Water and colour in Cotehele Gallery

The summer exhibition at Cotehele Gallery on the National Trust estate near Saltash opened this weekend. The gallery, which is only one of a few within the National Trust, carries a range of exquisite British contemporary art and craft.

Gallery Manager Allison Cowen has handpicked the pieces for ‘Water and Colour’, choosing bold and dramatic paintings, woodcarving, ceramics and glassware inspired by water.

‘I’m especially excited that this exhibition features the work of five new artists all local to Cotehele.’ Allison says. ‘Supporting local artists and craftspeople through exhibiting and selling their work is one of the joys of this job for me and the quality of work is superb.’

Glassmaker and engraver Gill Mannings Cox has exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum; the private collection of the late Queen Mother; Denmark's National Glasmuseet and the National Glass Centre to name a few. She lives in the Tamar Valley, where she teaches as well as continuing to produce her own works in glass.

Artist, illustrator and designer Matt Buckett is inspired by Dartmoor and creates paintings using a bold, colourful palette with dramatic contrasts and heavy application of paint. Water and Colour features several of his landscapes and also some of his wildlife portraits, including some from his recent project on bumblebees.
Phil Underwood, from South East Cornwall creates monochromatic prints from wood engravings, using the simplest marks to capture the spirit of the landscapes he represents.

Also new to this summer exhibition is Robbie McEwan, a wood turner, carver and painter who specialises in pyrography - the art of burning designs onto wood. He has returned to his native Cornwall after living in Australia for ten years and you can see the influence of Australian art in his experimental pieces.

Turning Point, a family business who have been woodturning for three generations in the South Devon countryside, are the fifth new exhibitors. They create a range of traditional and contemporary woodturned pieces. The deceptively simple lines of their creations show off the beauty of the grain in the Devonian wood they use.

Water and Colour also features the work of well-established contributors from past exhibitions, with watercolour paintings by Peter Dolbear, metalwork by Whittle Designs and ceramics by Michele Cowmeadow and Malcolm Law.

Cotehele Gallery is open every day from 10am-5pm. Water and Colour runs until 31 October. For more details visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele