Gone fishin’

There was definitely something fishy going on here throughout the summer of 2008, when we held a series of special events and activities in connection with our ‘A Fish Sale…Explored’ exhibition!

The show enabled us to take a new look at one of our best-loved paintings and gave us loads of inspiration for children and adults alike!

We ran a number of family-friendly workshops during the summer holidays where children and their parents were able to get creative and make willow sculptures, fisherfolk peg dolls, embroidered fish, baskets, sea creatures and fun art. We also held a special storytelling session in the Museum and a large-scale event at the Guildhall called ‘Fish, Ships and Wonderful Wildlife’ where attendees made postcards, scrap ships, ropes and knots!

For adults, we offered a series of lunchtime talks that offered new insights into the life of artist, Stanhope Forbes. His painting, ‘A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach’ and how the life and times of the harbour in Newlyn in the late 1800s influenced the artists who painted there. We also ran an ‘Introduction to Plein-Air Sketching’ workshop where attendees could learn more about and have a go at the techniques favoured by artists such as Forbes, Henry Tuke and Walter Langley.