“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”
― Benjamin Franklin

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace”
― Tom Paine

“Give me liberty or give me death”
– Patrick Henry

“Without Thomas Jefferson and his Declaration of Independence, there would have been no American revolution that announced universal principles of liberty”
– Christopher Hitchens

“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution”
― Thomas Jefferson

“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker”
– John Adams

“There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come!”
– Patrick Henry

“As in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other”
― Thomas Paine

“Honor, justice and humanity call upon us to hold and to transmit to our posterity, that liberty, which we received from our ancestors. It is not our duty to leave wealth to our children; but it is our duty to leave liberty to them”
– John Dickinson

“Remember officers and soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of Liberty – that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men”
– George Washington

“When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties”
― Marquis De Lafayette

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776

Binny and Clare at Sladers Yard

WHEN one of Dorset’s finest painters persuaded one of the region’s most exciting sculptors to be painted at work in her studio, the results were bound to be exciting. And they are. Journey: Binny Matthews and Clare Trenchard, Paintings of the Sculptor’s Studio, is at Sladers Yard, West Bay, until 7th March.

Inspired by Moroccan travellers and nomadic people in harsh landscapes, Clare Trenchard has convened a meeting of her “Representatives,” taller than life-size ceramic figures, who can be found approaching and gathering at Sladers Yard.

Coming to Dorset from faraway places such as the Arid Lands and the Great Plains, they are happy to live outside in the wildest weather – as has been thoroughly tested recently.

Their much smaller tabletop cousins prefer to stay indoors and can mostly be found upstairs in the gallery.

While Clare was dreaming up the Representatives, Binny Mathews painted Clare and her studio in still life paintings that work almost like landscapes. Her techniques of applying paint in visible layered brushstrokes and her colours are immensely appealing. A master of composition, she leads the viewer through the painting.

Alongside this wonderfully engaging exhibition, Sladers Yard also has a collection of ceramics, and powerful, inspirational furniture by resident designer-maker Petter Southall.