A Rural Life - Exhibition & Installation by Dorset-Based Artists Karen Browning & Karina Gill At Fiddleford Manor.
Award winning artists Karina Gill and Karen Browning explore a shared experience of Dorset’s rich rural heritage through the harmony and discord of glass and metal, in an exciting creative collaboration at Fiddleford Manor in the heart of Dorset.
A large-scale installation and a craft-based collaboration that, using cast glass and silver, combines features both functional as well as sculptural. Their new collaborative work is firmly rooted in a combined and elemental connection with rural Dorset. Browning and Gill reflect on a childhood, growing up on farms, living in the countryside, making, crafting and working with hands.
Gill also presents her signature etched silver bowls and jewellery.
“Twenty years ago, I unearthed a deceptively simple and unique idea, which had the potential to develop an infinite number of variations on a single-minded theme. The idea drew influence from nature’s patterns and organic repetition – the endlessly uniform variety inspired by seed pods, fossils and ferns. It also drew on the principals of print-making and textiles, creating an outcome that is delicate yet solid, natural yet structural, simple yet confoundingly complex.”
Browning presents a new neon installation inspired by the Dorset hedgerows, alongside her new cast glass bullet hole pieces, ‘Miss Spent Youth’.
“The frozen moment of energy recording the shot is lost wax cast in black glass and gilded with 24 carat gold. A wax cast of a baked bean can was shot, then cast in glass, sandblasted for a matt finish and the bullet hole was gilded. A rural childhood spent shooting targets, cans and other debris, and an early training as a gunsmith inspired this work. I used my grandfather’s gun and bullets made by my father to create this piece.”
Karen Browning, installation and glass artist. Browning gained her degree in Architecture at Oxford Brookes University, Masters degrees in Site Specific Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art and in Glass at Swansea Institute of Higher Education. She is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Many of her pieces are held in private collections and she exhibits extensively, both in the UK and Worldwide. Browning creates dialogue and alters perceptions by playing with the key elements of glass, light and space. Her work is bold, dramatic yet intensely researched.
Karina Gill, silversmith, holds a bachelor’s degree in 3-Dimensional Design from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. Since graduation she has built up her business from her workshop in Dorset, designing and making her unique etched metal bowls, jewellery, spoons and sculptural pieces. Gill also maintains a busy schedule of exhibitions across the UK and Europe. Her work captures the transformation of hard metal into brilliant organic forms that mirror the geometry of nature. She has established a unique voice through the crafting of exquisite contemporary pieces that demonstrate her characteristic experimental approach.
In the care of English Heritage, Fiddleford Manor is a 14th Century medieval stone manor house, beautifully situated on the idyllic banks of the River Stour near Sturminster Newton, Dorset. Completed circa 1370, this ancient house is steeped in history. Over its lifetime the manor has endured many changes, but the timber roofs over the great hall are still miraculously intact and thought to be the best in Dorset. Surrounded by scenic walks, there’s plenty to do and see if you choose to spend the day here.
The exhibition is part of the Dorset Art Weeks and is open to the public every day from Saturday 22 May until Sunday 6 June, 10am - 6pm. Both admission and parking are free. No toilet facilities.
Download the NEW Dorset Art Weeks App now to enjoy a safe visit to a venue near you!
Please respect all COVID measures in place.
Fiddleford Manor, Fiddleford, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 2BX
1 mile east of Sturminster Newton off A357. There is a large, free car park at the manor.
It is a short distance from the car park via a grassed pathway. Wheelchair accessible.
Open every day, 10.00am - 6.00pm
