With a shiny new catalogue, 266 venues and more than 500 artists and makers showing their work to the public, Dorset Art Weeks 2024 promises more than ever before for locals and visitors alike.
Artists across the whole county will be unveiling new work and sharing their ideas and inspiration, often in surprising or yet-to-be-discovered places. Visitors can enjoy printmaking, painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, jewellery, wood, metalwork, glass and textiles as well as many other artforms and processes.
The diverse range of artists and makers includes Jane Fox showing figurative paintings, drawings and prints from 37 South Street in Bridport; Boo Mallinson, also from Bridport whose abstract paintings are inspired by memories and observations of the natural world; furniture and metalwork made by Alex Brooks in Wooton Fitzpaine and stained glass from Jude Alderman in North Allington, Bridport.
Liz Somerville and Emily Myers will be showing Liz’s highly illustrative drawings, watercolours and prints as well as Emily’s ceramics in North Eggardon Farm. While Anne and Flora Roberts will show paintings and wallpaper at Wall Farm outside Broadwindsor.
From Brian Rice and Jacy Wall’s work at Lower Heewood farm to Greta Berlin’s sculpture at Fishpond near Bridport there is an amazingly diverse range of work on show at this year’s Dorset Arts Weeks.
A new exhibition curated by DVA and featuring Dorset artists celebrates the county’s unique biodiversity in a partnership with Durlston Country Park National Nature Reserve. ‘The Instinct of Hope’ (venue 173) examines Dorset’s rich and precious ecology, focussing on the locations and terrain that artists explore which make the county so distinctive.
The Sherborne (venue 1) is Dorset’s major new venue for the arts. The exhibition, ‘Housework’, weaves together elements of Sherborne House’s past, and marks the start of a new programme of cultural activity. As well as a specially curated show in the Georgian and medieval parts of the building, there will also be a new sculpture trail with a variety of works in the terraced grounds.
Information about each of the venues can be found in the very popular Dorset Art Weeks Guide. With 30,000 copies located at cultural outlets across Wessex. Full venue details are also available on the Dorset Art Weeks website, along with an online flipbook of the Guide and events calendar.
The Dorset Art Weeks App can be downloaded (search for Dorset Art Weeks on Google Play and the App Store), and is ideal for navigating to venues, creating a favourites list or finding nearby venues.
Instagram: @dorsetartweeks dorsetartweeks.co.uk dorsetvisualarts.org
