The Waves Exhibition
‘All is experiment, all is adventure’
Friday 18 - Sunday 20 September
Blending visual art, spoken word with a spirit of ‘all is experiment, all is adventure’, this weekend event celebrates Virginia Woolf’s book The Waves. An exhibition by eight artists will showcase imaginative interpretations and responses to this 20th century classic of literature. Woolf wrote ‘painting and writing have much to tell each other’ This exhibition takes up the conversation that was such an absorbing topic for Woolf.
The Waves was first published in 1931. The book is a reflection of a period marked by innovation and change; many other modernist writers were questioning traditional narrative structures and aiming to find new ways of creating literature to represent the fluidity and fragmentation of modern life. In contrast to traditional language and sentence structure, Woolf writes with a wave-like rhythm seeking to convey the fluid nature of life.
This exhibition will demonstrate the individual responses each artist has on encountering the book. While some of us have found it a challenging read, that experience has become a catalyst for their work; others in the group have used the physical book as their starting point, finding numerous ways to transform it into an artwork. Further work responds to aspects of the play/poem, taking the descriptive and visual language as inspiration for drawings and prints.
The line ‘All is experiment, all is adventure’ becomes a cohesive thread for the event which includes a wide variety of mediums including drawing, ceramic, printmaking, sculpture textile, and film.
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Participating artists:
Lola Swain
Chris Ruston
Louise Swain
Gwen Simpson
Nicola Parry
Sally Chinea
Karen Apps
Jane Woollatt
@arc_artists.reflect.create
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The Poetry Social Club, coordinated by Jen Feroze and Rachel Morgan, will be performing a spoken word event at 2.pmon Saturday 19th September. The group will be presenting new work based on the theme of Waves.
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To further complement all this activity, an experimental mark workshop will take place on Sunday 20th September. In keeping with the theme ‘all is experiment, all is adventure” Gwen Simpson will facilitate a workshop using eco dyes made from natural plant materials, and a collection of varied drawing implements. This workshop aims to facilitate a joy in the drawn mark - to dispel the inner critic that stops you having fun, so you will come away with a fresh perspective on materials and drawing.
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We are grateful to HOFS https://www.hofs.org.uk for their creative call out initiative programme supporting local artists in providing this opportunity.
Dates for the Diary:
Launch evening Friday 18th September 2026 6 - 8.30pm
Exhibition Saturday 19th 10-5.00pm &
Sunday 20th September 2026. 10-4.00pm
Poetry Performance Saturday 19th at 2pm
Workshop Sunday 20th September 11–12.30pm £20 (booking required) - see other event page