Painting at the Edge: Britain’s Coastal Art Colonies 1880 – 1940
Lecture on Monday 11th May 2026 at 2:15PM
Lecturer: Alison Bevan
Venue: Larruperz Centre
Taking its title from the 2005 exhibition and publication of the same name name (for which Alison was co-curator and co-author), the topic takes in the art colonies in Newlyn, St Ives, Lamorna, Walberswick, Staithes, Cullercoats and Kirkcudbright. The artists in these far-flung coastal communities were often linked through mutual friendships made during study at the Parisian ateliers and summers spent in the French art colonies of places such as Concarneau and Pont-Aven.
Each of the British colonies was sited in a small community dependent on fishing or farming and far enough away from urban centres to retain much of their old customs and way of life, providing rich subject matter for the artists to capture in paint.
Since graduating in History of Art from Nottingham University in 1986, Alison Bevan (née Lloyd) has spent her entire career working in public art galleries. Starting out at the Graham Sutherland Gallery in her home county of Pembrokeshire, she then spent ten years organising and curating exhibitions at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, where she honed her broadcast media skills, including presenting a weekly Arts News feature on BBC Radio Wales, 1995-6.
In 1999, Alison took up the role of Director of Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance. Here she became an acknowledged expert on the Newlyn, Lamorna and St Ives artists colonies (1880-1940), a subject on which has lectured in the UK, USA and France. She raised the profile of this area of art through initiating national and international touring exhibitions, and contributing to numerous publications and television programmes, and in 2013 was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Cultural Heritage in Cornwall.
From 2013-2024, Alison was Director of the RWA (Royal West of England Academy) – Britain’s only regional Royal Academy of Art: an extraordinary historic institution whose Academicians have included leading figures of the Newlyn School and Bloomsbury Group, and today include Sir Peter Blake, Sir Frank Bowling and Eileen Cooper.
Now based in Chepstow and working as a freelance lecturer, curator and consultant, she is also Chair of Bristol Museums' Oversight Board; a Fellow of the Museums Association, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Bristol.