EXHIBITIONS

Portraits from the Museum's Collection - paintings and drawings, caricatures and photographs, word and film - celebrate the artists who have lived in Ditchling as well local people who have been drawn, painted and photographed in this extraordinary village.

Works by Eric Gill, Edgar Holloway, Louis Ginnett, Photographs of villagers, Rhyme Sheets printed by St Dominic’s Press and the film - A Very English Village by Luke Holland.

The Collection at Ditchling Museum, which opened in 1985, was started by its founders, Joanna and Hilary Bourne and reflects their enthusiasm for collecting, their love of history and of Ditchling in particular. A significant part of the history of this village is its unique position in art history as the home in the early part of the 20th century of artist, sculptor Eric Gill, and other important artists and craftspeople.

Ditchling Museum provides a rare opportunity to see, in the environment and landscape in which they were created, works by Gill, David Jones, Edward Johnston and others. The village was also the home and workplace of a wider community who have left their own history. The exhibition places side by side objects from the two strands of the Collection exploring the similarities between the two communities and their shared sense of place.

Taking as a starting point the crafts practised by the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, founded in Ditchling in 1920 - weaving, silversmithing, letter-press printing, woodworking, lettercutting, sculpture and painting - this exhibition explores the work of contemporary practitioners working in Sussex today.

It is 100 years since Eric Gill (1882 - 1940) moved to Ditchling in Sussex where, arguably, he spent his most creative years. This exhibition will explore how the village transformed Gill’s life and work, and will examine Gill’s importance to the modern art movement in the early twentieth century, revealing how his traditions lived on in Ditchling through his assistant, Joseph Cribb.

This exhibition brings together for the first time the work of calligrapher Ewan Clayton and painter Jeanne Masoero. The show explores the differences in their work – Masoero creates light and depth with colour, and Clayton takes the written word as the point of departure – as well as shared concerns for light, spatial depth and energy.

It is 50 years since the death of Frank Brangwyn, the painter and designer, who lived and worked in the Jointure, Ditchling. This selection of works, again mainly from private and family collections, will document his life and his work in Ditchling where he painted and drew the inhabitants of the village and incorporated these studies in murals that were sited around the world – including the Rockefeller Centre, New York.

An exhibition to mark 100 years since the publication of Writing, Illuminating and Lettering, Johnston's seminal text on the art of writing.

The show will also celebrate the range of creativity that Johnston was capable of - both the public (it is extraordinary to think the designs for the radical new transport system of the time, The Tube, were designed in his studio in this rural village) and the personal (books for his children).

Working with the Johnston family this exhibition will have access to many works held within the family that have remained unseen until now.

An exhibition that celebrates the diversity of the Sussex Landscape and varying ways artists have captured this. Artists include - William Nicholson, Eric Ravilious, Charles Knight and Jem Southam.

This exhibition is the result of a project created by the nationally renowned artist Jo Roberts that has seen her work with the celebrated arts and crafts collection of Ditchling Museum, and sharing cups of tea with the people of Ditchling to create a sound and visual installation exploring the history of this community and collection... intrigued?

An exhibition that celebrates the works on paper of John Wells (who lived in Ditchling from 1908 - 1921) who was at the forefront of British Abstract movementand friend to Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Peter Lanyon. Drawings, prints and collages - discovered in Wells' Cornish studio after his death, and many seen for the first time, reveal his interest in line and landscape. A collaborative exhibition with Jonathan Clark Gallery, London.

A celebration of 20 years of Ditchling Museum - 20 people, institutions, celebrities select a piece from the collection that they love, loathe or feel encapsulates the museum and Ditchling for them.

With Ditchling's place in the history of the 20th century weaving and links to Japan it seems fitting that the museum should be a venue to see the work of the weaver Fiona Rutherford in her first national touring exhibition. Rutherford is fascinated by the architecture and crafts of Japan and recent trips to Japan have informed her work and weaving - starting with the kimono and its form, she plays with colour shape and pattern.

Paintings, sketches, engravings, carvings and lettering from the formative years Jones spent after the First World War at the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic.

Ditchling History Project. First-hand accounts and reminiscences of two World Wars collected from local people including Dame Vera Lynn. Also a collection of local landscapes by Charles Knight for the Recording Britain Scheme in 1940 loaned by the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Work by twenty lettering artists in an innovative exhibition combining modern calligraphy from Japan, China, the West and the Arab world.

A joint project by Ditchling Museum and the Edward Johnston Foundation.

The relationship between the craft of the calligrapher and the work of today’s designers creating digital type.

A joint project by Ditchling Museum and the Edward Johnston Foundation.

A fascinating look at the art of everyday life with work by international lettering artists plus the winners in the BBC National Schools' Writing Competition.

A joint project by Ditchling Museum and the Edward Johnston Foundation.

Major exhibition of works by the celebrated Japanese potter recognised as one of the leading potters of the 20^th century and an inspiration to studio potters working today. Hamada visited Ditchling during the 1920s meeting Ethel Mariet, Eric Gill and Edward Johnston. The exhibition was opened by Sir David Attenborough, an admirer and collector of Hamada's work.