Louise McCLARY
Louise McClary was born in Penzance and studied at the Penzance School of Art for a year. She opened her studio at St Ives in 1988, and quickly became both well-known and well-regarded for her person-centred abstract paintings, sometimes rendered in series. She has an impressive record of solo exhibitions from 1989 to the present, hosted by galleries in Cornwall, Plymouth and beyond.
She was elected a member of the NSA, and also an associate of the Penwith Gallery, St Ives. She now lives with her family on the Lizard near Helston, and maintains a large working studio there, situated in a quirky and fascinating Artist's Garden - not only full of plants, but also naturalist installations.
media
Painter in acrylic
works and access
Works incl: Up the Creek (1992 at Cornwall Council); Hymn to Ra (2001) RCHT; To a Dancing God; Fragmento
Access to works: Cornwall Council; Hypatia Collection of Women's Art, Trevelyan House, Penzance; Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust
exhibitions
Penzar Gallery, Penzance (solo) 1987
Eye Gallery, Bristol 1988
Salthouse Gallery, St Ives 1988
Spaced Gallery, Exeter 1991
Gordon Hepworth Gallery, Newton St Cyres 1991
Marsden Fine Art, Smiths Galleries 1993
Beaux Arts, Bath 1991 onwards
New Street Gallery, Plymouth 1991 owards
2011: 'The Female Perspective' Group show, Chapel Gallery, Gulval, April-May
2018: Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance (3-24 June)
2024: Truro School Art Collection, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro (30 Jan-18 May)
memberships
NSA 1995
Penwith Gallery (Associate)
references
Buckman (2006) Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945
Hardie (1995) 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery
Public Catalogue Foundation (2007) Cornwall & IOS, Oil Paintings in Public Ownership;
Whybrow (1994) Studio St Ives: Artists in their Workplace (artist's statement & photo)
Whybrow (2013) St Ives: The Story of Porthmeor Studios;