Courtyard café opens at Sladers Yard, West Bay The café not only adds a missing element to West Bay, it completes the appeal of Sladers Yard as a destination for art lovers. The wonderful old wooden interior of Sladers Yard houses a large and spectacular exhibition space showing and selling high quality local and nationally acclaimed artworks. The project is the brainchild of the local designer and craftsman, Petter Southall, whose sculptural steam bent oak furniture is on show.
The new exhibition is Five on Form which brings together five artists in different media unified by a passion for line, form and texture and what happens in the spaces in between. The five are friends and colleagues of long standing, which has encouraged the elusive Tim Nicholson to show and sell his joyous paintings. Nephew of the famous Ben Nicholson, who was also often reluctant to part with his work, Tim lives near Cranborne and paints stylised witty landscapes, birds and still lives in vibrant colours.
He has also made prints of paintings done in the forties by his mother EQ Nicholson. She was an acclaimed textile designer and her paintings, rather like Tim’s, show an accomplished use of pattern and decoration while portraying her domestic subject matter in a playful and sophisticated way.
Alongside these stylised landscapes are the photographs of Portesham-based Ian Chapman, whose pictures of lines and marks in the Dorset landscape, particularly the ridgeways above Abbotsbury, provoke awareness of the past and the fragile future of our surroundings, recording them in memorable, almost abstract visions.
The same awareness of the contours of our beautiful countryside can be seen in 3-D with the work of sculptor Keith Rand. Using traditional hand tools he carves away solid timber to reveal interlocking and delicate-looking forms, reminiscent of both the hills and the wild grasses that grow on them.
This brings us full circle back to Petter Southall’s work, inspired by the same hills and mirroring many of the sculptural forms, yet incorporating them in functional practical pieces of furniture.
‘We want to promote awareness of the quality and provenance of objects so people feel confident to spend money on real artworks that will stand the test of time. There are so many excellent artists inspired by this beautiful area we want to show them off!’ says Anna Powell, who curates the exhibitions.
Sladers Yard
West Bay Road, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset
DT6 4EL
T: 01308 459511
