SEE artworks like this colourful depiction of West Bay by Olivia Nurrish on display at Bridport Arts Centre.

Artwey's Treasure Planet exhibition can be seen at the arts centre's Allsop Gallery until March 21.

South Dorset Artists are displaying their talents in a variety of media to ‘celebrate life on our Jurassic Coast’.

The works have been selected by an adjudication team as supporting the theme, most being new, vibrant and representative of the stunning ‘jewels’ of our coastline. Works in paint, print, wax, textiles, stone, driftwood, silver and precious stones will be on show together with smaller affordable items such as cards and prints giving all visitors an opportunity to enjoy something from our ‘Treasure Planet’.

Olivia Nurrish obtained an art degree in Bristol in the 70s, moved to Weymouth from London 20 years ago to raise a family and run a hospitality business, picked up her brushes again in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. While she enjoys ‘enplein air’ painting and still lives of customers beloved memories, her work mainly focuses on the fun and nostalgia of our traditional seaside and often incorporates commissioning family members amongst the familiar scenes, ‘I love to use bright saturated colour and detail to bring a sense of joy and interest to my paintings and get great satisfaction from customer’s excited reactions’. A founding director of Artwey, Olivia has helped organise most of their activities in the past 11 years from pop us shows, permanent exhibition venues, Olympic Cultural Project 2012, biennial Open Studios and this current show and will be planning Open For Art 2021 through South Dorset soon.

Carol Cruickshank, after an education and career in science and teaching moved to Portland and discovered a love of the sea and American folk art. Having hated textiles at school she discovered the delight and satisfaction in hand sewing small naïve designs inspired by old quilts. Since moving to the coast, she said: ‘I found the joys of living by the sea meant that delight found an expression in another new and exciting way … hand sewn large scale seascapes. Here I could now fully express the ever-changing, beautiful views I was experiencing every day’. This has led to larger, more detailed and ambitious textile landscapes from Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Angelsey to Australia and Denmark. As Artwey chairman Carol has been responsible for delivering an Olympic Cultural Project for Weymouth and Portland and an Open Studios event ‘Open For Art’ to South Dorset in 2017 and 19.

Dianne Reeds studied fashion, textiles and art at college, subsequently working on woman’s magazines before retraining and practising as a garden designer until retirement and has painted full time for several years. Di says ‘my background in fashion and nature has made me a passionate lover of flowers, plants, landscapes and the sea, not to mention dogs! I love to reflect these passions in my artworks using media from watercolour, pastel and paint to capture the colour, texture and glory of these subjects to produce both figurative and abstract pieces’. Di is an active member of Artwey, volunteers as social media contact for Dorset National Gardens Scheme and lives, paints and walks her dogs by the sea.

Christine Rogers works mainly with acrylics which lend themselves well to the subtleties of the many moods and colours of the landscape. Dorset has an abundance of inspirational subjects to paint but her passion at the moment is painting the sea and living so close to the coast she has the opportunity to study water in its constant modulations. ‘I like to look at my subject from unusual angles, focussing on its patterns and movement, capturing the natural beauty of the everchanging sea. Through my work I aim to explore the qualities of energy and light, capturing moments in time and the interaction of my subjects with their surroundings’.

Judy Tate has been drawn to soft pastels for a long time, finding the versatility, immediacy and vibrancy hard to beat. En plein air sketching and painting gives Judy a platform for larger pastel work in the studio with sketchbook travelogues used as an ongoing source of inspiration. As well as a love of drawing land and seascapes, her studio-based work is often of a more abstract nature (often inspired by horizons, flowers and seed heads), initiated as an underpainting with monoprinting. ‘Underlying all my work is a love of colour and the excitement of seeing how far I can take it’. As a member of Artwey Judy was pivotal in organising a host of artists and venues for 2019’s OPEN FOR ART trail in Poundbury including organising a spectacular exhibition in the Duchy Farmhouse including a painting by Prince Charles himself. After officially opening that show HRH paid Judy a visit in her own studio and was most interested in her work and methods.

Karen Toleman lives on the Isle of Portland, the southernmost part of Dorset’s famous Jurassic Coast. As a self-taught artist, she has always loved drawing, capturing the detail of animals and nature but over recent years oils have become her preferred medium, especially for sea and landscapes. ‘I enjoy glazing layer upon layer in order to capture the effects of light, be they subtle or dramatic. A more direct approach is required when working en plein air, and I often employ the use of pen, ink and watercolour when out and about with the sketchbook’.

Ian Hedley now residing right on the coast in Weymouth, has lived and worked in Dorset all his life. Although not formally trained in fine art, he shows a natural skill and talent in capturing so much of the incredibly beautiful countryside that we’re so lucky to be surrounded by in Dorset. He is much influenced by this stunning landscape and aims to capture iconic landmarks from fresh perspectives in a monochrome approach using graphite pencil, occasionally introducing ink, charcoal and watercolour. In addition to landscapes Ian has a growing reputation as a portrait artist (both people and pets), ‘I want to portray the essence of a moment, thought or feeling in a person’s life’. 115 words

Artwey CIC is a South Dorset community Arts group supporting over 80 local artists with opportunities to exhibit, network and develop their creativity. In 2009 Artwey created their biennial open studio trail which in 2017 rebranded as Open For Art, extended its reach from Abbotsbury to Tincleton, invited non-members and grew to 70+venues, 200+artists and 10,000’s of visitors IN 2019.

See artwey.co.uk for more information.

*Treasure Planet, Allsop Gallery, Bridport Arts Centre, open from Tuesdays to Saturdays between 10am and 4pm until March 21.