Honiton gallery awarded £9,400 to create exciting new project

A Honiton art gallery has been awarded £9,400 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards an arts project in collaboration with the East Devon AONB Partnership.

The Thelma Hulbert Gallery's new project 'From Tree to Sea', involving contemporary art and artists, revisits the work of local Victorian antiquarian Peter Orlando Hutchinson, who painted many well-known East Devon scenes.

The artists will work with coastal communities, schools, Sidmouth Museum and boatbuilder/storyteller Gail McGarva.

Gail will use her Story Boat to bring to life the heritage of East Devon's coastal communities, including Beer and Sidmouth, through creative writing, music, visual art and craft.

Free drop-in workshops will also take place during Sidmouth Sea Fest on May 18 and the Sidmouth Walking Festival, held between September 21 and 27.

The project has received an additional £3,000 funding boost thanks to a grant from the East Devon Sustainable Development Fund.

Emma Molony, THG's fundraising and marketing officer, said: "We are delighted to have secured this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the AONB's Sustainable Development Fund to be able to continue to work with East Devon AONB Partnership to link art with the natural environment."

Councillor Graham Godbeer, chairman of East Devon AONB Partnership stated: "Last year's celebration of the East Devon Way demonstrated how art can provide an inclusive mechanism for engaging everyone in our natural environment.

"We are supporting continued collaboration with the Thelma Hulbert Gallery and are really looking forward to this exciting new venture 'From Tree to Sea'."

Picture: Gail McGarva's Story Boat.