The new Tate St Ives opens this weekend. The gallery has more than doubled in size, with almost 600 square metres of new galleries created alongside spectacular new spaces for learning activities and events.

The new Tate St Ives finally gives Cornwall’s most popular gallery enough space to accommodate the quarter of a million visitors it welcomes each year – over three times the number for which it was originally designed – who bring £11million annually to the local economy.

A bold project, the new gallery is sunk into the cliff alongside the original building and offers artists and curators a column-free space lit by six huge skylights.

[quote]The new galleries will also give a permanent presence at Tate St Ives to those iconic 20th-century artists who lived and worked in the town.[/quote]

The new galleries will also give a permanent presence at Tate St Ives to those iconic 20th-century artists who lived and worked in the town, including Alfred Wallis, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, demonstrating the role of St Ives in the story of modern art.

National Lottery money has specifically funded the creation of exciting new spaces for learning activities and events, enabling the gallery to meet growing demand. These rooms will be used for hands-on workshops and family activities plus visitors can explore archival and digital material about the art on display,

The new gallery opens with a major exhibition of new and recent work by Rebecca Warren, renowned for her exuberant, roughly-worked clay sculptures.