Event start date: 14/06/2025
Location: The Hide Artist Retreat, Pinfarthings, Stroud, GL5 5JJ
Free contemporary rural art exhibition
DIY ethos meets rural idyll, as artist stages contemporary sculpture showcase in Cotswolds garden.
Artists are proving their resourcefulness more than ever; self-organising and coming together to make ambitious exhibitions in an artworld of funding cuts, gallery closures and declining sales.
The Hide Installation and Sculpture Showcase (THISS) presents the work of five artists from London and five artists from the South West in gardens on the edge of Minchinhampton Common, Amberley, Stroud. Determined to resist rural isolation and make exciting things happen in her area, artist-curator Alice Sheppard Fidler has invited a line-up of contemporary artists making experimental sculpture into her home.
Exhibiting artists: Jessica Akerman, Barbara Beyer, Flora Bradwell, Luke Chin-Joseph, Will Cruickshank, Liz Elton, Chantal Powell, Alice Sheppard Fidler, Valentino Vannini and Andrea V. Wright.
The exhibition is part of Stroud’s annual Site Festival, with free open studios and exhibitions happening across the area over two weekends in June.
- Saturday-Sunday 14-15 June and 21-22 June, 11am-5pm.
- Artists talk: 3pm, Saturday 14 June
- Location: The Hide Artist Retreat, Pinfarthings, Stroud, GL5 5JJ
Artists were asked to respond to the theme adaptable matter. Selected because of their approaches to making, their processes transform diverse materials in experimental ways. Fabric, glass, clay, concrete and cardboard are just some of the materials in dialogue with the garden and each other, connecting origins, geographies, and ideas, between the city and countryside. Most of the artworks were not intended for outdoors, so artists are challenged to consider how their work adapts to unexpected conditions, and to delve into a deeper exploration of the environmental implications of making permanent sculpture today.
In a world saturated with stuff, how can sculpture proclaim its physical presence, while pushing back on existing, unsustainable global practices?
The Hide Artist Retreat has become a place of connection for artists from around the UK and beyond: an ‘art house’ that hosts residencies, events and shows; its own creative ecosystem.
Alice, a founding member of Studio Voltaire, London says:
“Resilience and creating opportunities is fundamental to what I do. I renovated the 1960s bungalow and sloping garden myself, with the rule that I used only materials that already existed on site. Meeting other artists is so vital for me; hearing about their experiences, ideas and perspectives on life. We’ve had Traditional folk musicians here, circus performers, writers, and of course, visual artists.”
THISS is now in its fourth year. It was born out of a desire to bring artists together following the pandemic. THISS 2025 is free to the public and supported using funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, which enables a partnership with two youth charities, The Venture Hub and Young Gloucestershire in neighbouring Gloucester, whose young people will exhibit their collaborative sculptures alongside the work of the more established contemporary artists.
Key information
THISS is open to the public:
11am – 5pm, Saturday 14 June and Sunday 15 June 2025
11am – 5pm, Saturday 21 June and Sunday 22 June 2025
To arrange a visit outside these times, please contact Alice on contact@thehide.co
Address: The Hide, Pinfarthings, Stroud, GL5 5JJ
Parking: Bays available close by on Common
Rail: Nearest station in Stroud (2 miles away)
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