Gratitude

A creative career is a fragile thing, and it only thrives because of the community supporting it. I’m filled with gratitude for the artists, curators, and audiences who keep making this way of life feel worth the effort. Special thanks to the photographers who capture my work so beautifully, and to my neighbour Roger Spear for his invaluable behind-the-scenes help.

FAULT: studies in survival at The Old Waiting Room, Peckham Rye Station (3–6 Sept), was a total joy. The exhibition was short but "incredibly juicy!" Huge thanks to Jo Martin and Mandy Leonard for their brilliant curation, and to Gail Corrie for her hard work on the install. Seeing the work and meeting fellow artists and visitors in that historic, transient Victorian waiting room was special.

FAULT, The Old Waiting Room, Peckham Rye Station, London

Photos above by Lucid Plane

Current - you might like to visit:

Beyond Horizons, Stoberry Park Gardens, Wells, Somerset BA5 3LD. Now until 4th October, Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10:30am-4pm, Thurs: 1pm-7pm, closed Mon.

Flags of the Forest has been installed at Stoberry, with magnificent views across to Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Tor. It’s an evolving installation, which celebrates biodiversity in precarious times. Made from salvaged, and botanically dyed materials, the title nods to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest. I’ve been moved by people’s' responses — some staying with it for a while, and picking up on the themes of grief, care, and repair that are embedded in my practice.

Photos by Russell Sach

• I’ll be running a Mini Textiles Hanging Workshop on Sunday 4 Oct, 10:30am–12:30pm, £12pp. Book on Eventbrite

Guila Tofana, The Chapel, Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UQ, Sat 19 & Sun 20 Sept at 4.30pm

Delighted to have the opportunity to install my work Of Bones in Brompton Chapel for Guila Tofana, a performance produced by Ushara Dilrukson in collaboration with Anousha Payne.

Photos by Andy Stagg. art Installations by Anousha Payne and myself

This week I installed some earlier work at Hazelmere Sculpture Trail, Hazelmere, Hillcommon, TA4 1DU, 19 Sept-4 Oct, part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival (Venue 11). All work is for sale.

Where are we now? , No.6 Bruton, 6 High Street, Bruton BA10 0AA, Fri–Sun, 25–27 Sept & 2–4 Oct, 10am–5pm

Following our touring project IN:CH by Inch in ‘21, and our show last month at 44AD, Bath, our artist collective is coming together with new work in this intimate, Grade II listed former tailor shop, Part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival (Venue 56). I’m showing 2 of my Stilt Structures. These creature-like sculptural assemblages of hard and soft salvaged materials explore precarious living, climate instability. and resilience.

Riot, 44AD Artspace, Bath

Stilt Structure IV, 44AD Artspace, Bath

44AD Artspace, Bath

Meet the Artist: I will be invigilating at the gallery on Friday 2nd October—please come by and say hello!

The Gleaning on Tour, St Cuthbert’s Centre, Lindisfarne TD15 2RZ, 27–29 September 2026

We are taking The Gleaning north to the Holy Island Arts Festival in Northumberland! Ten of our original panels will hang in the windows of St Cuthbert's Centre. The final panel is a brand-new, collaborative piece stitched in a Korean bojagi style. The public is invited to drop in, paint on the fine muslin with colored inks, and help us create a stunning stained-glass effect.

• Bookable Workshop: Sketch, Stitch, Scribe with Gill Sakakini, Polly Hall, Rosalind Teesdale-Ives, and myself, 29th Sept, 10am–1pm. Book Workshop

Upcoming Courses

Laat chance to book!

Creative Sketchbooking from 21 Sept. Monday 10am-12noon, & 7-9pm

Eco Sculpture from 22 Sept 2026. Tuesday 10am-12noon

Makers’ Yard, 37 Lower Keyford, Frome BA11 4AR, £75

View full details of my current and forthcoming projects

Hope to see you at one of these spaces soon.

After this busy season, I’m looking forward to retreating back into the studio to cultivate some new work!

Collaboration and Community

I’ve been juggling several projects recently, so progress on my own art practice has been slow. A commission, along with various home improvements and repairs, has taken up much of my time for the past month or so.

Squeezing in hours to develop a series of small-scale Stilt Structures. These fragile assemblages stand somewhere between creature and scaffold, speaking of vulnerability and repair.

Stilt Structure V

Studio shot

Stilt Structure IV, Collaged recycled paper and plant debris

UPCOMING PROJECTS & EXHIBITIONS

Collaboration and community have been key lately. It’s been a pleasure to work on a commissioned project Communities in the Landscape for Winscombe Festival, 12 July. I am co-creating a largescale sculptural installation with Tomasin Cuthbert (Soap Soup Arts) alongside students at Banwell & Sandford primary schools, and Churchill Academy (where I taught Tomasin 30 years ago!). Tomasin has worked incredibly hard organising the Festival, which brings community together, and my part is funded by Somerset Community Foundation. Do please support the Festival Crowdfunder: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/winscombe-festival-2026

Tomasin working on our collaborative installation

Installation in progress

Delighted that Clad (below) has been selected for Black Swan Arts Open, 8 Aug - 27 Sept.

Clad, 41 x 31 x 36 cm, recycled materials: fabric, sponge, polyester stuffing, wool, thread, wire, steel, 2026

Following our collaborative travelling project 'Inch by IN:CH’ that took art to the people in community spaces across South West UK in 2021, our IN:CH collective is curating a show 'Where are we now?’ in 44AD, Bath touring to No 6 Bruton for Somerset Art Weeks Festival.

44AD, 4 Abbey St. Bath, BA1 1NN, 25–30 Aug, 11am–5pm daily (closing 4pm Sun 30/08). PV: 24 Aug, 5–8pm. Events: Artists in Conversation: Wed 26 Aug, 6pm 44AD,. Free, no booking needed. Workshop: Sketch & Sculpt, Sun 30 Aug, 11am–1pm. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Led by Fiona Campbell and Shirley Sharp. Book Eventbrite £12pp.

No 6 Bruton, High Street, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0AA, 25 Sept-4 Oct (open Fri, Sat, Sun).

I’ll be exhibiting in FAULT: studies in survival, The Old Waiting Room: Peckham Rye Station, London. 3–6 Sept. The exhibition considers forms of endurance.

Excited to be collaborating with Ushara Dilrukshan & Anousha Payne in an installation & performance at The Chapel, Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UQ for London design week. We will be premiering Guila Tofana with open studio rehearsals from 14th and performances on 20 Sept (times tbc). Giulia Tofana was a woman famed for unleashing poison on unsuspecting husbands of 17thC Palermo and Rome. This released women trapped in abusive or unhappy marriages who lacked any legal means to divorce.

Beyond Horizons, Stoberry Park Gardens, Wells, Somerset BA5 3LD, 5 Sept-4 Oct (closed Mon), part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival. I’ll be leading a textiles workshop on Sunday 4th Oct. Get in touch if interested.

The Gleaning (origin 2021) is touring to St Cuthbert’s Centre, Prior Lane, Holy Island TD15 2RX, 27-29 Sept, 10-4 (Mon-Fri), 10-1 (Tues). Free Exhibition & events: Sun 27 - all day drop in Workshop creating textile pieces; Mon 28 - 10-12 Artists’ Tour & Talk, Tues 29 - 10-1 Workshop: Sketch, Scribe, Stitch, £15pp inc tea & cake. Book: https://shorturl.at/zssj0

Enjoyed being on the selection panel of judges for Ilminster Arts Centre Open, runs until 31 July.

I’ll be curating the Summer Youth Open Exhibition, Trowbridge Town Hall Gallery 8-19 yr olds. Last chance to get your young people to enter (free!) - deadline for submissions 5 July: https://www.tothtrowbridge.com/events/youth-open-exhibition-call-for-entries/

I’m mentoring some of SAW’s Micro Commissioned artists, and learning as I go.

My Autumn term Courses via Frome Community Education will be available to book from Monday 13th July.

Featured in Somerset Life Magazine - June issue!

Enjoy the summer and hope to see you at some of these events!

Picking up Past Threads

Stilt Structure IV, Found, discarded, recycled materials: wood, jute, fabric (some naturally dyed), leather, polyester stuffing, feathers, sponge, copper wire, sisal, thread; 174 x 76 x 78cms; 2026

This year is turning into a period of picking up past threads, nurturing what already exists, and developing new work. I’m returning to projects that were set aside for a while, rebuilding connections, and engaging with the wider community.

Upcoming:

‘Communities in the Landscape' is a community arts project which will be part of The Winscombe Festival of Arts and Nature (12th July). Tomasin Cuthbert (Soap Soup Theatre Director) - who I used to teach at Churchill School - invited me to collaborate with her to create a large-scale sculptural installation. We’re working with schoolchildren to create multiple elements for the piece, inspired by shapes in our local landscape, insect/animal forms, and temporary human structures like washing lines, tents and dens.

So far, with Reception and Year 1 children (Sandford Primary School), we’ve been using eco botanical inks to make tie dye patches, weaving beads/buttons/bottle tops into wire ‘danglies’, and painting inspired by animal tracks and water movement - all to be hand-stitched together. We’ll also be working with Churchill Academy and Banwell Primary to create small sculptural pieces, embroider surfaces and more... I’ve been enjoying all the prep!

The final structure - an ambiguous hybrid form alluding to creature, playhouse, and vista - will imply precarity, adaptability and resilience, treading the earth - sometimes lightly, sometimes leaving scars. Galvanised by the notion that humans are not centre stage, and that our existence has always been a shared one with our non-human neighbours, we’re exploring our shared vulnerabilities, and ways to heal collectively. In our contemporary world, in which technology is changing at a rapid pace and affecting us as beings, it’s more important than ever to consider our natural connections.

The Gleaning on Tour to Holy Island

In 2022, I co-curated a community art project The Gleaning with Gill Sakakini. We worked closely with Polly Hall, and were supported by Rosalind Teasdale-Ives, Bella Frey and others.

Our project was about bringing people together, community, sanctuary, care & repair, sustainability, diversity - referencing global traditions, especially the handmade.  We reused material remnants including botanically dyed fabric, handmade paper, and found objects, which were imprinted, embedded, and stitched into patchwork and appliqué.  We created 11 large-scale translucent installations suspended in front of 5m windows in Shepton Mallet church - replicating stained glass.  We engaged numerous people of different ages, backgrounds, abilities, genders, nationalities. For inspiration we looked at a range of art from countries around the world, including Korean bojagi textiles works, Gee’s Bend textiles, African textiles, Polish and Romanian folkart.

We’re taking this project to Holy Island for a week in September, and getting excited about the trip connecting north and south!  The Gleaning opens 27-29th September, St Cuthberts Church, Holy Island, Sun/Mon 10-4, Tuesday 10-1pm.  On Monday 10am-12noon we’ll give a Tour & Talk; and on Tuesday 10am-1pm were offering a free Sketch, Scribe, Stitch Workshop.

Where Are We Now?

Five years on from our travelling exhibition Inch by IN:CH, artists from the collective are coming together to present new perspectives. Our exhibition will open at 44AD, Bath 24 Aug - 30 Aug, 11-5. PV Mon 24 Aug, 5-8pm; Wed 26 Aug, 6pm, In-Conversation; Sun 11-1 children’s workshop Sketch & Sculpt, £10 with Shirley & Fiona. Touring to No.6 Bruton, as part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival, open 25 Sept - 4 Oct, Fri-Sun, 10-4.

Beyond Horizons

Delighted Flags of the Forest has been selected for Beyond Horizons, a new annual major sculpture event to be held at Stoberry Park Garden, Wells, Somerset (5 Sept - 4 Oct), timed to coincide with Somerset Art Weeks. Flags of the Forest is a large-scale sculptural installation with textiles elements activated by the weather. I’m looking forward to placing it later this year in the magnificent grounds. Thanks to the panel of judges: Theresa Bergne, Nicola Knight, Fred McDonald, Martin Staniforth, Freeny Yianni, and Frances & Tim Meeres Young.

Flags of the Forest, installed at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, 2023

Behind the scenes, I’m assisting Beyond Horizons, mainly managing the Instagram account.

Also supporting Micro Commission and Creative Pathways artists for Somerset Art Works.

Plus, developing new Stilt Structures, a series originating in 2024, some for outdoors.

Hand drawn design for outdoor Stilt Structure

My storage shed is nearing completion - it’s been a long drawn out project! Also spending time doing up my living/work spaces, appreciating what I have. 

XL Exhibition, Black Swan Arts, Frome. Last day today! Closing Hour 3-4pm - all welcome. Pleased to have donated a painting ‘Garlic’ to this fundraising exhibition, celebrating 40 years of Frome’s first arts centre. Do pop along for the final hour if near Frome!

Enjoy the summer months and hope to catch you at some point!

Spring Update

Tethered Lines: Matter Becoming - solo exhibition at No.6 Bruton. Photo Russell Sach.

John Ruskin Prize Exhibition, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London

Me with Stilt Structure II. Photo Parker Harris

Since the John Ruskin Prize Exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London (29 January -21 February), featuring Stilt Structure II, I’ve had a Solo Exhibition Tethered Lines; Matter Becoming (27 February - 8 March) at No 6 Bruton, Somerset. An intimate gallery space, I made the most of the fabulous window.

Photos above by Russell Sach

I made new work for the exhibition. Unravelling the Fury, made of rusty seat springs, rope, wood, cables, steel chains, copper, aluminium, plastic, latex, rubber, foam, fabric, sisal, twine, reclaims early meanings of the serpent. Tied to the Earth, the chthonic realm, across cultures it signifies rebirth, transformation, healing, regeneration, and the cyclical unity of life and death. In matriarchal societies, serpents were worshipped. As patriarchal religions rose, and myths evolved, the serpent’s meaning was distorted: male heroism became defined by slaying it, symbolically silencing the feminine and severing ties to the land. This piece gestures towards a worldview that honours the Earth and all life, equality, alongside an underlying reflection of our waste and consumerism.

Using reclaimed materials and labour-intensive processes, the work engaged with interconnectedness, transformation, and precarity through gestures of care and repair. The show was well received:: “Magical show of work by the ever poetic and inspiring Fiona Campbell. Her work takes on the big issues - environment, waste, the power of nature, our place in it - with such an elegance and lightness of touch that you fall in love with these twisted forms made from found objects, old bits of wire and teabags and learn that there is beauty in the most unlikely of places” - Theresa Simon. I’m grateful to Russell Sach for some excellent photos, and thanks to all who visited, spent time looking, chatting, and buying. I was present at the gallery during open times and so enjoyed the conversations and connections.

Photo Russell Sach

Riot was performed in a Fashion Show (7 February) and later on display in the Costume Exhibition at the Amulet, as part of the Snowdrop Festival, Shepton Mallet. Photos above and below by Jason Bryant.

My work will be part of a group multi-disciplinary exhibition While We’re Watching by six artists who found connection through our shared work together as invigilators at Hauser & Wirth Somerset. Taking place at No 6 Bruton, again, the exhibition runs from 27 March – 6 April (Friday–Sunday, 11am–5pm), 6 High Street, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0AA. PV: Friday 27 March, 6-8pm - all welcome!

I have a few other projects coming up including the making of a large sculptural installation for Winscombe Festival, in collaboration with Tomasin Cuthbert Menes (Soup Soup Arts) and local schools.

I’m also working behind the scenes for Beyond Horizons (Sculpture in the Garden, 4 September-5 October 2026)..

If you’d like to do a course with me, I have a few starting soon with Frome Community Education: Eco Sculpture, Drawing and Creative Sketchbooking. See the full range of courses here. Book soon as number are limited.

Alternatively, my Online Sculpture Course (self-directed) is great value at £40 - take advantage before the price goes up!

For more regular updates follow my Instagram @fionacampbellartist

Shaping Up

It’s been a lucky month - full of energy and exciting breakthroughs!

I am thrilled that Sack has been shortlisted for the Cass Art Prize 2025! The prize aims to champion contemporary art from across UK and Republic of Ireland with prizes for different categories. The exhibition will be hosted at Copeland Gallery, Unit 9, Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, Fri 24 Oct – Sat 1 Nov. Do visit if you can!

Sack is made from recycled, found or donated waste materials including jute, fabric (some hand dyed with homemade botanical inks), twine, plastic, polystyrene, rope, wood, wire, mainly sourced from wastelands, riversides, and coastlines. Part of my stilt structure series, it was inspired by stilt dwellings which exist on edges of safety around the world; hybrids implying precarity, adaptability and resilience. It was originally created during my PADA residency last year, located in an old jute warehouse.

Huge thanks to Cass Art and the panel of judges David Mach, Ishbel Myerscough, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Pallas Citroen, Ryan Lanji, Tim Allen.

I’m also over the moon to have been selected for Wells Art Contemporary Site-Specific Installations 2025! There will be a range of installations created for the interior and grounds of Wells Cathedral, responding directly to this unique space. It will be such an honour to place my work in The Chapter House, my favourite space in the Cathedral. It is the place where the governing body of the Cathedral meet - connect - to discuss, decide, find the right way forward.

This year there’s a theme: ‘Flowing Light’, taken from 13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg’s writings about her relationship with God. Flowing light symbolises enlightenment, interconnectedness, the divine. Artists are invited to respond to this. I’m working flat out making my proposed installation Threads of LIght. (progress pics below - more on this later) The exhibition will be at Wells Cathedral from Wednesday 8 Oct - Sat 1 Nov. Hope to see you there!

Massive thanks to judges Laura Moffatt and Cathy de Monchaux for selecting my work, I’m deeply grateful.

Please join us for the Private View of One Island - Many Visions, Saturday 6 September, 6-9pm.

One Island - Many Visions is a collaborative project featuring the work of 27 artists, a partnership with members of the Royal Society of Sculptors and Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust.

Sculptures and installations will be located within Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve and Drill Hall Gallery. Maps available at both locations. The artworks comprise a broad range of responses, media and materials, reflecting diverse contemporary and conceptual approaches to the natural environment.

My site-responsive piece Riot is inspired by Maritime Sunburst Lichen (Xanthoria Parietina), ancient life forms of fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria in symbiosis. Sensitive to atmospheric pollution, signifying pure air, lichen are also resilient and play a vital role in nutrient cycling. Lichen are the slowest growing of all known organisms. The nature of my making is slow too, appropriately. It’s taken me 8 months - in between other work - to make Riot! Threads, hand-stitched, weave together a layered bricolage of line, texture, colour, entanglements. Riot is an artivist piece, a form of soft rebellion. It spotlights our wasteful consumerist society, and negligent treatment of our ocean.

Riot (part II), found, recycled & donated materials: beach waste (ghost netting, rope, hard hats, fishing floats), wire, textiles (some home-dyed with natural pigments), wool, twine, plastic, sponge, polyester, natural debris, sandbags. Some donated by Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project

Made in 2 parts, Riot is also wearable. There will be a transient performance during the show, in which the human body activates the work. I’ll be performing with Riot in collaboration with Melanie Thompson at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve (Sun 14 Sept, 2-3pm, location: what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts).

Rehearsal with Melanie Thompson at Zig Zag, Glastonbury

There will be a range of other events, including a Symposium (27/28 Sept). I’ll be leading an Eco Sculpture Workshop (Fri 10 Oct 2-4.30pm, Drill Hall). Book: fionacampbell-art@sky.com. I’ll also be taking part in an Artists-in-Conversation, Sun 19 Oct 2pm with Ros Burgin, Nicola Turner, Rebecca Newnham, Kate Parson & Hannah Sofaer, chaired by Freeny Yianni (Close Ltd). Save the dates!

Thanks to Kate Parsons who has worked so hard leading the project alongside a Steering Group (Dallas Collins, Anna Gillespie, Rebecca Newnham and me), and to PSQT for hosting. Thanks to The Arts Society Wessex Area for funding my workshop, and contributing to our events and catalogue. See @oneislandmanyvisions for details.

Tufted Duck is floating in Cranmore village pond (BA4 4QJ, Somerset) until 30 August. Made from recycled and found materials including wire, bottle tops, buttons, beads, lifebuoy ring. I created it for the Eco-Arts Festival Trail, themed Water Life. I worked on it with people of all ages and abilities, including Cranmore residents. The Trail takes place around Shepton Mallet, Cranmore and Doulting, Somerset. Maps from Strode Arms Pub, Station Cafe, Cranmore, One Craft Gallery, and Shepton & Wells libraries.

Photo by Roger Spear

I led a joyful one-day Sculpture workshop ‘Drawing in Space with 3d Materials’ at The Sherborne as a wider offering for the exhibition Recurring Intricacies.

My upcoming courses via Frome Community Education begin in September: Drawing and Creative Sketchbooking. . Book soon if interested.

New product in my shop:: a range of copper napkin rings for sale - do take a look.

Fund raiser: I’m extremely thankful to those who’ve donated to my fund-raiser so far: Caroline Driscoll, Hanne Castein, Angela Morley, Claire Alves, Julia Middleton. The fund-raiser (running ‘til the end of August) is to help finance the build of a shed for artwork/storage (see progress pics below - thanks to Roger Spear for all his work on this so far), to work with Melanie Thompson on the Riot collaboration, and film of the performance. If you can help please get in touch. All donors will be acknowledged in my next blog/newsletter and receive a giveaway pack of my greetings cards.

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