Somerset Reacquainted Tour Exhibition

4 August – 11 September

When a crisis like Covid-19 strikes upon us, like nothing before, we turn our minds to the forces of nature around us. Artists find fascination in our natural world, landscape and history; reimagining the future, bringing new ideas and looking at our world in different ways. The exhibition brings together new works by more than 20 Artist Members of Somerset Art Works, featuring painting, photography, sculpture, video, sound and mixed-media work responding to the climate emergency, conservation and biodiversity.

Participating artists: (A – Z last name)

Tom Baskeyfield https://www.tombaskeyfield.co.uk
Bronwen Bradshaw https://bronwenbradshaw.wordpress.com
Fiona Campbell http://fionacampbellart.co.uk
Bronwen Coe https://www.bronwencoe.net
Sara Dudman http://saradudman.com
Jon England https://somersetartworks.org.uk/artists/jengland
Pennie Elfick https://pennieelfick.co.uk
John Gammans https://www.johngammans.co.uk
Jenny Graham https://www.jennygraham.co.uk
Janette Kerr https://www.janettekerr.co.uk
Carolyn Lefley http://www.carolynlefley.co.uk
Pauline Lerry https://paulinelerryartist.com
Stephanie Max https://stephanie-max.com
Jenny Mellings https://jennymellings.com
Paul Newman https://paulnewmanartist.com
Jessica Palmer http://jessicapalmerart.com
Molly Rooke https://www.molly-rooke.com
Lotte Scott http://lottescott.co.uk
Miriam Sheppard https://www.miriamsheppard.co.uk
Pauline Rook http://www.rookphoto.co.uk
Milly Rowland https://www.instagram.com/milly_salvin_
Jacy Wall https://jacywall.co.uk
Grażyna Wikierska https://www.grazynawikierska.com

Part of the Somerset Reacquainted Tour, a series of exhibitions and participatory events initiated by artist Sara Dudman and Somerset Art Works, working in collaboration with artists and venues across Somerset, exploring the diverse artistic practices of artists in the county, within and beyond the Covid-19 restrictions. Each of the exhibitions include writing, images and objects from the original Somerset Reacquainted, plus new work from individual artists and collaborations.

Somerset Reacquainted Tour is presented by Somerset Art Works, in partnership with ACEarts, Yeovil Art Space, Brewhouse Theatre & Art Centre, and Art for Life at Musgrove Park Hospital.

Website: somersetartworks.org.uk/somersetreacquainted/tour

About Somerset Reacquainted

Responding to the challenges artists were facing at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020, artist Sara Dudman and Zoe Li from Somerset Art Works called for artists to refresh their engagement with nature, locality and community, using ideas of reacquaintance as a starting point to discover and re-discover excitement and purpose in their artistic practice. 63 artist members took part in the project through a process of cascaded invitation, and were asked to create something to share on Instagram. The printed version of the original sharing, alongside a collection of objects and original artworks were first exhibited at Somerset Rural Life Museum between September 2020 – January 2021.

‘The title Somerset Reacquainted suggests an existing yet latent familiarity with Somerset, both as a place and as a community. The project encouraged artists to refresh their engagement with their own locality and to seek in it a catalyst for evaluating their role as artists and for testing the boundaries of their art. The archive of artworks which resulted can be considered as a time-capsule of emotions and responses from a remarkable moment in our history, a collaborative document about a rural county in isolation.’ – Sara Dudman & Zoe Li

Somerset Reacquainted is part of the Artist Development Programme of Somerset Art Works, funded by Arts Council England.

Website: somersetartworks.org.uk/somersetreacquainted
Instagram: @somerset_art_works #somersetreacquainted