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Exhibition 8 February - 15 March

Dorset Pavilion | Pride In Dorset’s Traditions, Histories, Deep Time and Visceral Land

T H E D O R S E T P A V I L I O N

Celebrating the bounty of Dorset -this exhibition challenges conventional expectations of regional art by offering a powerful, tactile, and evocative exhibition that speaks to deep time; the land: the political; the literary; and the historical.

Returning from its triumphant debut in Venice where it had over 7000 visitors from 30 countries – it presents an earthy mix of contemporary artworks from 28 artists and provides a refreshing local, visceral, raw and playful exhibition that celebrates the parish-sized thinking that is both resurgent and under threat. It highlights Dorset’s contribution to the broader art world while challenging conventional expectations of regional art.

Lost Sheep Productions has partnered with the renowned Common Ground to present established art world figures such as Andy Goldsworthy and Photographer Jem Southam alongside a traditional Tolpuddle Union Banner of the Martyrs and Bibby Stockholm by Ed Hall; with documentation of the Bibby Boys by Theo McInnes &Thomas Ralph. An exquisite fossil design by Will White; Sheep skin art work by Lower Hewood Farm; A Brexit “mourning” Murano glass work by Sophie Molins; Stills (featuring Michael Clark as a dancing sailor) by David Appleby from Bill Douglas classic film Comrades – and a film by recent Glasgow school of Art graduate Robyn Bamford; alongside weaver and ceramicist Jacy Wall; ceramicists Silva De Majo, painters Janie Fox, Jeremy Gardiner, Henrietta Hoyer Miller, Veronica Hudson, Alan Rogers, Ella Squirrel and Amanda Wallwork and Printmakers Flora Wood and Hugh Dunford Wood, and textiles by Nicholas Kalinoski. We are also thrilled to have a large-scale work by Dorset raised New York based artist Ellen Harvey from her extraordinary series The Disappointed tourist.

The is a beautiful pamphlet speaking to these themes produced by Common Ground; Little Toller books and Lower Hewood farm with commissioned essays by John Woolcott and Alexandra Blanchard that focuses on how the “The land lies in the stories; the stories lie also in the land.” And the political nature of justice and the sea.

The exhibition offers the chance to discuss important issues Elfrieda Stovin a recent Anthropology and Ecology graduate from Dorset has said of this exhibition.

“This is a space of so many connections, conversations and emotions. The creation of a space that does not simply nod to, but actively encourages conversations and connections surrounding topics of the local vs the national, rural vs urban, and importance of the networks and interconnections is exhilarating.

How can we escape such deeply rooted narratives and prejudices concerning the natural world? The works that are displayed in the pavilion, I would argue work towards a possible antidote. By connecting themselves with heritage practices such as charcoal burning, tanning, knitting, dyeing, and pottery many of the artists situate themselves within a wider context of makers and those living in conjunction with the land and its materials.

The use of art and visual culture is fundamental to questioning this inherent need to control our surroundings and the elements that we fear. As seen through the artists within the Dorset pavilion, art can be a tool for change, but this change cannot come about without conversation and open dialogue. It is this that the Dorset Pavilion facilitates”

Taking part in this exhibition is;

Alan Rogers
Alexa de Feranti /Lower Hewood Farm
Amanda Wallwork
Andy Goldsworthy
Common Ground
David Appleby
Dudley Tolley
Ed Hall
Ella Squirrell
Ellen Harvey
Fiamma Colonna Montagu
Flora Wood
Grace Crabtree
Harland Viney
Henrietta Hoyer Miller
Helen Harris
Hugh Dunford Wood
Jacy Wall
Jane Fox
Jem Southam
Jeremy Gardiner
John Hubbard
P J Harvey
Robyn Bamford
Silva de Mayo
Sophie Molins
Theo McInnes & Thomas Ralph
Veronica Hudson
Will White