Last week to visit...

Sack, Cass Art Prize, London

I’ve had an invigorating month installing large-scale works in glorious spaces with the help of an amazing team, and I’m so grateful for all the support. Time has flown by and soon it will be time to de-install 3 shows. This is the final week to visit the following:

Cass Art Prize Exhibition, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London SE15 3SN runs to Saturday 1 November, Sun-Thur 12-5pm, Fri-Sat 12-7pm. It was an elaborate operation installing Sack - thanks to help from: Roger Spear, Julia Middleton, Georgia Grinter, Jack Robson and Cass Art team. I stayed in London for the Private View (best canapés I’ve had for a long time), and enjoyed visiting other shows (Frieze Sculpture; Giacometti/Hatoum, Barbican; Gomes, Pace; Goudal, Edel Assanti). If you’d like to cast a vote there’s a People’s Choice award - here’s the link.

Threads of Light, Wells Art Contemporary

Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset., My site-specific installation Threads of Light is located in the sublime Chapter House. Daylight streams through the work from stained glass windows. In contrast, it looked wonderfully dramatic on the opening evening with lighting by Greg Trezise. There’s an excellent range of installations and other artwork throughout the Cathedral. Open until Saturday 1 November.

One Island - Many Visions ends on 31 Oct. Don’t miss this show of site-responsive works by 27 artists from Royal Society of Sculptors and Portland Sculpture & Quarry Trust.

Above: My talk at the Artists-in-Conversation event

Below: My Eco Sculpture Workshop

Riot. Photo by Barbara Beyer

You can find my piece Riot at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve, Portland, Dorset 📍what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts. Entrances: Memory Stones, Priory Corner DT5 2EN & Tradecroft, Wide Street DT5 2LN. Free parking, open daily.

My sculpture Stilt Structure II is in Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Gallery, Bath until 10th January 2026, 10.30am-5pm..  I was honoured to be invited as guest selector for 3-d work.

Pleased one of my sculptures (made from repurposed piano parts) is now in the permanent collection at The Piano Shop, Bath. I have 2 more pieces for sale there - do visit.

I’ve just finished teaching a Drawing Course (pics below of participants’ work) and will be running a Creative Sketchbooking Course via Frome Community Education, starting 5 November, Wednesdays 2-4pm, Makers’ Yard, 37 Lower Keyford, Frome BA11 4AR. There are a couple of places left so book soon if interested.

Please visit my instagram for regular updates and images.

Threads of Light

This month I have exhibitions running simultaneously in Portland, Wells, Bath and London. I’ve been installing a new site-responsive piece Threads of Light in the exhilarating Chapter House at Wells Cathedral for Wells Art Contemporary. Really grateful to Roger Spear and the team at WAC for all help and support. Riot continues to change under various weather conditions, sited on the rocks at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve in Portland, as part of One Island - Many Visions. Next week I’ll be sitting on the selection panel for Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Gallery, Bath. My piece Stilt Structure II features in the show. Next, I’ll be reconstructing parts of Sack ready for delivery to the Cass Art Prize Exhibition at Copeland Gallery, London. All very exciting!

Threads of Light: installation in progress. Found/recycled materials: sustainable papers, tea bags, textiles, wax, wood, metal, sandbags.. Photos by Maddie Keates

An ancient tree, ghostly limbs and a ruined landscape evoke loss; yet mycelial threads - networks of energy - offer regeneration. Threads of Light considers the entangled relationships between humans, forests, and climate change. We are all connected.

‘Flowing light’ is the WAC theme this year, symbolising enlightenment. it relates to 13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg’s writings, which draw on her union with God, pain, love, divine flow. My work suggests fostering deeper union with natural world, throwing light on the plight of forests, and nature’s tenacity. The immersive oscillation of verticals, translucent branching forms, fluid networks evocative of mycelium, fungal ecologies and forest histories creates a dynamic, ethereal atmosphere. Line interweaves through labour-intensive processes of care and repair: interconnectedness, flow of energy weaving through nature, binding life. A ghost tree, surrounded by shattered tree stumps, references deforestation, wildfires, climate change, haunting war visions. Hope is an act of resistance in dark times.

The exhibition runs from Wednesday 8 October - Saturday 1 November. Private View Thursday 9 October, 7pm. Entrance fee to the Cathedral includes WAC. Under 18s, free as are Wells residents with a local pass.

Riot Performance, 14 September, with me and Melanie Thompson: 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. Photos by Andy Ralston

On a very rainy day last month I performed with Melanie Thompson wearing Riot (in 2 parts) at its site in the quarry, Portland (what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts). Thanks to the small audience who braved the elements to watch. There will be a film produced of the event by Andy Ralston, which I will publish when edited.

I’ll be leading a FREE Eco Sculpture Workshop Friday 10 October, 2-4.30pm, Drill Hall, Portland (funded by The Arts Society Wessex Area) - last chance to book: fionacampbell-art@sky.com

I’ll also be taking part in an Artists-in-Conversation, Sunday 19 October 2pm with Ros Burgin, Nicola Turner, Rebecca Newnham, Kate Parson, Hannah Sofaer, chaired by Freeny Yianni (Close Ltd). Meet at Drill Hall.

Other Exhibitions:

Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Sat 18th October 2025 - 10th January 2026, 10.30am-5pm.

Shortlisted for the Cass Art Prize 2025, Sack will be on exhibiton at Copeland Gallery, Unit 9, Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, Friday 24 October – Saturday 1 November.

Courses:

Creative Sketchboooking (via Fome Community Education) - last chance to book

Interesting article:

https://theecologist.org/2025/sep/07/food-sovereignty-climate-justice

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Highlights 2021; Looking Ahead 2022

Happy New Year!

Photo credits from top: Snakes and Ladders (I) - Barry Cawston; Hope of a Tree - David Bird; All The Colours, ArtFirst - Laura Hylton; Octopus - Steve Richardson; Loft Residency - Dan Hopkins; Glut - Paul Tucker, Courtesy of The Ingram Collection & Unit 1 Gallery; Pyre - me; Hope of a Tree - Linda Ashe; Me installing Snakes and Ladders (I) - Kathryn Sewell

A few highlights from 2021.  It was a tough year, but with plenty of highs. I met and worked with some wonderful people, and grateful for all the support from friends, family, buyers, organisations and followers. 

It was great to have a short film made about my practice, commissioned by Art UK in partnership with Culture Street and Royal Society of Sculptors.  Aimed at secondary schools, it’s one of 10 films about sculptors’ techniques. 

I was delighted to be awarded first prize for Round Lemon’s anniversary exhibition ONE. I gave an artist talk and interview as part of it.

Thanks to Chris Greenwood Red Line Art Works for inviting me to give a Zoom talk.

Touring Inch by IN:CH was hard work but fun along the way. Collaborating with 10 other artists, we showed in some amazing spaces over 4 months, got funding, found new ways to show art and involve the wider community. I worked with Shirley Sharp on performative window drawing and shadow drawing events, and led workshops.  The research and development of work was as exciting as the final outcome. Thanks to all venues and funders including Somerset Skills and Learning, Somerset Art Works, The Arts Society and many other supporters.

It was wonderful to be selected for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral. Snakes and Ladders (I) was suspended in the South Transept. Thanks to excellent curators Simon Periton and Robin Sewell.

I was thrilled to be a finalist for the Ingram Prize 2021.  My selected piece Glut was shown in a beautifully curated exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery along with some brilliant artists. Thanks to Jo Baring, Stacie McCormick and Alison Price.

My short film Life in the Undergrowth was part of In Pursuit of Spring at Black Swan Arts.

I loved my Loft Residency, which gave me a chance to explore, develop, make new work and document pieces in an incredible space. My solo exhibition was open during Somerset Open Studios.  Thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios for inviting me and for their support! 

Thanks to Spaeda Arts and Eastover School, Bridgwater for the Octopus and Sea Life wall commission. It was lovely to work with primary school children in the making of it and see their reactions when it was installed.

I enjoyed chatting to Polly Hall about my work for her Procrastination Station podcast.

I’m grateful to Seed Sedgemoor for commissioning All The Colours for Art First. It was a big learning curve: I designed a lenticular (holographic/moving) image of a chameleon changing colours for Buses of Somerset, made up of the community’s images, some created in workshops I led. 

I was really delighted that Pyre was selected for the International Biennial Exhibition Transfiguration: From Nature to Art in Taiwan, which is on exhibition at the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute until 10th April 2022.

Thanks to Sculptors Drawing Space and Royal Society of Sculptors South West for ongoing zoom meetings led by Simon Hitchens.

I ran my second sculpture course last year, got to know some great artists through it, and am about to run my third (10 Jan - 13 Feb). I still have a few spaces so if interested, see this showreel for details.

Images: Martydom of the Ten Thousand (working title), for Chichester Cathedral

In the studio. Photo by Jack Robson

Sketch: ideas for installation

I have some exciting exhibitions lined up for this year including Together We Rise at Chichester Cathedral with Royal Society of Sculptors curated by Jacquline Cresswell, and Materiality with Kate McDonnell, Kelly O’Brien and Nicola Turner at Walcot Chapel. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get cancelled again.

I’m working on a large installation for Chichester, inspired by the plight of pangolins. Stitch by stitch, forms are emerging and a growing collection of bodily forms are gathering in my studio.  I’m using recycled materials that are hand-sewn, wrapped, tie-dyed with home-made plant inks, and waxed over woven structures.  It’s going to take me a few months, but I’m enjoying the labour-intensive process.  Louise Bourgeois said ‘The act of sewing is a process of emotional repair’. 

Here’s to a greener year in 2022 full of love, kindness and creativity!  

Workshops, Exhibitions, Residencies

Inch by IN:CH

We had a magical day in the woods at Found Outdoors for our pop-up earlier this month. The light was sublime. ‘The work was held by the environment so well it could have been made for it!’ (Philippa Edwards). 

Our finale at the Gauge Museum (West Somerset Railway, Bishops Lydeard TA4 3RU); 25 September - 3 October, 11am-5pm daily (closed Mondays) is part of Somerset Open Studios.

The event is part of a 6 month travelling exhibition of art in cases. We’re treating this as a residency, so each of us will be working on something in situ.

We have some exciting events for you to take part in! Some are drop-in, others are part of The Big Draw and need to be booked in advance. We’re keen to engage Somerset-based residents.

The first workshop this Sunday will be led by me and Shirley Sharp:

Sculpture and Shadow Drawing Workshop: Sun 26 Sept, 2-4pm. Make sculptures and shadow drawings using wire, clay, newspaper and recycled materials. We will first create heads and other sculptural forms. The artists will then guide you to use these as inspiration to draw sculpted shadows, enhanced by dramatic lighting, using inks and graphite, limited places. For adults and children (accompanied by adult/s). Just £5 for materials. Book via Eventbrite:

Next week:

Family Drawing Workshop: Sat 2 Oct, 2-4pm. Exploring the Journey of Line: where it might go and how it might get there. With Helen Anson & Anna Kot….. Eventbrite,

Family Sculpture Workshop: Combine sculpture and drawing processes using mainly recycled materials; Supported by Somerset Art Works and linked to The Big Draw; Sun 3 Oct, 2 - 4pm Eventbrite

Please share this information with anyone you think might be interested. Our funds depend on participants!

For more events visit www.inchbyinch.uk

Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral

There’s still time to visit Wells Art Contemporary, where my installation Snakes and Ladders (I) is exhibited. I’m so grateful to visitors, wonderful feedback and photographs of my work. Below are some beautiful shots taken in the cathedral by Barry Cawston, Dominic Weston, Polly Hall, and Jack Robson

Snakes and Ladders (I), Wells Cathedral. Photo by Barry Cawston

Photo by Polly Hall

Photo by Dominic Weston

Photo by Jack Robson

The extraordinary effort and process involved in transporting, fixing together, erecting and suspending the piece will happen in reverse next week! There have been some excellent reviews of the exhibition and installations. It ends on Sunday 26 September, so if you haven’t yet, I’d recommend a visit! :-)

Snakes and Ladders (I) was originally created as part of a series of dysfunctional ladders and hangings for B-Wing, Shepton Mallet Prison. The piece was inspired by Piranesi’s ‘The Bridge’, referencing the human cycle of striving, greed and suffering. The winglike skeletal structure is a precarious stairway, reminiscent of flight and extinct animals hung in museums. My use of recycled and discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter and nature.

Loft Residency

I’m really enjoying my ongoing Loft Residency above Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios. Huge thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery for all their support, for facilitating my residency, and to all our lovely visitors; it’s been wonderful to meet and chat with friends and new acquaintances. Open 18 Sept-2 Oct, 11-4 (closed Sun/Mon).

Some of my pieces are in progress. I’ll be working on them over the next week or so. The residency is giving me the opportunity to experiment with the space and new ideas using mainly recycled and found materials, responding to ongoing global events and nature’s complex interconnections.

As part of this event I'll be running a sculpture workshop on Saturday 2 October, 2-4pm in the gallery:

‘Inspired by the incredible variety of creatures and plant forms in our natural world, come and explore different processes to create a small sculpture, using recycled and found materials including copper wire. Materials will be provided, but do bring your own collection of buttons, bottle tops and beads to add to your sculpture! £15pp. Book via email: fionacampbell-art@sky.com’.

I’ll be there when the gallery’s open apart from Saturday 25/9, when I’ll be at my Inch by IN:CH venue (16).

Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

For more images visit my Instagram page

Space/s

I’m looking forward to suspending my large-scale Snakes and Ladders (I) piece in Wells Cathedral and attending the Wells Art Contemporary PV this week! I’ll also be installing a giant Octopus on a 5m wall at Eastover Primary School, after which I can properly get stuck into my residency space in the Loft, above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  All very exciting though I’ve been very busy, a bit stressed and feeling quite exhausted. I value those still times for head space and imaginings.

WAC

Having been selected as one of the installation artists for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral, my 7m piece Snakes and Ladders (I) will be suspended in the south transept.  I can’t wait to instal it in that magnificent space this week!  

I’ve been very lucky to be able to work on it in a fabulous spacious workshop nearby, thanks to Jen Weaver and Al Crossman for the free space (available to rent - contact tractor.shed). The piece needed repasting and a few other tweaks, so I’ve spent 2 weeks sprucing it up. Thanks also to Nick Weaver for his technical assistance.

Snakes and Ladders (I) in progress

The Private View is this Friday 27 August (do come - PV invite below) and the show runs for a month. 

See previous post for more details about the work.

My work tends to gravitate upwards, downwards, or entwine through - in motion anyway.  There’s a vitality, an ongoingness, entangling or journeying - as with life.  Along these lines, I’m reading Life of Lines by Tim Ingold.

Pyre is off to Taiwan

Packing Pyre, (including counting (85 pieces), weighing, installation instructions and registering shipping on DHL took almost as long as making it!  The work’s going off to the International Biennale, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute this Thursday - fingers crossed the 3 boxes arrive in tact the other end!

Loft Space (above Heritage Courtyard Gallery)

Loving my new temporary workspace in the loft above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  It’s giving me some thinking space along with it being physically inspiring, a space to expand, and document work, in between my other projects. I’m approaching it as a short residency, leading to Somerset Open Studios, (18 Sept-3 Oct).  It’s very timely as my relatively cramped studio at home has no power at the moment!

I’ve been drawing roots with oak gall and Indian ink - the start of a series of drawings and sculptural installations.

I’m working on a new piece for an RSS exhibition at Chichester Cathedral next year - title undecided. My work is based on the plight of pangolins. Recently authorities found body parts of 15,000 dead pangolins in hundreds of bags. The slaughter of Pangolins continues.  This poaching, cruelty, slaughter and greedy profiteering from the death of these beautiful endangered creatures is breaking my heart.  Wildlife trafficking is a vile practice, and those who encourage and commission it must be stopped, shamed and brought to justice. Those who poach need to be given a better alternative - educated/enlisted to save not harm wildlife.

Of Anish Kapoor: ‘…bleeds and disgorges its subterranean innards… push boundaries between sculpture and painting into visceral new ground,… ongoing attention to the abjected body… a theme surely intensified in the pandemic era… when the sense of the vulnerability of the body has become a communal experience.’ ArtLyst, July ’21

I thought this description aptly describes what I’m trying to achieve in my new work.

In the gallery below the Loft, there’s a vibrant exhibition: Inside Out with work by Heather Wallace and Rebecca Barnard - come and visit!

Inch by IN:CH

We had a fantastic pop up event at Backwell Playhouse as part of Inch by IN:CH. It was a brilliant opportunity for dramatic lighting on our work. My piece Hope of a Tree was placed to cast interesting shadows for our shadow drawing workshops, led by Shirley Sharp and me. It was so lovely to interact with the public, who seemed to really appreciate the event. There was a great energy; a strong sense of collaboration and deep focus during the drawing sessions. 

I’m creating a slideshow of my work to be published at the end of the Inch by IN:CH project. See my slideshow of all our work for Backwell. (Photos by Linda Ashe; James Thornton).

Our next stop is a pop up event at Found Outdoors, a beautiful woodland in Erlstoke, Wiltshire on 11th September, with events, and then our finale at The Gauge Museum, West Somerset Railway (25 Sept-3 Oct).

Reimagining Nature

A couple of my small sculptures from the entanglement series, and film Life in the Undergrowth are included in Re-Imagining Nature, an exhibition curated by Zoe Li in the newly transformed gallery in Yeovil - open until 11 Sept, Wed - Fri 11-3, Sat 11-5. 

Giant Octopus

I’m on my way to finishing a giant Octopus commission for Eastover School via Spaeda Arts. Made from recycled materials, parts were created in workshops I ran with the pupils.  Looking forward to erecting it on the 5m wall as a permanent feature.

Workshops

My first workshop back at the Holburne Museum for over a year was a success. Small family groups made wire creatures. I also spent a few lovely hours at Five Trees Bowlish running a free sculpture workshop. Thanks to Shepton Mallet Town Council for funding it as part of Summer in Shepton, and thanks to Sue Ayton-Moon for the great venue and facilities, situated in a field near Shepton Mallet. Participants made a range of pieces using recycled, found and natural materials.

Hope to see you at one of my forthcoming events. See a full list here.