Newsletter
This is where you can find out about forthcoming exhibitions and events where my work is shown. It is also where I may mention exhibitions I have visited, or how current work is progressing - what is happening in the studio etc.
If you would like to be included on my emailing list, please send me a message via my Contact button, subject heading 'Mailing List'. I will send out advance information about exhibitions, events and private views. I will not pass on your contact information to any one else for any other purpose.
If you would like to be included on my emailing list, please send me a message via my Contact button, subject heading 'Mailing List'. I will send out advance information about exhibitions, events and private views. I will not pass on your contact information to any one else for any other purpose.
DORSET ART WEEKS 2024
Starting on Saturday 25th May and going on until Sunday 9th June, our studio will be open every day from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm, during this amazing county-wide celebration of the visual arts.
David Brooke and I have filled the studio walls with a mixture of our work to make a feast for the eyes, and we are so happy to welcome the stunning, stylish and colourful modern stained glass designs of Light and Day Designs, which will be hanging in the studio windows throughout the event.
Do hope you can visit. We're Venue 68 in the free guide which is available from Dorset Tourist information centres and online at https://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk or you can download the Dorset Art Weeks app from Google Playstore.
We are also opening the studio on the first Saturday of the month throughout this year from 10 am to 3.30 pm. June's will coincide with Dorset Art Weeks, but we'll be open again on Saturday July 6th.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July/August 2023
This year has been marked by an exciting move into a new studio space, a return to St Michael's Trading Estate in Bridport after a period of almost five years. Although not returning to our original studio, David Brooke and I are happily settling into a much larger and lighter space at the other end of the large ex net -making factory building. It's a great space with a lot of potential for working and showing our work.
3 -12 August 2023. Coming up our annual joint exhibition at Eype Church centre for the Arts, near Bridport - Imagination Unlocked 4. Lots of new work will be on show, as well as prints and cards for sale too. Entry is free, and there is plenty of free parking on site. This is a fabulous venue and I absolutely love showing my work there.
26, 27, 28th August 2023, David Brooke and I will be opening our new studio up for our first long weekend opening. The address is Studio 11b, Riverside Studios, St Michael's Trading Estate, Bridport, DT6 3RR. Go through the blue door under the outside staircase at the west end of the building (nearest the Red Brick Cafe), turn to the left and through the double doors up to the first floor. The Studio is straight ahead. On Sunday it will be the wonderful Vintage Market, which is a monthly event, and great atmosphere, food and music and stalls.
August 2022
I've been very busy since the beginning of the year getting enough work together for the various exhibitions, and open studios, planned, so I do apologise for not keeping this newsletter as full as I had hoped. David and I had a wonderful 10 days in Wales in June, soaking up the amazing landscape and seeing the work of, and meeting, other artists living and working in Wales. Some very inspiring work.
Coming up, I am looking forward to this year's Imagination Unlocked 3 exhibition with David Brooke at Eype Church for the Arts (again!), which takes place from 20th to 27th August - DT6 6AR www.eypechurcharts.co.uk - free admission and plenty of on-site parking. We'll be there every day from 10am to 4.30pm. We're both showing new work and I will have more of my 'hands' series (see the gallery section)
Eleven or so pieces of this series will be shown at Lyme Regis Museum in the tiny 'Rotunda Gallery', which is upstairs in the tower, from 6th September. I've called the exhibition 'In Our Hands'. You need to pay for entry to the museum to see the exhibition, but you will be delighted with the museum, which is full of interest. Unfortunately there is no disabled access up to the gallery. Access is either by a narrow stone spiral staircase or a Victorian iron staircase.
May 2022
After a very successful exhibition at Eype church, I am now taking part in Dorset Art Weeks with my partner David Brooke in the studio of Elizabeth Sporne and Sally Davies in the riverside end of the tower building on St Michael's trading estate in Bridport. This goes on until Sunday 29th May. We're open from 10am to 5pm, so do pop in if you are in the area.
April 2022
It's been a busy winter getting work ready for this season. Quite a lot coming up. It all kicks off with an exhibition called Card, Chalk & Clay. I'm really looking forward to taking part with two other women artists: Jenny Penney and Naya Downes. We all pursued different careers and came to art later on in life through various paths. The title reflects the very different mediums we each use to express our creative ideas: Jenny sculpts reliefs of familiar landscapes from layers of coloured card. I've never seen anything like them before, so meticulously constructed and very lovingly conceived. Naya works in porcelain and stoneware clays to create exquisite ceramics inspired by the natural world and the nearby Jurassic Coast. I will be showing my recent still life pictures in chalk pastels, celebrating the beauty of everyday objects. It should be a really interesting and beautiful show. I hope you can visit. 30th April - 8th May. Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm; Sundays 10am - 4.30pm. Free admission and on site parking. Eype Church for the Arts, Mount Lane, Eype, nr Bridport, Dorset DT6 6AR. www.eypechurcharts.co.uk
Some of my work in the show can be found in the galleries section of this website.
September 2021
After a busy summer, taking part in exhibitions, it's time to get back to work in the studio. Thank you to everyone who came to see the exhibitions I took part in. I apologise for not putting up to date information here. I had a computer crisis! I'm continuing with the series of paintings containing my hands as part of the landscape, mainly as trees, as I hope to have an exhibition next year with these. These are in watercolour on Saunders Paper with soft pastel drawn on top. After using my favourite Bockingford Paper for years, which has a distinct texture, I have discovered that the pastels work really well on the smooth Saunders Paper, allowing more detail. I'm also getting back into still lifes in pastel on black paper, and busy stretching canvases to start some new acrylic and or oil paintings to take me through the winter. As our joint studio is so small, (still no news about returning to St Michael's, but watch this space as we hope to hear something soon), I will be painting these in our store on St Michael's (down a dead end alley), which allows me to put up my larger easel and make a mess!
A very memorable exhibition this summer was the Dame Laura Knight exhibition at Penlee House Museum and Gallery in Penzance. Hugely inspiring to see her early charcoal portraits and later looser paintings of her gypsy friends and her beloved Malvern. I love this Museum and Art Gallery, dedicated to the Newlyn School of painters and artists who have lived and worked in Cornwall. The exhibitions are always marvellous.
May 2021
After what seems like a very long winter and lockdown, we are at last able to emerge from hibernation and get to see some art! There are a lot of exhibitions coming up that I am hoping to get to see, notably the John Nash at the Towner in Eastbourne, Nina Hamnett at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex and Ben Nicholson at Pallant House. But it also means that galleries are open to show my own work, which is very welcome!
At the moment I have three new pieces in 'Spring Into Art' at Sou-SouWest Gallery in Symondsbury, near Bridport, in Dorset. This exhibition is on until 3rd May, so still time to catch it if you are in the area, or look at their website for their online shop which includes much of what is in the exhibition.
From the 1st May I will be showing with my partner David Brooke a selection of smaller pieces of work in a small exhibition space within Artyfacts Studios, 40 St Michael's Lane, Bridport. We're calling this 'Small Treasures'. I've chosen a few of the improvisations I have been working on since Christmas in watercolour and pastel, which are very zingy and colourful. There will also be greetings cards and prints for sale. Artyfacts is a great place to browse or find really interesting and unusual gifts as it is full of arts and crafts, vintage clothing, a flat cap maker and a host of other fascinating things! The exhibition runs until 15th May and is open Tues to Sat, 10 - 4pm.
On the 22 May we have the much awaited start of Dorset Art Weeks, which should have taken place last year but was postponed because of the pandemic. Fingers crossed! I will be showing my work together with David Brooke in the beautiful studio of Sally Davies and Liz Sporne on St Michael's Trading Estate. Venue 126. Check out the website to sign up for up to date information because this year there won't be a guide. A new app will be available soon, together with all the details on the website and a pull out guide in Evolver Magazine. We're open from 10 - 5 every day, so hope to see you there! All covid precautions will be in place to make your visit safe.
My first exhibition since the lockdown was eased, and galleries and venues have reopened, will be with my partner David Brooke at Eype Centre for the Arts, which is an amazing venue located in a beautiful arts and crafts church set high on a hill overlooking the sea and the stunning landscape of the Jurassic Coast. Covid precautions have been put in place so that you can enjoy your visit in safety and there is on site parking available.
On show will be my Sentinel Trees series as well as acrylic and other paintings. There will be cards for sale.
You can also see two of my Sentinel Tree Pieces at the Contemporary Art Gallery, The Space, in Symondsbury, part of Symondsbury Estate, in a pop-up exhibition of paintings which runs alongside their current exhibition 'Contemporary Crafts' until the 21st September.
I hope everyone is keeping safe and well. Since the lockdown I have been working from home, which has meant that my range of art materials has been a bit limited. I didn't have time to stock up before from either the studio or my local art shop, so I have been using whatever I could find - some tubes of gouache, a pot of silver craft enamel left over from Christmas and in the absence of any paintbrushes, I have been improvising with my make-up brushes! None of my usual work seemed to fit with what has been happening so I have just been creating patterns - using colour in a different way. I quite like the change of emphasis - absolute improvisation - but we'll have to see if this carries on when we come back. You can find more in the Galleries Section
MESSAGES
I apologise if anyone has tried to contact me via the Contact button - I am currently having problems with receiving my messages. You can also contact me at carolineireland123@hotmail.com
Monday 11th November 2019
I have just visited the current exhibition 'Autumn Open', curated by Lyme Bay Arts at The Gallery, Symondsbury Estate. Although I am a member of Lyme Bay Arts I decided not to enter work for this exhibition, having just had work in the previous exhibition,'Watercolour Magic', as I didn't feel I had anything that was suitably autumnal. I was very impressed with the range and variety of art work on show in the two spaces LBA now manages, and recommend anyone to see it if possible. It goes on until 27th November.
Starting on Saturday 25th May and going on until Sunday 9th June, our studio will be open every day from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm, during this amazing county-wide celebration of the visual arts.
David Brooke and I have filled the studio walls with a mixture of our work to make a feast for the eyes, and we are so happy to welcome the stunning, stylish and colourful modern stained glass designs of Light and Day Designs, which will be hanging in the studio windows throughout the event.
Do hope you can visit. We're Venue 68 in the free guide which is available from Dorset Tourist information centres and online at https://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk or you can download the Dorset Art Weeks app from Google Playstore.
We are also opening the studio on the first Saturday of the month throughout this year from 10 am to 3.30 pm. June's will coincide with Dorset Art Weeks, but we'll be open again on Saturday July 6th.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July/August 2023
This year has been marked by an exciting move into a new studio space, a return to St Michael's Trading Estate in Bridport after a period of almost five years. Although not returning to our original studio, David Brooke and I are happily settling into a much larger and lighter space at the other end of the large ex net -making factory building. It's a great space with a lot of potential for working and showing our work.
3 -12 August 2023. Coming up our annual joint exhibition at Eype Church centre for the Arts, near Bridport - Imagination Unlocked 4. Lots of new work will be on show, as well as prints and cards for sale too. Entry is free, and there is plenty of free parking on site. This is a fabulous venue and I absolutely love showing my work there.
26, 27, 28th August 2023, David Brooke and I will be opening our new studio up for our first long weekend opening. The address is Studio 11b, Riverside Studios, St Michael's Trading Estate, Bridport, DT6 3RR. Go through the blue door under the outside staircase at the west end of the building (nearest the Red Brick Cafe), turn to the left and through the double doors up to the first floor. The Studio is straight ahead. On Sunday it will be the wonderful Vintage Market, which is a monthly event, and great atmosphere, food and music and stalls.
August 2022
I've been very busy since the beginning of the year getting enough work together for the various exhibitions, and open studios, planned, so I do apologise for not keeping this newsletter as full as I had hoped. David and I had a wonderful 10 days in Wales in June, soaking up the amazing landscape and seeing the work of, and meeting, other artists living and working in Wales. Some very inspiring work.
Coming up, I am looking forward to this year's Imagination Unlocked 3 exhibition with David Brooke at Eype Church for the Arts (again!), which takes place from 20th to 27th August - DT6 6AR www.eypechurcharts.co.uk - free admission and plenty of on-site parking. We'll be there every day from 10am to 4.30pm. We're both showing new work and I will have more of my 'hands' series (see the gallery section)
Eleven or so pieces of this series will be shown at Lyme Regis Museum in the tiny 'Rotunda Gallery', which is upstairs in the tower, from 6th September. I've called the exhibition 'In Our Hands'. You need to pay for entry to the museum to see the exhibition, but you will be delighted with the museum, which is full of interest. Unfortunately there is no disabled access up to the gallery. Access is either by a narrow stone spiral staircase or a Victorian iron staircase.
May 2022
After a very successful exhibition at Eype church, I am now taking part in Dorset Art Weeks with my partner David Brooke in the studio of Elizabeth Sporne and Sally Davies in the riverside end of the tower building on St Michael's trading estate in Bridport. This goes on until Sunday 29th May. We're open from 10am to 5pm, so do pop in if you are in the area.
April 2022
It's been a busy winter getting work ready for this season. Quite a lot coming up. It all kicks off with an exhibition called Card, Chalk & Clay. I'm really looking forward to taking part with two other women artists: Jenny Penney and Naya Downes. We all pursued different careers and came to art later on in life through various paths. The title reflects the very different mediums we each use to express our creative ideas: Jenny sculpts reliefs of familiar landscapes from layers of coloured card. I've never seen anything like them before, so meticulously constructed and very lovingly conceived. Naya works in porcelain and stoneware clays to create exquisite ceramics inspired by the natural world and the nearby Jurassic Coast. I will be showing my recent still life pictures in chalk pastels, celebrating the beauty of everyday objects. It should be a really interesting and beautiful show. I hope you can visit. 30th April - 8th May. Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm; Sundays 10am - 4.30pm. Free admission and on site parking. Eype Church for the Arts, Mount Lane, Eype, nr Bridport, Dorset DT6 6AR. www.eypechurcharts.co.uk
Some of my work in the show can be found in the galleries section of this website.
September 2021
After a busy summer, taking part in exhibitions, it's time to get back to work in the studio. Thank you to everyone who came to see the exhibitions I took part in. I apologise for not putting up to date information here. I had a computer crisis! I'm continuing with the series of paintings containing my hands as part of the landscape, mainly as trees, as I hope to have an exhibition next year with these. These are in watercolour on Saunders Paper with soft pastel drawn on top. After using my favourite Bockingford Paper for years, which has a distinct texture, I have discovered that the pastels work really well on the smooth Saunders Paper, allowing more detail. I'm also getting back into still lifes in pastel on black paper, and busy stretching canvases to start some new acrylic and or oil paintings to take me through the winter. As our joint studio is so small, (still no news about returning to St Michael's, but watch this space as we hope to hear something soon), I will be painting these in our store on St Michael's (down a dead end alley), which allows me to put up my larger easel and make a mess!
A very memorable exhibition this summer was the Dame Laura Knight exhibition at Penlee House Museum and Gallery in Penzance. Hugely inspiring to see her early charcoal portraits and later looser paintings of her gypsy friends and her beloved Malvern. I love this Museum and Art Gallery, dedicated to the Newlyn School of painters and artists who have lived and worked in Cornwall. The exhibitions are always marvellous.
May 2021
After what seems like a very long winter and lockdown, we are at last able to emerge from hibernation and get to see some art! There are a lot of exhibitions coming up that I am hoping to get to see, notably the John Nash at the Towner in Eastbourne, Nina Hamnett at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex and Ben Nicholson at Pallant House. But it also means that galleries are open to show my own work, which is very welcome!
At the moment I have three new pieces in 'Spring Into Art' at Sou-SouWest Gallery in Symondsbury, near Bridport, in Dorset. This exhibition is on until 3rd May, so still time to catch it if you are in the area, or look at their website for their online shop which includes much of what is in the exhibition.
From the 1st May I will be showing with my partner David Brooke a selection of smaller pieces of work in a small exhibition space within Artyfacts Studios, 40 St Michael's Lane, Bridport. We're calling this 'Small Treasures'. I've chosen a few of the improvisations I have been working on since Christmas in watercolour and pastel, which are very zingy and colourful. There will also be greetings cards and prints for sale. Artyfacts is a great place to browse or find really interesting and unusual gifts as it is full of arts and crafts, vintage clothing, a flat cap maker and a host of other fascinating things! The exhibition runs until 15th May and is open Tues to Sat, 10 - 4pm.
On the 22 May we have the much awaited start of Dorset Art Weeks, which should have taken place last year but was postponed because of the pandemic. Fingers crossed! I will be showing my work together with David Brooke in the beautiful studio of Sally Davies and Liz Sporne on St Michael's Trading Estate. Venue 126. Check out the website to sign up for up to date information because this year there won't be a guide. A new app will be available soon, together with all the details on the website and a pull out guide in Evolver Magazine. We're open from 10 - 5 every day, so hope to see you there! All covid precautions will be in place to make your visit safe.
My first exhibition since the lockdown was eased, and galleries and venues have reopened, will be with my partner David Brooke at Eype Centre for the Arts, which is an amazing venue located in a beautiful arts and crafts church set high on a hill overlooking the sea and the stunning landscape of the Jurassic Coast. Covid precautions have been put in place so that you can enjoy your visit in safety and there is on site parking available.
On show will be my Sentinel Trees series as well as acrylic and other paintings. There will be cards for sale.
You can also see two of my Sentinel Tree Pieces at the Contemporary Art Gallery, The Space, in Symondsbury, part of Symondsbury Estate, in a pop-up exhibition of paintings which runs alongside their current exhibition 'Contemporary Crafts' until the 21st September.
I hope everyone is keeping safe and well. Since the lockdown I have been working from home, which has meant that my range of art materials has been a bit limited. I didn't have time to stock up before from either the studio or my local art shop, so I have been using whatever I could find - some tubes of gouache, a pot of silver craft enamel left over from Christmas and in the absence of any paintbrushes, I have been improvising with my make-up brushes! None of my usual work seemed to fit with what has been happening so I have just been creating patterns - using colour in a different way. I quite like the change of emphasis - absolute improvisation - but we'll have to see if this carries on when we come back. You can find more in the Galleries Section
MESSAGES
I apologise if anyone has tried to contact me via the Contact button - I am currently having problems with receiving my messages. You can also contact me at carolineireland123@hotmail.com
Monday 11th November 2019
I have just visited the current exhibition 'Autumn Open', curated by Lyme Bay Arts at The Gallery, Symondsbury Estate. Although I am a member of Lyme Bay Arts I decided not to enter work for this exhibition, having just had work in the previous exhibition,'Watercolour Magic', as I didn't feel I had anything that was suitably autumnal. I was very impressed with the range and variety of art work on show in the two spaces LBA now manages, and recommend anyone to see it if possible. It goes on until 27th November.