St Ives, Cornwall

A mild climate is how the tourist information describes this famous Cornish fishing village. Actually it was decidedly cold and grey on the day we went to visit, but this was not really a problem as the main purpose of the trip was to see what all the fuss was about at the Tate St. Ives gallery.
The new building has been squeezed onto the seafront opposite the Porthmeor surfing beach, and in spite of, or perhaps because of, its striking dissimilarity with the surroundings, it actually fits rather well. I must say that inside there is a lot of space and not a huge amount of art so that the building does tend to dominate somewhat. Whilst we were there, there was an exhibition of paintings by J W M Turner covering his tours in the South West. Some years ago we saw another Turner exhibition at the Birmingham Art Gallery of his more usual paintings and we were particularly interested in seeing his work from a rather earlier period.
More information can be found at Light into Colour Turner in the South West.

The view from the rooftop restaurant is excellent, as was the meal that we ate there. I suspect that the beach is not usually so deserted, but there were certainly no hardy souls in evidence at all. The huddle of houses which comprises much of the town are mostly former fishing community residences, although today they are either art galleries or else holiday lets.

St Ives is notable for its more recent history as a centre for artists and a fascinating hour or so can be spent at the Barbara Hepworth Museum in the town, where many of the works she created there are on display in the garden. One of the nice features there is that all the works of art are accessible and touchable, so that getting up close and personal are actually encouraged. Seeing these pieces does bring home the scale of the work involved, although some do defy my definition of art.

No visit to Cornwall is complete without a picture of one of the residents.

More pictures from the day can be seen in my galleries.