St. Ives

St. Ives is probably the best known town in Cornwall, mainly because it was the home of famous mid-20th C artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. (Though it also has a lovely, spacious beach and much colorful foliage.) We spent yesterday visiting museums and otherwise wandering around the town.

The beach was sunny and reasonably warm, but there was a stiff breeze, so people built elaborate wind-screens.

There's an extensive program for training kids how to board-surf.

The Tate has a branch in St. Ives. Here a docent is explaining a stained glass window by Patrick Heron to a group of school children,

Affiliated with Tate St. Ives (and the main reason the branch is there) is the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Museum and Garden. The garden is particularly lovely.

A 20 minute walk up the hill leads to the Leach Pottery. Bernard Leach pioneered in bringing Japanese-style pottery to the western world, Many famous potters, including Minnesota's Warren MacKenzie, trained with Leach. This room contains some of the first kilns built by Leach and Hamada after Japanese models.