Out yesterday helping a friend celebrate his birthday and the four of us started the day at Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset galleries at Bruton.
Always something of note to see and the current exhibition ‘Present Tense’ was no exception.
As the company’s website states: ‘Present Tense’ spotlights the next generation of artists living and working in the UK, from emerging to mid-career, celebrating a breadth of creative talent and socially engaged practices. The multifaceted group presentation consists of 23 contemporary artists outside of the Hauser & Wirth roster, testing the boundaries of their mediums to address and confront notions of identity, consciousness, humanity and representation.
The gallery and garden are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 4pm.
They are currently doing some remodelling work at this former farmstead so no chance to stop for coffee and cake.
On to Frome and a walk down Catherine Hill – starting from the top. Glad we did as an early lunch found us inside Bistro Lotte where good food and service brought a smile to our faces and truly satisfied our hunger with moist and tasty quiches, fresh sour dough, iced water and the odd glass of vino. REAL value for money.
A couple of shops down found me gasping with delight. I have never seen a window display like it! Nor had l ever heard the term ‘soft sculptor’ that the owner – artist Kate Talbot – used to describe one of her talents.
She calls herself a soft sculptor, and employs her skills to satirically dissect politics, prejudices and idiosyncrasies in a humorous but thought-provoking way.
I have never seen ‘the ordinary’ presented in this way – she ‘draws’ with thread and wool to create amazing three-dimensional objects – everything from biscuits to Jacob Rees Mogg and co.
hungdrawnquotedfrome.co.uk will find her
We ended our jolly jaunt at Iford Manor where l must say the catering facilities have improved no end since my last and rather-long-ago visit.
The celebrated gardens reopen on April 1st but the cafe is wonderful.
