- Venue
- The Malthouse Gallery
- Starts
- Friday, July 1, 2022
- Ends
- Thursday, July 7, 2022
- Address
- Town Mill Courtyard, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3PU
- Location
- South West England
- Organiser
- Alison Shelton Brown - curator
Working in a variety of media – ceramics, painting, photography, basketry, textiles, jewellery and metalwork – these creatively diverse people offer their interpretations of the word ‘Flotsam’, how it relates to their respective practices and, in turn, how this can be communicated and expressed. Josie Purcell turns cyanotypes into delicate paper flowers which historically were floated on water as ceremonial offerings. Sam Isaacs repurposes salvaged materials, often from the shoreline, to produce unique lighting solutions.
‘Flotsam’ can also be a term directed at people as well as objects, so this exhibition also hints at the notion that people themselves can sometimes feel overlooked, superfluous or washed-up. However, the artist’s role has always been – in part at least – that of a mouthpiece for the trends and mores of society as a whole; this exhibition therefore offers the viewer a chance to reflect on and resonate with these responses.
All works on show will be for sale at affordable prices and there will be opportunities to meet some of the artists during the Private View on Saturday 2nd July. There will also be a series of workshops and demonstrations during the week, giving an insight into their making processes. Weave your own willow Berry Basket with Jenny Gracie, or try eco-printing a silk scarf using locally foraged plants with Alison Shelton Brown.
As well as the works of the ten participating artists, there will be a rare chance to see and purchase work by the late master potter Robin Welch, with whom Daniel Richardson, one of the exhibitors, collaborated on a number of occasions. If Proust was right (above), these items can indeed be seen as what is left behind after one man’s navigation of the turbulent ocean of a life.
So, please come along to get inspired, get involved and to get affirmation that, in these times of struggle and hardship, none of us is alone in wanting to see beauty through adversity.
‘I refuse to accept the idea that ‘humankind’ is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround them’ Martin Luther King
