For the next two weeks two of North Cornwall’s best and most respected artists will be exhibiting their work at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow. Both artists live and work on the North Cornish coast and have a close affinity with the sea. The exhibition is an opportunity for visiting members of the public to come and see some amazing marine related art.
The two artists are Martiens Bekker and Caroline Cleave; Caroline has lived in Port Isaac, Cornwall for over twenty years and is passionate about design and draws her inspiration from the grand coastline and the intimate detail of the countryside on the North Cornish coast. Having a degree in art and having taught and been regularly involved with Cornish Festivals, she brings this experience to the pieces she creates. Her love of textiles, colour and scale are a constant feature and her larger works are permanently exhibited at the Eden Project. She is also regularly commissioned to illustrate and her detailed designs have been recently used by the Lobster Hatchery in their new children’s book `Claude gets his Claws` which is available in the gift shop.
Her work is created in her studio which is located in her tranquil valley garden in the village and sold through the `BOATHOUSE` which is the business she shares with her husband Jon Cleave . The Boathouse lies in the heart of Port Isaac and sells an eclectic mix of Coastal Cornish living.
Sculptor, Martiens Bekker creates his art using discarded and unwanted materials salvaged from across Cornwall, sifting through the swathes of society’s detritus he identifies ‘rubbish’ condemned before its time and resurrects it for a second chance. His work is inspired by the natural beauty of Cornwall and his native South Africa, by the wonder and confusion of human nature and of course by the scrap itself which typically dictates its own regeneration. Martiens endeavours to demonstrate through his work that our throw away culture, whilst keeping him employed, has brought us to the brink of catastrophe, and that only through a sincere and considered appreciation of our magnificent planet and all it provides can we ever hope to save it. We once valued the world beyond its worth and Martiens hopes his art will play a small role in the realisation that things must change.
Funds raised by any sales from the exhibition will include a donation towards the National Lobster Hatcheries charitable conservation, education and research work.
The exhibition will be held in the Kemp Room (named after former Padstow Mayor: Sid Kemp) The exhibition will run from Saturday the 6th August until Sunday 21st August and entry to the exhibition is free.
The National Lobster Hatchery’s General Manager Dominic Boothroyd explained: “This is the first time that we have held an exhibition at the centre and it is brilliant that two such amazingly talented artists want to exhibit here. It is even better that they want to donate some of the proceeds to our on-going charitable work.”
