VIRGINIA BOUNDSTremenheere

Cover: Stage for the Exotic 2015Oil on canvas 79.5 x 100 cm

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Copyright ©2015 Belgrave St Ives

ISBN: 978-0-9568906-5-8

22 Fore Street, St Ives, TR26 1HE · 01736 794888info@belgravestives.co.uk · www.belgravestives.co.uk

VIRGINIA BOUNDSTremenheere

8 – 29 June 2015

Mon – Sat · 10 – 6

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Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens.Photograph by the artist

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VIRGINIA BOUNDS: TREMENHEERE

Within Newlyn’s historic artist meadow, Virginia Bounds’ listed studio hides

amidst a gently sloping terrace of willowy flowers and trees. Plant life spills in

and out of her workspace in vases and pots, and the walls are canvassed in

paintings of nature’s vibrant and seasonal colours. In recent years Bounds has

found inspiration in the study of cyclical patterns and floral shapes close to home,

and her work reveals a fascination with the ephemeral quality of her subjects.

This series of artworks, which depicts the sub-tropical flora in wooded vales at

Tremenheere Gardens in Penzance, makes an exploration of the evolving

character of vegetation in space and time. Pleasures found in the painting of

stems in bended movement, the appearance of sibling buds, and the drooping of

autumnal leaves convey Bounds’ appreciation for the seasonal processes of

growth and decay that regulate natural forms.

Bounds’ pictorial response to nature is a world of bright pinky blooms set

against shades of green and grey. In paintings like Exotica, and Pilgrims, close-up

flowers in the open air are seen in contrast to darker vistas of vegetation beneath

low-hanging tree fern canopies. In the tradition of many of Newlyn’s plein-air

artists, being able to capture the freshness and impact of natural daylight on

colour and form is important for Bounds. Repeated compositions, like those

apparent in the Wind Defying Forms and Against Metallic Sky series, introduce

subtle variations in the effect of changing light and wind on the same subject;

the space between plant forms, and the colour and feeling of ‘airiness‘ that

delineates their leafy boundaries, is redefined over time. Painting the effect of

wind on the changing shape of plant forms in movement is also a critical theme.

As stems and leaves yield defiantly to atmospheric forces, their visual

external envelope – and the surrounding negative space – becomes blurred; in

this state of flux, forms become ever more elusive.

Compositional shapes and spaces become rethought and reworked as flowers

and shrubs are themselves rearranged in nature. As petals and fronds unfurl,

extend, and spread, Bounds accounts for this transformation in her working

method. Urgent studies in mark-making give way to a joyful process of layering

up and taking away as she seeks to capture the transitory nature of her subject

in oil. Colours are added using a palette knife before being brushed through to

remove and rebuild layers. By paring into the image in this way, bloomed leaf-like

forms repeatedly emerge and re-emerge, shifting in paint as they do in life.

Through this reworking, Bounds’ cyclical mode of making and remaking – where

forms are brought to life, lost, and revived – echo the natural cycles of birth,

growth, and decay.

This engagement with flowering and growth is a departure point from which

Bounds’ paintings develop as an evolving response to the inconstancies of

nature. Her finished paintings reimagine those fleeting moments experienced

outside; colour and oil fix the flower and halt its swaying motion, whilst

preserving its immediacy and vibrancy. In this collection of works Bounds traces

the impermanence of her environment, delighting in the colours of her subject

and their relationship to time, space, and light. In her search for the temporal,

Bounds has made paintings that reference the transience of today but also the

comforting surety and timelessness of our seasonal patterns.

Dr Roo Gunzi

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Pilgrims, St Michael’s Way 2015Oil on linen 59 x 49.5 cm

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From the Banks, Tremenheere 2014Oil on gesso panel 107 x 90 cm

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Sat Down by a Willow Tree I 2015Oil on linen 30.5 x 36.5 cm

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Along the Path to Tremenheere 2015Oil on linen 30.5 x 36.5 cm

Sat Down by a Willow Tree II 2015Oil on linen 30.5 x 36.5 cm

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Woodland Way 2013Oil on gesso panel 50 x 60 cm

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Sunny Border 2014Oil on gesso panel 61 x 72.5 cm

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Woodland Sky II 2014Acrylic gouache and ink on paper 34.5 x 41 cm

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Hill Horizon 2014Oil on gesso panel 61 x 72.5 cm

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Study: In the Company of Squirrels 2013Oil pastel on paper 28 x 32 cm

In the Company of Squirrels 2014Oil on gesso panel 90 x 107 cm

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Dappled Canopy 2014Ink on paper 35.5 x 41 cm

A Tale of Winter 2013Acrylic gouache on paper 28 x 36 cm

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Tree Ferns, Distant Hill 2014Oil stick on card 35 x 41 cm

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Woodland Pond 2015Oil on linen 140 x 167 cm

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Day Before Solar Eclipse – Equinox Sun I 2015Oil on canvas 54 x 65 cm

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Day Before Solar Eclipse – Equinox Sun II 2015Oil on canvas 54 x 65 cm

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Exotica 2015Oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm

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Stage for the Exotic 2015Oil on canvas 79.5 x 100 cm

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Against Metallic Sky I 2015Oil on linen 36.5 x 30.5 cm

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Against Metallic Sky II 2015Oil on linen 30.5 x 36.5 cm

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Summer Blue, Agapanthus 2013Oil on gesso panel 50 x 60 cm

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Blue Haze, Agapanthus 2013Oil on gesso panel 50 x 60 cm

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Wind Defying Form III 2015Oil on linen 36.5 x 30.5 cm

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Wind Defying Form II 2015Oil on linen 36.5 x 30.5 cm

Wind Defying Form I 2015Oil on linen 36.5 x 30.5 cm

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Autumn Mist 2013Acrylic gouache on paper 27 x 30 cm

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Untitled (Tree Fern Canopy I) 2015Oil on panel 25 x 35 cm

Untitled (Tree Fern Canopy II) 2015Oil on panel 25 x 35 cm

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Woodland Sky I 2014Acrylic gouache and ink on paper 34 x 41.5 cm

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Misty Light 2015Oil on panel 25 x 30 cm

Sky Through Tree Fern Canopy 2015Oil on linen 30.5 x 36.5 cm

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VIRGINIA BOUNDS

Born Australia 1965

Studied: Falmouth College of Art 1993-1997, Bangor Technical College 1992-1993

Moved to Cornwall: 1998

Arts Council England Grant Award 2013

Residency, The Booth, Shetland 2006

One-person exhibitions

2015 ‘Tremenheere’, Belgrave St Ives

2012 ‘Virginia Bounds: Recent Paintings from the Studio’, Belgrave St Ives

2006 ‘Betwixt the Whiles’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

Selected mixed exhibitions

2014 Summer Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives

Winter Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives

‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’, Brian Sinfield Gallery, Burford

2013 Yuletide Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives

‘Newlyn’s Choice’, Newlyn Art Gallery

Summer Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives

2012 Christmas Exhibition, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives

Winter Season 'Bonanza', Belgrave St Ives

Print Portfolio Launch/Exhibition, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives

Summer Exhibition, Belgrave St Ives

2011 ‘Summer Waves’, Belgrave St Ives

‘Life! For Helen and Douglas House’, Delfina, London

20/21 International Art Fair, Belgrave St Ives, Royal College of Art,

2010 ‘MMXMAS’, Belgrave St Ives

‘Salmagundi’, Belgrave St Ives

‘The Exquisite Trove’, House of Fairy Tales, Millennium Gallery, St Ives

2009 The Rainyday Gallery, Penzance

London Art Fair, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

2008 ‘December Show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

Caxton Contemporary, Kent

London Art Fair, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

2007 ‘2nd X-posure – Revolver’, ex-car showroom, Penzance, Cornwall

'’St Ives – Selected Artists’, to coincide with book launch of

St Ives 1975-2005, Art Colony in Transition, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

‘A Postcard From St Ives’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

London Art Fair, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

2006 London Art Fair, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

‘The Cornish Connection’, Belgrave Gallery, London

2005 ‘December Show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

‘St Ives – Past and Present’, Sherborne House, Dorset

‘First Performance’, Strand Gallery, Aldeburgh

‘Painting the Landscape’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

‘On the Edge’, Arndean Gallery, London

‘The Little Picture Show’, Rainyday Gallery, Penzance

2004 Summer Exhibition, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

South West Open Studios

2003 ‘Cornish Painters’, Edgar Modern Gallery, Bath

Two-person show, Pydar Gallery, Truro

2002 South West Open Studios

2001 The Hunting Art Prizes, RCA

Publications

BBC/Public Catalogue Foundation 2008 (paintings purchased by St George’s Hospital, London)

Revolver: Art Cornwall, Cornwall 2008

St Ives 1975-2005: Art Colony in Transition, Peter Davies 2007

Art About St Ives, Henry Gilbert, 2nd edition, 2006

Virginia Bounds painting in Tremenheere Sculpture GardensPhotograph by Dr Neil Armstrong

With thanks to Neil Armstrong and Jane Martin of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, and Susan Daniel-McElroy for their support of this project