DORSET ART WEEKS 2022 (14-29 MAY)

DORSET ART WEEKS 2022 DIRECTORY • 5 Dorset Art Weeks 2022 drypoint prints are quiet and mostly monochrome, and you can also explore her more recent experiments with ceramics. On the coast in West Bay, SLADERS YARD is a must (Venue 211). They are showing a selection of their artists, including paintings by ALEX LOWERY and VANESSA GARDINER, and voluptuous ceramic vessels by GABRIELE KOCK. Nearby are the studios of JENNI CADMAN, AMANDA WALLWORK, JOHN ADAM and RICHARD WILSON (Venue 210). Cadman works with fabrics and her sewing machine to make stitched wall-hangings and panels, and Wilson’s pots are suffused with freely applied vibrant colour. If you love ceramics, west Dorset is the place to visit. In Powerstock, studio potter EMILY MYERS’s classical forms in porcelain and red stoneware clay can be seen alongside LIZ SOMERVILLE’s hand coloured woodcuts and SIAN EVANS’s jewellery (Venue 255). NORRIE DE MONTIGNY (VENUE 15) FRANNY OWEN (Venue 202) takes a very different approach with her ceramics. Grouped together they have a quiet strength which is quite mesmerising. Their pale subtle colours and simple forms evoke a sense of reverie. SARAH GEE’s domestic subtly coloured stoneware is different again, although like Owen’s pots they are made for holding, objects that offer solace in an increasingly frenetic world (Venue 203). Her studio is a community teaching space where pots by apprentice potters will also be on show. If you are interested in photography go and see ALISON WEBBER’s striking monochrome images, which include a photograph of a bicycle shadow on a wall which I loved (Venue 137). As part of her latest project Through An Aspergic Lens , she reveals the way that she visualizes her world. SARAH GEE (VENUE 203) RUTH PIPER, who is based in Bristol, will be showing her paintings of plant forms emerging from dark backgrounds at BRIDPORT CONTEMPORARY (Venue 194). Her deeply thoughtful work encompasses an awareness of our place, as human beings, in the environment and meditations on the nature of reality. There is so much to see and everyone will make up their own minds about what they want to prioritise. My feeling is that this year there is a focus on sustainable practices, on work that references climate change and the environment directly or indirectly. Whatever your interests there is a huge amount of very lovely work to see, and wonderful artists who will welcome you wholeheartedly and engage you in interesting conversations about art, life and what makes them tick. Fiona Robinson DENMAN & GOULD (VENUE 160) MARTYN BREWSTER (VENUE 89) KIM PRAGNELL (VENUE 62)