An exhibition of paintings by Alan Dax SWAc
email alandaxartist@gmail.com
The essence of Alan’s work attempts to convey a spirit of place, from atmospheric scenery to reflective interiors.
Alan’s home village backs onto Dartmoor, where he can experience these surroundings in all weathers. New ideas evolve from thought provoking environments, from familiar scenes closer to home to the ever-changing moods outside and further afield, creating the inspiration for his oil paintings.
Alan regularly exhibits his work though out the United Kingdom and he is an academician with the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Art.
Dartington and Totnes Open Studios
Sunday 3rd - 9th May
Sunday 10th - 16th May
Storytime
Andy Coldrey
Open every day 10h - 17h
Enquiries- andrew.coldrey3@gmail.com
Insta @andycoldreyart
The work in this exhibition has been inspired by story- telling, both stories I have read and those I have told myself.
These self-scripted stories find their origins in dreams, poetry, the internet, TV images, politics, myth, music and in many other sources.
Some of the paintings are inspired by fiction I’ve read in the last months and years; and finally there is a series of work in response to surgery I underwent in 2024.
It is now almost 40 years since I left my home in Vienna where I had studied Art and Tapestry Weaving, in order to live with my husband Chris Parker, the furniture maker.
Together we established “Handmade Furniture and Textiles" in Chudleigh, South Devon, where we have had our workshops since.
Sunday 24th - 30th May
Contemporary MarkMakers
Leaving Traces
10am - 4pm. Sunday
10am-5pm Monday weekdays
Saturday 10-4pm.
Meet the Artists: Sunday 24 May 4pm - 6pm
Any enquiries: janehellis@gmail.com
Since 2024 Contemporary Markmakers have been exploring our lived experience of the interwoven nature of the world; the interactions that occur and their impact over time in this
‘Leaving Traces’ exhibition.
Due to the nature of cause and effect, the physical and emotional traces of a place, impacting us all today.
We have explored our relationship to the changing nature of materiality through many processes such as palimpsests and pentimento; layering, concealing and revealing . These are reflective works that speak of memory, history and what is happening now in the delicate balance of eco-systems and their un-natural counter parts.
Sunday 31st May - Saturday 6th June 2026
Fiona Green
And Death Shall Have No Dominion
OPENING TIMES : 10-5 daily
Born in India and raised in Australia, I grew up with the brilliant colours of both lands in my blood 83 years ago.
This show is dedicated to the memory of Diana Heathcote Derioz,my exceptional sister who died in 2023 and who was my familiar friend for 78 years.
The show is named from a poem by Dylan Thomas and reminds us that Death is the silent,stellar companion that is with us continuously from birth.
My work tracks this in the various forms it has taken during my life, from the personal to the recent genocide occurring in Gaza.
Helen Wheatley and Stella Staab
Sunday 6th - 13th June
Sunday 14th - 20th June
‘Art Unsolved’
Work in progress by Joy Anderson and Neil Wressell
OPENING TIMES : 10-5 daily
Meet the Artists: Sunday 14th June 4pm - 6pm
Enquiry contact: joy.d.anderson@gmail.com
Joy’s latest work continues to explore an interplay between the polarities of order and chaos, the organic and the geometric, the planned and the spontaneous. Painting straight or ‘torn-edged’ shapes (with a nod to collage) she aims to create a language of fragmented imagery. Free-flowing forms are restricted by hard boundaries. Shapes jostle one another, fighting for space; often, they begin to collapse and dissolve.
Neil works in series of installations, sculptures and paintings, exploring our relationship with nature and the lack of our ability to prevent the dramatic effects we have on it. Series of works grow and develop, often initiated from the jungles of discarded property, previously made into decorative objects; these are recycled, juxtaposed with newly carved, fabricated or painted elements. The works develop and change over the years with a start date but no finish date.
Sunday 28th June- 4th July
'Contrast & Light'
Catherine Bedford and James Williams
10 - 4 on Sunday 28th
10 - 5 Monday 29th to Friday 3rd
Closing at 4 on Saturday 4th.
Sunday June 28th from 5 - 7 Private View in The Gallery
catherinebedfordphotography.co.uk
HA HA! YES YES!
(Let's record an album)
www.jazzient.com
Sunday 5th July - Thursday 9th July
10:30am - 5pm
Thursday evening till 9:30pm
Local duo using live looping with saxes, guitars and electronics creating a unique combination of jazz, rock and ambience, are taking over the gallery for the run-up to the Totnes Fringe Festival.
They will be recording their second album "Ha Ha! Yes Yes!"
Alongside the recording, music will be played throughout the period with invited guests. The doors will be open and visitors are welcome to observe and perhaps even improvise with the band.
Jazzient will be playing a live concert performance on Thursday evening, coinciding with the start of the Totnes Fringe Festival
Sunday 12th - 18th July
Carving History
Jonathan Bayes
Sunday- Friday 10am - 5pm
Closing at 4pm Saturday
Enquiries: jonathanbayes@yahoo.co.uk
Jon Bayes Carving | Woodcarving | Totnes, UK
Early oak. Woodcarving. Furniture. Architectural carving.
Sunday 20th - 25th July
Totnes Art Society Exhibition and Sale
https://totnesartsociety.co.uk/
E: totnesartsocietyenquiries@gmail.com
The Society welcomes again the opportunity to exhibit at Birdwood House.
Many of our award winning artists are delighted to display a wide variety of work completed in the past twelve months.
A mixture of watercolours, acrylics and oil paintings will be on show this year.
We are pleased to welcome a number of new members to the Society; some of their work is being exhibited for the first time. Works can be purchased and commissions arranged.
We look forward to seeing you.
Sunday 25th July - 1st August
Breach
Emma Wright
Nyk Pimm-Smith
Edward King
Open every day 10h - 17h
Breach is an observation of the ragged and the ruptured.
Bringing together paper pulp, ceramic sculpture, and abstract seascapes, the works navigate the fragile edges of landscape. Each piece
explores the "breach" - the point where a surface break or a boundary is crossed, balancing the structural weight of the land against the fluid energy of
the sea.
The collection is a study of strata and flux. From the sharp protrusions and tumbled layers of clay to the fibrous textures of light-filtering pulp, the work mirrors
natural cycles of erosion and accretion. By embracing both rigorous control and material experimentation, the artists move beyond representation, offering a tactile exploration of the volatile
margins where the environment meets the maker.
Emma Wright
Artist based in Yealmpton, South Hams.
My background is in textiles giving me a love of mixed media, texture, colour and mark
making. I taught Art, Graphics and Photography, recently focussing on my own work.
I am inspired by the Devon landscape, my work starting from observation but changing
through the effect of layers, textures and colours to create a feeling of place. Using varied
media, from acrylic on canvas to Lino print, etching and collage ,exploring mood, light
and atmosphere.
Nyk Pimm-Smith
Sculptor based in Plymouth
I construct pendant lighting using recycled paper pulp. Working from my studio in the
Southwest, my process involves breaking down and hand-sculpting sustainable materials to
build raw, organic surfaces.
While my design approach is informed by my Danish upbringing and the concept of hygge—
building a 'cozy cocoon' of warmth—my primary focus is on the physical manipulation of the
pulp itself. Each piece is structurally formed to ensure the resulting texture actively shapes
and diffuses the light, producing functional, atmospheric fixtures.
*Lighting has universal fixtures and can be installed anywhere without an electrician
Edward King
Ceramic Artist based in Plymouth
My ceramics started out exploring texture and form. They were always strange, absurd little
objects that existed purely to be unsettling. Then AI came along and started churning out
images, and I found in them an unlikely and deeply uncomfortable source of inspiration.
There's something profoundly absurd about replicating the most soulless visual noise the
internet has ever produced. These bloated, formless non-shapes that exist in non-natural
world into clay, a medium defined by rupture and repair, by surfaces that crack and split
under pressure.
These pieces sit on their own ragged edge: a monument to civilisational decline, rendered in
a material that wears every fault line proudly.
My most recent exhibitions include Celebrating Ceramics, Soshiro Gallery for London Craft
Week and shortlisted for ArtEvol Exhibition 2025 at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
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August 2nd - 8th
Taking Shape
South West Sculptors
Sunday 2nd: 1 - 4pm,
Daily: 10am - 5pm
Saturday August 8th: 10am - 4pm
Private View: Sunday August 2nd: 4 - 6pm
Enquiries: bevsdecorum@hotmail.com
South West Sculptors are a group of over 60 sculptors based in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset. We take part in exhibitions right across the region.
We pride ourselves on the quality of our work, and are dedicated to showcasing the best of The West!
This exhibition showcases 9 creative artists from our group. Our work displays a great variety of content and style, including figurative work, portrait sculpting, abstract form, ceramics
and so much more...
Sculptors exhibiting are: Lucy D'Auvergne, Nicola Axe, Ani Buckland, Luci Coles, Charlotte Cundell, Bev Knowlden, Rachel Slade, Duncan Stewart and Almut Woolard,
The Sapphire Blue Collective
Sunday 9th - 15th August
16th August - 22nd August
21 Journeys 2026
10:00 - 17:00pm Sunday to Friday
10:00 - 16:00pm Saturday
Meet the Artists 16th.July 14:00 - 16:00pm
Formed in 1967 in Totnes, the 21 Group of Artists is now one of the longest established groups of exhibiting professional artists in the South West. The group invites its members to produce high quality work that recognises the intelligence of the hand and the embodied wisdom born out of physical making (such as painting, drawing, printmaking) as a means to establish a robust, experiential, and authentic art practice.
The group seeks to evolve and disseminate this counter culture through exhibition and discussion. In order to foster this, and to preserve the opportunity for creative dialogue between its members, it still limits its membership to a maximum of 21 artists.
The group aims to mount two or three exhibitions a year, usually held within the South West region. As part of its 2026 programme the group are pleased to be exhibiting again at the Birdwood Gallery.
Sunday 23rd- 29th August
FIGURATIONS 26
10:00 - 17:00pm Sunday to Friday
10:00 - 16:00pm Saturday
veronicamoran.co.uk
@clarepumfreyartist
FIGURATIONS 26 is our fourth joint exhibition in Totnes, although we have both worked and exhibited in South Devon for many years.
We see it as a lively and creative exploration of textures and shapes in figurative and still life art, beyond the simple representation of form, to disciplines that play with not only the visual but also the media used.
CLARE PUMFREY
I have been working on both canvas and paper with charcoal, ink, acrylic paint, gesso, oil sticks and graphite, developing a continuing interest in the human form and the visual quality of the finished surface. Layers build up gradually, obscuring images sometimes, which may be revealed at a later stage. Rollers, brushes, fingers, washing away marks, scratching, water spraying, scraping all contribute to the surface vocabulary.
VERONICA MORAN
I work in acrylic, oils and dry media, making marks quickly in an expressive way to capture a moment, gesture or lightness, especially through line and shape in both figurative work and still life. Colour and texture are becoming increasingly important to me, often seen through the everyday gesture or scene, elevating the ordinary. I enjoy trying new media and surfaces, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. I’ve been using liquid acrylic for a few years, I like it’s unpredictable nature, especially the chaos when it’s applied to film.
Sunday 29th August - 5th September
David Dawkins
The Deformation of Hope
Open every day 10h - 17h
I studied ceramics and glass at Plymouth University College of Art and Design, and glass at Farnham University College of Art and Design. I have been a practising artist for 22 years mainly making colourful glass lamps, bowls, and abstract sculptures until I changed to ceramics four years ago in 2019
Each one of my ceramic sculptures has two sides to it, like a two-page book and each one has a true story behind them. Some of my ideas come from various people I have known over the years, or something that has stuck in my mind that made me laugh.
My sculptures are mainly ceramic, but I also use acrylic, gold and silver leaf, liquid gold and silver, resin, paper, and jewellery. My ceramics sculptures have been described as philosophical quirky Pop Art, which are mostly humorous. But some have a more serious theme, reflecting what I think of our spiralling out-of-control world.
After losing my workshop, I have moved on to collage and paint, and I have passed my phase of making humorous art, I have moved on to a more serious topic of politics. Because there’s something I can’t quite understand about our democratic society: we, as a people, vote for the party we believe will lead us. But they don’t, they tend to fight against us by not giving OAP’s enough to live on, they spend far too much on defence to war monger, which none of us want. With a significant portion of the funds allocated in this manner being misused due to corruption and back handers, creating an unofficial parallel system of governance, which echoes right though our Houses of Parliament, who line their own pockets.
We all know that they all get together and swop the best financial deals, look at Epstein, look at trump, I’m sure he controls the gold market to get richer, one minute he puts tariffs on countries to push the prices up, and then he reduces the tariffs to push the gold price down.
And this is what I can’t fathom out, we vote for these people who don’t give us what we want, it mystifies me. Instead of making bombs we should be talking, our NHS should be fantastic, so should OAP care, and our schools, our universities, our police force, OUR SOCIETY. And sadly, we just except it, and complain, I cannot see it ever changing.
Each piece of my art has a life span, after ten or fifteen years the UV paint will eventually start to fade, like the promises from our governments. It will still be a picture but not the picture in its full glory like a new electrant with lies up his sleeve.
My mixed media collages are made from acrylic paint, coloured fluorescent card, and paint which break down and deteriorates over time. These colours only show up under an ultra-violet light.
When you buy a piece of my work it comes with a USB stick which has the image of the picture on it, when under UV light for a print which will have 1/1 on it, accompanied by a signed certificate that goes with the print when printed.
To cheer myself up, I sometimes steer away from politics.
Monday 7th - 12th September
Sarah Hoskins
10:00 - 17:00pm Monday to
Friday
10:00 - 16:00pm Saturday
If the unreal places I create have a mood, atmosphere, or sense of something about to happen, it is a welcome unplanned byproduct of my process.
I notice trees, and even photograph them, especially in winter when there are no leaves.
I particularly notice pollarded trees tipped with their perfect circles.
I am also inspired by many other things which don’t appear literally in my paintings, but I take qualities from them quite directly. For example, traditional masks, found objects, and pattern.
The clarity of shape, clean edges and quality of light in the art of early renaissance artists, Giotto and Piero Della Francesca, are important to me at the moment.
Sunday 13th - 19th September
Heart of Nature
Ann Saward
Opening times: Sun 12.00pm - 4.30pm
Mon-Fri: 10.00am - 4.30pm
Sat: 10.00am - 4.00pm
http://www.annsawardart.co.uk
Enquiries: art@annsawardart.co.uk
“I love the detail and preciseness required to record a plant within a botanical watercolour painting.
Inspiration is around me on a daily basis, from hedgerow wildflowers and waste ground ‘weeds’ to plants in my steeply terraced garden and everything in between!
Architectural and unusual plants tend draw me in with their special challenges.
Every plant is different, every painting is a fresh ‘learning’ curve.
There is real joy in watching a plant gradually ‘grow’ and, hopefully, glow on the paper in front of me despite the many hours of painstaking work involved.Botanical painting has made me look much more closely at plants and theirpollinating insects than I ever did before. There is a constant sense of wonder at thebeauty, sheer diversity and ingenuity
of the nature that surrounds us.”
Original watercolours - Giclèe prints and cards for sale
Ski Harrison
Sunday 19th - 26th September
TBC
Sunday 27th September - 3rd October
Ian Millstone
Sunday 3rd - 10th October
Sunday 11th - 17th October
Stolen Childhood
Ann Chester King and Bev Knowlden
Open daily 10.00 -17.00 close at 16.00 on Saturday 17th.
Private View: Sunday 11th October 16.00hrs-18.00hrs.
Enquiries:
Ann Chester King annchesterking@gmail.com
Bev Knowlden bevsdecrum@hotmail.com
We explore the impact of institutional, societal and organisational decisions that have had, or have, profound consequences for children, in the name of budgetary, expediency and demand for profit. Childhoods become a dispensable commodity in the face of larger agendas.
The lives of Victorian children living in workhouses, WW2 evacuees, plus today’s exposure to social media, are the subject of our exploration in sculpture, paintings, photography, prints and installations.
Children’s lives have been saved. Children have flourished and been provided with opportunities for learning but at what cost to many childhoods?
Sunday 18th - 24th October
THE SILENT ROOM PROJECT
Ian McConaghy, Mary Georgina de Grey and Microdeform
10 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm Saturday
Private view 5 pm until 7 pm Sunday 18th October
Enquiries:
ian@thesilentroom.co.uk
marygeorginadg@gmail.com
microdeform@gmail.com
In 2012, an artist, a musician and a writer combined their creative energies to work under the banner of The Silent Room, to produce art, music and books.
The Silent Room Project charts their progress.
Ian McConaghy SWAc exhibits paintings, screenprints, collage and mixed media artwork inspired by music and storytelling.
www.ianmcconaghyartist.com
Microdeform will perform at the private view on Sunday 18th October
Mary Georgina de Grey will launch ‘Let the Music Play on’, a book set in Totnes, on Tuesday 20th October. 3 pm until 5 pm
Print