The front door of Bell House has recently changed colour from bright green to mid blue and there’s a very good reason why.
It is in preparation for the Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House this May in which once again Bell House will be participating. Blue is a colour commonly used to represent portals or doorways and this ties in with the Bell House exhibition theme - Windows and Thresholds.
The Artist’s Open House at Bell House will be a series of five exhibitions exploring the theme Windows and Thresholds and will consider whether these in-between spaces are barriers symbolic of separation and division or portals to opportunities and possibilities.
It will feature over 40 artists - painters, printmakers, sculptors, filmmakers, and photographers - drawing inspiration from the new Berthe Morisot show at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Berthe Morisot was one of the founding members of Impressionism. But conventions at that time made it difficult for a woman painter to paint ‘en plein air’ which was a key feature of impressionist painting. So instead she painted interior scenes, often with a window bringing the outside in and exploring the relationship between private and public spaces - portraying a view to the outside world and representing the barriers faced.
And so Berthe Morisot is the inspiration for the Artist’s Open House at Bell House exhibitions because of the way she worked and the subject matter of her paintings.
The exhibition Windows and Thresholds at Bell House throws open the windows and doors to investigate the different interpretations attached to portals and their impact on the psychological spaces of our environments.
Portals are extraordinary openings in space and time, they can be architectural or ritualistic, representing both an ending and a beginning. Regardless of whether they are physical, otherworldly or portals for the mind, they are gateways which connect us to distant realms, they link the interior to the exterior and are doors to the unknown.
Windows and Thresholds at Bell House will be open 13/14 & 20/21 May 2023, 11am to 6pm and entrance is FREE.
There will be workshops and performances during the open weekends – visit https://www.bellhouse.co.uk/artists-open-house-2023 for details of how to sign up for these and to see the list of exhibiting artists.
Bell House projects will also be on view with a display of work from the Quilt Academy and a chance to see The Garage Press (letterpress printing) in action.
With thanks to the curators of these 5 multi-disciplinary exhibitions - Kim Thornton, Sarah Sparkes/Jane Millar, Ky Lewis, Min Angel/Jo Mason, Lucy Bainbridge
