Reclusive artist Thelma Hulbert's home restored as public art gallery

by Deborah Smith
(Honiton, Devon)

It is exactly what Thelma Hulbert would have wanted. After a decade confined to a first-floor room, the gallery dedicated to the reclusive artist has spilled over to fill the whole of Elmfield House, the former home of the enigmatic 20th-century painter.

Elmfield House, at Honiton, was the final refuge for Ms Hulbert, who died in 1995. Built in 1842, the Georgian-style property was grade II listed in 1972 and in its time it has served as a solicitor's and registrar's office as well as a private residence.

Thelma completed her last canvases at the property, using what is now the main gallery as her studio. Her work is the gallery's much-loved secret. Following art school in her home town of Bath, she joined Euston Road School as a secretary in 1934, when she was aged 20. It was here that her portrait was painted by the school's eminent director, Victor Pasmore, who became her lifelong friend.

After the Second World War, Thelma taught at Camden School for Girls, becoming so popular that former pupils from all over the world still seek out her last address.

Although her work is not well known, she was highly regarded by her peers.

Her reclusiveness seems deliberate. Critic Bryan Robertson described her "extraordinary personal vision" but thought that her "comparative isolation from the London art scene" was "self engendered".

Despite this reticence to take centre stage, she exhibited regularly, with a solo show at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1962, and examples of her work are owned by Tate Britain and are in private collections, including those of Rick Stein and Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant.

East Devon District Council has owned Elmfield House for 11 years, but from the first opening in 1998 to Christmas Eve 2009 the artistic delights of the gallery have been crammed into three small rooms on the upper storey of the building in Dowell Street, which was never a satisfactory arrangement for staff or viewers.

The gallery's fortunes have waxed and waned but, fortunately for Honiton, in August 2005 enthusiastic Goldsmith's graduate Angela Blackwell took the helm as curator and under her direction the gallery grew in reputation, bringing exhibitions by major contemporary artists such as Elizabeth Frink to the ancient market town.

On the basis of Angela's efforts, the gallery won a financial award from Arts Council South West and match funding from East Devon, allowing the venue to spread its wings at last.

The Thelma Hulbert Gallery, now rechristened THG, reopened this summer. sculptor Peter Randall Page officiated at the opening ceremony, which was attended by 200 guests.

The extra space means that Angela can present prestigious contemporary exhibitions from all over the UK, as well as by young people's workshops and artist's talks. Printmaker Emma Molony will exhibit in the craft shop which was Thelma's kitchen, while Gallery Two will host Special Projects by local artists, groups and schools. The largest first-floor room has been made into a learning room.

Several workshops have already been held, notably Paula Madden's Loophole, which saw more than 100 children and their parents keenly stitching imaginative creatures from recycled materials. The Learning Room will be the venue for THG's after-school youth group, who meet on Wednesdays.

A permanent selection of Thelma Hulbert's own work can also be viewed in a first-floor room, which was once her bedroom, along with an archive film of a 1962 television arts magazine, featuring Thelma talking about her life as a painter.

Admission is free and there is full wheelchair access.

For more details call 01404 45006, email: info@thelmahulbert.com or visit: www.thelmahulbert.com

For details of the Summer 2010 exhibition, please see this page