Upcoming events.
The Ballad of Shirley Collins
This Guy Fawkes Night please join us for a special screening of ‘The Ballad of Shirley Collins’ with director Rob Curry.
The documentary, which begins with scenes from the Lewes Bonfire, celebrates folk traditions and music from East Sussex to the 'Deep South' of America. Rob Curry and Tim Plester's follow-up to the award-winning documentary ‘Way of the Morris’ is a creative response to the life of musical icon Shirley Collins, which tells the story of the singer who lost her voice and traces her attempts to regain it at the age of 80 after not singing for almost 40 years.
The film intertwines this tale with the story of her formative years, with particular emphasis on a legendary trip she made around America with her then-lover, the pre-eminent ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax.
Rob will introduce the screening and be on hand to answer your questions about his work in film and theatre direction….at last, some ‘indoor fireworks’ to get excited about!
(Image by permission of Fifth Column Films)
Get your tickets here.
Martin Shaw, INIS OIRR (Inner-Seer)
In the middle of last winter the writer and artist Martin Shaw braved a three day storm to go pilgrimaging on the smallest of the Aran Islands. This is a gathering of drawings, paintings and recordings responding to the adventure. Dr Martin Shaw is an acclaimed teacher of myth and author of the award-winning Myth teller trilogy. He founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK.
A Night on the Island. Live event with Martin Shaw
An intimate evening with Martin Shaw in the Field System gallery.
Stories and conversations that will unravel the encounters that inspired his exhibition, INIS OIRR (Inner-Seer).
*this event has now sold out but you can join the waiting list for tickets here*
Group Exhibition, Brighten Ye Corners
Brighten Ye Corners is back. We will announce the participants of our group exhibition in the Autumn.
Ashburton - Proof of Identity THE EXHIBITION!
In October, artist Kate Tyler brought an original black and white photo booth back to Devon for the first time in over half a century. The booth was sited in the town and residents invited to join her each weekend to help create a large-scale artwork using the booth.
Directed by Kate, residents posed for an individual photo strips, which were used to create a collective work of art. This exhibition will bring that community artwork back to Ashburton in a celebration of the people of the town.
The exhibition spans three sites: the Field System gallery, Ashburton Arts Centre and St Andrew’s Church, from January 20th to February 1st 2025. Opening times TBC.
See Kates website for more details.
Chasing Crockern
Old Crockern, Sabine Baring Gould’s ‘spirit of Dartmoor,’ appears in old stories and new protests. But who exactly is Crockern, and what is the true folk spirit of Dartmoor? Sara Hurley and Lisa Schneidau, two storytellers from Dartmoor, have spent the year immersed in Dartmoor’s folk tales. They have worked with communities all over the moor to find out what these stories mean to people today. They have made new folk tales with Dartmoor schoolchildren, heard true stories from our elders, and walked the bogs and heaths of Dartmoor many times. The result of their work is a new contemporary storytelling show, ‘Chasing Crockern,’ touring Dartmoor and beyond during 2025.
This accompanying gallery exhibition, curated by Monica Shanta, accompanies their folktale quest through the mists and bogs, searching from tor to village to town and asks the question; what does the spirit of Dartmoor mean to you? Project collaborators include Villages in Action, Skylark FM, Dartmoor National Park Authority, The Museum of Dartmoor Life and Moorland Community Care, as well as creatives Lucinda Guy, Paula Crutchlow, Hugh Lupton, Jim Causley and Ben Tallamy.
The Dartmoor Folklore Map Brought to Life...and Beyond! *TICKETS NOW ON SALE*
Ethan Pennell (AKA @Crowmancrow), brings to life his Dartmoor Folklore Map with the help of the wonderfully talented Arts University Plymouth BA (HONS) Costume Production students for a Halloween treat in our gallery and studios.
Recounting the histories of 8 legendary Dartmoor women and witches through live tableaux, costume and story telling, there will be enchantment and eerie in equal measure! This will be a 30 minute long, ticketed event with performances at 4.00pm, 4.45pm, 5.30pm, 6.15pm.
Click here to buy tickets now!
*100% of the ticket price will go to the Costume Production students’ degree show fund, which will be used to stage their end of year exhibition.
Photo: Peter Miller
Mark Jessett, Paranatural and Supernormal
Mark’s work is colourful, abundant and immersive, tinged with a flavour of mid-century illustration and folkloric imagery. His paintings draw on nature, turmoil and the esoteric, searching for a feeling of ceaseless movement and the dark intoxication of old fairytales. He makes his work from a place of optimism, believing Art is evidence that humankind is not entirely, irredeemably awful.
Meet The Artist: Anita Reynolds, Pedester *on foot/land
What intrigues you about Dartmoor? What is a monotype? Why are there no blue skies in the exhibition?These questions and more will be answered when artists Anita Reynolds joins us in the Field System gallery on 13th October from 1-3pm.
During this special Sunday opening, Anita will be on hand to answer your questions about the exhibition, her processes and her inspiration. No need to book, just drop in….if you missed the opening event this is a must!
Ashburton - Proof of Identity TAKE PART
Following a grant from Teignbridge District Council, artist Kate Tyler will be bringing an original black and white photo booth back to Devon for the first time in over half a century. The booth will be sited at Ashburton Arts Centre for the month of October, where she will be inviting residents of the town to join her each weekend to help create a large-scale artwork using the booth.
Directed by Kate, residents will be asked to pose for an individual photo strip. These strips will then be used to create a collective piece that will serve as both an archive of the people of the town in 2024, and a celebration of its community.All residents of Ashburton are invited to take part – there is no cost to participate.
This will be a unique experience, and the end result will be community artwork that celebrates the people of the town which will also act as a powerful archive for future generations. The finished piece will be exhibited in the Field System gallery, as well as the Ashburton Arts Centre and St Andrew’s Church, from January 20th to February 1st 2025.
To participate, join Kate every Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm at the booth at Ashburton Arts Centre, see Kates website for more details.
Anita Reynolds, Pedester *on foot/land
We are hardwired to walk through the landscape. Humans have an innate sense of safety when on hilltops and when hearing birdsong. We feel calm when amongst trees and by water. Anita’s works are a reminder that we are deeply rooted to landscape and have an intrinsic need to access it. She captures the unpredictable nature and ever shifting moods of Dartmoor, the images are both elegant and tender, reflecting her deep appreciation of this unique place. Anita Reynolds is a painter and Printmaker based in Devon. She is a member of MAKE Southwest (contemporary craft & education centre), and a tutor and mentor at Newlyn School of Art.
Web: https://www.anitareynolds.com
Instagram: @anitareynoldsartist
Incredible Vegetables perennial vegetables and edible plants sale.
To celebrate Ashburton Food Festival 2024, we present a plant sale by Incredible Vegetables alongside Chloe Bonfield’s show Only In The Garden to celebrate the creative art of growing what we love and eat.
Chloe’s paintings are infused with surreal and sensual images of the garden, while Incredible Vegetables will have a range of rare but hardy perennial vegetables and edible plants for sale. The Field System shop also stocks a range of locally made pottery, as well as food and gardening themed artworks, cards and kitchen linen.
Chloe Bonfield, Only in the Garden
Chloe’s paintings are a mediation between the subconscious, the body and the vegetal, the garden. She employs images from a history of art, known mostly through painting, from books that narrate strange orders of the world (Observer books, found catalogues and gardening manuals), and from her regular drawing practice. Chloe says of her new works, ‘The paintings are working on a symbolic and felt level, and at this point in my practice feel like they might be beginning to speak a bit.’
Chloe Bonfield teaches and works in painting, sound and text in Cornwall in the UK.
Rob Ryan, In The Merry Month of May
Rob Ryan is a British visual artist who specialises in paper-cutting and screen-printing, his work tells heartfelt stories; some amusing, some poignant, some melancholic. He is also the elected Master at The Artworkers’ Guild for 2024, where he has instigated The Salon of Doubt.
For our summer show, Rob is presenting ALL the work he made in the space of one month, revealing his work practice in an East London screen printing studio and hopefully giving an insight into the day to day life of an artist
South Dartmoor Community College Student Show
A showcase of our local secondary school’s students' work created, curated and hosted by the students, supported by ourselves and professional artists throughout the process.
Man In The Woods: Artefacts from My Friday Walk
The artist known as Man In the Woods, based in South West England, uses walking and the recording of folkloric motifs he encounters to make objects that tell a story about contemporary rural Britain. Artefacts from My Friday Walk is Man In The Wood's first gallery show, bringing together a body of work which reflects the experiences and encounters made on his weekly Friday Walks.
Mimei Thompson: The Drowned Forest
Mimei makes paintings using images chosen for their symbolic and archetypal qualities. The worlds she creates have a sense of fluidity and vitality; a suggestion that matter is temporarily taking on and changing form. The Drowned Forest is a gathering of spirits; a search for threads, origins and beginnings. Mimei is based in London and has been selected for Jerwood Contemporary Painters, the Contemporary British Painting Prize, and the John Moores Painting Prize in 2023.
Lucy Wright: ’Oss Girls
Hobby horses and horse girls; folklore, fetish + consent, this exhibition by artist and folklorist Lucy Wright takes as its starting point the folk archetype of the hobby horse, in particular the well-known ’Obby ’Oss tradition which takes place each May in Padstow, North Cornwall. Her new show examines how folk practices of all kinds might help us to navigate changing attitudes towards gender and intimacy.
Lucy is an Artist and Research Fellow in Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire whose work spans painting, textiles, participation and performance.
The show also features a bespoke musical track ‘Unite!’ based on the traditional Padstow May Day Song (Roud 305) created by LUNERTRACKTORS, award winning purveyors of Broken Folk.
‘Oss Girls May Day Festival
To celebrate the opening of Lucy Wright’s solo show ‘Oss Girls at our gallery, we are presenting a number of May Day themed events running from 1-5 May. As well as Lucy's exhibition, we are partnering with neighbours Ashburton Arts Centre to bring you conversation, morris, music, and the occasional ‘beest’ to celebrate May 1st and the promise of summer!
Wednesday 1st May
6pm-8pm: Private View of Lucy Wright’s ‘Oss Girls with music by members of Ashburton Folk Orchestra at the Field System gallery .
The show continues Mondays-Saturdays until the 18th May 2024.
Saturday 4th May
11am-5.30pm. Drop in to the Field System gallery to view the ‘Oss Girls exhibition.
2-4pm: ‘Oss Girls and Morris Men - Folk Reimagined and Retold: Talk by Lucy Wright ‘Folk is a Feminist Issue’, and screening of Tim Plester’s film ‘Way Of The Morris’ at Ashburton Arts Centre
Various times and locations: A small group from Grimspound Border Morris will be performing at 4.15pm AND we will visited by the Rewilderbeest! This will be the first public sighting of the latest folklore beastie created by The Lost Giants, summoners of Dartmoor’s ancient defender, ‘Old Crocken’.
Sunday 5th May
Hedge Morris Workshop with Lucy Wright at Field System and Ashburton Arts Centre
Tickets for ‘Oss Girls and Morris Men, and the Hedge Morris Workshop can be booked via Ashburton Arts Centre or at https://www.wegottickets.com/ashburtonarts/page/1#paginate
Gnash Comics and Field System Host a ‘Behind theScenes’ Exhibition for Devon Based Comic Artists
Gnash Comics, in collaboration with Field System, is excited to present a new and exclusive comic art exhibition on April 26th and 27th, 2024. The event, in our Ashburton gallery, features original work from Devon based international comic artists Jock, Lee Garbett, and Dom Reardon.
Offering a unique and rarely seen look into their creative processes, this show is centred around the original three-part comic series ‘Gone’ which was created, written and illustrated by Jock, with cover art by Lee and Dom.
And, to celebrate the event, publisher DSTLRY are supplying Gnash Comics with an exclusive cover for the third and final instalment of Gone. For more details on this or Gnash Comics, please visit www.gnashcomics.co.uk.
Sarah Hoskins: Enormous
Influenced by the sensibilities of mid-century modernism, particularly cubism and biomorphism, Sarah creates joyously coloured semi-abstracted paintings that draw on mask traditions, the decorative arts, textile design, and historical costumes. For her show at Field System Sarah is, ‘working towards communicating as clearly and concisely as possible, something of the miraculous, the beautiful, the strange and the ridiculous, amongst other things.’
Please join us for the private view on Thursday 28th March 6pm-8pm. The show continues from Friday 29th March - Saturday 20th April, 11am-5.30pm Monday to Saturday and other times by appointment. Please note we are closed on Monday 1st April for the bank holiday.