Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives

Porthmeor Studios, just a stones throw from the Tate St Ives is in desparate need of renovation, 2007. (bron en foto: Peter Bennet)

"In 1801 the people of St Ives built a wall to protect their town from being engulfed by sand. On Porthmeor beach this wall enabled the fishermen to create cellars and net lofts to process their large catches of pilchards and store their boats and nets. From the 1880s famous artists from around the world, attracted by the extraordinary light, worked alongside the fishermen using the lofts as studios.

Today this unique relationship still exists between artists and fishermen. For more than 200 years this building has been battered by the harsh Atlantic weather and is now in urgent need of saving.
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The fishermen’s cellars were originally constructed for the pilchard fishing industry in 1814 and are now the last remaining work spaces of their kind still being used for by fishermen. You can still see the huge tanks where the pilchards were pickled in brine. Today 12 boats work out of Porthmeor and the fishermen use the cellars for repairing and setting their nets and storage of lobster pots.

Above the fishermen’s cellars were the artists studios with a list of former tenants which reads like a who’s who of 20th Century British painting, Julius Olsson, Borlase Smart, Francis Bacon, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.
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Porthmeor Studios are also home to the St Ives School of Painting. Started in 1938 by Leonard Fuller, the school plays a vital role in the cultural and economic life of St Ives, attracting students from around the world.
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Prolonged exposure to the harsh marine environment had taken its toll on the building, and by 2005 it was extremely fragile and in urgent need of major repairs. The slate roof in particular was causing great concern and more holes appear with every gale, and it was placed on the English Heritage ‘Building at Risk’ register.
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Funding from the Arts Lottery Programme enabled award winning architects, Long & Kentish, to design a scheme to repair and renovate the building sympathetically without significantly altering its unique character.
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Local contractors Symons Construction were appointed to carry out the renovations, and construction work started in October 2010 and was completed in October 2012. The building now offers upgraded and high quality workspace for artists, fishermen and the St Ives School of Painting."










Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, Cornwall, June 2010.




Cellar, Portmeor Studios, June 2010.


View from Porthmeor Studios, June 2010. (bron: Photo Maestro, foto's: Rhys Jones)


Artist Clare Wardman in front of 'West Heading East', a work tracking the movement of light in her studio.


Naomi Frears (Studio 3).


Iain Robertson in Studio 7.


Sax Impey (Studio 8).


Bob Crossley takes a break in Studio 12.


The life-drawing room of the St Ives School of Painting, also based at the studios; shown are portraits of its founder, Leonard Fuller, and his wife, Marjorie Mostyn, painted by each other.


Fisherman John Pearce in one of the original pilchard cellars beneath the studios.


The artists' studios, seen from Porthmeor Beach. (bron: FT Magazine, foto's: Rosie Hallam)
















Porthmeor Studios Opens, 03.11.12. (bron: Convergece Cornwall)

The Borlase Smart John Wells Trust Limited owns and manages unique and historic artists studios in St Ives and Newlyn, Cornwall, including possibly the two oldest surviving studios in the country.

Een uitgebreid fotoverslag van de renovatie van de Porthmeor Studios is te zien bij Porthmeor Studios Renovation Project. (hk)