AN exhibition of rare paintings and ceramic installations is coming to Dorset.

Painter Beverley Rouwen and ceramicist Douglas Reeve, Britain’s only combination regularly creating canvas and clay installations, are planning their latest exhibition.

Dialogues Concerning the Land will consist of some 30 canvases and numerous ceramics and runs from Saturday, January 6 until Saturday, January 27 at The Bridport Arts Centre. 

The Dorset-based duo have spent a year collaborating on a 3D celebration of Britain’s landscape, and the exhibition breaks down into four sets: Trees, Shapes of Kent, Skynets, and Shapes of Dorset. 

There is a clear Bridport connection as the town manufactured string and twine that was previously used for hop nets, which feature in some of the paintings.

Also this link with the hop nets will be celebrated at a craft beer tasting evening at the exhibition on Friday, January 19, with a talk about hops by Alasdair McNab from The Pursuit of Hoppiness, the popular venue in West Street. 

Working from adjacent studios near Bridport, they see their combined inspiration as Art to the Power of Two – Art Squared.

Ms Rouwen said: “More than anything else, these installations are the result of spoken dialogue between us. We get an idea, discuss it, dissect it to the extreme and then we bring it back again. 

“Doug has influenced me by freeing me up to experiment. My interest in our collaborative work is the synergy we create with canvas and clay.”

Ms Rouwen is a graduate in graphic and advertising design and has worked as a graphic designer for 15 years. She now paints full time in Dorset.

Mr Reeve has a PhD in Philosophy and is now a full-time ceramicist. His major influences include Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Shoji Hamada.

Mr Reeve added: "I’m influenced by Bev’s palette, and her ability to reveal beauty in man-made scenery. I love her simple flowing lines, catching the essence of her landscapes. 

“Do we have creative tensions? We give feedback that leads to adaptation. That’s part of the process, but we rely on each other’s contribution.”