Exhibition offers array of artistic talent

The region's largest exhibition of sculptures and art is back, with 650 pieces on show plus, for the first time, workshops and demonstrations by artists. Athwenna Irons reports

- Athwenna Irons

A MUCH-LOVED exhibition celebrating some of the region's brightest artistic and sculptural talents has returned to Devon for its month-long residency.

More than 150 artists, displaying around 650 pieces of work, will be exhibiting at the 24th Delamore Arts and Sculpture event which runs throughout May.

A highlight of the South West's arts calendar, the annual exhibition takes place at Delamore House and Gardens in Cornwood on the edge of Dartmoor, a few miles north-west of Ivybridge, and is open to the public every day.

For the first time, a programme of workshops and demonstrations will run alongside the main exhibition, giving people the chance to learn from some of the artists taking part in the event, which began yesterday and runs until Saturday, May 31.

As ever, this year's showcase brings together an eclectic mix of indoor and outdoor sculptures and paintings by artists from the region and across the UK.

Torbay-based Artizan Collective CIC, who are this year running the Stables Courtyard art hub at Delamore, work with hundreds of artists annually, giving them a platform to showcase and sell their work. More than 20 Artizan painters, sculptors, ceramicists, printmakers and jewellery makers are offering a mix of paid for and free learning events.

Among those offering workshops is South Devon ceramicist Imogen Taylor-Noble. Imogen has gone back to using wood-fired kilns for her pieces. She explains: "I had a crisis of conscience about using fossil fuels for non-essential items, so I stopped using gas as the fuel to fire my work."