stuckists, exhibiting with them in London and in Germany. Now he is living in Taiwan and has held many exhibitions in Taipei City, and the south of the island. He admires the work of Ken HOWARD, David Hockney and Jack VETTRIANO whom he knew when he lived in Edinburgh.
Tim organised a painting challenge for many artists he knew in Taipei City to paint a canvas during a period of 24 hours; the event was filmed throughout the day and in the evening the paintings were auctioned with the money raised going to the people in the south of the island devastated by the Moracot typhoon. He was chosen by the Discovery Channel in Taiwan to be the subject of a documentary about foreign people who find inspiration in Taiwan. He published his first book, Poet Painter, in 2005.
Judy Joel was born in Putney but has lived in Cornwall since 1992. A former curator of STISA, she now runs The Little Picture Gallery in Mousehole. She is a self-taught artist and co-director of ABNA (The Association of British Naive Artists), and has been a regular exhibitor at the Crypt Gallery in St Ives.
A brief visit (for a few days) by John and Dorelia brings the artist into the West Cornish orbit of artists, though everyone knew him from the New English Art Club, and elsewhere, meeting often in London art circles.
While he was in the Lamorna Valley (1912-13), he stopped briefly to paint the young Mornie BIRCH, who did not remember him fondly, because of his sharp and seemingly arrogant attitude toward posing her with no concern for her comfort. She was nine years old and he was thirty-five at the time. John and Dorelia were the objects of much curiosity and interest, and during their stay at the Jory's Hotel (now the Lamorna Cove Hotel), great festivities, dinners and parties were held for the general amusement of all.
A pupil of Stanhope FORBES who is also listed as Mrs White, studying c1920 at the school of painting in Newlyn. Though this may or may not be the same person, there is also a Dora Johns listed as a member of the NSA (1972-3) by McLeod in his summary review of the arts society.
Kit Johns works from a studio near Cadgwith on the Lizard peninsula. His work explores the Cornish landscape in all its wildness. His paintings of the Cornish coastline have a raw intensity, incorporating sand, stone and seawater, as well as flotsam and jetsam.
Johns is a tutor at Newlyn School of Art (2020).
Gilly Johns studied Fine Art at Leeds, followed by a postgraduate course in teaching art at Goldsmiths College, London. Working in the field of community arts led to mural work, and subsequently Johns worked for eight years in graphic design. Since moving back to Cornwall from London, she has focussed on interpreting her environment by means of painting with mixed media.
Louise Johns trained in graphic design in Devon and London before returning to her Cornish roots to pursue her artistic career. Working from Krowji Studios in Redruth, she uses strong but simple images in her work.
Rob Johnsey graduated from Falmouth University in 2013 with a degree in Fine Art and was shortlisted for the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize in 2010. In 2015 he was appointed the first Artist in Residence at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. He is a sculptor, boatbuilder and long-time volunteer at the Museum. An exhibition of his work entitled 'Skeleton : New Sculpture from Old Boats' opened in November 2016.
NAG exhibitor in the Craft section of the Christmas show of 1925; she exhibited jewellery and enamels.
Listed as exhibiting at STISA in 1937, including Touring Shows.
Val Johnson creates an eclectic mix of ceramics and paintings in various and mixed media, inspired by her surroundings in Lamorna and Cornwall.
She exhibits with the Lamorna Valley Group and more information is available at http://www.lamornaartsfestival.co.uk/members.php
David V Johnson is a mixed media artist based in Hayle. His collages, assemblages and drawings explore physicality, sexuality and developmental change.
Ernest Borough Johnson was born in Shropshire. The family then moved to Basingstoke, where he was educated privately and at Queen's School. He went on to study at Slade and Herkomer's at Bushey, and subsequently became Professor of Fine Art at London University's Bedford College and Chelsea Polytechnic respectively. He was a teacher of life painting and drawing at London School of Art and the Byam Shaw School. He exhibited at the RA for the first time in 1887, then moved to Bushey. Married to the artist Esther GEORGE, by 1917 he lived at Westbourne Gardens, Hyde Park, London.
They both exhibited in the 1924 Show Day in St Ives, with Johnson showing several fine oils, charcoals and pencil studies. According to the St Ives Times, one was 'a busy scene on the Wharf in the fishing season, with girls packing the fish, and a cart loaded with barrels on its way.' He also showed a portrait of Mr MATSUBAYASHI in Samurai costume, with a bright red background. His paintings of Polperro were exhibited a number of times, including a portrait of Polperro resident William Minards, which was shown at the RA in 1920.
In 1920 the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists held an exhibition in Winnipeg, USA, containing work by, among others, Ernest Borough Johnson.
By the 1930s he was distinguished as a writer on techniques of drawing.
The wife of Ernest Borough JOHNSON, Esther exhibited at St Ives under both Borough and Johnson at separate times.
A former member of Taking Space, an exhibiting group of women artists.
A prolific artist who lives and works in St Ives, he exhibits in mixed and solo shows around the country. His motifs, taken from life studies, typically include windows, still-lifes, harbours, and the landscape/seascape of the British coastline. These are painted with hard-line design, showing his fascination with design and an almost architectural definition of shapes.
Suzy Johnson was born in Cornwall and, after a spell in Surrey, returned to her roots in Charlestown in 2016. She has a particular interest in geo-mythology, and through her work hopes to engage with issues of re-mapping the past through encounters with landscapes, ancient maps and oral traditions. In her painting she seeks to explore the concept of the female as sacred within the landscape.
Suzy Johnson became a member of 'Taking Space', a group of women artists, in 2017.