Art Arrives in Beautiful Bodmin; Explore and Feast Here
What is the most sought-after scenery? What is the most important thing to an artist? Can you imagine painting in a storm, winds battering against your artist’s canvas? , with its Atlantic gusts and sudden downpours, was and still is the unlikely spot for artists to gather in colonies and create; this exposed peninsula is one of England’s most enduring centres for plein-air (open-air) art. Yet this county has so much more to offer. Cornwall’s art history is defined by exposure; from the arrival of railway-enabled plein-air painters in the nineteenth century to the modernist migrations of the twentieth, the region cultivated an art shaped by light and nature. As a location, places like St Ives and Newlyn became internationally renowned, but Cornwall is far more than those two locations. Flamm, a contemporary art festival, is this year based in Bodmin at the end of February to early March, marking a subtle shift: from the open coast to inland spaces heavy with history and memory, from exposure to enclosure. Read Art Arrives in Beautiful Bodmin; Explore and Feast Here to find out more. Image on left-hand side, Carlos Zapata
Cornish Art
The history of Cornish art is inseparable from the railway; when the Great Western Railway extended into West Cornwall in the late nineteenth century, the peninsula ceased to be a distant, far-off dream, but rather became a reachable reality. Birmingham and London were now only hours away. Once a place seen as an almost separate state, Cornwall became accessible, and artists could travel with equipment, stay for seasons, return to exhibit, and circulate work back through metropolitan networks.
Newlyn School of Art
The Newlyn colony formed in this moment of access. From the 1880s to the early 1900s, painters arrived from elsewhere in Britain, drawn by fishing communities, working harbours and the quality of the natural coastal light. They established a local school, and the founding of the Newlyn Art Gallery in 1895 formalised what had begun as seasonal relocation into a recognisable art colony. Artists now had a place to display their work before submitting to the Royal Academy in London. Cornwall was no longer just about the beautiful scenery; it had transformed into an artistic settlement.
Walter Langley, Between The Tides, 1901
St Ives Cornwall
Potters, sculptors and abstract painters, can you imagine? All travelling from miles away just to see a glimpse of the Cornish scenery. Continuing into the 2oth century, this pattern of arrival repeated, with Bernard Leach and Shoji opening up a pottery in 1920 in St Ives.
Famous Artists
Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood visited St Ives, which had now expanded from a small harbour town into a modernist, international art colony. Some artists were displaced by war; others were seeking distance from London’s institutions. International figures and émigré artists connected to Europe arrived, and modernism embedded itself in the region’s artistic life. Cornwall became less of a retreat and more like a kind of rite of passage for artists.
Revolving Torsion kinetic sculpture/fountain by Naum Gabo at St Thomas’s Hospital, London, UK
Barbara Hepworth Artwork
With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Ben Nicholson and his then-wife, the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, settled in St Ives, establishing an outpost for the abstract avant-garde movement in West Cornwall. Soon joined by the prominent Russian constructivist sculptor Naum Gabo.
Artwork in the Barbara Hepworth Museum in St Ives
Cornish Artists
Many artists have been born and bred in Cornwall, like Alfred Wallis, a self-taught painter whose memory-based seascapes inspired Ben Nicholson himself. There is also John Miller, who works across installation and sound, and was born in 1962 in Truro, Cornwall. He is still a practising contemporary artist looking at Cornish identity, language, regional politics and conceptual strategies.
But not all the artists who either painted or were born in Cornwall came from the famous sites, like St Ives or Newlyn. For example, John Opie (1761–1807) was born in Trevellas. A renowned portrait and history painter known as ‘The Cornish Wonder.’ He is the only Cornishman buried in St Paul’s Cathedral. Or Joanne Short, born 1967, who is a prominent colourist painter and an elected member of the Newlyn Society of Artists, who captures the Cornish landscape through vibrant oil paintings. And there lies the other side of Cornish art, the landscapes, inland, the rugged hills and dales.
Flamm 2026 Art Festival
Flamm (Cornish for “flame” or “spark”) is a biennial, free visual arts festival in Cornwall, led by Creative Kernow to showcase national and international contemporary art alongside local talent, by exploring lesser-known locations within the larger county. The 2026 edition (Feb 28 – Mar 1) features 28+ exhibitions, sound installations, and performances across 15+ venues in the town of Bodmin. This allows for the mixture of free, curated events, designed to activate public spaces and involve residents as well as artists from inside and outside of the area.
Over the weekend of the 28th of February and to the 1st of March this year, this small ancient town came alive with multiple art shows and events. In the local town square, a market of local produce was added to with a pop-up stall by artist Jacqui Orly Ammon. Her presentation, Menalingless Transactions, offered visitors a penny for a penny, a pound for a pound. Baskets with different coin denominations and ages were offered up for swapping, coin for a coin, as such.
The process was not of monetary value, but almost as if the time and conversation were what made the transaction valuable. Set within a local food market, it encouraged those present to explore the local produce on offer as well.
One of the visitor highlights in Bodmin is a working steam railway; on a hillside sits the original steam railway station, and it was this location that artist Nicola Bealing presented her installation, The Hanging Baskets of Bodmin. Tied from the platform rafters were paper lanterns, hanging baskets and some plant-like paper creations, whilst others were slightly more ‘beasties’ and organic shapes. Made all with recycled paper, including a local phone book, her own old sketch books, and even her son’s old A- level history work (worry not, he is in his twenties now).
The use of paper offered a strong connection to the location. The original railway would have moved white stone clay from locations around and about Bodmin, and it is a crucial industrial mineral used extensively in paper manufacturing as both a filler and a coating pigment. It is added to improve the brightness, smoothness, and printability of paper.
Her thinking behind the works was also the connection to place. Hanging baskets were often seen( and sometimes still seen) in regional railway stations. These more surreal versions seem a slightly beautiful ghost-like reference to our past and the power of the communication systems that brought people and trade together.
In keeping with her style, Bealing’s work is inspired by historical narratives, folklore and everyday absurdities. She reinvents stories with a twist of dark humour and psychological depth.
Georgia Gendell
Once enjoying the stream train journey, playing on the train tannoy was Georgia Gendell’s slightly surreal play, Change Here. A caught recording of two train guards in an almost Samuel Beckett or Kafka-esque situation, discussing an almost absurdist conversation. As if only capturing parts of the whole, this fictional story wore between multiple emotions, from fear, loss, and even a lack of comprehension. Is there something missing, one wonders?
Hannah Jacobs & Kinnsman Estate Residents
In the station waiting room hung a tapestry collection of tickets, from the area outward. Including contributions from those living on the Kinsman and Treingle estate, the works highlighted the importance of being able to serve the local community.
A short way up the hill, past the steam railway, is Bodmin keep. A military holding from the Victorian era, built in local coarse-grained granite. Now a museum of local military history, although at the moment it is closed for important structural work. Interestingly, the site is run only by local volunteers, and the artist Rachel Jones only had one visit in order to see the items that would ordinarily be on show to the public, before exploring her ideas for her piece. However, she came several times to meet and talk with those who are the guardians of the location, each of whom had extremely passionate emotions for the place and the collection. When hearing one gentleman talking about his connection, she knew where to go with her installation. His personal and family insight gave her a spark of joy. From this storytelling, Rachel engaged with others and took their stories, turning them into an intimate film of the objects, the family members and stories associated.
The Keepers, Rachael Jones, Image Nick Cooney.
From the horrors of the First World War to notebooks of soldiers, each item, a snapshot into a personal life affected by warfare, was explored. Also, some medals, usually on show at The Keep, but kept stored at the moment, are a collection of Medals that were presented to a local army officer who came back from serving in India. The artist, inspired by these hugely decorative pieces, took images and made them into huge plaques posted on the front of the gates of the Keep. These beautiful pieces of insignia, a reminder of the precious items held here, ready for visitors once the site reopens.
Another of the known sites in Bodmin is St Petroc’s church, the building having stood since the 15th century and still being an active religious site. Local artist SHARP utilised sound, light, film, flowers and soft objects to share the story of the Bethany Project in Bodmin entitled Once We Were Held.
Also known as The Bethany House of Respite, it was a pioneering, internationally recognised home, established in 1988 to provide short-term respite care for people living with HIV/AIDS, their families, and carers. Set up in a convent annex, it was one of the UK’s first HIV respite homes and was famously opened by Princess Diana in the early 1990s. It offered a supportive environment for those affected by the disease during a time when those suffering were confronted by the ugly stigma associated with it. It was initiated by the Sisters of Mercy, who welcomed people with HIV to stay in their convent annex.
In direct conversation with this, were old wire Victorian beds turned upwards as if giant frames with daffodils woven through the metal. The flower, being reclaimed here as in the past, it had been used as a slur on the LGBTQ+ community, now seen as positive resilience. White pillow-like shapes lay on the floor with photos of hands and other parts of the body seen through diaphenous paper, as if a ghostly remembrance to those whose lives were lost in this tragic part of recent history. There were also red strings in a memorandum to the Terence Higgins Trust, early advocates of HIV/AIDS community. A sound and light scape was also added ot the atmospheric emotions of the piece.
Across the Church, an installation by Elizabeth-Jane Grose, Contested Field, reflected the experience of dislocation. Utilising hand dyed boiled wool, she created artworks which hung, which reflected the experiences of war for the soldiers from the area.
Elizabeth Jane Grose, making the works. Photo Stephen Frankel
The Holy Wells of Bodmin
Outside the church, it is a natural water source, a holy well. In fact, across the whole area, there is a natural abundance of these. This one is known simply as the Holy Well of St Petroc. It was these natural wells that were the starting point for the next artist’s work. Also nearby is the Scarlett’s Well, St Clether Holy Well and Branscombe Holy Well, which are known for their, often, reputed healing properties.
Holy Well at St Petroc Church
Spout by Alice Mahoney explored the power of water as both a moving metaphor and one shaped by myth and memory. Initially, the final film and artworks made of clay came into fruition from a guided walk the artist took around the Holy Wells of the area. Some, dating back to the twelfth century, all of which were considered places with healing powers; one good for eyesight, another to cure madness. In modern day, there is logical reasoning due to the different rock structures that have useful minerals in the water.
Crafted from clay, water sprouts and water receptacles were shown alongside lights and sound, with these sculptures echoing the myths and stories of water within this locality. Also, without saying, but giving the feeling of the very powerful and very moving nature of water.
2023 CLUSTER 2 Alice Mahoney
The film created with Naomi Frears showed clips of dripping water, its sounds and rhythms laid over collages and a modified soundtrack. Part of the sounds came from the recordings of dripping water that the artist made. Alongside were filmed image collages over locations of these sacred wells. The pieces of pottery crafted for the installation ‘ spout’ were inspired by shapes she noticed whilst visiting the wells dotted around the location, also included from her initial walk around the sites of the wells. Alongside the initial walk, images for the film included a session with locals at a dousing-water event. This time-honoured tradition was how people found underground clean water that was good to drink, and is also known as water diving or water witching.
Across the other side of the town, up a hill, stands the original Bodmin Jail. Built in 1779 by Sir John Call, designed for prison reform during the reign of King George III, it served as a county gaol. As of 2026, this historic former prison became a tourist attraction and hotel. In the courtyard for the festival was an installation by ceramacist Rebecca Procter called Free As A Bird.
Here in the open courtyard in grey stone, placed in the centre, sat a black wooden plinth. A flock of ceramic jackdaws in-flight rising, off mounted metal strands out of the plith as if fleeing the site. The artist was inspired by a former inmate of the Jail, Rose Wright. A 19th century female herbalist who was ostracised by her local community ( probably for being seen as a witch rather than a healer). She was forced to leave the town and live in the fields and woods. Here she trained the jackdaws to be her companions and to steal shinnny things like coins to feed herself with, and for that reason she was sent to jail.
And so the birds followed her to the prison, lasting only six months there, she laid a curse on both the prison and the town of Bodmin
‘Should the last jackdaw be born at Bodmin Gaol, so the spirits of the condemned shall rise and bring misfortune and chaos to all that reside within‘
Rose Wright
As a Ceramasist who works with plates, bowls and other eating instruments, the birds were each shaped from a shallow pouring bowl shape with cutouts for wings and a spout for a beak. In a dark green finish, each was attached to a metal rod and flew in different directions
Two artists presented works from the Liverpool Biennial Bedrock, a show of cooperation between region contemparory art fairs. Dear Othermother by Amber Akaunu and Linda Lamington, Touched By The Trees In A Forest of Eyes.
Dear Othermother by Amber Akaunu explored the proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Highlighting that child-rearing requires the shared efforts of a community, extended family, friends, neighbours, and teachers, not just parents, in bringing a beautifully rounded child into adulthood. Originating from African cultures, it emphasises that collective support is essential for a child’s safe, healthy development, fostering positive influences and social guidance. For her film presentation, Amber created a filmed narrative of single mothers sharing their experiences all from her native Toxteth, Liverpool.
Amber Akaunu, Still from ‘Dear Othermother’, 2024. Courtesy of the Artist
A Liverpool-born Nigerian-German filmmaker working in cinema and art to document and imagine Black regional stories. This piece is autobiographical in a documentary style, a personal take on single motherhood, friendship and matriarchal connectivity in Liverpool 8, one of the UK’s oldest Black communities and where Amber is from.
In her filmed work a group of single mothers gathers around the table with a friend who supported them in bringing up their child or children, in these close-knit local friendships. Inspirational, emotive and intimate, these ladies express, in a safe space, how they coped with the help of that extra ‘family’ member, not a bloody relative, but a village member. In return, the village helpers expressed what it felt like to be part of an extra family. Set between voices, faces, hug and tears were black and white vignettes of the streets which they called home.
The other work presented from Liverpool was Linda Lamington, Touched By The Trees In A Forest Of Eyes, which was presented at the Discovering 42 location. This artwork directly questions the ways humans treat and value the natural world around them. She questions the concepts of profit against respect and protection. Specifically, Lamignan explores land as a resource and the respect or lack of it is seen via the history of the palm oil and petroleum trade between Nigeria and Liverpool. This long and disturbing history of extraction in Nigeria’s Delta State and the trade with Liverpool from the late 18th century to the present. Hunting vignettes of images on a triptych screen, offset images of local traditions with industrial trade.
Linda Lamignan, We Are Touched By The Trees In A Forest Of Eyes, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at FACT. Photography Mark McNulty.
The work connected materials to the industries, histories, living landscapes and cultural relations between West Africa and Europe. This multi-screen video work references the artist’s ancestry, the knowledge systems of animism, the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence, and geology.
Also at the Old Library, where a community cafe sits, other artworks and presentations were also displayed. For example, there was a brick-making class by artists Rosanna Martin and Tim Hutton in the garden. Brickfield is an experimental participatory brickworks set in a disused china clay quarry near St Austell. The event encouraged people to make their own bricks from local clay. This is an ongoing initiative exploring how the heritage of Cornish brickmaking can generate contemporary approaches to the material and use the process of collective brick making as a tool for creating new connections. The area near St. Austell is where the disused china clay quarry sits, and the long-term goal of the initiative is to use all the bricks in new buildings.
Upstairs in the library, another film presentation called ‘Here’ by Alexander Prynne was presented. Images appeared slowly, sat in golden frames with words and phrases across the frames in what was presented as a neurodivergent safe space; the artist himself identifies as neurodivergent, and so the presentation had an added authenticity on top of its natural beauty. Presented in a small, quite low-lit space, the emotive presentation cast over a sense of calm.
Alexander Prynne
Over at Discovering42, another creative space and cafe in Bodmin, was the work of artist Carlos Zapata. A Colombian-born painter and sculptor based near Falmouth, Cornwall, UK, he is known for creating poignant, handcrafted automata and sculptures. His work, often in wood, metal, and stone, combines themes of personal experience, South American indigenous art, and social issues like conflict and poverty with emotional, sometimes humorous, mechanical movements.
His pieces at the weekend included a structure seemingly made from broken and unloved everyday items. Singleley, they have no use, but put together, turn a handle, and the items came alive, a light flickered and the wheel turned; connections were made. From discarded items, new artworks alive and vital, unfolded at the interaction of a human touch.
On top of many locations and events, many pop-ups were created for the community or by local residents. These included Discovering42, an exhibition bringing together 11 artists who recently connected through CAMP’s Sculpture (artists situated across Devon and Cornwall) and 3D KIN network, all with a long-standing engagement in sculptural materials and processes.
Conduct Yourself at Discovering42
Small Acts x Kitty Hillier, enactment Encounter Re: Routed saw a giant pink organic playful soft sculpture being carried around the town over the weekend. Held up and carried around town by locals who participated in moving the sculpture as it journeyed across Bodmin.
Re Rooted Small Acts x Kitty Hillier x KBSK. Image ©Nick Cooney (1)
A family-friendly, poetry performance with Robbie Gillett, also known as Beneath The Tracksuit, a spoken-word artist, poet and community facilitator who believes writing should be honest, accessible, and enjoyable, held a function at Bodmin Town Market. His work is rooted in free-verse poetry. Here, he encouraged people to write for fun and self-expression rather than perfection or rules.
There was also The Storybook of Bodmin, with Amanda Young and SkillSHARE, an interactive installation in the form of a walk-in book dedicated to the life stories of local participants. Even the charity shops were part of the entertainment. The Cornwall Hospice Shop, the former location of the Palace Theatre, became the home for Liam Jolly, returning a big screen to the site, as he sees connections between the site’s former life and its current purpose.
Bodmin Gallery and Creative Studio
And finally, a central part of the whole weekend’s event was the Bodmin Gallery and Creative Studio ‘On Show’ was open exhibition which presented work responding to the theme of ‘Bodmin – A Place I Know’. All pieces were for sale at the same set price and were presented anonymously. The sales will support Bodmin Revival’s ongoing creative and cultural activity in the town.
The space is a vibrant new hub in Bodmin town centre, designed to boost footfall and support the local economy. Showcasing diverse artwork and artisan products, it provides an accessible platform for creatives to exhibit and sell their work.
Image from 2025 Water Bodies
Cornwall, like many of the famous arts centres, belies what is beneath the surface, and Flamm is the perfect opportunity to explore works from local artists and open up the creative world beyond the famous names of internationally renowned galleries. It’s a time and place to find new artists, get under the surface, explore new voices and lesser-explored practices whilst also engaging with local culture alongside history, fact and myth alike. By hosting exhibitions, live events and artist-led projects, Flamm generates cultural tourism that benefits local hospitality, retail and independent businesses alongside those who live and visit there.
Find out about Flamm Here
If you enjoyed reading Art Makes Its Home in Beautiful Bodmin This Season, then why not read When fragrance Meets The Art World.
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