SEEING THE LIGHT IN ST IVES

Today we commemorate the artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who moved into her final studio space, Trewyn Studio in St Ives, on 25th August 1939. Producing some of her best-known pieces there, she lived and worked in this beautiful Cornish town until her death in 1975. Born and raised in Wakefield, Yorkshire, Barbara Hepworth began a lifelong relationship with the land there, sculpting organic and strangely natural, yet abstract forms from definitive and permanent materials like stone and bronze. 

Her connection to Yorkshire still remains - the world-famous Hepworth Gallery is devoted to her work and to those with whom she enjoyed creative reciprocal relationships, such as the talented Henry Moore. Hepworth’s work is also on display out in the open at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where the interplay between weathered forms and the changing nature of the seasons can be truly appreciated. 

Trewyn Studio in St Ives was converted into a museum after Hepworth’s death. Owned by the Tate, the Hepworth family estate wanted the studio to showcase the intriguing relationship between artist, creativity and everyday life - the art of being an artist. Hepworth used her connection to the land to inspire and inform her work, and it is only fitting that it should be appreciated exactly where it was conceived. 

St. Ives has a quality of light - and a quality of life - that draws many to its shores. It has become famed for the plethora of creatives who are inspired by the light, the salty air and the long, unadulterated shoreline. And those creatives come in many different forms, taking inspiration from the natural world around them. The Saint Ives Liquor Co. are a family company that have carved out a symbiotic relationship between spirit production and nature. They are a perfect example of modern art in the spirit industry - they took their creativity and their love of this land and poured it into a bottle, foraging along the Cornish coastline to create a cold-compound gin that is completely unique to the area - just like the light.