Finding a modern reflection in a host of Cornish classics

OPENED by Cllr John Dyer, vice chairman, Cornwall Council, and accompanied by an invitation illustrated with eight-year-old Jowan Lewis's interpretation of Norman Garstin's celebrated The Rain It Raineth Every Day, the current exhibition in Penlee House Gallery & Museum could not have had a better start.

Renowned for its top quality and highly popular exhibitions of late 19th and early 20th century Cornish art Penlee House has come up with the idea of showing how such exhibitions have inspired budding and established artists in Pictures from the golden age of British painting, inspired by local people and places It displays works by children and adults, made in response to visits to the gallery and workshops held there, alongside the original sources of inspiration. The resultant 'pairs' hang in perfect harmony and are an inspiration. It offers the chance to see such works, as Frank Bramley's Eyes and No Eyes; Elizabeth Forbes' School is Out; Harold Harvey's St Just Tin Miners, Henry Scott Tuke's Dinner time; Ambrose Rouffignac in the Sail Loft; Frank Gascoigne Heath's "Sea Birds (Gulls in Newlyn Harbour)"; and Ernest Procter's "Porthgwarra", invests this exhibition with a sense of satisfaction, an overall feeling of pleasure something akin to magic.

Penlee Inspired, together with the annual Cornwall Crafts Association's Crafts for Christmas selling exhibition, can be seen in Penlee House Gallery & Museum, from 10.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday, until January 9. Admission is free.