ARTS
By Julie Locke
VISUAL ART
During August and September, Bruton Art Society’s 67th Annual Exhibition will be online at www. brutonartsociety.co.uk. View some of the finest art in the southwest from the Society’s professional and amateur artist membership. All work in the exhibition will have gone through a selection process and will be for sale. Bruton Art Society has about 230 members which include amateur and professional artists. Thinking of joining? Membership costs just £15 per annum. For general enquiries, email secretarybrutonart@gmail.com. From Tuesday 1 to Saturday 19 September from 10.00am to 2.00pm at Ilminster Arts Centre, there is an exhibition ‘Creative Caboodle’. This is a mixed exhibition with six artists, including painting, sculpture and the ancient art of kirigami (a variation of origami that involves cutting paper, rather than folding, and typically does not use glue). Gallery is open daily, Tuesday to Saturday. Box Office 01460 54973. www. themeetinghouse.org.uk.
Creative Caboodle Exhibition From Saturday 5 to Tuesday 29 September at David Simon Contemporary, Castle Cary, there is an exhibition ‘Fragment’ by Julia Cooper. For her fourth solo exhibition at this gallery, Julia has completed a remarkable series of compositions inspired by the south coast of Cornwall. Whilst drawing on common shapes of harbours, headlands and coves, these paintings are abstracted 20
and semi-figurative. Julia constantly renders down her familiar visual territory, reducing the landscape to the simplest forms. Gallery opening times: Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 5.30pm (closed Wednesday and Sunday). For further information, phone 01963 359102 or visit www.davidsimoncontemporary. com.
From Saturday 5 to Tuesday 29 September at David Simon Contemporary, Castle Cary, there is an exhibition of ceramics by Emily-Kriste Wilcox. EmilyKriste creates vessels of a very individual and distinctive form: slab-built in earthenware, each piece raised up on an inset foot, joints not smoothed away and the rim of each piece formed from a separate length of clay. There is something painterly and expressive about the decoration of each piece. Using a cool colour palette of blues, whites and greens, her ceramics reflect the colours of the Cornish coast and exude a freshness with broad bold layers of overlapping glazes. Gallery opening times: Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 5.30pm (closed Wednesday and Sunday). For further information, phone 01963 359102 or visit www.davidsimoncontemporary. com. Until Saturday 12 September from 10.00am at ACEarts, Somerton, there is an exhibition entitled ‘Somerset’ by Jenny Graham. The series of large paintings of the five districts of Somerset was created especially for this exhibition space, and includes etchings and assemblages relating to this magnificent county. Exhibition opening times for August: Thursday to Saturday 10.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm. In September, the exhibition will also open on Wednesdays. For further information, phone 01458 273008 or visit www.acearts. co.uk. From Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October, Somerset Art Works will hold its annual
Somerset Open Studios event online. It will be a digital extravaganza, including a special 16-day programme of online workshops, talks, studio tours and events! Through an interactive brochure, visitors will be able to curate their own tours of artists’ works, see into studios and hear how they develop their work through films. Audiences will be invited to get hands on and interact with artists through a programme of talks, workshops, demonstrations and artists’ films hosted on Somerset Art Works’ website. Look out for the online guide in late August. For further information, visit www.somersetartworks.org.uk. From Saturday 19 September to Sunday 24 October from 10.00am at ACEarts, Somerton, there is an exhibition entitled ‘Towards the Tipping Point’ by Rebecca Bruton and Lydia Needle. Environmental textile artists present an exploration of consumption versus the earth’s finite resources. Exhibition opening times: Thursday to Saturday 10.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm. For further information, phone 01458 273008 or visit www. acearts.co.uk.
Towards the Tipping Point Exhibition From Tuesday 22 September to Saturday 10 October from 10.00am to 2.00pm at Ilminster Arts Centre, there is an exhibition ‘Same Skies’. Vanessa Worrall and Vicki Gillow, two painters from Cornwall and Devon, exhibit works influenced by the landscape of the west country, its wild seas and skies.
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Gallery is open daily, Tuesday to Saturday. Box Office 01460 54973. www.themeetinghouse. org.uk. Until end of September from 10.00am to 4.00pm in The Hanging Chapel, Langport, is a new Pop-up Gallery. The spectacular thirteenth century Hanging Chapel has been made available as the backdrop for the Hanging Gallery by kind permission of the Portcullis Lodge of Freemasons and Langport Town Trust. The gallery showcases the work of David Sims, a resident of Langport, who has been nominated for British Landscaper Photographer of the Year 2020 in two categories. The pieces are inspired by the wildlife and light of the Somerset Levels. His work is created on different mediums, including metal, aluminium, wood and paper. Viewing is by appointment; only two people maximum and social distancing at all times. Book via Facebook or Instagram or by phone (07850 997671). The Wild West collection is now available to order via the Facebook online shop. ACEarts Virtual Exhibitions ‘In Search of Northern Soul’ by abstract artist Leonard Green explores the energetic movement in the dances related to Northern Soul music. Powerful dynamic compositions overlaid with gestural drawing. Jenni Dutton’s ‘The Dementia Darnings’ explores the effects of ageing and dementia using wool and thread. These current virtual exhibitions can be viewed at www.theabsentgallery.co.uk/ acearts. ACE stands for Art Care Education. As a charity they aim to provide art and creative activity to inspire, empower and enable people to develop and grow.
MUSIC
Concerts in the West (CinW) is launching an online series of concerts. The website will be updated with full details about the series (look for the
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