Dorset Art Weeks is back for 2022 and celebrating its 30th Anniversary
It's one of the largest open studios events in the country
Last updated 23rd May 2022
Dorset Art Weeks is back for 2022 to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The two week festival gives the public a chance to get to know over 250 artists from across the county.
You can re-discover an exciting variety of artist studios and exhibitions in unique locations and beautiful settings, and find out what the county’s creatives have been up to during such an extraordinary time.
There’s a huge amount to see this year with over 250 venues taking part, and more ways than ever to engage with the event, including open studios, public art trails and group shows from a vibrant community of artists, galleries and public spaces.
Traditional Dorset Buttons with a contemporary twist are amongst the art exhibited for this year’s Dorset Art Weeks. Watercolours created using masking tape, and photography expressing the artist’s identity also feature.
It also features a number of events including a chance to watch a willow sculptor in action, a silent movie with musical accompaniment and a Stone Carving workshop.
One of the artists taking part this year is Björk Haraldsdóttir, a ceramist near Bridport. She creates striking ceramics inspired by architecture and by Icelandic folklore.
She said told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
"Galleries are often quite intimidating for some people and there's also not that kind of personal relationship that you can actually build up with a visitor who is interested in your work.
"My work that's in galleries, I never know who's seen it, who's bought it or anything. Where as if I invite people to come into my studio you can build up a relationship, which is nice."
Dorset Art Weeks provides a unique way to make the most of Dorset's stunning countryside and coast and what it has to offer, and to discover the unexpected. Look out for the Dorset Art Weeks signs popping up across the county and pointing towards a great day out.
Paul Newman is the festival's producer, he said:
"I think it's such an amazing county that has historically, traditionally, inspired artists. It's a great place to live and make work.
"Whether that's somebody in a studio down the end of a lane somewhere, or somebody on a clifftop painting the seascapes, to installing works."
He says the pandemic has added to the way we appreciate local artists.
"We've actually got some exciting new ways of delivering the event and engaging with more people as we've made developments around digital. I think it's safe to say a lot of artists have got better at marketing their own work and realising they can also individually reach further afield themselves.
"Collectively, we're all achieving more together and I think there's more intention there to do that. I think people have realised the value of what we came to losing in a way."