Barbara Hepworth

Whilst in St Ives I paid a visit to Barbara Hepworth's Sculpture Garden.  It was pouring with rain so not ideal conditions for photography. In any case, although I like her work, I'm not that interested in just reproducing her sculptures in two dimensions - you can look online for that! I was fascinated by her studio which has been preserved just as it was left on the day of her death - 20th May 1975. You can see the calendar reflected in the mirror.  There is something fascinating about seeing an artist's place of work - the tools, the props, the bits and pieces of work in progress or unfinished and discarded.  It is as though we are being allowed into the artist's very personal space, their inner sanctum, a place of creativity and innovation.  In this case, I like how the outside world, in the shape of the garden, melds with the interior to create an almost double exposure.

Wandering around the garden, I was struck by the forms and shapes of the natural world - trees, plants, snails, rocks.  Hepworth's work is full of organic curves and swirls and her work was inspired by the beauty of the Cornish landscape.  There was even a beautiful grey cat which guided me round like some smoky familiar!