Carole MCDOWALL (1944) Unnamed Collage Mixed media and oil on canvas, signed and titled, Royal West of England Academy label verso, 153cm x 160cm.
Carole McDowall studied printmaking and sculpture at Putney Art School from 1973-1978, during which time she had work chosen to exhibit at the Royal Academy summer exhibition, 1975, and later she gained a Fine Art Degree in Painting from the Sir John Cass School of Art in the mid-1980's. She was a part of a group of artist based in and around Porthleven in the late 1980's. At this time, Porthleven had become quite a centre for artists. The Acme studios provided 6 large studios some of which were subdivided and shared, with Jeremy Annear amongst the painters to take a studio there, with Bryan Ingham also moving to a studio at this time.
The OYOYOY dinner party almost became an institution amongst Porthleven artists in the late eighties. It usually took place with about eight or ten artists in a first floor flat in Penair House overlooking the mouth of the harbour (which incidentally was rented to the artists by Daphne McClure) or at John and Carole McDowall’s home. The evenings consisted of a really good meal, lots of Bulgarian red wine and intense art discussion usually winding up just before dawn! These discussions were passionate, heated and noisy and on these occasions one of the artists was appointed to chair. There were many creative spin-offs from these evenings. One of the consequences of these evenings was the formation of the Cobalt Group, which formed around 1989 to challenge and question the given work processes of its members in daylong workshops at the Acme Studios in Porthleven. The members of the group were Carole McDowall, Ralph Freeman, Roy Walker, Russ Hedges, and Jeremy Annear.
Carole and her associates have been referred to as third-generation Cornish Modernists, began by Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth and following on from the likes of Peter Lanyon and Terry Frost. Other artists referred to in this third generation include Anthony Frost, Micheal Finn, Tony O’Malley, Jeremy LeGrice, Daphne McClure, Jeremy Annear, Russ Hedges, Ralph Freeman Steve Dove, Roy Ray, John Clark, Clive Blackmore, Simon Averill, Roy Walker, Bob Devereux, John Emmanuel, Bob Crossley and Andrew Lanyon.