Maxine Whitbread-Abrutat

Maxine Whitbread-Abrutat is a Cornish artist living on the wild North Atlantic coastline in ‘Rose’ Perranporth, she has been inspired from a young age by the beauty of the Cornish landscape.

She did her early studies at Falmouth School of Art in 1984 before gaining a BA Hons Degree in Fashion and Design at Cheltenham College of Art, followed by a short time working as a children’s wear designer in London. Maxine then completed a PGCE at De Montfort University in Art and Design, returning to Cornwall to start a career in education lasting 26 years.

More recently she returned to her studies to reinvigorate her practice with her focus being, the questioning of ‘Perceptions and Journeys through landscapes’, graduating in 2016 from Falmouth University with a Master of Fine Art. Her practice questions the power, structure, and beauty of the Cornish landscape, looking at the nature of its sweeping energy and ravaged appearances. The 20th century Cornish artists such as Peter Lanyon, Margo Maeckelberghe, Wilhelmina Barns Graham and the more recent artists, Jeremy Gardiner, and Carolyn Genders, have encouraged her to explore ways of capturing the climate and interpretation of the Cornish coastline, expressing changes of weather, temperature, and light.

Much of her work explores a starting point that entices the viewer to consider the texture of landscape, light, colour, and mood of the surrounding environment. ‘As an artist, I want the viewer to question where they are within the landscape and what they might experience’. Maxine works with a variety of materials including, acrylics, oils, inks, paper, and canvas focusing on layers and surface texture, working to capture realism and abstraction in her work.