“I came here not knowing anyone and have left with so many friends having met so many lovely people.” As the inaugural artist in residence at Maryport’s Shipping Brow Gallery, Felix Butterwick says he will never forget the experience.
The fine art graduate from Glasgow School of Art was chosen from 20 applicants from across the UK for the year-long residency at the gallery that opened in 2023. Felix has just rounded off his year in west Cumbria with his first show at Shipping Brow to which friends, family, supporters and other guests were invited.
“It’s a sad moment but also a happy moment. The year has been a really, really eventful one,” he says. “Part of my heart will always remain here in Maryport and west Cumbria and I will definitely be back.”
The brainchild of local art collectors Dolly and Brian Money, Shipping Brow Gallery was established to showcase collections of the late local artists Percy Kelly and William Mitchell as well as providing space for less well-known artists from Cumbria and beyond to show and sell their work. The residency to an upcoming artist was also a significant part of the gallery’s purpose.
The artist in residence position came with a new, self-contained flat in the attic of the gallery, where Felix has lived for the past year.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance again to have such a concentrated period of time to focus on my own work. It’s been an escape from reality that I will continue to use and look back on very fondly,” he said.
“It’s been amazing for my work. It’s really pushed it forward and I can’t thank Dolly and Brian enough for allowing me the opportunity.
“What it’s really done is allow me to mute a lot of the noise so I’ve been able to focus on what I wanted to paint and find value in the step away from the institution experience. It’s been a great stepping stone.”
A residency could potentially be isolating, of course. Felix says: “It’s been quite testing because you do a lot on your own, it’s just you painting. Fortunately, I’m self-motivated and the isolation has helped me find my own voice.
“I know a lot more about my work now and where it’s situated in the world. I’ve got a body of work that I really love. If it wasn’t a bit isolating, I wouldn’t have had that quite obsessive compulsion to paint and allow Maryport and west Cumbria to seep into my work.
“I work with memory and how it creeps into the way I draw and paint. I think Maryport will linger long in my memory, and it will be a muse I will continue to use.
“I’ve also collected so much imagery, sketches and photos of the harbour and the Georgian architecture and my work got more figurative as the year went on. I’ve been able to push what I thought I could do in terms of painting.”
In fact he had almost too many sketches to keep so gave one each to the gallery volunteers. “A lot are hoping it will bring them millions in the future,” he laughs.
Shipping Brow Gallery, which overlooks the harbour, is run by a registered charity called the Janet Dickson Art Foundation Trust, which has leased the building. It was previously the home of Maryport Maritime Museum, which has moved to nearby Christ Church. The charity has four trustees: Dolly and Brian, Steve Swallow, co-owner of Castlegate House Gallery, in Cockermouth, and Catherine Eve.
Brian says: “It has been a learning experience for us, a great adventure for the gallery, and Felix has been everything we hoped he would be. He’s very, very personable and has got on with everybody and the community, joining Dearham Football Club and Maryport Tennis Club.
“He helped us with five school visits. One group would go upstairs and discuss the paintings and Felix would paint with the other group so the children could get an idea that art can be a career, and if they love it to keep on doing it.
“That’s what I hoped he would do, so that art becomes part of the culture in Maryport.”
Felix was also able to share the experience with his painter and ceramicist girlfriend Lola Pilkington, whom he met in Glasgow, when she visited from her London base.
“She has absolutely loved it. Waking up here and looking out over the harbour, it’s a slice of heaven. The Solway was a massive source of inspiration for me.
“We’ve really enjoyed the pace of life here. Having always lived in a city or been attached to cities, here time slows down, not in an annoying way but in a really lovely way.
“You get into a rhythm: the rhythms of the tide, the shop opening and closing. It’s one of the things I will miss. It became my clock and I really came to understand it.”
As Felix moves on to pastures new, artist Jim Osborne has taken up the residency for the coming year. Jim was one of five shortlisted candidates last year.
Brian admits he and the team found the process of advertising the residency and deciding on their shortlist on the basis of CVs and pictures so challenging that they turned back to their original finalists.
“All five artists that we shortlisted last year were very talented and they all had stories about their courses being disrupted by Covid, which we had sympathy for.
“Felix was a new graduate whereas Jim wasn’t. We said to Jim that if he was still interested in the residency in a year’s time then we would love to have him.
Jim is from Southampton and went to art college in Falmouth. “In the morning of his interview he had gone around Maryport doing little sketches, which we thought was great,” says Brian.
Felix has some advice for his successor. “I’d say just to get amongst it. It’s a completely unique opportunity so I’d recommend keeping yourself open to all the experiences Maryport has to offer, the conversations on the streets and in the gallery.
“One of the key things of the gallery has been opening up art to a wider audience and I’d like Jim to continue the Wednesday sketch group, the workshops, working with the Brownies and going into schools.”
Felix has now moved to London with Lola. On his new challenge, he adds: “I’m excited. It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to live with my girlfriend and I have a studio lined up. I’m looking at more residencies including one in Italy I’m applying for, but I’ll never forget Maryport.”