Art at the Shaldon Water Carnival

On the first weekend in August a unique event takes place at the mouth of the Teign. A procession of fun, odd, beautiful and down-right crazy looking boats float past the Ness to mark the biggest party in Shaldon’s calendar.

To add an extra element to this year’s Shaldon Water Carnival, a group of professional and non-professional artists are coming together to record this event as never before.
On Saturday, 3rd August, the crowds in Shaldon will be peppered with people painting, sculpting, photographing, sketching and putting to words various aspects of the day, casting their eyes over the scenes and producing spontaneous works of art. All the work produced will be then exhibited at the TAAG Centre in Teignmouth, August 9th – 16th.

This tie-in between art and a local event is a new venture by members of numerous artist groups – Teign Artists, Teignmouth Art Society, Devon Artist Network; and is intended as an avenue to engage the public more with art and contemporary artistic practises, to show that art can be accessible and relevant.

Artists living in Devon are surrounded by so much beauty that there is never any shortage of subjects to capture, nor a shortage of interesting traditions to revive or promote. It is easy enough to capture moments at a carnival or village fete with a camera, but a full artistic rendering of such a scene is a rare thing.

2012, the year of the Olympics and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee inspired many people and made them feel proud to be British, despite the weather, which perpetually strives to confuse and disappoint. This event hopes to continue those inspirational feelings and to develop a creative way of celebrating traditional, local festivals.