Artist Statement
I’m happiest near - or preferably in - the sea, where I swim as often as I can. I immerse myself in the multi-sensory experience of it, taking photos underwater, looking and feeling into the abundance of life above and below the waves. Back in the studio, I weave together elements from the photos, memories, and gathered seaweed, to distill those experiences into paintings.
Liquid, dynamic paint layers of varying consistencies are combined with fleeting, but more carefully drawn or carved glimpses of recognisable elements of aquatic life, from the birds overhead to the seaweed below.
I challenge myself to create something unexpected in each painting, something that prompts a second look; I work until every piece expresses what feels like a truth about the pleasures and surprises of immersion in wild nature.
CV
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Selected Exhibitions
The Autumn Collection, Mylo Art, Hampshire, 23 October - 2024
Imagine Falmouth 2024, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, 12 October 24 - 18 January 2025
Hidden Depths, The Byre Gallery, Cornwall, 7 August - 7 September 2024
Driven to Abstraction, Prime Women Artists, The Gallery, Truro High School for Girls, 12 - 22 March 2024
Open 24, The Old Lock Up Gallery, Derbyshire, 10 February - 3 March 2024
Small Works Winter Show, Spring Cheltenham, 8 - 23 December 2023
Good on Paper, The Byre Gallery, Cornwall, 17 November 2023 - 28 January 2024
Opening exhibition at Meadow x Mylo, Mylo Art, Hampshire, June 2023
Spring Show, The Art Buyer, 4 March - 1 April 2023
Winter At the Byre, The Byre Gallery, 19 November - 8 January 2022-3
Sea Level, The Byre Gallery, 2 - 29 July 2022
The Wild Collective, Thrown Contemporary, London, 13 - 29 May 2022
Art of Water VI, James May Gallery, Artsy, 6 May - 29 July 2022
Flora And Fauna, The Art Buyer, Thames Ditton, 16 March - 22 April 2022
Winter at the Byre, The Byre Gallery, Cornwall, 27 November 2021 - 9 January 2022
Winter Exhibition, The Art Buyer, Thames Ditton, 17 November - 22 December 2021
Autumn Exhibition, The Hadfield Gallery, 6 - 28 November 2021
The Best of Both Worlds, The Byre Gallery, 24 July - 12 September 2021
Exhibition in support of Cornwall Air Ambulance, Art Gallery SW, 16 July - 31 December 2021
(Nature in) Lockdown, Floresta, 4 June - 2 July 2021
New Era: Part 1, Art Number 23, 31 March - 28 April 2021
Spring Show, The Art Buyer, 10 - 31 March 2021
Open ISO, The Old Lock Up Gallery, March 7 - 21, 2021
‘Disrupting the Stillness’, The Visionary Projects, November 16 - December 16, 2020
Cornwall Open Studios, August 29 - September 6, 2020
Associates Summer Exhibition, Penwith Gallery, St Ives, July - August 2020
‘A Beautiful Room’, Circa 21 - The Gallery Space, Penzance, July - October 2020
Coast, Hadfield Gallery, Cotswolds, May 18 - June 14 2020
Open ISO, The Old Lock Up Gallery, May - June 2020
Winter Exhibition, Hadfield Gallery, Cotswolds, February 15 - March 1st 2020
Tin Coast Design, Penzance, August 2019 {ongoing}
Associates Summer Exhibition, Penwith Gallery, St Ives, July - August 2019
Spring Exhibition, St Ives Society of Artists, May 2019
Lizard Art Fair, Trelowarren, April 2019
Porthmeor Programme Group Show, Penwith Gallery, St Ives, March 2019
Out of the Blue Gallery, Marazion, June - September 2018
The Toll House Gallery, Lindfield, 2012
JAG Gallery, Brighton, 2011
Open Houses in Brighton and Hove, 2010 - 2011
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Press
- Interview: The Byre Gallery, November 2023
- Coast Magazine article, March 2022
- Interview: Visionary Art Collective, December 2021
- My Cornwall Summer Art Guide 2021
- My Cornwall Spring Art Guide 2021
- Apartment Therapy February 2021
- Artwork Archive article November 2020
- Interview on The Flux Review 2020
- My Cornwall Autumn Art Guide 2020
- In Her Studio Magazine Autumn 2020
- CuratorSpace feature, September 2020
- Cornwall Living magazine September 2020
- My Cornwall magazine September 2020
- My Cornwall Summer Art Guide 2020
- Drift magazine Volume V feature 2020
- Artist of the Month, Dark Yellow Dot, June 2020
- Inside Artists, February 2020
- Jacksons Art Blog, November 2019
Podcast Interviews
- An Art to It
- The Artish Plunge
- Art Conversations with Lisa Jayne Irvine
- Creative Nature
- That's What She Said
- Simple Daily Practice
Associations- Prime Women Artists 2023 -
- Visual Artists Association 2021 -2022
- Visionary Art Collective Directory 2021 -
- Penwith Gallery Associate 2019 - 2020
Competitions and Awards
- Finalist in the British Contemporary Art Awards 2024
- Longlisted for the Visual Art Open 2022
Education
- Porthmeor Programme at St Ives School of Painting 2018-19
- Ongoing independent study 2008 - 2018
- Blake College, London, Foundation Diploma 2000
- Charles H. Cecil Studios, Florence, Italy 1997
Teaching
- Online at taraleaver.com since 2013
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