Nina Royle is an artist based in West Cornwall. Next month, her most recent work comes together in a new exhibition, And so, the magpies multiply at Kestle Barton. It is an exhibition of paintings, bronze mirrors, ceramics and works on fabric.
Symbols steeped in mythology and cultural associations are found throughout these works, such as the mirror, the keyhole and the pomegranate; offering different strata of meaning and serving to give form to things unseen. ‘To think about symbols and to think about images, particularly during the act of painting where everything thought and seen seems to move around,’ considers the artist, ‘– is somehow a play between these two states – stasis and motion; thinking and unthinking. How do the black and white chevrons of road signs slip into the black and white feathers glimpsed of a magpie’s wing in flight?’
Kestle Barton is an ancient Cornish farmstead situated above the Helford River. Following an award- winning conservation and conversion project the beautiful old farm buildings have new uses, one of the barns becoming an elegant gallery that opened in 2010. From early spring to late October each year, the gallery, garden and wildflower meadow beyond, hosts a programme of three free exhibitions and a number of other events. Surrounding barns and the old farmhouse have been converted into stylish and comfortable holiday accommodation, all profits from which go towards funding the exhibition and event programme.
Kestle Barton is open from 23 March – 2 November 2024: Tuesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10:30am – 5pm. And so, the magpies multiply runs from 23rd March – 9th June.
Kestle Barton
Manaccan
Helston
Cornwall
TR12 6HU
