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Exploratory Laboratory. ExLab. Competitive open submission commission to research, develop and realise artwork in relation to the Jurassic Coast and the inland geology of Dorset

Exploratory Laboratory was a competitive open submission commission to research, develop and realise artwork in relation to the Jurassic Coast and the inland geology of Dorset. The selected artists were managed by a collaboration of seven visual arts organisations working in Dorset; Artsreach, b-side, Bridport Art Centre, Dorset Visual Arts, Walford Mill Crafts, Sherborne House Arts and PVA Medialab. Additionally the appointed artists worked with earth scientists from the Jurassic Coat World Heritage Site Team and Universities of Southampton, Bournemouth and Exeter. This project was part of Maritime Mix – London 2012 Cultural Olympiad by the Sea. Other artists appointed were: Simon Ryder, Proboscis, Zachery Eastwood Bloom, Mat Chivers.

I worked with commission managers Andrew Stooke and Amanda Wallwork of Sherborne House Arts and geologist Sam Scriven of the Jurassic Coast Team. My commission was called Inland Sealand and focussed on drawing attention to geology inland, away from the popular Jurassic Coast, through a public exhibition. The developing artwork was directed and informed by expert input from Sam Scriven and rigourously tempered at all stages by the commission managers.

Initial field work consisted of a five-day walk across the county in November 2011. My objective was to respond in an original way to the qualities of the geology inland and to develop a group of related paintings made for a domestic venue in Sherborne, North Dorset. The formal qualities of the resulting paintings were determined by an ambition to encourage the viewer to be active and to encounter the work whilst in motion from room to room – an equivalent to the experience of exploring the landscapes of Inferior Oolite exposures in Sherborne and the chalk downlands along the West Dorset Ridgeway. The significance of these works lay in their ability to challenge the pictorial conventions of landscape based painting.