Two Exhibitions - One Story

For centuries, Torbay’s landscape has shaped the people, industries, and stories that define it. As part of the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark, this coastline tells a tale of deep time—of shifting continents, lost worlds, and human histories intertwined with the land. But how do we translate these vast and complex narratives into something we can feel, see, and experience?

The Geopark Artist Residency Programme was created to explore this question, inviting four artists to engage with Torbay’s Geopark designation through their creative practices. Over six months, these artists have worked closely with geologists, conservators, historians, and local communities, producing new bodies of work that respond to the landscapes, histories, and urgent conservation challenges of this unique region.

The residency programme unfolds across two exhibitions, and two venues, each exploring a distinct but connected aspect of Torbay’s heritage. The first at Torre Abbey (18th March - 18th May), featuring James Murch and Laura Segan, responds to Torre Abbey’s place within the Geopark and its ongoing restoration. Through plein air painting, experimental photography, and textiles, these works reflect on themes of degradation, preservation, and the constant tension between nature and human intervention.

Coinciding with the Geopark Festival Weekend, the second exhibition hosted at the Artizan Collective Gallery (25th May – 22nd June) brings together all four residency artists: James Murch, Laura Segan, Gill Melling, and Rachael Allain. Expanding on the themes of the first showcase, this exhibition journeys beyond Torre Abbey into marine environments, microscopic ecosystems, and human entanglements with the natural world.

Each artist has approached Torbay’s landscape from a different perspective, producing work across painting, print, photography, textiles, installation, and digital media. Their residencies have been an opportunity to engage with experts, immerse themselves in local history, and respond directly to the environments around them.

Each exhibition invites audiences to see the Geopark not just as a place, but as a living story—one that is still unfolding. Whether through painted landscapes, experimental processes, or digital interventions, the works on display ask us to reflect on our relationship with the land, the fragility of the ecosystems around us, and the future of Torbay’s most historic sites.

The Geopark Artist Residency Programme has been made possible by the Torbay Local Heritage Grant Scheme, funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Torbay Council, and the Friends of Torre Abbey. The programme is a partnership between Artizan Collective CIC, Torre Abbey, and the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark, working to explore new ways of interpreting and engaging with Torbay’s natural and cultural heritage.

We invite you to explore, reflect, and engage with these works—and to see Torbay’s UNESCO Geopark through an entirely new lens.