Tom Kaniok reimagines Kingsbridge in Harbour House exhibition

Opening Celebration: Thursday April 2 2026, 6pm - 8pm, Harbour House Ground Floor Gallery

Exhibition: Friday April 2 - Saturday June 20 2026, Tues - Sat (10am-5pm), Harbour House Ground Floor Gallery

Over the past year, Kaniok has visited Kingsbridge many times, exploring the town through walking, observing, writing, and making. The exhibition grows directly from this sustained engagement, showing how repeated time spent in one place can deepen perception and shape artistic response. Across the exhibition, Kaniok will also lead four free community workshops, open to all, extending the project beyond the gallery.

Exploring ecology, climate change, memory, and belonging, Mud Makes The Revivalists draws on ideas of animism—the sense that landscapes are alive with presence. Here, place is not a passive backdrop but an active force, capable of shaping how we feel, think, and act. Through drawing and painting, Kaniok examines the natural elements we are drawn to and what those connections reveal about our relationship with the land.

The exhibition traces the stages of his evolving response to Kingsbridge. Beginning with creative writing, his process moved into oil paintings on wood, graphite drawings, and large-scale watercolours. Each medium marks a shift in understanding, forming a record of how the town gradually unfolded through attention.

Raised beside the Fal River and now living on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, Kaniok brings lived experience of working landscapes into dialogue with this estuary town. His work moves between memory and observation, linking past and present while reflecting on how relationships between people and place change over time.

Recurring local motifs anchor the exhibition, including the central bus station, the estuary riverbed, and the rare fan mussel. Together, these sites reveal how built spaces and natural ecologies shape our sense of place—and how landscapes can be felt, remembered, and reimagined through art.

Head of Engagement at Harbour House, Beth Richards, shares: “Tom Kaniok’s practice invites us to slow down and listen to the land around us. By working so closely with Kingsbridge, Mud Makes The Revivalists reflects Harbour House’s commitment to environmental practices that connect art, ecology, and community.”

The exhibition is supported by The Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust and Arts Council England.

Surrounding Events:

Opening Celebration: Thurs 2 April 2026, 6pm - 8pm, Harbour House Ground Floor Gallery

Exhibition: Fri 2 April - Sat 20 June 2026, Tues - Sat (10am-5pm), Harbour House Ground Floor Gallery

A hands-on workshop led by artist Tom Kaniok combining apple tree grafting with imaginative drawing.

An evening woods walk and drawing workshop led by artist Tom Kaniok developed in collaboration with The Deer Wood Trust.

A family estuary walk and drawing workshop for all ages, led by artist Tom Kaniok.b

Join Tom Kaniok online or in person, to discuss his exhibition at Harbour House