Exhibitions | Forest Arts Centre

Patience in Motion

Solo exhibition from emerging artist Emily Mantell

28th of February - 21st April 2026

Patience in Motion explores the quiet force of persistence - a strength that reveals itself in deliberate, consistent movement. This body of work is rooted in the belief that progress is not defined by speed but by the discipline of showing up, repeatedly especially when the outcome is uncertain.

Each piece invites the viewer to consider the excitement, hesitation and hope of human growth, resulting in work that captures the artists creative rituals, documenting small acts of bravery - movement over stagnation, trust over fear

Patience in Motion becomes a reminder that meaningful change often begins quietly in the moments when we decide to keep going.

Emily Mantell

Visit Emily's website: www.emilymantell.com

Coming up...

Nina Fraser and Stephen Foster

25 April to 9 June 2026

An exhibition by painter Stephen Foster and multidisciplinary artist Nina Fraser explores the interplay between reality and image, memory and recognition.

Through material gestures and the action of tracing as a repetition of texture - a kind of echo - both artists pursue the presence of something absent: the leaf that isn’t there, a personality transmuting into its background. Vibrant oil paintings converse with delicate rice paper works, proposing that substance is fluid and the mark-making process a spontaneous journey, open to chance. Each practice emerges from an initiating subconscious form, suggesting partially formed ghost-like visions that insist, above all, on being vividly alive. The exhibition features complementary work from Rosa Foster

Artist's meet and greet at the Forest Arts Centre, Saturday 25 April 2026; 4-6:30pm - free entry

About the painters:

Image: Stephen Foster “Shadow Presence” 2025

Stephen Foster is a professional Dorset-based artist (Verwood/Christchurch) specializing in semi-abstract oil and acrylic landscapes, often using palette knives to evoke texture and the "archaic". Represented by Hatch Gallery and active since 1985, his work is inspired by the Dorset coast and chalk downland, featuring in international collections.

Deliquesce (becoming liquid) config. 6" 2026

Born in St. Albans, UK (1984), Nina Fraser is a multidisciplinary artist and educator currently based in Lisbon, Portugal. Her practice is rooted in "collage thinking," using paper and found materials to explore themes of ecology, memory, and the human relationship with the environment. She has family connections to Dorset and exhibits regularly in the UK.

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