Home, Head, Hands, Heart, Human

Our summer exhibition celebrated the work of three artists and the joy of hands making, dyeing and stitching textiles. These specially commissioned works graced our evolving exhibition space, exploring the delicately temporal quality of organic materials in a domestic setting.

Our painterly palette serves as a backdrop to a hanging installation created by floral artist Bex Partridge. Made from British grown larkspur and honeysuckle vines, the organic display welcomes you to follow its metamorphosis as the flowers evolve over time. The display challenges visitors' view of what is dead and what is dried and shows that all stages of life are to be celebrated and appreciated.

A series of dyed textile weavings by artist Susie Gillespie sat alongside limited edition bouquets of waxed linen roses handcrafted by Lola Lely from the candle and textile production waste of WAX Atelier. The abstract and dynamically textured runners crafted by Susie Gillespie followed the traditions of prehistoric textile production, making use of hand-dyed fibres grown and harvested by the artist herself.

The gallery rooms were bathed in pink and filled with garden roses and other seasonal floral delights, echoing two new bespoke colours created for our Solstice exhibition. ‘Coming up Roses’ - a rusty aged brown - takes inspiration from the ephemeral beauty of the garden rose as it comes to the end of its life. A natural pink, ‘Ice Cream’ is a dedication to simple pleasures, reminiscent of a cooling treat in the dog days of summer.