The Team

Fran has always been intrigued with textures and colour in every environment and uses her camera lens to explore these in detail. she enjoys working along themes to fully understand a particular aspect of our rich earth. one investigates the abundance of colour and pattern in flowers. Recently Fran has investigated the use of tryptic to engage the viewer more with the subtle nuances of line and textures as the eye tries to realign the images into one. her photographs are taken along the Coastal path by her home near Weymouth, in her garden and on her travels to visit family in Africa and abroad.

Fran’s latest series isolates small sections of a larger image in order to draw attention to the fascinating detail of light on water, tree bark and seeds.

Hilly trained in ceramics at Cambridge and worked as an art teacher and mother before  setting up a small studio in Surrey and now in Dorset. She creates handbuilt abstract ceramic sculptures and can be persuaded to produce thrown pieces. Hilly learnt to carve stone at the Portland Quarry Trust with Paul Crabtree and Hannah Sofar

She draws on her memories of pattern and texture from when she lived in Zimbabwe as a child and her abstract pieces are grounded in the landscape and natural world of Africa, Australia and New Zealand. She is intrigued with the possibilities contained in seed forms and the spiral pull of shells and fossils. Glazes in recent ceramic work explores the blues of sky and sea off Weymouth and Portland.

The rich carvings of unfurling tree ferns found in New Zealand were inspirational and she found this Maori saying carved into one building:

"where there is artistic endeavour- there is human dignity" and she carved these words into stone to be placed outside her studio.

Bob spent three years learning how to make baskets at evening classes under the guidance of

professional basket maker Paul Jeffrey, his friend and mentor. When the classes were

discontinued, Bob was not ready to stop making baskets as he was hooked . After moving to

Dorset, he bought a cattle trough as his soaking tank and continued to teach himself . A lifelong

secondary school teacher by trade, he also began to teach others as well, from time to time. He

particularly enjoys the process of harvesting willow, dogwood and other weaving materials for

free when he can. Using the willow as a renewable resource to produce a useful and beautiful

object gives him a real sense of satisfaction. He also enjoys the pleasure of another person taking

ownership of one of his baskets for their own use.