West Penwith · St Just
A Day of Land & Metal
Two studios, one granite town, and a coastline that has shaped every mark made within it.
Featuring Barbara Karn & Nicky Huxham
Why these two, why this day
Two artists, one material history
St Just is a granite town built on tin. For three centuries the ground beneath it was worked, hauled, smelted and shipped — and today, half a mile apart, two artists are still working that same ground, in their own ways, without ever having planned it together.
Barbara Karn does not buy her colour from a shop. She works with stone dust, terracotta, soil, soot and ash, built up on canvas and paper until the land itself becomes the material of the painting — not a picture of Cornwall, but Cornwall speaking through what it left behind.
A short walk away, in the old Town Hall at the top of Nancherrow Hill, Nicky Huxham paints in oil onto reclaimed copper — sheets that once had an industrial life of their own, their scratches and tarnish left visible beneath the waxed paint rather than polished away.
“One builds her paintings from the land itself. The other gives old metal a second life. Together, they are the same story, told from opposite directions.”
That's the thread behind pairing them for a single day — a deliberate double portrait of how Cornish material history still runs directly through contemporary practice here, told by two artists working less than ten minutes apart.
Barbara Karn
Built from stone, soil and ash
Old Gods
£2,000 · STONE DUST, INDIGO & ACRYLIC
West
£1,500 · TERRACOTTA, SAND & ASH ACRYLIC
Brigit's Farm
£1,200 · SOIL, SOOT & STRAW ASH
Earth Man
£750 · SOIL & CHARCOAL ON PAPER
Nicky Huxham
Oil on reclaimed copper
Revelation
£400 · WAXED OIL ON COPPER
Blue Wave
P.O.A. · WAXED OIL ON COPPER
Just Blue
P.O.A. · WAXED OIL ON COPPER
Where Is the Horizon
Sold · OIL ON COPPER PANEL
Artwork shown courtesy of the artists. Prices are the artists' own, as listed at time of writing, and may have changed.
Suggested itinerary
One day, two studios
10:00
Morning
Arrive at Studio 262 — Barbara Karn
A working studio above the town, worktables scattered with collected stone, jars of pigment, and canvases mid-conversation with the landscape outside. Barbara talks through how a material — stone dust, soot, ash — becomes a mark, then a finished painting.
12:30
Midday
Lunch in St Just
A short, easy walk into the town centre — three options below, chosen to suit the pace and appetite of the day.
14:00
Afternoon
Studio 261 — Nicky Huxham, St Just Old Town Hall
Up the stairs of the old Town Hall to a studio glowing with the deep, glossy colour of oil on copper. Nicky shows how a salvaged sheet is prepared, waxed and painted, its own history left visible beneath the work. Visitors work alongside her on a small copper study of their own to take home.
17:00
Early evening
Cape Cornwall, before dinner
A ten-minute drive to Cape Cornwall for the last of the light over the sea — the same coastline that shaped the morning's materials and the afternoon's copper, seen as one place rather than two separate stops.
Within five miles of St Just
Where to eat, between the two
Cape Cornwall Club
A relaxed, open dining room looking straight out over the cliffs at Cape Cornwall, inside a World Heritage landscape. The natural choice for the early-evening stop after Nicky Huxham's studio — proper Cornish cooking, fine wine, and a sunset most restaurants can't compete with.
Cape Cornwall · 4 min drive from St Just · Dinner, indulgent
£££
The Phoenix Café
A proper St Just café right in the centre of town, a two-minute walk from both studios — the obvious midday stop between a morning with Barbara Karn and an afternoon with Nicky Huxham. Simple, well-made food, unhurried, no need to move the car.
St Just town centre · 2 min walk from both studios · Lunch
££
The Cake Shed
A short drive out toward Bosavern, best treated as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon stop rather than a full meal — good cake, good coffee, a nice pause on the way between one studio and the next.
Bosavern, near St Just · 5 min drive · Coffee & cake
£
“Nothing on this page is more than a five-minute drive from either studio — the day is built to flow, not to be planned around.”
How the day is built
Every stop sits within a five-mile pocket of St Just — designed to be walked or driven in minutes, not planned around a map.
Flexibility, built in
Sessions with both artists are arranged directly through Cornwall Made. Lunch is a suggestion, not a reservation.
West Penwith · St Just
The route, at a glance
Total distance
Under 1 mile between both studios; all stops within 5 miles
Best suited to
Two people or a small group, one full day, any season
Season
Ideal out of season — indoor studios, coastal light in every season
This is one example day, in one corner of Cornwall
Every itinerary is built the same way — around real artists, real places, and a reason the two belong together.
Tell us who you are and what interests you
This is one example day, in one corner of Cornwall. Every itinerary is built to order — tell us what interests you and we'll be in touch to build the real one around you.