Safe harbour
Words by Mercedes Smith
Caroline Cleave’s life is anchored to the coastal village of Port Isaac in every conceivable way.
Her family have lived here for hundreds of years, and with her three sons and her husband, Fisherman’s Friends singer Jon Cleave, she lives a truly Cornish way of life. As a painter and printmaker, Caroline works at her valley studio just a moment’s walk from the fishing harbour that has sustained this community for centuries, and when she isn’t creating artwork, she is rowing with the women’s gig team on the rolling Atlantic amongst pods of dolphins and soaring sea birds.
Caroline’s love for Port Isaac is expressed in her autumn exhibition at Polzeath’s Whitewater Contemporary. Inspired by John Ruskin’s The Harbours of England, this new collection of monotype prints focuses on the harbour as a metaphor for refuge, healing and return. Within the protective embrace of Port Isaac’s imposing breakwaters, she details boats and tangled ropes beneath hordes of wheeling seagulls, alongside its cobblestone alleys, limewashed cottages and historic stone quay, which has endured a century of ocean weather. “Protection and safety were literally built into every stone that was laid here,” Caroline says. “It is a small, isolated community, but historically its harbour has always been a safe haven for boats. Over hundreds of years, Cornish slate and granite were used to create timeless defences that have made Port Isaac strong, and also beautiful, which is why people come here. When the sea rolled in it would devastate the fishing boats, so the breakwaters and the thick walls of the fish cellars were built as a fortress, whose strength still resists the wild winter storms that hit the north coast.
“The fishermen’s cottages, too, were built safely at the bottom of the valley where we now live, all linked by little passageways and nestled together for protection. My family history is built into every fibre of this place, and for years I’ve been told stories and superstitions by the people of the village, which I weave into my work. As children we were warned against swimming past the breakwater, because of the witch who lurked in Port Isaac’s pink pool, and such stories are still shared today, linking us to the past like the echo of seagulls. That generational sound is an endless source of inspiration for me as an artist. When I row out to sea with my team in the gig, the village looks like a magical landscape, ridiculously beautiful, like a storybook illustration. That’s why, in my work, I look towards the village as I see it when I’m rowing, held in the arms of the breakwater, cradled and safe.
“I often reflect on those fishermen and travellers who, after a tumultuous sea journey, finally saw the harbour lights shining, and the sense of safety they must have felt at being home. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel, and my work has taken me to some lovely parts of the world, but I always have a longing for home. In the chaos of airports, in cars or on ferries, I feel secure and happy knowing that the journey will finally end, and I will descend the steep lane to our valley home and see the sea. Returning safely to the stillness of nature, to the owls hooting as I get into bed, and then turning the key in my studio door the next morning, I have an overwhelming feeling of peace and safety, a real and profound sense of returning.”
“This whole body of work references that idea of safe harbour. The same elements are present in harbours all around the Cornish coastline and in my monotypes – the boats, the fishing ropes, the cacophony of seagulls. The artwork Harbour, in particular, references all those things, and if you look closely there are gig oars too, inspired by my other great passion. As a collection these works express my deep love for this part of North Cornwall, in an illustrative style inspired by the visionary landscapes of Samuel Palmer, and also the Neo Romanticism of John Minton, who was a painter, illustrator and traveller. The artwork Anchored pays homage to him.”
See Caroline Cleave’s Featured Artist exhibition from 18th September to 7th October 2026 at Whitewater Contemporary Gallery, The Parade, Polzeath, PL27 6SR and at wwcg.co.uk.
