THE new exhibition at Salisbury Museum, in the Cathedral Close, is Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex, runs to Sunday 10th May. Celebrating the rich folk art, traditions and seasonal customs of Wessex, the exhibition explores how folk culture has been shaped by communities past and present.
Created by and for the people, folk culture reflects everyday life, belief and creativity. Un/Common People redefines the traditional idea of the “commoner” by revealing the extraordinary skill and imagination found in folk art made by self-taught artists and makers.
The exhibition brings together a remarkable collection of more than 100 objects from Wessex Museums (Dorset, Poole, Salisbury, Swindon, and Wiltshire), the Museum of British Folklore and private lenders. Highlights include a handcrafted Wiltshire sweetheart pincushion made by a First World War veteran; a rare ship crafted entirely from straw, reflecting Poole’s maritime heritage; and a poignant portrait by a Nigerian artist created while seeking asylum in Swindon.
Alongside the objects, visitors will experience newly commissioned films, photography and a Folk Song and Story Map that capture the rhythm of the Wessex folk calendar — from the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge to May Day celebrations in Cerne Abbas. There are also folk-themed events, including talks, guided walks and live music and collaborative projects with local schools and community groups.
Museum director Adrian Green says: “Un/Common People reveals the extraordinary creativity behind everyday folk traditions. It celebrates how Wessex’s communities—past and present—continue to shape a living, evolving folk culture.”
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The new exhibition at The Slade Centre in Gillingham is Somerset Printmakers: Past and Present. As the name suggests, it features work by both past and present members of this well-established group which was formed in 1998 by a small group of professional artists living and working in Somerset.
Current members exhibiting are Sebastian Chance; Sally Hebeler; Sue Lowe; Gail Mason; Stéphanie Max; Jane Mowat; Sarah Ward. Past members exhibiting are Bronwen Bradshaw; Pennie Elfick; Susan Gradwell; Julia Manning; Lucy Rodgers; Lisa Takahashi; Jacy Wall; Judy Willoughby.
Members use a variety of printmaking techniques – etching, screen printing, relief printing, mono-printing and more. Skills in these areas of printmaking are for some the roots of more experimental work.
Pictured: Steadfast by Gail Mason
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Tethered Lines – Matter Becoming is a solo exhibition by Somerset maker and sculptor Fiona Campbell. The show, at No 6 Bruton (High Street), features new and recent sculpture, and demonstrations.
Using reclaimed materials and labour-intensive processes, the work engages with interconnectedness, transformation and precarity through gestures of care and repair. Fiona will also be showing some of her smaller Stilt Structures. Built from found, discarded and recycled materials – wood, metal, textiles, and fragments salvaged from everyday life – the works are stitched and assembled through slow, repetitive methods, reflecting vulnerability and resilience, and celebrating the resourcefulness embedded in making.
Tethered Lines runs from 27th February to 8th March, Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.
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Bridport landscape artist Kit Glaisyer has a new exhibition of Views from Eggardon Hill, bringing together a collection of 45 paintings inspired by this magnificent Iron Age hillfort in West Dorset.
Each painting responds to a particular moment: storms moving over the valley, the evening sun breaking through cloud and illuminating the fields below, as well as quieter, more contemplative passages. Subtle changes of light and atmosphere are explored through colour, line, and many layers of paint.
The exhibition is at Kit’s studio and gallery any 11 Downes St, and is open on Saturday from 10am to 3pm.
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The spring mixed exhibition at Tincleton Gallery, in The Old School House, Tincleton near Dorchester, features work by gallery regulars, including Dorset-based artists Imogen Bittner, Kim Pragnell, Devon printmaker Mary Gillett, and Bristol-based Ruth Ander’s mono prints. There are also ceramics, sculptures and, for the first time, works by the Anglo-Intalian sculptural duo Richard Jones and Ricardo Toro.
The exhibition runs from 14th February to 12th July, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm, and weekdays by appointment.
Pictured: Rocky Inlet off East Scotland, oil on linen by Kim Pragnell.