Community Art installation, Dorchester Festival – portfolio
Contact the artist
https://dorchesterfestival.com
07758 092728
emmacolemanjonesart {at} gmail.com
Click the link below to find additional information about the installation, contact details and notes about ways to get involved
Exhibition information
‘Impressions of Dorchester’ is a collaborative installation of over 400 small artworks created by a variety of groups within the local community and by the young people of our charity partner, Be Free Young Carers. Designed and led and by Oxford-based artist Emma Coleman-Jones, individual responses to The Abbey, the village and the local landscape are displayed together in an innovative design inspired by the windows and arches within the Abbey itself. Through the generous support of locally-based and internationally-renowned sculptor David Harber, the supporting arches used to create the display in the People’s Chapel will be auctioned at the end of the festival to provide additional funds for our charities.
The individual artworks, completed on small squares, are all inspired by the local environment: the landscape and nature of Wittenham Clumps, the River Thames near Day’s Lock, the rich archaeology and history of the area and the magnificent architecture and tranquil setting of the Abbey. Emma has worked with young artists from several local schools and other groups to create a vibrant array of pieces for the installation. Many locally based artists, including those exhibiting at Oxfordshire Artweeks have also created pieces to include, as have many individuals in Dorchester and surrounding villages. Artwork will span a range of media and techniques including drawing, painting, collage, printmaking and textiles.
The work will be ready to view from Friday 1st May and formally opened at 11am on Saturday 2nd May. This event is FREE and available for viewing throughout the Festival week (1-10 May) during Abbey opening hours 10 -4.
If you need disabled parking or access do contact us here with your requirements – we’d love to help you!
Please note that at certain times during the festival other events may be in progress and you may be advised to keep noise to a minimum at these times.
This event is sponsored by Hallidays
Artist information
Emma is the lead artist for the Festival Art Installation at Dorchester Abbey.
Emma is an Oxford-based artist with an academic background in Biology and Anthropology and a long career in education.
The primary focus of her own work is drawing trees within the landscape. She works outside in all weathers and seasons using with charcoal and chalk to create instinctive, atmospheric responses to the natural world. In her studio she draws natural history specimens and works with paper, text and maps to explore the language of place and of nature. Observational drawing, and its role in understanding, appreciating and responding to the natural world plays a central role in Emma’s teaching and workshops.
Emma has exhibited and sold her work widely with solo shows at galleries and colleges in Oxford (including Wolfson College, Wycliffe Hall and Gallery 1 plus 5) and group shows in London and Sussex. She has also run a variety of projects in schools, most recently at Headington Rye Oxford, as well as working in museum and community settings.
In 2025 she was the recipient of the Mary Moser Award for an artist who has taken up the profession as a second career and in 2026 won the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize.
During the Dorchester Festival Emma will be present in the Abbey on many of the days and looks forward to talking to visitors about the project. She will have some of her drawings and prints in the separate group display in the Abbey Guesthouse.
Later in Artweeks (16th-25th May) Emma will be exhibiting additional work in central Oxford at Wycliffe Hall, venue 369.
Community Art installation, Dorchester Festival
