Artist statement
Shelly Tregoning was born in Mauritius and she spent her early life being brought up in the West Indies. She was educated in England and now lives and works in Cornwall, having gained her BA in Fine Art at University College, Falmouth in 2011. She has been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Trinity Buoy Drawing Exhibition, the Discerning Eye, the National Open Art Competition, RWA exhibitions and the Threadneedle Prize Exhibition.
My work is a response to the intimacies of my life - an emotional connection to those closest to me and to fragments of the everyday that I encounter. I am trying to make sense in some way, of life and personal identity - through conversations with friends, places I have been and the things I see along the way.
Visually gathering ‘moments’ which inform my work, these drawings and scribbles create a scaffolding upon which I build my images. I don’t want simply to re-create an illustration of place or person, but rather through marks, painterly gestures and line, to express sensation and a sense of identity.
I want the physicality of paint to play its part, as it slips and slides across the surface, loaded on and wiped off until the image is anchored to its form. I feel compelled to pare down to the essential, but to do this without losing the sense of poetry - to keep things unencumbered, but not sterile. I want to convey a sense of immediacy, brevity and transience. In a quiet way I want to speak of universal truths and what it is to be emotionally connected.
Education
2007 - 2011 BA (Hons) Fine Art – University College, Falmouth
Exhibitions
The Original Print Show, Velarde Gallery, 2025
I Walked a Golden Path, Velarde Gallery, 2023
Felt at Stubbs Studio, Hampshire, 2023
Felt Collection 03 - Yorktown Workshops Hackney, October 2022
Eastwood Fine Art Autumn exhibition, Eastwood Fine Art, September 2021
In Search of our Perfect Selves, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, November 2019
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2019
Royal West of England Academy Annual Open, Bristol, September 2019
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, London and Salisbury, September 2019
Sitting Sat Standing Stood, The Picture Room, Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall, March 2019
The Columbia Threadneedle Prize, London, January 2018
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2018
Fragile, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, November 2017
The Hirsute Series, Picture Room, Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall, February 2017
You Want The Moon, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, December 2016
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2016
Little and Large, Falmouth Art Gallery, November 2016
National Open Art Exhibition, London, October 2016
Palazzo Stozzi, Florence, July 2016
Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, April 2016
The Columbia Threadneedle Prize, February 2016
Winter Print Exhibition, Newlyn and The Exchange, Cornwall, December 2015
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2015
Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition, Bristol, October 2015
Drawn, RWA, Bristol, March 2015
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2014
Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition, Bristol, October 2014
Solo Shows
In Search of Our Perfect Selves,Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, November 2019
Fragile, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, November 2017
Minimal, The Four Crows Gallery, Porthleven, September 2013
In Print, Truro Arts, Truro, July 2012
Undirected Thought, The New Street Gallery, Penzance, December 2011
Selected For
Royal Academy Summer exhibition, London, 2024, 2022, 2021
Wells Contemporary, Wells, 2024
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, (2nd Prize) London, September 2019
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, November 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2011
Royal West of England Academy Annual Open, Bristol, September 2019, 2015, 2014
The Columbia Threadneedle Prize, London, January 2018, 2016
National Open Art Exhibition, London, October 2016, 2011
Studio
Now working in the Passmore Edwards building,
3 Penrose Road, Helston, Cornwall TR13 8TP
Press
Click images below for full articles in magazines
Interview for Interalia Mag
Contact