FALL WITH THE CROWS: HELEN TREVASKIS AND FRIENDS…

Crows are captivating, despite being ‘common’ and ever present in the day-to-day. Known for their intelligence, resourcefulness and for their dark beauty, crows’ socio-cultural meanings are many and varied. From spiritual guides and messengers who can see into the future, to symbols of death, transformation and rebirth. It is therefore not surprising that across time, they have caught the imagination of writers, artists and makers.

From Picasso’s tender painting Woman with Crow (1904) to van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows (1890). From Max Porter’s novella Grief is the Thing with Feathers (2015), itself inspired by Ted Hughes’ landmark poetry collection Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow (1970) to iconic movie appearances, not least in Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier’s The Birds (1963).

Crows hold a particular place in our collective consciousness which helps explain the collective noun we use to describe them – Crows come in ‘murders’. 

The 18 varied visual artists, whose work appears inFall with the Crows, include illustrators, photographers, painters, sculptors, drawers, educators and former educators, artists working more conceptually, artists working more figuratively, film makers, tattoo artists and a writer or two. Many of them celebrated and recognized for their work. Each, here, presenting their own relationship with and understanding of the magic of Crows.

The exhibition was conceived of and curated by Helen Trevaskis, a Falmouth-based writer, illustrator and creative with, unsurprisingly, a love of crows. 

Helen Trevaskis was inspired to create this exhibition by her own short a story Three, which features a boy with cardboard crow wings who wants to fly. The story explores themes of loss, grief and acceptance and was published in July year in the second edition of Cornwall’s literary and arts magazine Aspier.

Helen’s book, Hope for Cornwall – commissioned in 2023 to examine Cornwall’s housing crisis, also contains images of crows. In this instance they help to populate a visual representation of Cornwall designed to complement the books narrative and to help present an egalitarian and no-blame account of Cornwall’s housing crisis. Her site-specific work for Redruth’s Writers Block continued the crow theme where crows adorn the windows of the charity’s writing space.

Helen was the founder of StreetDraw24 which over seven years saw artists take to the streets of Falmouth (and other towns in Cornwall and Devon) to draw what they saw. She was recognized for this work by being named one of the 50 Women of Cornwall by Art Centre Penryn. The Poly was central to StreetDraw24 with the idea to hold not just a drawing event but also an exhibition suggested by the Poly team!

@thetrevaskis

 www.thetrevaskis.co.uk

FALL WITH THE CROWS: HELEN TREVASKIS AND FRIENDS…

Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10th Oct 10am - 5pm

SPRING GALLERY              

FREE ENTRY, EVERYONE WELCOME! 

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