Frome Open Studios 1

Frome Open Studios trail: Mount visits a selection of studios in Frome.

We only had limited time over the 10 days that the 19 Frome-based artists opened their studios this year. So we decided to focus on seeing artists and studios we hadn’t visited before. This is part 1 of a short series of blog posts about our experience of the trail.

We started close to home, and visited the nearby Bennett Centre on Vicarage Street. This was a mixed exhibition space rather than a working studio, and hosted eleven diverse artists. We already knew Caroline Walsh-Waring’s fabulous surreal work, as we have framed a lot of her pieces. Caroline has been a featured artist at Bruton Art Factory, and she has exhibited widely.

We’ve also worked with Alan Overton before, so it was a delight to see more of his work all together. Alan’s style is Hopper-esque, with beautiful luminance in his painting. He depicts familiar urban and rural scenes and does so without being at all twee: what I like most about his work is the truth in it.

The Bennett Centre hosted a couple of jewellery makers; we loved Tina Seviour’s mix of expressive, delicate and stylish jewellery. Ellie Dale’s gemstone necklaces and jewellery were simple and collectable.

Anna Shuttlewood is an artist I recognise from the popular Three Bad Mice greetings card company. Her illustrations are gentle and expressive. Diliana Nikolova’s work is surreal, fun, and imaginative. One of my favourite artists in the group was Tim Rose; his pottery is handsome, earthy yet fine. I particularly enjoyed his etchings; which almost have the quality of oriental woodblocks.

Rachel Appelgate’s paintings are on silk and have a beautiful luminance and colour, I particularly liked her depictions of Cley Hill. Rosie Hart’s gothic works are emotive. My favourite of this collection was a depiction of Frome’s streets, painted in atmospheric colours. Andrew Eddleston’s pots were friendly, painted in cheerful colours. Barbara Clark’s ceramics are in a variety of styles, from beautifully glazed bowls to interesting sculptural forms.

Rosie Hart

Rachel Appelgate

We’ll be featuring more Frome Open Studios write-ups here in the coming days/ weeks.