Exhibition conversations : slow art

Welcome to Don’t Ignore the Periphery, an exhibition that invites you to engage deeply with abstraction through the lens of Slow Art. Across 100 works, Brad Coleman and Amanda Alderson explore the boundaries between chance and control, colour and form, creation and response. Their artworks exist in conversation—a rhythmic dialogue where one medium echoes another, blurring the line between origin and reflection.

A Collaborative Feedback Loop
At the core of this exhibition is a rich exchange of practice and process. Coleman’s vibrant, frenetic monoprints directly inform Alderson’s jewellery. She draws from his forms, translating their abstract shapes into wearable designs, and selects gemstones that mirror his bold colour palettes—some of which he personally chose for her pieces. Behind each jewellery piece, a monoprint stands as both reference and response. Over half were made by Coleman, while Alderson created the rest, experimenting with his monoprinting technique. This shared exploration pushes the boundaries of their individual practices, blending their methods into a single, evolving dialogues.

The Pulse of Process: Rhythm, Repetition, Response
Both artists ground their practice in daily making—Coleman through his ambitious creation of 1,500 monotypes, and Alderson through her measured, deliberate construction of jewellery. His process, though fast and intuitive, is built on patience and experimentation, while hers is slower, more meticulous, embracing complexity and precision. Yet both hold rhythm at their core—lines pulsing through paper, curves shaping metal—each piece an imprint of their daily creative rituals.

Colour and Chance: Emotion Made Visible
Colour becomes a conversation between the artists—bold, brash, and layered in Coleman’s prints, refined and distilled in Alderson’s jewellery. Coleman’s monoprints are an eruption of motion: scraped, pressed, and layered, capturing the energy of the moment. In contrast, Alderson’s jewellery reframes this chance into form—compressing Coleman’s palette and gestures into tactile, wearable objects. Together, they demonstrate how colour and texture can shift from wild expression to intimate adornment.

Edges and Echoes: Exploring the Periphery
The title Don’t Ignore the Periphery urges you to look beyond the obvious. In Coleman’s prints, the most surprising marks emerge at the edges—faint traces where ink has slipped or textures have ghosted. Alderson finds inspiration here, shaping her jewellery from those overlooked details: the curve of a fragment, the shadow of a form. Slow looking reveals that the periphery is never empty—it is a space where possibility resides.

Material Conversations: Paper Meets Metal
Though they work in different mediums—Coleman with paint and paper, Alderson with metal and gemstone—their materials speak to each other. His monoprints carry the rawness of the press, the scrape of the roller, and the smudge of chance. Her jewellery translates these marks into three-dimensional form—folding, marking, and setting metals that echo his gestures. It is a dialogue not only between artists but between surfaces—flat and textured, rigid and fluid, ephemeral and enduring.

The Art of Slow Looking
This exhibition is best experienced slowly. Both Coleman and Alderson build their works over time—layer by layer, mark by mark. In turn, their pieces reveal themselves gradually to the viewer. As you move through the space, pause and return. Follow the loops of their conversation. Notice the small moments—how a print’s jagged edge resurfaces in the curve of a ring, or how the warmth of one palette softens into the glow of a pendant.

A Conversation Without End
Don’t Ignore the Periphery is more than an exhibition—it is an ongoing exchange. Between print and jewellery, colour and form, artist and viewer. By slowing down, you become part of the dialogue. And perhaps, like Alderson and Coleman, you will find that the most profound discoveries happen not at the centre—but on the edges, where art meets reflection.