I have never before joined an art group or society, other than art school, and I’ve never won anything for my art, except grade 1 O Level in 1973. In 2014 I decided I would acknowledge WH Auden’s command that you owe it to us to get on with what you are good at, and restart my creativity, exhibit more, write more poetry, follow the themes prevalent in my life and join with anyone on the same path. A small ambition that has brought some lovely people into my life and a remarkable degree of support and affection. To top this I have gained some awards and commendations. This February I received the Best in Show at the Spanish Barn Art Fair in Torquay. I received my trophy in due course. Your win is controversial I was told, bring it on I said. I can defend my art quite happily, I was given the platform to do this and enjoyed the opportunity. My winning painting was ‘marmite’ and so it should be. If it helps raise the bar alongside Torbay sea, land and garden scape I’m glad. I believe art should challenge, make us see the world through a different lens. Art is a language and we are all capable of embracing and learning each other’s language while still knowing what we like. Every piece of art we create is a self portrait. If you’re balancing on the edge of turning your inner thoughts into a unique voice, don’t hold back. Sometimes you may feel the need to explain but never complain about the reception you receive. I chose to be judged which is ultimately based on someone else’s taste. It just happened to be the same as mine this time. #BeckyNuttall #2018 #SpanishBarn #TorreAbbey

Here at Artizan it's fair to say we've had a number of unusual encounters over the years. We're happy to say that our little gallery welcomes people from all walks of life, and as far as we're concerned, if you're a little bit quirky, you'll probably fit right in! But today, a new mystery presented itself in what we're calling, "The Case of the Mysterious Photograph." We'd been in the gallery for a few hours having had a couple of early meetings when something caught my eye. Can you see it? How about now? We certainly couldn't remember having a sign up there, and on closer inspection it looked like it might be a clip frame. Time for some investigating! Out into the rain and sure enough, a clip frame it was, tucked above our door - no easy feat, it's quite high up! Luckily, I've got the reach for it so down comes our mysterious gift which turns out to be a little photo. In its simple clip frame sits a small seascape, edited with a yellow/blue colour filter, looking down from the rocks to the open water. But where did it come from? There's no signature, no note, we even checked inside the clip frame for clues but no, nothing there either. A mystery photo from a mystery photographer. Who could it be? Maybe we'll have a look at our CCTV, but perhaps, that might spoil the fun. For now, we know just what to do... #2018 #March #Mystery #Photography

In my adolescence, I visited the artist, my father, in his London flat. There was a room designated for the studio; I could not smell turps or white spirit; I could not see a Francis Bacon tsunami licking the prosaic off the floorboards, spitting it into the tide of detritus lapping the skirting. Here the artist no longer speaks of childish things to a child artist. He is now, I realise, the professional lexicographer; verbal expression is the test and the tease. Doorways were a feature of this space. Caught in a corridor, I stood before the one for the studio and glanced at another; the guest room. Who are the guests of the artist when he is away from home; living in this flat away from the anchor and the source, as he called my mother. He had a pretty turn of phrase. Away from the summer lawns, replacing them with something, someone, people that held him hostage for weeks; anchored and weighed, adrift from the banal and paternal. I am today’s visitor and we do not speak of childish things. He has become a resident writer in another orbit and I have become his caller; although welcome, the space shifts and shapes around the presence of more preferred visitors; patrons, lodgers and paying guests; the bill payer, the emissary, the trigger, the executor; I only brought a doorway back to neglected summer lawns. It is fourteen years since he died in Exeter and I surveyed the wreckage of the artist’s life in residency. The spread of coats and jackets. Unwashed clothes upon the bed, the floor ripe with neglect; the kitchen, in the freezer ready made meals, frozen, suspended between hunger and memory. Free gifts from magazines, brought to the house only to show someone lives at this address. The remains of Chinese takeaway, human contact crossed with silver, loneliness. The wreckage of paper, a lifetime of lists, the lifetime since last I left, of jottings, poignant, stupid, clever, plots, settings, character, point of view; none of them mine, very few his. I came to clear a way back, through the rational searching in lists and plot, only to find, disappointingly, a message that artists who were men offered to women back then; I am the artist, not you; I am the writer you are not. The misogynist artist’s love token, a padlock of words ruling the lock. In the guest room a bed was made; I had arrived without luggage, I would not stay. I found his art school folder, remembered some promises he made when I was young and when he made me laugh. I scan, cut and glue our lives together, each of us guests in each other’s work; I weigh and anchor him back to me and women’s art #ArtistStories #BeckyNuttall #2018

It’s in Torquay, to be more precise, at the Artizan Gallery, to be most precise! And I am in it, and the Private View is tonight! February seems to become my exhibition-month, as I was in the last exhibition last year February. That was with “Traditions” in the Art Pavillion, now it’s “The Art of You”. “The Art of You” is about our art-process as artists, it’s an explorative and a personal show. So I love that, as I always combine the inside and the outside– and not surprisingly, for me it’s a psychogeographic art process. It is psychogeographic exactly because it allows me to do what I instinctively have done: combine inner and outer worlds. This inner/outer combination, the inner: personal/psychic, and the outer: place/space/geography/public/political. It’s an approach, too, where things are spaces, with angles, perspectives, forms, shapes, with lines, circles, edges, and bridges over boundaries, hinterland and unconscious. This interplay can be sheer beauty, but it can also be tense, highlighting injustice for example. So it’s here where the stories are that I want to show, write, tell. Story spaces These story-spaces range from the magical to the political, so there’s a desire, or even a need, for an identification and recognition of these stories and engagement with them. You can read or see this in my contributions to this exhibition. I look forward to the other artists’ contributions to the show, there’ll be an interesting dialogue in our work I can imagine. It’s all very exciting as we all don’t know who the other artists are, so we’ll all be in for a thrilling surprise! So let’s go and see! Private View is tonight –which would have been my grandmother’s 108th birthday. I’ll miss the pv but will go there later, and to the sea! The show is on until the 2nd March. The Gallery is at nr 7, Lucius Street, right in the middle between Torre and Torquay train stations – i.e. between hill and harbour! Opening times are 12 – 6, Monday to Saturday. Enjoy the space, the show, the place, the private view – or any other viewing afterwards! To view the original article visit here. #TheArtofYou #UrsulaTroche #Exhibition #Review #ArtistPreview

This week I managed to get along to Torquay Museum for a talk given by Zoe Burkett of Penlee House Gallery and Museum on the Newlyn School of Artists. Part of a series of public lectures across a broad range of topics and a snip at just £5 to attend, these talks are a true gem in Torbay’s Cultural calendar. Having travelled to Penzance many times I have to confess that I was unaware of the Penlee Gallery and Museum and my knowledge on the Newlyn School of Artists was also fairly scant. Following Zoe’s talk I would have loved to hop on a train to complete the journey that she had started with her insightful, from the heart talk. Now located at Penlee House, the museum was first located in the Dome at Market House in Penzance in 1839 and then moved to the newly built St John’s Hall in 1867. At that time, it was first a foremost a natural history museum, established by the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society. The society organised lectures and an annual excursion which continued into the 20th Century until 1961 when the society ceased to exist. Penlee House was originally built in 1865 as the home of the wealthy Branwell family and remained in the family until it was sold along with the estate to Penzance Borough Council in 1946. The council initially purchased Penlee Park as a memorial to the dead of World War II, with Penlee House being formally opened as the Penzance District Museum in 1949. In 1974 the ownership of the museum and park passed to Penwith District Council, and since 1985 Penzance Town Council has owned and operated the site. The collections housed within the museum were originally taken from the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society collection but during the 1990s Penzance Town Council conducted a major refurbishment of the building providing up to date facilities for housing its important and historic art collection which includes the most significant collection of the Newlyn School of Artists work to be held in the UK. Having given us some background to the gallery and its origins Zoe then went on to tell us that all the Newlyn Artists were not born there but had come to live and work among the people. Newlyn had several things guaranteed to attract artists: fantastic light, cheap living, and the availability of inexpensive models but they were also drawn to painting in what was a new way at that time, capturing ordinary people going about their everyday lives, very different to what was being painted elsewhere. The artists were fascinated by the fishermen's working life at sea and the everyday life in the harbour and nearby villages. Some paintings showed the hazards and tragedy of the community's life, such as women anxiously looking out to sea as the boats go out, or a young woman crying on hearing news of a disaster All also chose to paint ‘en plein air’ not just for sketching but for an entire piece, even when painting on very large pieces and many adopted the square brush technique and use of a muted colour palette which distinguishes these paintings so well when viewed. Walter Langley is generally recognised as the pioneer of the Newlyn School of Artists and Stanhope Forbes as the father of it. The later Forbes School of Painting, founded by Stanhope Forbes and wife Elizabeth in 1899, promoted the study of figure painting. Interestingly Elizabeth was vastly outnumbered by her male counterparts but was by far the most successful and all regularly took part in exhibitions and sold work in London with GWR at that time providing a dedicated van for transporting the art. Although the Newlyn School as a group ceased to exist around 1940, the area still attracts artists with many of the studios built in the gardens of the houses still being used by artists today. Details of the next museum lecture, Scotching the Stereotypes, Rebecca Tope, can be found here. #2018 #Talks #TorquayMuseum #Torquay #ZoeBurkett #TheNewlynSchoolofArtists

Those of you who have been enjoying the series of talks being given in conjunction with Torquay Museums, Explorers Season, will certainly not want to miss this final one on Saturday 24th February at 11am. Peter Harrigan is director of Medina Publishing and Arabian Publishing as well as being a contributing editor for Aramaco Magazine and an authority on Gertrude Bell. Peter will talk about Gertrude Bell (1868-1926): explorer, alpinist, writer, photographer, founder of Iraq's National Museum, British Political Officer, Arabist and confident of a Hashemite King. He will examine Bell's remarkably faceted legacy in a turbulent region as the modern Middle East emerged and will consider other lesser known but equally extraordinary western women who left their own enduring marks in Arabia. #Talks #TorquayMuseum #Torquay #TheLostCityofZ #2018

At lunchtime I managed to grab 30 minutes or so to go along to the English Riviera Art Fair being held at the Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey. Three local arts societies are sharing the space here and it was great to see so many of our previously exhibiting artists and forthcoming exhibitors' works on display, with several of them having picked up some awards and achieving sales: Becky Nuttall, who will be exhibiting with us later this year in a group show, was awarded Highly Commended and Winner in the 'Best Alternative Mixed Media' category, for 'Bedroom Shrine to the Virgin of the Rocks' and 'St Peter Chavel of the Staffroom' which had also picked up the Hall Trophy, Best in Show. Susan Cavaliere, who had a solo show with us last year, took the Highly Commended for Best Oil or Acrylic for her piece, 'Conspiracy' and, Chris Pitman, another previous exhibitor at the gallery, was the Winner also in the category for Best Oil or Acrylic Painting for his piece 'The Incredible Hulk' which had just sold along with another of his works as I arrived. Prints are still available though and you will be able to view more detailed images of these on our site. Local artists Sally Tibbets and Maxime Adams were stewarding today and I managed to get a quick picture of Sally alongside two of her pieces. Other work that caught my eye were pieces by regular exhibitors here at Artizan, Lee Pover, Rhian Wyn Harrison and Ray Vyse as well as work by Chantal Ashwell and Roger Lissenden who will be participating in a small group show with Sandra Lissenden here in September, and finally some interesting abstracts by Alan Price-Roberts who has a show with us in July. There is a great selection of work here across all mediums and I only wish I had had time to take some more pictures to share with you. The exhibition is definitely worth a look but hurry as it closes on Sunday. #2018 #ArtsampCulture #Exhibitions #TorreAbbey #RivieraArtFair

Literature Works presents 'Word on Tour', an Arts Council funded 26-date live literature tour of the region’s libraries, in celebration of South West writing talent. All three Torbay Libraries will be participating in this tour, starting off with Torquay Library who are excited to be hosting novelist and Observer columnist, Nikesh Shukla on 28th February. Editor of the highly regarded essay collection, 'The Good Immigrant', Nikesh is the author of 'Coconut Unlimited' and 'Meatspace'. His third novel, 'The One Who Wrote Destiny', is due out in April 2018. All 'Word on Tour' events showcase two writers and Nikesh will be joined by well-loved Devon funny man, poet, Matt Harvey ‘enemy of all that’s difficult and upsetting’. Travelling along the coast, Paignton Library will host folk musician Jim Causley and novelist Jane Feaver on Wednesday, 14th March. The pair kicked off the Tour back in January at Bideford Library and Paignton Library are delighted to showcase them again in South Devon. Jim will play his settings to the work of Cornish poet Charles Causley and Jane will read from her novel, 'An Inventory of Heaven'. Together they will discuss the influence of place on their work and the rural life, offering an intimate and thought- provoking evening. Finally for Torbay, a fun night is to be had at Brixham Library where Matt Harvey is joined by a fellow performance poet on 21st March. Matt’s gently nuanced and clever observational wit is balanced with the powerhouse of deliciously funny Scottish vitriol and venting that is Elvis McGonagall. Both delight in flipping language on its back and seeing where it lands. This promises to be a wonderfully wordy treat. 'Word on Tour' likes a bit of theatre and, in celebration of the shared communal space that libraries provide, they are inviting audience members to offer a sentence on why libraries matter to them. Written on local postcards, these are touring with the project in the 'Index Box of Audience Words', creating a valuable archive for the future. The needle points north as the Tour sets off to Barnstaple on 22nd March, where Petroc FE College showcases performance poets and multi-talented writers, Byron Vincent and Jonny Fluffypunk, both of whom are also touring their own theatre shows and involved in numerous writing projects. This will be the last of the Devon events before the tour sets sail across the sea to the Scilly Isles, taking with it Devon writer, Miriam Darlington to discuss her latest book,' Owl Sense' and Bristol writer, bird lover and radio producer, Tim Dee. Helen Chaloner, CEO of Literature Works says: “Word on Tour is about bringing the region’s writing and performance talent to the door of local communities... We hope audiences will embrace these fun, celebratory performances.” Further information can be found on the World on Tour Facebook Page and tickets at £5 are available for purchase via Eventbrite. 'Word on Tour' is funded by the Arts Council, in collaboration with South West Regional Library Service. Make sure to follow Literature Works and the hashtag #WordonTour on social media for all the latest updates. #Poetry #spokenword #TorquayLibrary #TorbayLibraries

You know you’ve hit on something when the responses are so varied. “God, you’re so brave! I’d be terrified!” “What a brilliant idea, how lovely!” Experience has shown that it’s when I’m able to step back from my desire to impress and please everyone that something far more alive and authentic comes through. Trying to make a cup of tea with the intention of satisfying everyone would make for, at best, something exceedingly boring and mediocre; at worst, an entirely undrinkable cuppa. It wasn’t a new idea. I’d read about the Poetry Takeaway in a magazine several years previously, and later tried it out to moving effect in a writing workshop I led. We were all stunned, when the poems we’d asked for were read aloud. “Where did that come from?” Where indeed. A few years later, I decided it was time to try this out in a different environment. As I walked through the woods towards Dartington Shops, shouldering the tools of my trade, I buzzed with excitement. I had no idea how this would go, and no specific expectations of the outcome, but this was something I really wanted to do, loved to do, and I was so full of the intention of generosity and play. What could go wrong? I set up at my designated table, propping up a sign and laying out pad, pens and a three minute wooden egg timer. Actually, the three minute thing was random. I’d intended to do five minutes, but I couldn’t find a five minute timer in time, so three minutes it was. Now all I had to do was wait. I remember the first poem I wrote that day, for a woman shopping with her daughter for last minute Christmas presents. She wanted a poem for her eldest daughter, about struggling to get out of bed in the morning. “Make it funny” she said, and left. I turned my timer, an d wrote. It wasn’t great; it could’ve been worse. I had something. I wrote it out in neat with a red felt calligraphy pen, rolled it into a scroll and tied it with golden thread as a gift. I read it to the customer, who gave me no big response, but took it. Great! First one done. I was on my way. The rest of the day included laughter, tears and spontaneous wows and hugs from a steady stream of strangers. People shared so honestly, and in return I opened myself to see, to listen, to feel what was being asked for, and let my pen respond with respect and boldness. When I came away from that day the word that kept coming up was Fun; sheer, pure, lively, tingly Fun with a capital F. I’d written about everything from gardens in winter to Minecraft, and been commissioned to write a poem to be read at the requester’s own funeral! It was quite a trip I took while sitting at that bench all day. There was something so freeing about doing something so very, well, me. However, as often with experiences that transcend the everyday, it was full of paradox. Because I was being so me, I was connecting easily with the me of everyone I encountered. As I wrote ego me stepped aside, allowing me to simply let the words through. I was not, in that moment, in the least concerned about me the poet proving her skill, or writing something objectively brilliant. It was me Harula; human being, wordsmith, in service to that soul before me who asked me to craft something for them. What mattered was that they were served by what I wrote. I couldn’t have cared less if anyone else liked the poem, as long as the asker felt seen, met and served by those words. When I wrote three minute poems again more recently, in the Exeter Library Café, I was reminded of the basic goodness and generosity of the majority of people. That day I was writing for coffees; not for me, but for donations so that anyone could enjoy a warming cuppa, whether they had the money for it or not. Thirty minutes and three poems later I had £15 to donate to their suspended coffees scheme. The experience so thrilled me that I immediately shared it on my blog when I returned home. That post remains the most ‘liked’ post on my blog, in almost six years of blogging. Service is a beautiful thing; it’s when there is no distinction between the server and the served. I feel so gifted by the trust and openness of each request. I believe the hunger, the eagerness to receive something so personal is a sign of our times, at least in the West. Everything has become so manufactured, so de-personalised, digitalized, fake-a-fied and screen distanced that to come close, even for just three minutes, to experiencing the sheer power and potential of tangible, spontaneous creativity; to witness and experience just how easily two human beings can connect and recognise one another; well, it’s magic. For more information about The Poetry Takeaway, visit: https://www.facebook.com/poetrytakeaway/ https://twitter.com/poetrytakeaway To read the most ‘liked’ post on my personal blog, go to: https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/poetry-in-three-take-two/ #HarulaLadd #Poetry #CreativeWriting #3MinutePoetry #PoetryTakeaway

Shelley has lived all her life in Paignton. Shelley first started writing Poetry as a Teenager. She would only show her Mum who suggested she show her English Teacher. But it wasn't cool to do Poetry at the School Shelley attended especially in the 1980's you would probably get your head kicked in. She wrote intermittently throughout her teens and adulthood but it was not until she completed an Open University BS'c Honour's Degree in Criminology and Psychology in Dec 2014 she started to write seriously. In December 2015 she met with Robert Garnham, Ken Beever, Ellie Davies, Ian Beech & Lucy Lepchani at private function and attending Poetry Island as a mere spectator. From that moment she knew she wanted to perform but it was not until her friend Sue Cose wrote to Robert Garnham and he wrote her a poem to go out and perform and that she will be fine, She finally plucked up courage. Shelley contacted Robert and her first performance was at The Stanza Extravaganza in July 2016. On that performance Ian Beech asked her to perform at The Blue Walnut. Shelley has become a regular at The Stanza & Poetry Island she has also performed at Taking the Mic, Outspoken, Tradewinds, Word Cafe, Axbridge Comedy Night, First Edition Comedy at The Bread & Roses, Plymouth and The Wee Pub in Edinburgh. Shelley also performs in local Community events, private functions and parties she undertakes Wedding Commissions. Shelley has the ability to make you laugh but also pull at your heartstrings with eclectic mix of Poetry. You can hear her on Jim Munroe’s Riviera FM radio show Sunday 18th February at 10:00am #BeckyNuttall #StanzaExtravaganza #Poetry #Torbay #Events

I called my reviews of Ian Beech's Poetry Island, at The Blue Walnut Cafe Chelston Torquay, The Violet Hour because of the feelings it invoked after a long day at work and the soothing effect of the poetry. The Violet Hour comes from TS Eliot's The Wasteland, with its references to work and isolation. I call the reviews for Stanza Extravaganza at the Artizan Gallery Lucius Street Torquay "I Woke, The Town Spoke" after the Dylan Thomas poem. This reflects the open mic format of Stanza and its amazingly eclectic poets. Poetry Island is now Big Poetry, hosted by Robert Garnham and Samantha Boarer, where I had the pleasure to be asked to perform on Thursday night to a packed venue. The headliner was Miserable Malcolm who happily at one point plagiarised The Wasteland and it's coffee spoons. The violet hour slipped away that night to be replaced by a free wheeling interactive laugh out loud evening. Julie Mullen's Facebook photos do justice to the atmosphere. I loved Poetry Island, and Big Poetry still has those quiet thought provoking moments, Tim King allowed us to hold his hand for a short while. Being a more wordy poet, my poetry mirrors my art; I love a symbol and an allegory and I had a lovely response from an audience member afterwards. So goodbye The Violet Hour. Next month brings another title along with Big Poetry. Big hearts and Big love to Ian Beech The following Friday night I went to the Art of You at Artizan Gallery to say hello to the painting I did when I was 9 years old. How lovely to have my painting hanging next to Jacob Brandon's watercolour also, he thinks, completed when he was 9 years olds. Both paintings were proudly framed by a parent. I hated my painting, the reasons why accompany the painting. Jacob's watercolour is much more accomplished. My dad didn't work in watercolours so he only showed me how to use oil paints; I've never accomplished watercolours either. The relative that taught Jacob must also had a talent as an artist, or excellent teaching skills. The exhibition is diverse, using film, audio and 3D images, and interesting about the reasons why we feel the need to create. You can visit my notebook on www.beckynuttall.com to read about the adventures of a child artist I also had the pleasure of visiting the Riviera Art Fair at The Spanish Barn Torre Abbey. At last all Torbay talent can be seen under one, very splendid, roof. Some exceptionally good work on display including Cherry Lyons lovely little oil paintings. It's on until 25th February. I'll be there from 11-1:30pm on 24th if you want to know the story behind the two works I have on display. I am thrilled these two collages won three awards between them including two winners. I have submitted my acrylic painting 'Is Your All on the Altar? (sacred relics 1950-59) to the RA Summer Exhibiton 2018. The results are in March. If you want to visit this artist, I am headlining at Stanza Extravaganza in April and also performing at Julie Mullen's Word Cafe The Cott Inn Dartington in April. I will be taking part in Devon Open Studios in September in Brixham. #BeckyNuttall #StanzaExtravaganza #BigPoetry #Poetry #Torbay #TheArtofYou #WordCafe

Can you believe it’s been over a year since we had our last artist evening at Artizan Gallery!? Well, we’ve been a little busy and there’s certainly been no shortage of other excuses to head into the gallery and say hello. That being said, we have missed these dedicated artist nights, and that’s why we’re bringing them back! Starting from next Thursday (14th February) we’ll be hosting not monthly, not fortnightly, but weekly Artist Nights! The formats going to be a bit simpler. For the main, we won’t be organising speakers and there wont be any theme, but we’ll be promoting this as a regular time for artists to meet, chat and collaborate at the Gallery between the hours of 17:00 and 18:00 (and later if we’re all having a good time). During this time, you’ll be able to grab a cup of java for just £2.00 and the team and the space will be at your disposal to help facilitate whatever scale of meetup you want to organise. Whether it’s just a chance to socialise, or an opportunity to get some serious project planning done, we hope that the return of the Artizan Artist Nights will be welcome news to many! So, spread the word, grab a friend, and head on down to join us next Thursday! #2018 #ArtsampCulture #Artists #Events #Evenings