Curated by James Elwes of the Tin Man Art gallery, the new exhibition will feature works by Endellion Lycett-Green, Marie Elisabeth Merlin, Chloe S. Moncreiff, Wendy Sutherland and Fiona Whitehouse.
The exhibition draws inspiration from Bere Mill, an area of ancient agricultural land that was first established in the 10th century. Over the subsequent thousand years, the water-powered mill supported extensive milling and farming operations, serving as the local corn mill and the foundation of a vast water meadow system since the late 1600s. Bere Mill was also the original site of the Portals banknote operation, where paper for the Bank of England was produced by hand.
Today, Bere Mill is renowned as a fishing spot and operates as a model environmentally friendly farm, striving to preserve an idyllic and unspoiled part of England while advocating for environmentally sound and non-intrusive solutions to modern living.
The exhibition is also deeply inspired by Tess Taylor’s poem ‘Solstice’ (2015), which evokes themes of nature, time, and the changing seasons. Set in Massechusets, Taylor explained her inspiration for writing the poem: “A couple of years ago I had the great honour of spending a year working and living at Amy Clampitt’s house in Lenox, Massachusetts. I wrote and worked on a small farm three days a week, hiked and ran a lot, and I found myself drawn to my role that year as a watcher, as a being in time. Beauty is complicated, but sometimes joy feels pretty simple: lying in the pine needles by Upper Goose Pond, the pleasure of swimming and then drying off again.”
The Buzz & Hum & Wing & Song exhibition takes place at Bere Mill House, London Rd, Whitchurch (RG28 7NH) from the 27th of June until the 11th of June, 2025.
