Falmouth Art Gallery wins top book award
12:00pm Saturday 28th July 2012 in News
A book published jointly by Falmouth Art Gallery and Sansom & Co has been awarded the Holyer an Gof Trophy for the best book published in Cornwall in 2011.
Falmouth Frameworks was written by Brian Stewart, the late director of Falmouth Art Gallery, in partnership with leading historical frame experts, Paul Mitchell and Lynn Roberts.
Following Brian Stewart’s untimely death in 2010, the book was finished by the gallery team and designed by Steve Collinson of xgraphica.
A wide selection of historical and contemporary works from Falmouth Art Gallery’s collection was used to examine the artist’s relationship with the frame, from the early 18th Century through to the
present day.
As well as winning the overall prize, Falmouth Frameworks won its category of best work of non-fiction in which illustrations predominate.
Falmouth Art Gallery director Louise Connell said: “This is a great day for the gallery and we are all very proud of Falmouth Frameworks.
“There have been very few books on the importance of historical and artist-designed frames and Falmouth was the first public gallery to publish its groundbreaking research.
“It is a testimony to the hard work of the gallery staff that they were able to make Brian Stewart’s dream a reality under such difficult circumstances.”
The annual Holyer an Gof Awards were instigated in 1996 and are so named in memory of Redruth publisher and Cornish bard Leonard Truran, whose bardic name was Holyer an Gof – Follower of The
Smith.
Established and organised by members of Gorsedh Kernow to raise the standard and profile of publishing in Cornwall, they are an award for publishers, given for books written in the Cornish Language
or with a Cornish theme.
Each year more than 70 books are submitted by publishers from Cornwall and beyond. They are read and evaluated by a panel of readers (drawn from bards of the Cornish Gorsedh and others with
particular expertise), and the winning entries are announced at a presentation evening held at Waterstones Bookshop in Truro.
With such a rich cultural and artistic tradition in Cornwall, there is never a shortage of material waiting to be published and this year there were 12 categories to enter. Each category winner
received a Gorsedh certificate and a £50 donation to the Cornish charity of their choice.
The Holyer an Gof Trophy, presented by the late Joan Truran, is perpetual and awarded for the most outstanding entry in the competition.
Falmouth Frameworks is on sale at the Falmouth Art Gallery shop for £25.
