Breathing Space
- Mercedes Smith
- Jun 25
- 6 min read
Words by Mercedes Smith
Projects Twenty Two makes room for a new collection by painter Felicity Mara.
This July sees the coming together of three inspirational collaborators for an intriguing art show on the North Cornwall coast. Curator Dr Matt Retallick and art venue Projects Twenty Two present Before Summer Rain, an exhibition of Lyrical Abstraction by painter Felicity Mara. Felicity was Matt’s first choice for a solo exhibition in the summer programme at Projects Twenty Two. She is one of Cornwall’s most respected resident artists, and a painter whose 12-year tenure at St Ives’ Porthmeor Studios aligns her with history’s leading Abstract painters.
Felicity, a graduate of the Camberwell School of Art, was born in London, and was raised there and in New York and New England. Now a long-time resident of St Ives, she occupies an idyllic studio that looks out across Porthmeor Beach, where the town’s sights and sounds and mythical ‘northern light’ flood through a huge open window and inspire her paintings. “My first encounter with Felicity’s work, many years ago, left a lasting impression,” says Matt. “I’ve long said that, when the right opportunity came along, I would curate a show for her. Felicity’s paintings are truly distinctive. There’s a lightness of touch in her work that many artists aspire to, and her command of colour, space and rhythm is exceptional.”
The venue, Projects Twenty Two, is a purpose-built art space near Rock that was opened by owners Jethro and Kristie Jackson in 2024. Their inspired collaboration with curator Matt Retallick, who is also a Manchester School of Art lecturer, art historian and specialist in Cornish Modernism, brings his focus on reframing art histories to Cornwall’s newest art space. “When I take part in any project, I actively seek out fresh perspectives in order to present something that challenges expectations in a meaningful way,” says Matt, “and when Jethro and I first met, his energy and determination to do something new for Cornwall really stood out. It became clear how passionate he was, and that Projects Twenty Two could be something different.”
Jethro describes the venue as “a curated exhibition space”. “We don’t function like a traditional commercial gallery,” he explains. “Kristie and I created Projects Twenty Two to showcase the depth and contrast of work being made here in Cornwall. Our emphasis is on a collaboration between artist and curator to deliver exhibitions that draw out new aspects of an artist’s work.” For Felicity, the invitation to show at Projects Twenty Two offered her the chance to exhibit in a space with the scale and ambition to match her paintings. “I realised that it was so much more open to inventiveness than the usual gallery setting,” she tells me. “The quality of light and space fit perfectly with my studio at Porthmeor, enabling me to visualise a show where my works could relate to each other in a similar way. That was very exciting, and having the chance to work with Matt as curator was certainly a great incentive. He is someone who has seen and understood my way of working for some time and also, very importantly, the context in which it was made.”
LEFT: Felicity Mara - © Nicola Montfort
RIGHT: Before Summer Rain, 2024, 214x183cm Flashe on unprimed canvas - © Steve Tanner
“For me,” says Matt, “this was an opportunity to present Felicity’s work in a venue that gives her paintings the breathing space they truly deserve.” Matt’s curatorial style is collaborative, and draws on his academic training, his research, and his own relationship with the artist and her work. “It’s important to respond to the artist’s vision, so curation is always an ongoing exchange” he explains. “As I considered which pieces to include, how they speak to one another and what relationships they might form within the space, I kept returning to the conversations I’ve had with Felicity over the years: the time we sat with a bottle of wine discussing art while Storm Dennis rattled St Ives around us; the phone calls; the studio visits; these moments are part of the process, shaping the exhibition just as much as the artworks themselves.”
The show is titled after a poem by European poet Rainer Maria Rilke which “envelopes the summer feel of the exhibition, and also carries a sense of something imminent and unknown,” says Felicity, “which I think relates to the way I work, of not wanting to know what will happen next in a painting. My work often evolves from the very first marks I make on the canvas. It’s hard to explain where these come from – certainly not from any plan or preconception. What I’m working towards then is the point when a painting feels as if it is creating itself. This can’t literally be true, but there’s a level at which conscious intention or formed ideas disappear entirely from the process and intuition takes over.”
Conceived during the summer last year, Felicity’s new collection draws on time spent in the studio, seeing, feeling, reading and listening to the impetus all around her that is unique to her working space above the sands of Porthmeor, beside the rolling Atlantic, and amongst her books on art and poetry. “I may be triggered by words, lines from poems and certainly by music, but what excites me is to make an equivalent of my experience in visual terms, to have the freedom to express emotion and beauty in a non-literal way through the purity of colours and marks, which do not need an explanation but nevertheless communicate to people who are open to them. Although I developed through figurative work, my art has been predominantly Abstract for some years now. In the end, though, isn’t all painting abstract? The marks you make with a brush may or may not suggest things to the viewer, and you always want them to be able to experience a painting in their own way.”
Matt’s own description of Felicity’s work reflects that idea: “As the light changes, or as you move around her paintings, each seems to unfold and reinvent itself, and your eye is constantly surprised by new interactions of colour and form.”
LEFT: © Nicola Montfort CENTRE: Felicity Mara with her artwork Before Summer Rain - © Nicola Montfort RIGHT: Notation in Yellow, 2022, 127x107cm Flashe on canvas - © Nicola Montfort
In terms of the artists who have lived and worked in Cornwall before her, Felicity tells me she is especially drawn to the work of Sandra Blow and Patrick Heron, “to the different ways in which they handle colour and scale with such freedom” she says. Like Felicity, both artists worked at Porthmeor Studios. “I guess that adds to the sense of connection,” she tells me, “although once you are in the studio, you are very much on your own, immersed in your own work and its challenges. I feel a particular connection with Sandra Blow, not only for her work’s strength and originality but also because we shared a mid-European heritage. I have deep roots in Britain, but I do feel that my work is probably more European in spirit.” Other artists who remain important to her include the great American Abstract artist Helen Frankenthaler, “and Turner,” she adds, “who I think of as the first British artist to explore Abstraction”.
Matt is one of many to consider Felicity’s work an important continuation of Europe’s Abstract tradition. “Her work is very important,” he says. “It always has been. She produces paintings that are unmistakably her own, and I’m always drawn to artists who bring something fresh and compelling to the table, and Felicity absolutely embodies this. My role, as curator, is simply to present Felicity’s exceptional work with clarity and care, while leaving space for discovery. I try to let things unfold in the space, to explore the choreography of placement, the rhythm of the edit, but the final parameters are always open, and that’s exactly how I like it.” Felicity’s hope is that the show will reflect the act of painting itself, “how paintings manifest themselves, despite all one’s conscious wishes. I’ve always felt that painting shouldn’t have to shout about its intentions or be over-analysed. For me, the best painting is quiet and lives within a language of its own, which anyone can access by just looking.”
See Before Summer Rain from 4th July to 6th August at Projects Twenty Two, St Minver, Rock, Cornwall, PL27 6PY, open 10am-5pm Mon to Sat, and Sunday by appointment. The show is accompanied by a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered catalogues, including an essay by Dr Matt Retallick.
LEFT: © Nicola Montfort RIGHT: © Nicola Montfort
