What has caught my interest this month?
This made the national news! Should you not know, and that's probably most of you, there is a Cornish language, which is similar to the other ancient languages of the Celtic nations. In years gone by, Cornish signified more than yelling ' oggy,oggy oggy, oi, oi, oi' at a rugby match and to this day, is taken seriously, yes, seriously, by bards of the Gorsedd and acolytes of St. Piran.

It has been decided by the UN, that the Cornish language is now branded as extinct. Cornish is believed to have died out as a first language in the the county around 1777 but there are currently thought to be around 300 fluent speakers and Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership said thousands had a 'smattering' of the language. I don't know what evidence there is to back that up, and while it's unrealistic to think it has a future, we are surrounded by unusual, quite romantic names for villages and homes, so it might be dead but will certainly not redundant. Often, when translated, the place names describe the nature of the area: Goonhaven is a summer pasture, Kynance a ravine, Godrevy, a small farm, and the infamous Manacles reef, is a rock below the church..maen is rock and eglos is church...not a lot of people know that....!

St. Ives. As ever, exhibiting ubiquitous style and culture.

While Cornwall can't host the work of artists for really exceptional exhibitions, there is generally something worthwhile to wander around, and that is exactly what we did with a drive to St.Ives to view the Spring Exhibition of Ben Nicholson's work at the Tate. The title, 'A Continuous Line' covers the lifetime of artists' work, much of it spent in West Penwith.

I'm not writing a critique of his work as my comments can only be subjective, but a small smile couldn't be resisted at the brochure copy of some of his early work, in which the artist, ' achieved a faux-naive style' ...OK, that's the defensible explanation for wonky trees and nursery-school-daubed horses. However, I do have an affinity with some of the letters written by Patrick Heron about Nicholson's work, and I quote, " the cool colours are related to the rain-washed, Atlantic-blown town...a multiplicity of pale greys, off-whites, blues, purples and yellows'. The exhibition runs until 4th May.2009

Dunlop at Leach. New Expressions Exhibition.

We have friends from obscure and diverse backgrounds, who for their own reasons, chose to live in Cornwall; one of whom, who would fit quite snugly under the category 'off the wall', is Ian Dunlop. Ian is a musician from the States, and for old hippies, played with Gram Parsons of the Byrds, formed the International Submarine Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers, He and John became good friends when we had a recording studio.

Ian's daughter, Daisy, is recognised as one of the most extraordinary craftspeople to have emerged from Cornwall in recent years and her interpretation of the work of Bernard Leach through the media of jewellery is stunning. Daisy has exhibited internationally and is known for her soft, lustrous jewellery that mixes cast resin with gold, silver, pearls and semi-precious stones. The resin pieces, shaped from shards of pottery, are subtle, blurred and irregular with imbedded poetry, plants, petals, silks and collage.

The exhibition runs until 25th April and is displayed at the Leach pottery site and museum in St. Ives.. We went on preview day and much to my disappointment, almost everything was 'red spotted' by lunchtime! However, Daisy is supplying some pieces as a limited edition.

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