AN EXHIBITION which lives up to its title, With New Eyes, opens today in the Schoolhouse Gallery, Morvah made up of paintings and glasswork, by three artists showing in this gallery for the first time.

A mainly self-taught artist, Catherine Concah, who lives and works in London but has close connections with this part of the world, set up her own Kumari Glass studio 20 years ago since when she has designed, restored and installed internal and external windows and panels.

Some seven or eight years ago she became increasingly involved in hot glass techniques. She was shortlisted a few years ago for the Inspired By exhibition at the V&A Museum, London, with her cast glass Green Man.

More recently she has studied Crackle and Powder techniques alongside world-renowned glass artist Bob Leatherbarrow inventor of highly original manipulation.

She said: "My work is very experimental when working with kiln-formed glass.

"Having made the transition from traditional, stained glass methods I now enjoy the freedom of hot glass and its many possibilities.

"I love to produce unexpected textures and switch between my love of colours of the sea, to create glass with hidden inclusions such as bubbles and cracks.

"I spent much of my youth in Cornwall and I'm still greatly inspired by its rugged coastline and beautiful colours."

Whether of a rugged, glacial or soft and organic nature, the work Catherine Concah presents here is simply stunning.

Since attending Tunbridge Wells School of Art and Craft in the early 1960s, Clive Daniels has travelled extensively, spent several years in various parts of the UK as a travelling artist for hire, studied roller painting in Canada, carried out private commissions in Australia and Ireland, including a protest against poor living conditions and the treatment of workers, in Israel. For the past five years he has been living and working in Cornwall and the 11 paintings, acrylic on boards he is presenting here, from Standing Stones to Swimming under Water, convey a strong sense of the mystery and magic to be found on and beneath the surface of this ancient land.

No stranger to Penwith, although she will be known to many, having worked for a time as an operations officer at both Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, Penzance, Julia Kerrison began her working life in the theatre. She studied at Middlesex University where she gained a BA (Hons) degree in drama and theatre studies. Specialising in scenic art, puppetry and mask making, she later worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and for four years was house artist for the Trapdoor Theatre Company.

An artist whose work has been seen in this country from the Fowey River Festival to the 100 Sq Ft Exhibition, London and further afield from the US to Australia, it is not all that surprising that her 13 paintings, mainly acrylic on canvas or board with a few pastels, possess references to her theatrical background.

In common with her colleagues, she explores the hidden magic in the world around us, the hopeful signs of different worlds and secret stories taking place under our noses.

Optimism is the key word here: the corner stone of an exhibition in which all three contributing artists seek to expose the optimism and beauty in any sight or situation, encouraging us, in such bleak and cynical times, to look again, seeking the loveliness that is there for us to find if only we are willing to look.

Well worth a visit, admission is free.

With New Eyes can seen in the Schoolhouse Gallery, Morvah, 11.30am to 4pm, Thursday to Sunday, from today until February 19.