Our Place in the Seven Heavens

About

In May, Artizan Gallery opens their first mixed show of 2019 with local artist, poet and curator Becky Nuttall. “Our Place in the Seven Heavens” will encourage artists and audiences from across Torbay and South Devon to take a closer look at their home on the English Riviera, observing its heritage and history as a creative destination whilst also considering our wider significance (or perhaps insignificance) in the Seven Heavens.

Drawing from a wide-ranging artistic and literary background, Becky’s inspiration for the exhibition was taken from a number of local sources. “I visited Torre Abbey years ago and saw the Holman Hunt painting called The Children's Holiday and, in the past, I have studied the Pre Raphaelites at certain times in my academic career, experiencing their work in London, Manchester and Liverpool without knowing that we have several works in Torbay including Burne-Jones' Pre Raphaelite cartoons for stained glass windows of The Planets. These are beautiful drawings of the solar system using romantic and symbolic imagery.”

For Becky, the exhibition is a chance to explore these significant Pre Raphaelite works that reside in Torbay, and tie that discussion to the locality, “I wanted to bring together the artistic imagery of the solar system in the cartoons, the poetic imagery of Emily Dickinson's poem The Moon is Distant from the Sea and root those concepts in our local landscape; how the moon pulls the tides; how the tides form our Geopark coast and how the community feel about the unique landscape we live in. It's a broad concept open to any interpretation, rooted in an emotional response about home, environment and the universe.”