Cornish-based artist Naomi Frears currently has an exhibition on at The Harbour House in Kingsbridge.

It’s called The Days of the Future Stand Before Us and is on until June 15.

Naomi explained how she got to where she is: “I’ve been living and working as an artist since 1989 and before that I was riding a motorbike around the world and before that I was in art college in Sunderland and before that I was growing up in Leicestershire.

Ten
Ten (Naomi Frears)
Men Falling
Men Falling (Naomi Frears)

What got her interested in art: “Initially I resisted being interested because I had other plans.

“Those other plans didn’t work out.

“I wanted to be a doctor but me and science weren’t ever going to get along. 

“I could draw and I thought like an artist but I didn’t want to be an artist. 

“I just ended up going to art school, being a terrible art student then suddenly getting it and starting to work properly.

“I won a prize and realised if you wanted to get something out of it, you had to put something into it.

“I started doing that, it was rewarded and people started noticing my work.

“I find work difficult sometimes but I want to do it and walk to work with a spring in my step.”

She was a printmaker and painter but eleven years ago started making films.

“I love making films, painting and print making. I love it all and I can’t see why I have to drop any of it.”

Naomi is based at the Porthmeor Studios and the first work you come to in the gallery is called Ten and explores how people behave on a beach.

She said: “The filming took weeks and weeks because I didn’t really know what I was going to find and that’s what’s interesting about making films.

“I thought I’m going to watch people from a distance, not spy on them in a horrible way and see what happens and if I can play with time switching it using the window panes.

“The films in the panes could have been shot weeks apart but still exist alongside each other.

“I made crazy piles of notes and noticed that people point so I made it look like everybody’s pointing at the same time.

The music to accompany the work was produced by artist and musician Stuart Blakmore.

The second work is called Men Falling and the first part observes surfers as they come to the end of their ride on a wave

Naomi said: “It was a commission from Matt Burrows at the Exeter Phoenix and he asked me if I had any idea for a film.

“I had  just been watching surfers falling and this made me think about my dad dying.

“I hadn’t put those two thoughts together before.

“Covid delayed the first showing but because I had the extra time I could really concentrate on what I wanted that show to be.”

‘Kingsbridge is a new thing (for me) and I think it’s amazing what’s been done down there.”