Borlase Smart Room

The Borlase Smart John Wells Trust is a charity offering high quality, affordable studio space for artists working in Cornwall. It owns and manages three historic artists’ studios: Grade II* Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, and Trewarveneth Studios and Grade II* Anchor Studio in Newlyn, providing 22 studios for artists and 2 studios for the St Ives School of Painting.

Porthmeor and Anchor studios are probably the oldest working artists’ studios in the country, and are best known for the internationally significant artists who have been based there. Previous tenants have included Julius Olsson, Stanhope Forbes, Frances Hodgkins, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, Francis Bacon, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and John Wells, and more recently Rana Begum, Michael Dean, Nicholas Deshayes, Lubaina Himid, Richard Long, Katy Moran, Veronica Ryan, Daniel Sinsel and Caragh Thuring.

Porthmeor is also celebrated for its fishing connections. Originally built for the St Ives pilchard industry, Porthmeor Cellars are still used by fishermen, a unique reminder of the days when many of its neighbours were used by both artists and fishermen.