16th October 2021 - 13th November 2021
Private View: Friday 15th October, 17:30 – 19:30 All welcome!
A group exhibition by Michael Praed, John Piper & John Emanuel.
Michael Praed
Born in Cornwall in 1941, Michael studied art at Penzance and Falmouth Schools of Arts and Brighton College of Art. He taught painting and drawing for thirty years alongside developing his unique and distinctive style, working out of his studio, high above the fishing port of Newlyn.
In 1975 Michael decided to wholly concentrate on his own painting, his work being widely exhibited in the UK and throughout Europe, with several one man exhibitions in London. He has been a long standing member of the Penwith Society, St. Ives and established his own gallery in Marazion.
Michael currently works out of his studio in Madron with extensive views of land and sea. His enthusiasm for painting his native Cornwall is as strong as ever and although his style is ever developing a clear distinctive use of line, texture and colour prevade.
“In my most recent painting I have become more concerned with the vertical and horizontal line, found in Cornwall’s harbour walls, contrasting with the softer, curving forms of the fishing craft within these compositions. The spacing and positioning of abstracted shape, within the frame, are as important to me as the layering of texture, colour and tone using oil paint in with a mixed media. I am seeking to capture the vibrancy and luminosity of the changing Cornish light and this governs the final outcome of each painting.”
– Michael Praed.
John Piper
“It was a visit to the Penwith Gallery in 1964 that started my interest in painting. Five years later I was to have my first painting exhibited in a Member’s exhibition. I have been involved, on and off, with the Penwith ever since, although for a number of years I spent more time with the Newlyn Society of Artists. My paintings are mainly in oils and are always based on the landscape of West Penwith. It is the starkness of the area that appeals, granite houses and barns, blackthorn and hawthorn trees, and the weathered and lichen covered outcrops of rock. It has become an obsession.”
John Emanuel
Born in Bury, Lancashire in 1930. With the advent of World War 2 his parents decided to move back to Barrow in Furness where both sets of his grandparents lived. He was immediately evacuated to a farm on Shap Fell. After leaving school he served an apprenticeship in painting and decorating.
His introduction to art, in particular painting, was gained through a series of talks given by a lecturer from the Extra Mural Department of Manchester University and Harry Thrubron, Leeds University.
In 1964 his interest in art deepened and he moved to Cornwall where he worked full-time, allowing him to continue painting. It was ten years before he had his first exhibition. During this time John made close artist friends with Dick Gilbert and later John Wells, Denis Mitchell and Alexander Mackenzie.
Since the early 1980s John has lived in St Ives, working from a Porthmeor Studio overlooking Porthmeor Beach. The studio was previously used by the sculptor John Milne.
Over the years, John has visited the Scillies – in particular St Agnes and St Martins; the northern fells and lakes of Cumbria and the island of Mull.