Press Release
23 - 25 August 2014
BRIDPORT & WEST DORSET OPEN STUDIOS 2014
Explore Bridport’s Vibrant Art Scene over the August Bank Holiday Weekend
This August Bank Holiday weekend 23 - 25 August, Bridport and West Dorset Open Studios
are celebrating their 16th Annual Open Event with 60+ artists taking place in 40+ venues.
A Free 44-page Guide of the event will be available from early August in all South West
based TIC’s, Galleries and Arts Centres and will include 7 beautifully designed Art Trail
maps of the area.
Bridport Open Studios gives both art lovers and discerning collectors an opportunity to
discover a new generation of artists – both established names and emerging talents - who
are making Bridport one of the most respected artistic centres in the West Country.
The Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios event was started by artist Caroline Ireland in
1999 and has continued every year since. The current Director is artist Kit Glaisyer.
The largest venue taking part is St Michael’s Studios which also started in 1999 in an old
warehouse on a former rope-making estate in Bridport. Providing work spaces for 25
artists, the studios have become a highly visible community of painters, designers and
illustrators. Its popularity has led a renaissance on the industrial estate with the
emergence of the Art & Vintage Quarter, with a resurgence of crafts, traditional skills,
antiques shops and creative trades.
Other great venue taking part include Sladers Yard Gallery in West Bay which is showing
painter Dan Llywelyn Hall, also sculptor Lisa Lindqvist is showing at Eype Church Centre
for the Arts, while Greta Berlin, her father Sven Berlin & daughter Zennor Box will be at
the Allsop Gallery in the Bridport Arts Centre.
As part of the Open Studios event, the popular ‘6 by 9’ group exhibition will once again be
taking place at the Chapel in the Garden venue. The exhibition consists of small works by
participating artists and is being curated by the new event Coordinator Megan Dunford.
Background to Bridport’s Art Scene:
Since the 1960’s a new generation of artists have chosen to move out of the city and set
up studios in the towns and countryside across West Dorset. At the centre stands Bridport,
a quiet market town with a uniquely enterprising and resourceful community. With a
steady influx of artists and musicians the towns artistic culture began to blossom and
supportive venues began to spring up. The Bridport Arts Centre opened in 1973 followed in
the 1980’s by the West Dorset Art School in Symondsbury - just outside Bridport - and the
adjacent Oakhayes Art Residency which ran throughout the 1990’s. The next generation of
artists soon followed in St Michael’s Studios, the Pierrepoint Gallery and Sladers Yard.
For up to date information about the event follow Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios on
Twitter @BridportOS or go to Facebook/BridportOS
Dan Llywelyn Hall Lisa Lindqvist
Mart Tebbs David Brooke