Private View

IN BLACK AND WHITE

The Dorset-based monochrome collective of photographers has an exhibition in the Borough Gardens rooms in Dorchester in September, following the success of last year’s inaugural show of black and white images by artists and photographers including the distinguished portrait and still life painter Michael Taylor.

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Silver jubilee celebrations at Frome

FROME celebrates the 25th anniversary of its multi-arts festival this year – and the festival opens on 3rd July, just two days after the funeral of Martin Bax, the actor, former town and district councillor and mayor, who became one of Frome’s most loved and valued citizens. A former actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Martin…

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Painting a joyful noise at the Cathedral

THE summer 2026 exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral is Joyful Noise, contemporary art works by internationally renowned artists, on show until 25th October. The show brings together painting, sculpture, text, video and sound artworks to explore how joyful noise can affirm presence, belief, community, and care. ​The exhibition includes works by Denzil Forrester, Christine Sun Kim,…

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The treasures that lie beneath

IF you are a fan of the popular television series The Detectorists you will know that the curious and occasionally eccentric people who head out into the countryside with their metal detectors sometimes make remarkable discoveries. A Dorset detectorist discovered a beautiful Early Bronze Age mirror and another found an equally rare and exquisite crescent-shaped…

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Matilda Temperley is Patron of Somerset Art Works

MATILDA Temperley, an accomplished professional photographer who now runs Somerset Cider Brandy and Burrow Hill Cider, the businesses her father Julian founded, is the new patron of Somerset Art Works. This year the visual arts festival in September will be celebrating Somerset’s rich history and diversity under the theme of “cultural connections.” Matilda knows the…

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Constable painting takes centre stage

A PAINTING by John Constable, which has been unseen in Salisbury for more than 60 years, is finally going on show at the Salisbury Museum in a landmark moment for the institution. View of Salisbury from Harnham Ridge, a major discovery in the artist’s catalogue that has been hidden away in a private collection since…

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Bloomsbury in Wiltshire in pictures and words

WHILE the Bloomsbury set – Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell et al – is most frequently associated with their unconventional and creative lives in London and Sussex, the Bloomsbury Group also had strong Wiltshire connections, which are celebrated in the summer exhibition at Salisbury Museum in the Cathedral Close, and in a commissioned play, which will…

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Dorset Art Weeks – go with the flow

SIXTEEN days of visual arts celebration, exploring the galleries, studios and arts centres of Dorset, begins with the return of the biennial Dorset Art Weeks, this year from 23rd May to 7th June. More than 290 venues, from Highcliffe to Monkton Wykd, will have work by painters, potters, printmakers, photographers, sculptors, textile artists, makers and…

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Forest Cathedral at the tithe barn

ANYONE who has visited the great Tisbury tithe barn, now home to the Messums West contemporary art gallery, will understand why the word “cathedral” comes to mind – and the new installation, Forest Cathedral, takes this as its inspiration, creating a powerful experience for visitors to the 700-year old building, with its awe-inspiring, soaring timber…

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