D
Stephen DEVLIN
Devlin hand-carves sculptures of heads, and animals, employing traditional tools and local stone. See www.devlinart.com for further information.
Olive DEXTER
The daughter of Leonard RICHMOND, her work is first mentioned in 1944. She may have come to St Ives to study under Leonard J FULLER at the St Ives School of Painting - her father not having settled in the town until 1946 - and she worked from No. 4 Porthmeor Studios, specialising in still-life in oils. She and her father appear to have left St Ives in 1949.
Sue DIBLEY
Sue is an active teacher of landscape drawing and painting at both Truro College and Penwith College in Cornwall (2010) and has been a principal teacher of art at the Penzance School of Art over a number of years.
She is the wife of a local headmaster, and exhibits her work in many mixed exhibitions in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly (Gallery Tresco).
Ellen S DICK
Ellen was closely involved in the Newlyn Industrial Class Project as an assistant teacher and organiser, and initiated the Newlyn Embroidery Classes with her husband Reginald Thomas DICK.
Mr and Mrs Dick were well liked and obviously did much for the creative life of the community. It is believed they came from Birmingham (where they may have both studied at the School of Art) to Cornwall for the sake of Reginald's health.
Reginald Thomas DICK
Born in Ramsgate, Kent on 8 July, 1868 (GRO), he and his wife Ellen came to Newlyn in 1898 and took over Cliff Castle the following year. The couple were involved in the Newlyn Industrial Classes Project where they were well liked and obviously did much for the creative life of the community. In 1898 he sold the painting Fan at NAG, and the following year exhibited three coastal paintings at Liverpool (Walker).
It is believed that the couple came to Newlyn from Birmingham (where they may have studied at the School of Art) for the sake of Reginald's health, and the Cornish air obviously suited him as he lived a long life. In addition to his work with the industrial classes he continued to paint, and was the Hon Secretary of the Passmore Edwards Art Gallery (NAG) from 1920-30, working hard to encourage support from the public.
He is also remembered for making earthenware (Pumcetto) flower pots which he exhibited in the craft section of Newlyn exhibitions. He and his wife lived near the Board School, close to the home of Thomas Cooper GOTCH with whom he worked closely in copper design and metal working. He died on 24 April, 1941, aged 72, in Newlyn (GRO).
H DICKSON
A landscape painting by this artist is included in the permanent art collection of St Michael's Hospital (SMH), Hayle.
William DICKSON
The painter exhibited at Notts Castle in 1894 with a title he had also entered at the RA that same year. There are four possible W and William Dicksons listed in references that could be this artist.
Whybrow notices the presence of William and Mrs Dickson within the St Ives community between 1901-10 whereas Tovey mentions that he and his wife are recorded in the town in July 1891, and that the artist took part in Carnival masquerades in both 1892 and '93. No certain information is availalbe at this stage, except that the title for Notts was Wild, wide and open to the air.
Violet M DIGBY
Violet was born in Plymouth, Devon. After studying at the Hastings School of Art under Philip Cole and Leslie Badham, she went on to the Slade and the Beaux Arts, Paris. She specialised in flower paintings in oil, but also produced genre scenes and landscapes.
Her work is first mentioned locally in a review of STISA's Summer 1950 Exhibition, when she was then living at Studio Cottage, The Belyars, St Ives. In the 1950s, she showed work from the Piazza Studios (Tovey). She also travelled widely, exhibiting paintings of Norway, and in 1953 visited India.
Mary I DIGGINS
Writing from St Keverne, Coverack in 1903, and again in 1906, the artist addressed Henry Meynell RHEAM (as Hon Secretary of the Newlyn Gallery) to agree on sales details of her work. (Tea Room) from Sunny Corner was sent to Ross-on-Wye from the 1903 Exhibition, and in the NAG Summer exhibition 1906 she sold A Nook in the West to a purchaser from Glasgow.
Florette DIJKSTRA
Outstanding Dutch artist and author who visited Cornwall first to further her research into the life and work of Marlow MOSS. This work led to the publication of a book illustrating the reconstructions that Dijkstra also made of Moss's paintings, many of which had been destroyed in the bombing raids of World War II. The book served as a catalogue and reference material for the exhibition of these paintings in full at the Tate St Ives in 1995. That year both she and Dutch painter friend, Nora THOLHUIJSON, attended the centennial celebrations of the Newlyn Art Gallery and supported the foundation of the West Cornwall Art Archive with gifts of their work.
Originally an archivist and librarian, Dijkstra's writings and paintings reference and illustrate the history of creative women in their working lives; her historical novels are interpreted in both text and illustrative material including photographs and constructions. She is much in demand in her home country and in Europe generally for her abilities to combine in original ways the arts of writing, painting and printmaking.
