The work of this artist is included in the University College Falmouth Art Collection.
Ida Marjorie Alington nee Bland was born in Duffield, Derbyshire. As yet, nothing is known about her early life or studies. However in 1923 in Belper, Derbyshire she married the Rev Julius Hugh Alington (1875-1966), a younger son of Julius Alington, Lord of the Manor of the Manor of Little Barford, Bedfordshire and St Neots, Hunts.
In the early 1940s Alington lived in a studio on Porthmeor beach in St Ives until it was overwhelmed by the sand. In 1944 she became a student of Norman GARSTIN, after exhibiting with STISA in 1943, later becoming a member.
A family correspondent has contributed information that she lived for a period at the White House, Newlyn but that from the 1950s she lived in Mariners Cottage, Penzance, where she died in 1963.
Annie Alker began creating pottery in 2019, as a sideline to her work as an NHS midwife. She works from a garden studio. Her stoneware is sold in 'Furrow & Tide', in Falmouth.
Tony Allain was born in the Channel Islands and has been painting for over 30 years.
Completely self-taught he is a firm believer in painting direct from nature. His subjects are varied, ranging from still life, street and town scenes, marine and landscapes. With an interest in light and atmosphere, he paints with a brisk impressionist style which is suited to the use of oils, although he also works in pastels and water colours.
Tony has exhibited widely and some of his work forms a permanent display at the Maritime Museum in Guernsey. He was recently commissioned to provide a series of paintings for the Queen Mary cruise liner. Tony has been elected as an active member of the Royal Watercolour Societies Art Club and has had many solo and group exhibitions. He now lives and works in Cornwall.
Monica Allan creates handbuilt ceramics, using pinching, coiling and slabbing methods. The finished pieces have a tactile and sculptural quality, rather like that of beach pebbles. She works from a studio in Mawnan Smith.
Born in Glasgow, the son of a publisher, he first studied art in that city before working in Paris at Julian's Atelier (1875-81) and under Cabanel at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He settled back in Glasgow (1881) while continuing to travel widely, painting what he saw around him and specializing in landscapes.
Preferring sea-side places, he spent time painting in St Ives, Cornwall. Charles St John praised a painting of his in The New Age (Vol 4, pp 288), saying 'R W Allan's The Wild North Sea is a rich sympathetic picture of grey rough weather.'
Jessica Allan works from Krowji Studios, Redruth, to create textural pictures from found and vintage fabrics. She attempts to capture the spirit of Cornwall through depictions of cottages, boats and marine life.
Susan Allanson is a sculptor based in Buryas Bridge near Penzance.
Allbright works from her studio at Hawkwood, Lamorna, near Penzance. Her artist's statement in 2009 reads 'Working in Japan over the last five years has enabled me to focus and develop drawings, paintings and mixed media which are part of a current series, BodyMaps, that records a dialogue with nature and architecture, used in the work as a metaphor for acceptance and belonging in each culture.' After studying at Falmouth College of Art, Allbright went on to Manchester Metropolitan University, obtaining a BA (Hons) in Printed Textiles. In 1971 she undertook a postgraduate degree in Design in Birmingham. Her 'Ladybird on a Bicycle' was voted one of the top ten children's books in 1982. In 1999 she received the Cornwall County Council Travel Award/Funding for an exhibition at Bankaku Gallery, Nagoya, Japan. In 2012 she was awarded the International Drawing Residency 'Zeichenworkshop' in Hanover, Germany. She has exhibited widely in Japan. Her work is held in private collections in Japan, Europe, the UK and USA.
The artist is listed as a member of NSA (2010). A solo show of his work, 'Silent Rhythms' was mounted by the Millennium Gallery, St Ives.
Christine Allen's work is shown regularly at STISA open exhibitions.
Allen was born at Stamford Hill, London, and taught to paint by her parents. Her father, Hugh Allen, was a well-known painter himself, and her grandfather was the publisher George Allen (Allen & Unwin). Coming from a very creative family, she began showing her work at the age of 13, and published two books as a child: A Child's Visions and The Birth of the Opal. She painted and drew fairies and religious subjects, and worked as an illustrator for many magazines, including The Illustrated London News, The Sketch, and The Tatler.
Apparently her precocity caused a sensation in London. Anthony Ludovici was not pleased, declaring in The New Age (October 9, 1913; 13:24:704) "She did go on and paint reasonably well, working in stained glass as well as drawing and painting". The newspapers in 1913 made much of time she spent in St Ives, under the headline 'The Celebrated Child Artist at St Ives', saying that she had become a familiar figure on the beach that summer. In London's Daily Mirror this 'news' accompanied two pictures of the artist and her sister on St Ives beach. She employed one of the Island studios, for a period, in St Ives.
Her work had a strong religious and spiritual element, and she completed pictures on site in a series of churches. [See Spirit of the Ages website for a selection of religious art]. She lived for many years in Chalford, Gloucestershire.
Martha Allen moved to West Cornwall from Bristol in the late 1980s, and established her own pottery at Marazion. She showed work from home-studio and also in many mixed exhibitions, creating large platters, bowls and ceramic masks in stoneware, on classical and cultural themes primarily referencing feminism and her love of animals.
For the Jamieson Library at Newmill, she created a remarkable wall mural in sculpted stoneware tiles on the theme of the 4th century heroine, Hypatia of Alexandria, in her chariot being driven through the marketplace. An archive of her personal writings is kept in the collections of the Library, and several distinguished pieces of her domestic ware are part of the Hypatia Collection of Women's Art.
Allen and her partner, both being musicians, now live and work in Yorkshire.
I work mostly in acrylics, sometimes mixed media, combining intuition, spontaneity and a sense of experimentation to create both subtle and complex surfaces of textures and colour. The inspiration for my work is often mundane and overlooked but to me contains a wealth of visual information. Often these sources are found in peeling paint on driftwood, a lichen covered rock, rusty metal. Through the process of texturing and paint layering, adding and subtracting, I endeavour to convey an emotion, a fleeting moment, the passage of time.
Please note: There are at least two artists named Gordon Allen, the sculptor reviewed below, and a Devon-based painter in Brixham, who exhibits paintings in galleries around the southwest and on-line, including Newquay, Cornwall. There is always the possibility of some confusion where artists of the same name exhibit work in the area.
Gordon Allen, artist and sculptor, is also a professional engineer and metal worker. He has lived in Cornwall for about 15 years, having set up his studio in one of the railway outbuildings in St Ives.
Gordon learned his trade and craft in the workshops of the Midlands. Many years in the aircraft industry, especially in aircraft construction, led to particular interest in the use of engineering techniques in sculpture. Gordon has an obvious love for metals which is evident from his work. Aluminium, copper, stainless steel - the colours, textures and reflections are deftly shaped and blended. The finished works gleam and vibrate with the vision and energy of the sculptor. In contrast, the natural stone pieces show a deep perception and contemplation of forms.
Finally, the flowing lines of the white sculptures represent a deep peace reflecting the inner vision of a man whose translation of life travels beyond the usual conformity of the modern world. Gordon has exhibited widely including: RA, RGI, RHA, RWEA, Hesketh Hubbard Art Society and has had many private and ecclesiastical commissions. [from The Cornishman]
Jess Allen was born in Bridport. She studied initially at Camberwell College of Arts and then at Falmouth School of Art where she obtained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She lives with her husband, a sculptor, and two children, in Penwith. Her preferred genre is still-life, which allows her to focus on the study of simple everyday objects, seeking to convey (in the words of De Chirico) 'both a sense of presence and absence'.
Recent paintings of clothing explore ideas of femininity, sexuality and image.
Born near Truro, she trained at Falmouth School of Art and then Stafford University. From her studio in Blackwater she creates landscapes which reflect a close affinity with the natural world. She exhibits regularly in west Cornwall and her work is represented by Trelissick Gallery.
Exhibits her work at the Alverton Gallery. (2014) More information required.
Allen was born in Sheffield, and studied at Sheffield School of Art. He is a new entry to the CAI, and found only through a picture search of auction catalogues to find subjects of identifiable Cornish content. Further research will follow and is invited from anyone able to provide information about Allen's visits to Cornwall.
Correspondent (2012) writes: 'Harry Allen was a great friend of my grandfather the St Ives artist W A GUNN. They met in Sheffield in the twenties I think - certainly before my grandparents moved to St Ives. He and my g'father primarily painted together on trips to Ireland and Derbyshire. His paintings in Cornwall will almost definitely have been produced during visits to their home in St Ives.'
Imogen Allen grew up near Zennor. Her work is informed by her connection to the natural world.
Her work has been widely exhibited in Cornwall, London, and the USA.
Imogen's solo exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery in the summer of 2024 marks her selection as the gallery's 'Young Penwith Artist of the Year'.
Born in Brighton, Ben Allen left the UK aged 17 to spend a number of years travelling. His destinations included Indonesia and Mexico and on returning home, he set up a studio in Brighton, and began to sell his work.
A self-taught artist inspired by graffiti, tattoo art, record covers, the punk scene and 1970s culture, Allen is also a keen surfer and skater. He says: 'Create to rebel, to be empowered, to be part of something bigger than yourself.'
Allen's work has been exhibited widely not only in Cornwall, but in Bristol, Brighton and London, and further afield in Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and the USA.
Alison Allen is a ceramicist working from a studio in Devoran, near Truro. Her work includes raku fired pieces.
Born in Devon, Mary Allen has lived in Cornwall from a very young age. The coastal waters around Gwithian and St Ives were a formative influence on her but it was only after retirement that she had the opportunity to devote more time to her painting. Her first solo exhibition was held in 2007.
Her marine studies are painted from her studio at St Hilary Churchtown, near Penzance. She is a regular exhibitor at the Harbour Gallery in Portscatho.
Born in London, the artist studied at the Slade, in Munich and in Paris (1910-12). He travelled widely to paint landscapes, and his painting Spring Riot, Cornwall (1940) was selected as part of the Looking West Exhibition in 1987. Though included in this representative show at Newlyn and the Royal College of Art, there is no documentation of dates when he was working in Cornwall.
His paintings Derelict Clay Pit, Cornwall and Valley of Treen show time away from his London homebase. He designed posters for British Railways (BR), as many West Country artists did. Buckman comments on his sportsmanship (skiing and climbing) and his pleasure in travelling.
Allison studied art at the Royal College of Art, and is primarily known for portraits and figure studies. An early appointment was as Headmaster of Putney School of Art.
From 1901 he served as Headmaster of the Penzance School of Art until 1907, when he departed to take up another educational post (as Principal at the Portsmouth Municipal School of Art); he also became President of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society.
In June 1913 he returned to the Penzance area, acting as HM School Inspector, to render a report on the falling numbers of day students at the School. (The primary reason for the decline was the independent offering by artists of lessons from their own studios and 'schools' in the area.)
Born in Windsor, Allnutt studied at the Slade and at Bushey, and in Paris, where her sister Mabel SHONE had also attended classes in the ateliers. By 1912, Emily had arrived in St Ives and shared Rose Lodge Studio, Wharf Road with artist friend Alice Hogarth NICHOLSON.
Her first exhibition locally was on Show Day 1912 at St Ives. The two women moved on to Gerrards Cross in 1915, and Allnutt did not return to live in St Ives until 1924, moving on to nearby Carbis Bay in 1931 where she lived at Chalfont Cottage (Tovey pp 188-9) where she died in 1944. She was a founder member of STISA and also a member of the Society of Women Artists SWA.