Diversion

A break from digging and planting: the weather was lousy and it’s Art Trek time, part of the North Devon festival.

We drove out to the middle of nowhere to see three artists. Isabella Whitworth does textile work. She was working with indigo dye on silk when we visited Peters Marland. She shared space with Richard Meyer, who paints richly textured still life portraits.

What I like about Art Trek is that you can talk to artists and ask them about their inspiration and techniques. What I like less is that often you will be the only person in the gallery/studio. It can be difficult if you don’t like the work. Isabella and Richard were equally interesting and happily spent time explaining their work.

For their part, I’m never sure what they expect to get out of it or what, indeed, they do get out of it. Certainly there is a marketting element. Many of the artists earn their living from the art. But, I guess there is a part social aspect too. Being an artist treading a lonely furrow might be – well – lonely.

The Pannier Market at Torrington hosted several artists and my guess is that their displays were as much about marketting as anything else. I took a shine to Sarah Gallifant‘s almost abstract photos of plant life.

Our last stop was outside of Merton at an old chapel called, funnily enough, the Old Chapel Cottage. Painter Emily Clark gets inspiration from the Devon landscape though much of her work is landscapes in the mind.

For me, her studio setting was treat in itself. The bleak landscape at the top of the post is what I took away.