Fishstock, Brixham 2011 and Devon Open Studios

August has been a bit busy: A holiday in sunny Portugal and a number of gallery visits, combined with other time-consuming stuff, hasn't left much opportunity for blogging.

Art in Portugal

So no chance to write about Alex Katz at Tate St Ives, Peter Blake and Pop Music at the Pallant Gallery, or Raw Materials at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Jenny Holzer, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman and Laurence Weiner). In a nutshell, these were all good - although, for me, the Raw Materials exhibition was not quite as good as the line-up might suggest.

Raw Materials: Laurence Weiner

Fishstock Festival

But this post is really to alert you to the latest annual Fishstock Festival taking place at Brixham tomorrow 8 September (and to Devon Open Studios that also starts 8 September).

Fishstock 2011

The day-long Fishstock festival is held at the Fish Market in aid of the Fishermen's Mission - a charity supporting fisherman and their families. It is a slightly odd but enjoyable mixture of music, food, crafts, boats - and lots of fish. This year there are a dozen acts appearing on the main stage and a further eleven on the acoustic one. In addition there are over twenty outside stalls and over fifty inside ones showing local businesses, crafts and lots of food. There are also maritime displays and cookery demonstrations. Full details here (music) and here (stalls).

Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin

Last year the weather was pretty good and everyone had a great time. Highlights for me included Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin (appearing again this year) and the Roobs (favourites with the locals) who did a funky and well-selected set of tunes including Teenage Dirtbag, Need You Tonight, Poker Face and Where Is the Love?  

The Roobs

The Fisherman's Friends were the 'stars' of the show. I didn't know much about them previously but they were both funny and entertaining.  The weather looks good again this year, so hopefully it will be terrific day. Here are some more photos from 2011:

Fisherman's Friends

The inside stalls

Paddy's Whiskers

 

Fish

Folk dancers

Maggie Duffy & Mike Weed

  

And, of course, some Tahitian stuff

Devon Open Studios

Devon Open Studios runs from September 8 to 23. It is an opportunity to meet artists in their studios and, if you wish, to buy art direct from the creator. Some artists may demonstrate, give talks or give you a chance to have a go. The event guide is available here or you can pick up a copy at Devon and Somerset libraries, tourist information centres, major art venues, etc.

 

Marta Killey at TAAG, Teignmouth

I was lucky enough to catch the last day of Marta Killey's exhibition at TAAG on Sunday.

Appropriately, given Marta's South American roots, it was a bright and rather sticky day in Teignmouth, and there were lots of people in town enjoying the sun, the beach, and the carnival fair. Late in the day, things were fairly quiet in the TAAG gallery but this allowed me to chat a little with the artist about her work. The exhibition seemed to have three main styles/themes. There were some highly accessible townscapes in bright oranges, yellows and greens, created using pen and ink and watercolour (the image below does not really do justice to the colours).

 Another style/theme included some denser and generally larger mixed media representations of  trees, mystical objects, etc:

Marta's most recent works are explorations of Yarner Wood on the edge of Dartmoor. I must admit that, living in Devon, I get a bit tired of bleak pictures of the moor (not to mention seascapes), but Marta's images explore the ever-changing woodland environment with a real lightness of touch and sense of movement.

I was very tempted to buy something but, given limited resources and the number of unhung prints I already have, I showed restraint and purchased some postcards instead.

You can see more of Marta's work on her excellent website, which she and her husband have recently refreshed, and which gives a better insight into her painting than I can even begin to do here.

all pictures above © Marta Killey

Hopefully you will also be able to get along to see her work which will be exhibiting during the third annual Fishstock "Urban Festival of Seafood and Music" at Brixham on the 10th September.

The opening acoustic act, by the way, is Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin - so it should be well worth going along.

© Whitney-Anne Baker  http://whitneysweirdstuff.blogspot.com

See also Teignmouth Arts Action Group (TAAG).