Perceptions is a new exhibition exploring how five local artists, each with their own individual styles and skills, perceive and interpret different aspects of the world around them. Exhibiting their work are artists Edward Hall, Mary Noon, Juliet Giron, Vivienne Littley and textile artist Heather Coley.

EDWARD HALL

After a career as a chartered landscape architect, moved to West Dorset in 2017 to devote serious time to painting, working from his own studio. He now draws his inspiration from the dramatic coastal and inland landscapes of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast and has exhibited in Bridport and Lyme Regis. In the ‘Perceptions’ exhibition, he is showing his most recent ‘Dorset Landscapes’, not previously exhibited, along with a selection of work from his ‘Portraits of Golden Cap’ series. All paintings are in oils. 

HEATHER COLEY

Heather is a textile artist who is inspired by colour and texture both in natural and man made environments. She uses many different processes to express her interpretations of the things which excite her. Mixed media, hand and machine embroidery, felt and paper making and a variety of surface decoration are all possible in her 2d and 3d work.

MARY NOON

Mary has been a practising artist since 2015. She moved from Surrey to West Dorset in 2018, and having retired at the end of 2021, she now has more time to devote to her interest in art.

Mary is intensely interested in texture and this tends to dominate her more recent work. Her colour palette is often limited, instead using texture as the emphasis. Her more recent work has seen a movement towards collage and collagraphs, the latter being prints made from a collaged plate. Her subject choice is varied, though there is a tendency to return to seascapes and landscapes, taking inspiration from the beautiful Dorset countryside and Jurassic coastline.

Acrylic paints permit the dramatic representations of wild seas, with texture worked into the acrylic, while watercolour is treated in an untraditional manner, often combining this medium with gesso or masking fluid to allow light and textures to be created. Mary continues to experiment and consequently, her work is continually evolving. This, combined with a varied subject matter is represented in the exhibition’s eclectic mix.

Mary also works in textiles. Her interest in textures have led her to move from dressmaking to patchwork which lends itself to adding further textures through quilting. 

JULIET GIRON

Juliet is a Devon based watercolour/mixed media artist, inspired by the sea after living in Cornwall for many years. Juliet now lives in and is inspired by the beautiful Devon countryside and works from a studio in the garden, interspersing her painting with gardening whilst waiting for the paint to dry.

VIVIENNE LITTLEY

Vivienne has always been interested in art – but a relocation to the Jurassic Coast in 2017 with her two daughters was the inspiration to start painting in a professional capacity.

Vivienne’s artwork is wonderfully diverse, ranging from intricate pen and ink portraits to larger, abstract acrylic canvases. Her paintings have a calm, often ethereal, non-literal quality. The intention is to convey a sense of peace and tranquillity and she often utilises the effects of iridescent and metallic mediums to create light and depth that varies when viewed from different angles.

The exhibition runs from Friday 26 April until Thursday 2 May and is open daily from 10am until 4:30pm.