Falmouth Art Gallery and The Eden Project
with The October Gallery, The Lee Miller Archive & The Roland Penrose Estate.
Art Fund International
Expression of Interest from Falmouth Art Gallery
Project:
A contemporary African art collection for Cornwall.
The proposal used elements of John Dyer’s paintings and also the “Africa Calling” painting for the combined Falmouth Art Gallery, Eden Project proposal to the International Art Fund.
African art is central to the work of many contemporary Cornish based artists such as Alan Davie, Tim Shaw, Susan Boafa, Jeremy Annear, Michael Broughton, Robert Bradford, David Kemp, John Dyer, Jesse Leroy Smith and Kurt Jackson.
The Director of Falmouth Art Gallery Brian Stewart, previously worked at Christie's and has a full understanding of the commercial art market and how it functions. He has also worked with the French Regional Art Collections (FRAC) and has curated exhibitions of contemporary African art.
“The Falmouth Art Gallery and the Eden Project had a special visit from distinguished members of the Art Fund International judging panel.
The gallery has been shortlisted by Art Fund International for a possible £1 million purchase fund to form a contemporary African art collection of international importance.
This will act as a catalyst for a project linking Falmouth Art Gallery, the Eden Project and University College Falmouth.
The visiting panel included the Chair of Art Fund International Committee Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn. He is an Art Fund trustee and renowned archaeologist with a particular interest in contemporary sculpture. His book Figuring it Out: Parallel Visions of Artists and Archaeologists explores the relationships between archaeology and contemporary art. He was accompanied by Dr Deborah Swallow, Director of the Courtauld Institute, Felicity Waley-Cohen, Co-Vice-Chairman of the Serpentine Gallery, and Rachael Browning and Sarah Phelp both of the Art Fund.
The panel were given a tour of the Miró exhibition and the art stores at Falmouth Art Gallery before going on to Eden where they were shown around by Tim Smit and artist John Dyer. They also met with Eden staff Sue Hill, and plant curators Dina Gallick and Glen Leishman.”
From the archive
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