Open Now: Making Dorset at The Sherborne
29 October 2024
Building on a rich tradition of craft, design and making in the county, this major new exhibition marks the return of our Making Dorset project group presenting the very best of ceramic, furniture, silversmithing, jewellery, print, glass and textile work being produced in the county, providing an important showcase for many skilled practitioners.
This new exhibition celebrates the best of contemporary craft, design and making and features a vast array of works with a variety of approach, response and use of materials including award-winning international furniture makers such as John Makepeace OBE, Simon Thomas Pirie and Petter Southall.
Amanda Notarianni and Charlie Macpherson (Notarianni Glass) have been making award-winning contemporary glass together for 25 years. They have a passion for design excellence and an exceptional commitment to creating unique works of art. Ceramicist Victoria Jardine is a selected Professional Craft Potters’ Association member. She has taught Museum Studies at London Metropolitan University, examining how objects’ meanings can change as we move them through different environments, from home to museum or studio to gallery.
Each piece of Karina Gill’s silver is designed and handmade from her workshop in Dorset. Her work captures the transformation of hard metal into brilliant organic forms that mirror the geometry of nature. She has established a unique voice through the crafting of exquisite contemporary pieces that demonstrate her characteristic experimental approach.
Making Dorset also features other unique forms, including work by Jane Atkinson, whose practice in contemporary lace encompasses pieces designed at scale to examine aspects of the climate crisis and explorations into pattern and design to lead her lacemaking into wearable art and domestic ornament. It is an art that talks and works hard for its living.
The initiative’s relaunch also welcomes guest makers ahead of a call for new and emerging makers in early 2025.
At its inception, Making Dorset was open to professionally and/or academically trained designers and makers who had established their practice in Dorset, including trained or apprenticed emergent designers and makers. The group sought to share ideas and experiences and undertake critical reviews to explore the content and processes associated with each individual’s practice.
‘Once they get to Dorset (or return) place holds them fast. The work, whatever the medium, sings of Dorset’s holloways, chalk and faltering edges, whimbreled cloudscapes and its brilled and dabbled seas.’ Professor Simon Olding, Foreword to Fifty Dorset Makers, 2017
Exhibiting artists include:
John Makepeace OBE
Simon Thomas Pirie
Petter Southall
Amanda Notarianni
Charlie Macpherson
Victoria Jardine
Jane Burden
Martin Dickson
Karina Gill
Jane Atkinson
Artwork from Making Dorset is available to purchase through The Sherborne, and many makers are also featured in the shop.
Join us to celebrate creativity, conversation and community, now until Sunday 12th January 2025. Plan your visit on The Sherborne’s website.