A little insight on our Gallery artists
Keran Sunaski Gilmore
Born in St.Ives in 1969, I have always studied art even as a child any free time was used to draw and paint. I have worked in art related areas since leaving school, illustrating books and various private commissions. Studying at Falmouth College of Art firstly for my art foundation diploma and then for my B.A hons degree. Since completing my degree I have painted full time as a professional painter, taking over Emanuel gallery in 2001, after painting for the gallery for 12 years previously.
My name is a mixture of Keran being Cornish, Sunaski which is Polish and Gilmore being Irish, a bit of a Heinz mongrel there. I am also female which is not evident from my name I know. My mothers family are all from St.Ives and were all fisher folk, my grandfather William Care, known to all as Willie Bish even wrote a book about his life and his fishing ‘My three score years and nine’. My great grandmother was known as Scottish Annie, although she had lived in St.Ives since she was in her teens following the fish around the coast, one of the kipper girls, and finally meeting my great grandfather here in St.Ives.
My father’s family were Jews who escaped persecution by leaving Poland and building a new life in the U.K, this is the religion that I follow and I have great interest in Polish and Russian expressionist work.
I tend to paint in any medium that suits the purpose of what I’m trying to achieve, I favour watercolours in an unconventional way, and I am very interested in the way the paint itself behaves under different applications. I love to paint the landscape especially in bad weather, rain, sleet, hail and gales draw me in and every storm is so unique. The light and the movement of the foliage are what I try to capture, the brief moment that will never happen again.
As my landscapes are semi-abstract to contrast this I also paint very figurative portraits usually of animals and preferably of dogs which I love dearly, this I find pulls me back to reality and keeps my work just where I want it to be at the moment. My dogs are a passion that I have had from a child and I would be in my element on a wind-swept moor land walking with my children and my pack of dogs.
It is nice that a wide audience appreciate my paintings as I have collectors all over the world from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all over the United States and throughout Europe.
The next stage in my life is to get my paintings into galleries elsewhere, I have most of my work here in Emanuel gallery and I also show at Toddies gallery in Twickenham and A-Frame gallery, Brecon, Wales.
Commissions are always welcome just ask for details
Michael Smith
Pamela McGraa was born in Wallasely in 1947. She studied art at Wallasley School of Art in 1963-65 and then went on to work in the drawing office of a flag factory in Liverpool where they made flags of all countries, she often hand painted smaller flags. In 1979 she moved to Cornwall where her roots are, and started painting proffessionally, showing her work in Mousehole, Boscastle and St.Ives. Her work appeals to buyers all over the world and she is always happy to undertake commissions through the gallery.
Pamela lives in Newlyn and paints beautifully clean watercolours, her paintings of Mousehole, Newlyn and St.Michael's Mount are subjects she greatly enjoys and knows inside out. Pamela depicts an essence of Cornwall especially the fishing boats that she captures superbly with great draftsmanship, her husband Bill has spent time at sea fishing so she had better not get those wrong or she would never hear the end of it!
Richard Blowey's time spent at sea fishing, has qualified him as an accurate and majestic painter of the ocean and its ways. His outdoor nature shows in his beautiful landscapes. A plein air painter at heart and a truly memorable character, blend these qualities together and you have one of Cornwall's finest oil painters.
Born in Plymouth in 1947. Richard left school and studied at Plymouth School of Art, after a period on the East Coast he returned to the South West in the 60's. Working from farming to fishing, whilst painting as a past time. Soon his painting was in such demand it became his profession, although he retains a great love for the outdoors in particular horses, hense he hard to tie down to studio work alone. We have many collectors from all corners of the world who buy Richards' paintings, so don't be surprised where you find his work showing pride of place.
MERILYN BRASON
- I have been captivated by the sea and all its moods since my teenage years which were spent in the Channel Islands, swimming and sailing and trying to sketch waves. Later I lived close to the shore in Australia and, yes, I surfed and studied waves from all sorts of angles! My fascination and desire to capture the movement and the power of the sea became a passion. I had no formal training in painting, and considered myself self taught, spending hours drawing and painting with water colours. In recent years however, working with an artist/tutor I was introduced to all the joy of oil painting, which I find the perfect medium for me to use. I love to immerse myself in my work, painting fast and hard in an attempt to catch the layers, light, colours, texture and movement of waves. I try to paint by the sea whenever possible, despite the hazards of wind, sand, and changing light, but most of the time I work in my studio and rely on photographs, memory and imagination to try to make the sea alive in my paintings.