The works in this exhibition were selected from over 550 entries to the inaugural Fen Ditton Gallery Contemporary Printmaking Prize. The selection was made by a panel of expert judges, artists Nigel Hall RA and Rebecca Jewell and Curator of Prints at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Elenor Ling. Thank you to the judges for their time, knowledge and wisdom. It has been a pleasure to have your support on this project.

The Winner - Stefan Tiburcio

We are delighted to present to you the winner of the 2021 Contemporary Printmaking Prize Stefan Tiburcio, with his work Coronavirus: Stay at Home, Save Lives, Protect the NHS. The judges thought it was a powerful and well-constructed image, skilfully executed with a clever reversal of colours to frame the composition. The artist has cut the lines of this essentially linear technique to give a real sense of liveliness and energy, which speaks to our restless physical and mental states due to staying inside during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Hannah interviewed Stefan to make the announcement and find out more about him and his practice.

Fen Ditton Gallery would like to thank all the artists who entered the Contemporary Printmaking Prize and congratulate those who were shortlisted. The variety and breadth of printmaking expertise that has been showcased has been superb. We are thrilled to be able to offer a platform to such an important and specialist art form. We hope you enjoy the exhibition as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.

We are kickstarting our 2021 exhibition programme with our Spring Exhibition. Selected by Lotte and Hannah, these works reflect the start of the new season and a time for optimism.

Add art to your daily walk! We have displayed a selection of the works from this exhibition in the windows of the gallery. We hope you will enjoy browsing them as you take a walk in the beautiful village of Fen Ditton. If you see any works below that you would like to view in person, we can arrange for them to be displayed for a 'window viewing'. Contact us on info@fendittongallery.com to enquire.

This exhibition will introduce James Horton, Past President of the Royal Society of British Artists, to the gallery for the first time. We are delighted to have a selection of his oil and watercolour paintings, the subjects of which span his travels in India to his own garden.

We are pleased to welcome Frances Priest back to the gallery, with three drawings from her Grammar of Ornament series, created especially for this exhibition. Yorkshire glassmaking duo, Gillies Jones, also return with their superb glass bowls which draw inspiration from the wildflowers they encounter on their daily walks.

Other artworks include mixed media works by award-winning wildlife artist Nik Pollard and a new screenprint to celebrate the end of lockdown by Nigel Hall RA in collaboration with Kip Gresham (Cambridge Print Studio); as well as Daphne Carnegy's plant-inspired ceramics, screenprints by member of the Society of Wildlife Artists, Kittie Jones, art nouveau inspired ceramics by Lola Swain, a thoughtful study of snowdrops by Lotte Attwood and still life mixed media studies by Carmen Renwick.

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

Fen Ditton Gallery is thrilled to present an exciting collection of black and white photographs.

An era of fashion and freedom, this exhibition brings together three photographers who lived and worked in 1970’s London.

The exhibition includes unseen photographs of Mary Quant and her collection, captured by the late Tony Boase; the Japanese view of this exciting era from photo-journalist Setsuo Kato; hand-tinted photographs and the iconic Biba Nude poster by former milliner turned photographer, James Wedge.

Tony Boase (1943 - 2002)

Fashion photographer turned wood turner, Tony Boase, began his photographic career in London in 1965 and went on to spend 35 years in the industry.

Boase worked with a number of top fashion designers, including Mary Quant. Gallery owner, Lotte has worked closely with the widow of Tony Boase, Jacky Boase, to bring to life this exclusive collection of Tony’s photographs, exploring the extensive catalogue of negatives from his 35-year photography career and carefully selecting this exhibition of images we present to you today. All photographs are hand-printed by Lotte in her Cambridge darkroom.

Setsuo Kato MBE

Setsuo Kato was born in Tokyo in 1941. After studying journalism at the Waseda University, Kato worked at Keystone Press as a news photographer, before moving to London in 1970.

Since then, Kato has worked as a photo-journalist in Japanese media, covering news, tops and features in Britain and Europe, capturing such events as the wedding of Charles and Diana, the Japanese Emperor’s visit to the UK, as well as photographing leading figures in politics and the arts, including Bernard Leach and Margaret Thatcher, amongst others.

Kato’s photographs offer a unique Eastern perspective of London at a time of great change and freedom for the British people.

In 2019, Kato was awarded an MBE for his contribution to UK-Japan relations and mutual understanding through his photo-journalism. This is the first time Kato’s photographs have been shown in the UK.

James Wedge

James Wedge was born in 1939 into a working-class London family. After serving in the British Navy, Wedge studied at Royal College of Art, specialising in millinery and went on to open two boutique clothing shops on the King’s Road, Chelsea.

By 1970, Wedge had moved into photography. He was friendly with David Bailey and Terence Donovan, and was persuaded by Donovan's lifestyle – driving a Rolls Royce, with a model on his arm – to switch his career path.

Wedge spent the next thirty years as a photographer becoming highly regarded in this media, producing many iconic images which are still recognisable today, including the Biba Nude. His work has been published in books and magazines and exhibited at galleries in Europe and America.

This exhibition is the second in a series of exhibitions exploring colour that Amanda Game is curating for Fen Ditton Gallery. Each show brings together works by artists, from different disciplines, to explore how colour as both subject and medium remains a fundamental part of many artistic processes.

The first show in the series, International Blues, (June 2018) brought together Japanese ceramics, prints and tapestry. Seeing Red combines a series of abstract, luminous works on paper by Garry Fabian Miller – created through passing light through glass, liquid and paper forms by long exposures onto light sensitive paper – with glass vessels by Danish artist Tora Urup and UK glass studio Gillies Jones. As John Gage, said ‘red…is one of the primary colours of light.. and glass appears to generate and embody light itself’ something explored with great precision by each of these artists.

An intense meditation on the red spectrum is also present in an oil painting and lithograph by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, sculpture and prints by Nigel Hall, a large ceramic wall piece by Merete Rasmussen, enamel jewellery by Ann Little and vibrant oil paintings by Rosemary Cullum.

27 September - 20 October 2019

Special Event:
In Conversation and book signing with Paul Hart
Saturday 12 October, 11am - 6pm
Tickets are £5, refreshments provided
Book at landlines.eventbrite.co.uk

Fen Ditton Gallery are delighted to welcome back artist photographer Paul Hart to the gallery following the successful first introduction of his work here last autumn as part of the ‘Trees Observed’ exhibition curated by Amanda Game. Amanda has been working with Paul in the meantime to select a new series of prints from his series ‘Drained’ and ‘Farmed’ which will be exhibited in Fen Ditton this autumn. His compelling images draw us into ‘the hidden truth of the ordinary places that most of us pass by’ - Fen landscapes familiar to all of us living and working in or near Fen Ditton yet rarely presented to us in this way. Paul has had a successful past year winning the inaugural Wolf Schusitsky Photography Prize followed by a major show in London and having works selected for the RA Summer Exhibition.

In a recent discussions with Amanda about the art of photography at the newly opened, magnificent V & A photography galleries the idea was born for Paul to nominate one or two other artists whose work he admires to show a print as part of ‘Land Lines’. We were delighted at this prospect as, with both Lotte’s own background in photography and Amanda’s growing interest in the subject, Fen Ditton Gallery will be building a regular programme in this area.

Invited artists:

Mark Steinmetz is a leading Amercian photographer based in Georgia who has works in many significant public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We will be showing three prints from his ‘Pastoral’ series dated 2011 mostly images taken around Tennessee.

As with Paul’s ‘Farmed’ and ‘Drained’ ‘Pastoral’ is also a photographic book - there will be a reference copy available for viewing. Steinmetz talks of his ‘interest in the dichotomy between nature and culture’.

As his American agents Claxton Projects state: “Steinmetz has described his approach as archaeological – attuned to the ambience of the locations he shoots in, to shifts in light, to incremental changes in the atmosphere, and to the fluid nature of time itself.”

Steinmetz is showing for the first time, we think, in the UK.

Fay Godwin (1931-2005) was probably one of the UK’s most influential photographers of the UK landscape. The majority of her archive is in the hands of the British Library but we have managed to source examples of her work from two different sources. From the family of the late, great printmaker Hugh Stoneman we have two beautiful photogravures from the Remains of Elmet series, created in collaboration with the poet Ted Hughes (1979/1994).

From her own family we will have 3 silver gelatin prints from different periods of her career but all illustrated in one or other of the major publications associated with her work (Land; Our Forbidden Land; The Edge of Land and Landmarks (the 2001 Barbican Gallery retrospective). Although, as with Paul’s work, people are rarely seen in the images, traces of people’s lives, and their relationship with specific environments are embedded in the images. As the artist herself said in the preface to The Edge of Land ‘the people who speak…do so as voices in the landscape.’

Poet laureate, Simon Armitage, who wrote the preface to the Barbican catalogue, Landmarks, comments; “There seems to be a point of view but never a caption.. as with metaphor in poetry the meaning of a Fay Godwin photograph is implied rather than spelt out….”

14 - 22 September 2019

In an era of technology, the inherent importance of art in our lives is ever-more apparent. The benefits of switching off and losing yourself in a work of art that has captured your imagination are unrivalled... but where to begin?

You are invited to view this collection of contemporary artwork and prints that explore and enhance modern life.

Exhibiting artists:
Lotte Attwood
Rosemary Cullum
Nigel Hall
Katharine Le Hardy
Justin Hawkes
Felix Higham
Harriet Hoult
Iona Howard
Alice Kirkham
Roger Law

8 - 23 June 2019

Fen Ditton Gallery is excited to announce its next exhibition celebrating the importance of birds.

Birds form an integral part of the landscape and soundscape of our daily lives. Their familiar sounds and comings and goings bring pleasure and interest to people all around the world, and though they often hover at the edge or our vision, birds provide the opportunity to celebrate our deep connections with all of nature.  

The exhibition is an opportunity to view a range of works inspired by encounters with birds by talented artists who study their habits, form and character.

For time immemorial, birds have been used as environmental indicators.  They play a vital role in monitoring the health of our planet, and BirdLife International based in the new David Attenborough Building in Cambridge, maintains the Red List for birds on behalf of IUCN, and works at the forefront of bird conservation research, policy and practice.  The BirdLife Partnership is active in over 120 countries. 

One of BirdLife’s active global programmes is called ‘Forests of Hope’ and focuses on the challenges of sustaining forests which are key habitats for may threatened bird species, as well as other fauna and flora.  Forests are also important to human communities, providing a wide range of livelihoods.

In support of Forests of Hope, the Fen Ditton Gallery will donate a percentage of exhibition sales to the international work undertaken by BirdLife.

Exhibiting artists:
Norman Ackroyd, Lotte Attwood, Geoffrey Cory-Wright, John Fanshawe, Jill Fanshawe Kato, Rebecca Jewell, Roger Law, Hannah McAndrew, Amanda MacPhail, Nik Pollard, Belinda Rushjansen, Nina Sage, Lynne Strover

Jane Perryman Containing Time

A ceramic based installation at Fen Ditton Gallery

Opening times
Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 April 11am - 6pm
Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 April 11am – 6pm

Private Views
5th April and 10th April 6 – 8pm

“Jane Perryman is an internationally recognised ceramic artist and writer. Her latest body of work Containing Time is her most ambitious project to date. This multi layered exhibition is more than a physical installation; it is a journey, a collaboration, a collection of objects, sounds, thoughts and stories.”
Phillip Hughes, Director of Ruthin Centre for the Applied Arts.

Containing Time has been shown at Vessels Gallery, Boston US 2015, Korsbarsgarden Sweden 2016, then toured from the National Centre for Art & Design England to Ruthin Centre for the Applied Arts Wales and Gracefield Arts Centre Dumfries Scotland 2017 / 2018 followed by the Indian Ceramic Triennale Jaipur India 2018. 

janeperryman.co.uk

Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 December 2018
Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 December 2018

Fen Ditton Gallery is shining a festive light on artists and makers whose skill and imagination with using (and re-using) materials create beautiful works for everyday living.  

Exhibiting artists:
Norman Ackroyd; Malcolm Appleby; Lotte Attwood; Sebastian Bergne; Tord Boontje and Emma Woffenden; Clive Bowen; Buckmaster French; Robert Cooper; Susan Cupitt; Christine Grey; Paul Hart; Dorothy Hogg; Janet Powell; Ptolemy Mann; Michael Marriott; Belinda RushJansen; Jennifer Talbot; Ed Teasdale; Simone ten Hompel; Joanne Thompson; Rezia Wahid; Laura Woodhouse.

Works include a new collection of leaf prints by Buckmaster French; silver spoons and beakers by Simone ten Hompel; hand-printed photographs and photographic books by Lotte Attwood and Paul Hart and engraved jewellery by Malcolm Appleby  - reflecting our first year of exhibitions here at Fen Ditton. 

Sculptor Belinda RushJansen is showing some of her rarely exhibited wire and cast bronze animals together with new textile collections from London weavers Rezia Wahid  - whose delicate scarves upcycle Bangladesh silk saris  - and Laura Woodhouse. Ptolemy Mann will exhibit a wonderful colourfield ikat-dyed flatweave rug, developed with textile masters in India alongside Ed Teasdale’s recycled timber chest/seat.  

Fabulous party necklaces made from discarded inner bike inner tubes by leading jeweller Professor Dorothy Hogg MBE can be seen alongside a new collection of sensual silver chain necklaces by Jo Thompson.

Festive drinks are on offer helped by bottle openers made from bike parts by Michael Marriott and Studio Tord Boontje’s Transglass range of carafes, glasses and jugs fashioned from upcycled bottles. Designer Sebastian Bergne’s Candloop wire candleholders and Robert Cooper’s collaged broken china candlesticks will help the light fantastic. Domestic pottery by Clive Bowen and others will be pressed into service for sharing a few delicious homemade snacks.