Monmouth based travel writer Nigel Heath paints a picture of life for the artists and crafts people of Scilly

The spectacular Isles of Scilly, beyond Land’s End, with their dazzling white sandy beaches, wild flowers, crystal clear waters and ever-changing light, have become a mecca for highly talented and creative painters and craftsmen and women.

They have all ‘washed up’ on this magical archipelago of the five inhabited islands of St Marys, St Martins, Tresco, Bryher and St Agnes from all walks of life, having been enchanted on childhood summer holidays, bewitched on first visits or fortunate enough to have been born there.

It was an out of the blue telephone call that led to an amazing change of lifestyle for potter and artist Fiona Hufton.

She had, she explained, ‘got a proper job’ retraining and working as an accountant in Birmingham after spending twenty years pursuing her first love as a pottery technician in Warwickshire.

That call, via a jobs’ agency, invited her to come for an interview. “I don’t really want to live in Devon,” she responded, as Cornwall was her first love, having spent many family holidays there.

“Well, no, it’s a bit further away than that and we’d have to fly you out for an interview!” came the intriguing reply.

That was four memorable years ago and Fiona has loved virtually every moment of her new found way of life as estate office accountant on the sub-tropical island of Tresco with all her leisure time for painting and making pots.

“I could never have imagined a more perfect place to live and work, than Scilly, with its white sand, turquoise water and the chance to embrace its wonderful island community life.

And when Fiona, who also rows for one of Tresco’s gig teams, is not in her office, she may well be found in her pottery, just behind New Grimsby Quay, where her pots are left out to bake in the sun.

Scillonian artist Richard Pearce, has a bad back to thank for his spending the last thirty years painting wonderful scenes from his studio on the small picturesque island of Bryher.

After leaving school on St Mary’s, he worked for a local farmer and was later granted a tenancy to run his own enterprise on Bryher.

“But unfortunately, after a couple of years of heavy lifting, I got a bad back and decided to try my hand at painting instead,” he recalled.

Luckily, Richard comes from an artistic family, and took to his new vocation as easily as the eye-catching Gannets plunge headlong into the sea close by in their quest for fish.

“I couldn’t produce pictures fast enough, given the time it takes oils to dry,” recalled Richard, who turned to painting in acrylic as a result, and had set up his studio in an old boathouse.

“My wife Caroline and I later opened a studio and gallery further up the hill, where we are today, but we still have the old boathouse as a gallery,” he explained.

Now he has just comleted a commission for his friend Scott Fisher, General Manager of The Karma St Martins Hotel, which overlooks a sandy beach on the neighbouring island.

Said Scott: “Our guests often ask us about the small island of Tean, which they can see from the hotel, so I thought it would be great to have a picture of the island on display,” he explained.

Emma Eberlein is an eco-artist and gallery owner living and working on the small Island of St Agnes.

She is deeply attached to the island because her mother Trudy was born and grew up there before moving to Leeds and would often return for holidays to visit family and friends.

But little could Emma have dreamed that one day she’d return to open her own gallery there!

That dream came a step closer, when she became a teaching assistant and an opportunity arose to go and work in the Scillies and to assist at schools, both on St Marys and the off islands.

It finally came true when she took over a former bulb shop on St Agnes and transformed it into her Pot Buoys Gallery.

Today she spends her time beachcombing, sanding down and painting interesting pieces of drift wood and recycling plastics into jewellery.

“Being able to finally live and work on St Agnes, which is such an inspiring and special place and my little slice of paradise, was indeed a dream come true,” said Emma.

Stained glass craftswoman Oriel Hicks had a spectacular debut commission when she opened her studio in St Marys over thirty years ago.

It was to produce a sixteen-foot-high picture of St Christopher, the patron saint of travellers, for the parish church of St Mary the Virgin.

Oriel, originally from Croydon, who studied at the Reigate School of Art, fell in love with the islands and came to work on local farms and in the tourist industry.

She met and married islander Stephen Hicks, who was then in the Merchant Navy and later returned to Scilly to operate a passenger launch.

Oriel, a mother of three, started working by herself, but in more recent years her business expanded to become the Phoenix Craft Studios, a co-operative of nine individual studios offering fused glass, fabrics, printmaking, ceramics, jewellery and much more.

Today, visitors to the islands will also discover examples of her work in the lovely old churches on neighbouring Bryher and St Agnes.

In his childhood days, artist Stephen Morris could only be described as a very lucky lad!

He grew up in Birmingham, but spent his holidays on St Marys where his uncle and aunt, brother and sister, Frank and Gwen Smith, ran the Glandore Guest House in Porthloo.

When Stephen, who loved painting and drawing, left school, he entered the world of hotels and catering where he became a manager and met his wife, Lois.

“But then Uncle Frank invited us over to Scilly to take over the Glandore Guest House to give his wife, Nan Heath, more time to paint and, of course, we jumped at the opportunity,” explained Stephen.

It was some years after Nan’s death that the family closed her studio and the guest house and reopened Glandore as apartments and a gallery for Stephen to paint full-time in his own right and since then, he has never looked back with exhibitions both at home and overseas.

Photographs by Nigel, are from the top, aerial view of St Martins, Ceramic artist Fiona Hufton, pictured far left. Karma St Martins GM Scott Fisher with Richard Pearce above and below Nigel’s hotel.