High expectations

Interior of High Cross House with If I am left handed, I will of course reverse the sources
by James McLardy

Designed by the Swiss-American architect William Lescaze and completed in 1932, High Cross House was built for William Curry, the first headmaster of the progressive Dartington Hall school in Devon. Taken over by the National Trust in 2012, it's now being used to show period furnishings alongside a rolling programme of exhibitions and residencies. It will be interesting to see how this develops as, at the moment, two very different approaches are battling it out across the salmon-pink sofas.

'Legacy: Five Schemes First Variation' curated by Carl Slater features work by Gwenael Belanger, Blue Curry, Karen Henderson, James McLardy and Richard Stone. It builds on Slater's ambitious 2011 show 'Vessel', which brought together a range of international work to comment on Plymouth's post-war regeneration. Offering contemporary reflections on Modernism, 'Legacy' is a perfect show for this space; I just wish it could have been larger and less compromised.

'Legacy' shows alongside maritime paintings by by Anthony Amos, as well as a range of ceramics by Leach Pottery's lead potter Jack Doherty and glass by Fabrizia Bazzo. With their Southwest connections and focus on craft, these artists sit well within the Dartington setting, and they're certainly popular with the Sunday afternoon visitors. This show follows safely in the footsteps of numerous commercial galleries across the region and, if this is the way High Cross House wants to go, it needs stop flirting with ideas-led shows at the same time. Both are valid, but they just don't mix.

However, the 'artists in residence' in the 'studios' upstairs need much more careful thought. With the exception of Sarah Scaife, who is using the opportunity to address the notion of home with participation from visitors, these are not meaningful residencies. While not wanting to deny any local artist the opportunity to work and sell in these superb surroundings, I feel the whole venture panders to the public myth of artists' practice in a most unhelpful way.

These are not studios, they are showrooms where the artists (currently including two painters and a woodworker) occasionally sit, presumably noodling at some unimportant part of their work while chatting to visitors. It edits out the dirt, the mess, the sweat and the focus required to make good work. Instead it presents professional art practice as some kind of cosy, sociable hobby that can be pursued in a carpeted room with a view. No wonder people think we shouldn't be paid.

'Legacy: Five Schemes First Variation' - 12 January - 3 March, 2013
http://www.karst-projects.org/hxh.html

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/high-cross-house/

Current artists in residence are Sarah Scaife, Natalie Outhwaite, John Puckey and John Anderson.