CASTcornwall

MAKE A BOAT THAT FLOATS | THINK AND MAKE Saturday 23 May Use driftwood, feathers, twigs and leaves to make a boat that floats at CAST, then make the short walk down to the Cober River with your friends and family to make it sail. 10am to 4pm, drop-in workshop Free, donations welcomed #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #thinkandmakeatcast @thinkandmakeatcast @discoverhelston @castcafe_helston

CAST-OFF 2026 DATES ANNOUNCED Our programme of free artist-led creative activities will return this summer, with sessions taking place on Saturdays from 1 August to 29 August in the walled garden at National Trust Penrose. There will be a wide range of free activities to get involved with each Saturday, including clay, woodwork, painting and water works. Details of the sessions will be announced on our website and socials in July. #castornwall #castoff #summer #helston #cornwall

Preparations for Flora Day are underway at CAST Café, Ben and Kara look forward to welcoming you. The Café will be open from 7am until 1pm for Flora Day on Friday 8 May, with last year’s popular filled doughnuts making a return, plus a selection of focaccia sandwiches and baked goods, all made in-house. The full menu is available on the Flora Day page of the Café’s website. Service will be from the counter and all food will be prepped to take away, although you are very welcome to enjoy it in the Café or on the terrace. You can also watch Siticulosa, currently screening in the Black Box. MAEVE BRENNAN | SITICULOSA 3 April to 30 May Flora Day, Friday 8 May, 7am - 1pm, free admission, all welcome Set in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southern Italy, Maeve Brennan’s film Siticulosa, 2025 is a study of a territory and of the people who inhabit it. It is part of an ongoing body of work that focuses on the global trade in illicit antiquities, some of which enter the collections of major museums. Siticulosa (meaning parched in relation to earth) traverses a landscape full of caves and looted tombs, weaving together a series of interviews with individuals including a biodynamic farmer, an art historian and a forensic archaeologist. Each speaker has a distinct relationship to the land and to the objects buried within it. #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #floraday #castcafe @castcafe_helston @discoverhelston

JAMIE HOUSE | TRANSMISSION 1 Tuesday 12 May Artist Jamie House presents an ambisonic listening event at CAST as part of his ongoing collaboration with Natural England at Goonhilly Downs SSSI. The audience is invited to experience a 10-speaker soundscape revealing the hidden sonic worlds of this extraordinary Cornish landscape. Doors open at 5.15pm. An introductory talk will precede a 45 minute listening experience in the black box from 5.45pm to 6.30pm, followed by a Q&A. An independent production by Jamie House, presented in the black box at CAST. 5.15pm - 8pm, free admission Booking essential - link in bio Film stills ‘Hidden Voices: Listening to The Land’, Jamie House (sound recordist and author). Courtesy Jamie House. #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #jamiehouse @j_aime_h

You might also like these events this month… International Dawn Chorus Day | Kestle Barton | 2 to 3 May An opportunity to camp in @kestle_barton ‘s orchard and experience a 24-hour live stream of dawn choruses around the world with artist @bram_thomas_arnold Re-awakening the Lizard | Rosuick Organic Farm, The Lizard | 4 May A celebration of nature organised by @wildlifegroundswell with talks, workshops, live music and poetry launching a movement to restore nature across the peninsula. In Conversation | Gwennap Pit | 9 May, 2pm-3pm Artist Simon Bayliss, historian Dr Peder Clark and filmmaker Senara Wilson will discuss the unlikely convergence of Ecstasy and studio pottery. @swimonbaybliss Earth and Air Festival | Tregona Chapel, St Eval | 9 to 24 May A programme of free workshops, walks and exhibitions led by Jane Darke and Andrew Tebbs, exploring St Eval’s natural history, geology, and archaeology. Ghosts of All We’ve Ever Been | Krowji | Closes 9 May A group exhibition of work by 25 artists including @liam.jolly @cescapeaseart @jesseleroy66 and @artist_lucy_willow in @krowji_ ‘s Old School House Building. Falmouth Worm Charming Championships | 16 May, 2pm A community competition led by artist @georgiagendall with trophies made by Dickon Drury, Holly Hendry and Alastair Kwan. @falmouth_worm_charming Degree Shows | @falmouthuni | 22 May to 30 May A showcase of work by graduating BA students. Taster Session | ClayTrap | 16 May An opportunity to have a go on the wheel and to learn to coil and pinch pots @__claytrap__ #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #may

MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ FERNÁNDEZ | OPEN STUDIO Wednesday 6 May from 4pm to 7pm CAST is delighted to be hosting Mariana Rodríguez Fernández for a month-long residency, which continues the studio exchange between CAST and CaSa (Centro de las Artes de San Agustín) in Oaxaca. Mariana’s work predominantly involves drawing, whether as a final output, process or archive, often in close relationship with the written word. She often draws on the intimate and vulnerable spaces of her everyday life as subject matter, exploring issues including mental health and illness. Since Mariana arrived at CAST on 7 April, she has spent much of her time walking in Helston and its surroundings. She has made drawings that incorporate cartography and present layered reflections on the landscapes she has encountered. She has also spent time in the @__claytrap__ ceramic studio, where she had made a series of clay pieces that note parallels between Helston and her home town of Oaxaca, reflecting on the various problems they face, as well as the many forms of care, humour, cultural and natural richness that exist in both places. Free, just drop in Image courtesy Mariana Rodríguez Fernández. @mariana.rdzfdz #castcornwall #helston #cornwall @casa_sanagustin #openstudio #mexico

MAEVE BRENNAN | ARTIST’S TALK Thursday 23 April This talk will follow a screening of Maeve Brennan’s film ‘An Excavation’ (2022), which investigates a series of ancient artefacts recovered from Geneva Freeport in 2014. These artefacts were looted from the territory featured in ‘Siticulosa’, the film showing at CAST from 3 April to 30 May. Both films are part of Brennan’s ongoing project ‘The Goods’, a multi-disciplinary body of work that focuses on the global trade in illicit antiquities. ‘An Excavation’ documents the work of forensic archaeologists Dr Christos Tsirogiannis and Dr Vinnie Norskov (Director of Aarhus Museum of Ancient Art) as they meticulously piece together the recovered archaeological fragments to reconstruct a series of vases made in the fourth century BC by artisans in Apulia. Maeve Brennan uses moving image, installation, sculpture and printed matter to explore the social, historical and political resonance of material and place. Her works excavate layered histories, revealing unseen structures that shape contemporary life. Tickets from £18.50, including CAST Café supper from 6pm Booking essential #linkinbio Film stills ‘An Excavation’ (2022), Maeve Brennan. Courtesy the artist. #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #film @maevekrbrennan @castcafe_helston

You might also like these events and opportunities this month. Our Garden. Growing. Making. Living | @kestle_barton | Open now An exhibition of camera-less photographs by Garry Fabian Miller. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 28 March to 14 June. @garryfabianmiller What Was I Thinking? | @auctionhouseart Redruth | Opening 10 April, 6-9pm An exhibition of work by @naomifrears including prints, painting and film. Artist Talks | Tremenheere Gallery | 19 April, 2pm-3pm Mark Kermode in conversation with artists taking part in @nsanewlyn spring show, which he curated. Curator Bank | VASW | Deadline 30 April An opportunity for artists to have one-to-one meetings to talk through work and ideas with curators working in the South West. @visualartssw Launceston Poetry Festival | 1 to 3 May Including events with @ellafrears @shuttlepenelope and @petroc_trelawny #castcornwall #cornwall

THINK & MAKE | PAPER CUTS Saturday 11 April, 10am to 4pm Free, just drop in We invite families to create vibrant paper-cut images and symmetrical designs in celebration of spring. Our learning studio will be decorated with designs inspired by some of the many folk-art paper-cut traditions practised around the world. These include Mexican papel picado, the distinctive perforated tissue flags hung on strings to celebrate festivals throughout the year; the colourful bird and flower wycinanki hung around doors, windows and freshly painted white walls in Poland; and gækkebreve, cut by children in Denmark and sent with rhymes and riddles to friends and family at Easter time. Image courtesy Lucy Grant. #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #papercuts #workshop

NOW SHOWING: SITICULOSA | MAEVE BRENNAN 3 April to 30 May Wednesday to Saturday, 10am - 4pm Free admission, all welcome Set in the Apulia region of southern Italy, Maeve Brennan's film ‘Siticulosa’, 2025 (45min) is part of an ongoing body of work that focuses on the global trade in illicit antiquities. The film unfolds through a series of interviews with individuals including a biodynamic farmer, an art historian and a forensic archaeologist, each with a distinct relationship to the land and the objects buried within it. It traverses a parched landscape of caves and looted tombs, evoking a consideration of the relationship between archaeology, geology and ecology. ‘Siticulosa’ is a study of a territory, its past and present, and the people who inhabit it. Maeve Brennan is a London-based artist and filmmaker whose practice explores the social, historical and political resonance of material and place. She will visit CAST to speak about her work on Thursday 23 April. #linkinbio Film stills ‘Siticulosa’ (2025), Maeve Brennan. Courtesy the artist. #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #maevebrennan #film

CAST CASA EXCHANGE EVENING with Charlie Duck and Mariana Rodríguez Fernández Thursday 9 April This evening celebrates the continuing residency exchange between Centro de las Artes de San Agustín (CaSa), an art centre in Oaxaca, Mexico, and CAST in Helston. Initiated in 2020, the exchange supports artists from CAST and from CaSa to spend time in a completely different working environment. CAST studio holder Charlie Duck recently spent a month at CaSa, where he worked intensively in the print-making studio, having started each day with a long bike ride into the country beyond. Much of the work made during this very productive period was inspired by the feral dogs encountered on his daily rides. Oaxaca-based artist Mariana Rodríguez Fernández will arrive in Helston on 7 April to undertake a month-long residency at CAST. Mariana’s work predominantly involves drawing, whether as a final output, process or archive, often in close relationship with the written word. She often draws on the intimate and vulnerable spaces of her everyday life as subject matter, exploring issues including mental health and illness. Tickets £18.50, including CAST Café supper from 6pm #linkinbio Image 1 Charlie Duck, CAST studio portrait by Martin Howse. Image 2 Mariana Rodríguez Fernández courtesy of the artist. @casa_sanagustin @charlie.duck @mariana.rdzfdz #castcornwall #helston #cornwall #casasangustin

Helston — what an incredible turnout! Thank you to everyone who came out in such great numbers to enjoy all the amazing ‘things’ our town has to offer. Spring has truly sprung, and it was fantastic to see the community come together. And of course, three cheers to our funders: Helston Town Council, FEAST Cornwall, and The Helston Downsland Charity. Helston Spring Thing 2026 is proudly organised by the Helston Place Shaping Board. Here are a few highlights from Friday evening at the Drill Yard and CAST Café, where the opening of Helston Spring Thing coincided with the grand opening of the new steps that connect CAST and the Museum of Cornish Life. 📸 Image credit: Nick Squire @nickjsquire #helstonspringthing #helston #cornwall @helston_place_shaping @discoverhelston @feast_cornwall @castcornwall @trevowhelston @castcafe_helston @musecornishlife #helstonplaceshapingboard #helstondownsland