Seeing PRE-HISTORY

WORDS BY JILLY EASTERBY

From Saturday 27th May to Sunday 4th June, hundreds of artists, designers and makers from across the Duchy will throw open their studio doors and share their artistic practice against a uniquely Cornish backdrop of creek, countryside and coast.

As we follow the distinctive orange Os that denote these creative spaces in beautiful places, Open Studios Cornwall will provoke thought, enchant the eye and stimulate the senses in an exploration of multiple art forms. But the event is as much about people and place as it is about artistic purpose and process. It provides us with the chance to view Cornwall from myriad perspectives and take inspiration from the many ways in which its natural beauty can be perceived and reimagined.

The power of the landscape to catalyse creativity and evoke memory is a recurring theme that binds this year’s participants –whether it be the chatter of crows on a winter tree, the pleasing symmetry of a ploughed field, the silence of the forest or the roar of the tide. Whether you were born in the county or drawn to it from elsewhere, there is something unique about Cornwall’s landscape, as ceramic artist, Craig Underhill, explains.

“I was introduced to Cornwall by my partner who was raised near Saltash. She came to live with me in the Midlands but we visited here a lot. It is something about being drawn to the sea but there is also an intimacy to the landscape here that is like no other. In the Midlands, even the countryside seems quite industrial because of the farming techniques that are deployed there but in Cornwall, there is a sort of history that you can see, which just isn’t visible in other parts of the UK.

“I love walking up Trencrom Hill – it’s a real surprise when you reach the top and you can see Godrevy on the north coast and St Michael’s Mount to the west – and when you drive past St Ives down to Zennor, it feels like you are in another country.

“Heading along the road to St Just, you feel like you have crossed a boundary to an ancient land. I have been reading about the