Meet the Artists

Join us on Saturday 18th September to meet artists and members of The Group of Artists, Kevin Tole, Rita Smith and Tony Aldrich. The three will be with us at Venue 153 of Devon Open Studios to discuss their work and practice and meet audiences out on the trail.

About the Exhibition

Artizan Collective Gallery is excited to welcome the esteemed 21 Group of Artists to Torbay for Devon Open Studios, the first time the group will exhibit collectively for the event.

Formed in 1967, the 21 Group of Artists is now one of the longest established groups of exhibiting professional artists in the South West. In 1963 the painter Harry Pye organised the first of a series of Open exhibitions at Torre Abbey in Torquay. These annual exhibitions, entitled simply VISION, showed selected work by artists from all over South Devon. The more committed painters whose work was invariably selected included, amongst many others, Beryl Clark, Elsie Holliwell, Kenneth Fernee, Jane Prout, Joyce Earle, Colin and Rosemary Bigwood, Christine Raikes, and Vincent Wilson. In 1966 the Vision exhibition confined itself to invited artists only, many of whom were outstanding painters. That exhibition, presenting the work of a nexus of fine artists, prompted Harry Pye to think in terms of consolidating their connection within a regular exhibiting group. Thus, in 1967 the 21 Group of Artists was born.

More than fifty years on, the 21 Group is one of the longest established exhibiting groups in the South West. Its members are now drawn from a wide area stretching from beyond Exeter in the east, to Cornwall in the west, and northwards towards Okehampton.

The 21 Group presents two or three exhibitions of professional work each year in the south Devon and surrounding areas, but this will be their first time returning to the group's formative town for many years.