Café to show collectable Porthmeor print series this summer

Café to show collectable Porthmeor print series this summer

Scarlet Wines, a coffee shop, restaurant and wine store in Lelant, will be home this summer to a collectable edition of prints by past and present artists from Porthmeor Studios in St Ives and Anchor Studio in Newlyn, which are owned and managed by the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust.

The Eleven portfolio was originally created to raise funds for a Porthmeor Artists’ Residency Programme and features eleven prints by eleven Trust artists, including Rose Hilton, John Emanuel, Naomi Frears and Virginia Bounds, with one by Trustee Michael Porter to represent the fishermen that share Porthmeor Studios. 

BSJW Trustee Jane Val Baker, who invited tenant artists to get involved with the creation of Eleven, said: “The response was excellent. Many of the artists took the opportunity to work in different mediums with guidance from expert printer Mary Crockett and artist Naomi Frears at Penwith Print Workshop.”

Jon Keast, Owner of Scarlet Wines, said: “We are hugely excited to be showing Eleven on our walls this summer. We initiated our café exhibition programme in order to help people engage with art in a relaxed setting, and artists to connect with their community. Porthmeor Studios is a major local cultural asset, and we are proud to be working alongside them.”   

The print series encapsulates the artistic heritage and contemporary importance of Porthmeor Studios – thought to be the oldest working artists’ studio in the country.

The Residency Programme, which is part-funded by sales of Eleven, started in 2017 and has supported local, domestic and international artists – emerging as well as established.

Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid CBE made work in Studio 5 for her show in New York this month; Michael Dean (shortlisted for the Turner Prize) is the next resident and arrives in August after his solo show in Brazil.

The Programme also supports the creativity and artistic future of local young people and Fine Art graduates by giving them space at Porthmeor Studios.

The Porthmeor Studios Lunch Break talks and Open Studios by guest residents have been extremely popular with the wider artistic and local community. 

Eleven will be on show at Scarlet Wines throughout July and August and the complete series, limited to 50 editions (with a number already sold), will be available to purchase at a price of £995.

Donations to support the Residency Programme by becoming a Porthmeor Patron are also welcome.