Kernow Creative Partnership, consisting of seven South Hams based artists, will exhibit this May at Torbay’s Artizan Gallery showing a collection of work ranging from printmaking to painting to sculpture, that captures both the light and dark of the lockdown experience.

These contrasting themes offer a space for reflection and a manifesto for hope, as the artists consider not just the global pandemic but other critical moments of 2020 such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the environmental crisis facing us.

The magnitude of these challenges is set against the resilience and positivity seen through the hard months that have been faced, as communities have rallied, support networks established, and solutions found that leave us hopeful for the year ahead.

As well as offering a collective response that recognises the significance the newly formed partnership has had for the group, the artists own individual experiences are also explored.

Janet Brady, painter and one of the partnerships seven members, reflects, “My latest work came from the hypersensitive state we were all living in. It opened channels of emotions that I had buried. The time and space during lockdown opened a door to the most expressive and sensitive artwork I have made.”

For Sue Coleman, printmaker, work has always been produced in the moment, reacting to memories seen and experienced. “My latest work expresses my feelings of isolation and my reaction to current issues challenging the world particularly that of the images we falsely portray.”

The Kernow Creative Partnership consists of John Rowe, artist working in wood, Nicholas Palmer, mixed media and abstract painter, Oonagh Glancy and Sue Coleman, printmakers, Peter Davies and Janet Brady, painters, and Gudrun Taresch, glass, silk and mixed media artist.