Benjamin C Dearnley                                           Fragments of our time

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Latest projects and news updates

2024


August -September: Abergele, Western Gate public spaces project with Cartrefi Conwy and Arts and Business Cymru.


August - September: Extended showcase for Let The Light In at An Diseart, Dingle. Due to popular demand this show has been extended to run until the end of this season. 25th September.


August to 9th September; Doddington Hall. Sculpture in the gardens. Ben was selected to showcase some of his fine stained glass work along with his award winning marble sculptures at this years show. Please follow the link for full details;


August- September: Start of Abergele project. Ben will be working on site for the duration creating a series of works using recycled stone from the site at Abergele.


August: 6th to 30th: Let the Light In exhibition at an Diseart, Green Street Dingle. An exhibition celebrating Harry Clarke's 100th anniversary here in Dingle.


July: Public consultation days in Abergele for the Western Gate commission with Arts & Business Cymru and Cartrefi Conwy 


June 15th: Launch day for this years Cruinniu na nOg, Free Art day for Children. Ben is hosting an all day free Arts event at An Diseart in Dingle. This event is kindly supported by Kerry County Council and is part of the Creative Communities program and the team at An Diseart in Dingle.


May: Winner of the 2024 Arts& Business/Cartrefi Conway commission, north Wales.


2nd / 6th May Feile Na Bealtaine, Dingle. Click here for full article.


One of Ireland's biggest independent Arts festivals, will see Ben leading a full weekend 'open' workshop for the public to come and have a go at stone carving. Each participant will be helping to create a special hand carved stone sculpture for the gardens of An Diseart. Ben will be guiding you in a safe and controlled way so you can experience one of the most ancient of artistic practices for yourself...you never know, you might become the next Michelangelo!


April/May: The Hare's Rock, a new work inspired by the Irish Hare in stained glass with Portland stone. Installed at The Great Blasket Centre on the west Coast of The Dingle Peninsula.


Spring: Latest works completed ready for this coming summer exhibition at Doddington Hall, Lincoln,UK. Ben is delighted to have been selected to showcase some of his latest works with stained glass and marble within the world famous gardens and inside in the gallery. The marble works each hold a unique aspect which Ben has been developing over the years. All sculptures will be available to purchase from the exhibition. Please get in touch for more information.


BCD Sculpture wins European Enterprise Awards for Contemporary Marble Sculptor of the year 2023 I am delighted to receive this award from EU Business and am always happy to discuss personal, business and community projects. Please get in touch to make your ideas become reality.


March 14th: Dingle Men's Shed: 3 workshops to celebrate the world class Stained glass windows of Harry Clarke in An Diseart chapel. These will form part of a longer out-reach project to help build strength in our spread out community here on the Peninsular with creative linked workshops at the 'Shed'.


February 2024: Patches for Peig. The first of these community based workshops was carried out by Ben and his team (Ruth Fanning) in one of Dingle's schools Bunscoil an Chlochair, as a way to integrate the wider community into this years Feile 2024. The central focus is a celebration of one of Ireland's most famous storytellers, Peig Sayers. We have created a exciting project which is being picked up by many different community groups across the Peninsular.  Contact Ben for more information and see how you too can get involved.


November: Private commission


September; The Journey. A stained glass commission for a private client in south west Ireland. 4 stained glass panels linked to local places, people and history. Please see the full details on the commissions page of this site.


June-September: Beaulieu Summer Sculpture show.


May: Preparations are well under way for this summer's sculpture at Beaulieu exhibition with a huge work being made specifically for this years show. The sculpture titled 'Light Within', holds over 130 individual pieces of stained glass and many are hand painted in the traditional practice of glass painting used for over 1000 years.  Please click this link to go to Ben's page on the official exhibition site. The exhibition will be open to the public from June the 17th to September the 24th 2023

 


April, Feile na Bealtine 2023 The Mother of all recycling. Ben leads this community project culminating with the parade through the heart of Dingle in one of Ireland's most famous Arts festivals. Please follow this link to see the full story where over 500 recycled plastic bottles were used to create the largest single sculpted figure in plastic ever seen in Co.Kerry, Ireland.


March: New commission for Cornwall's multi award winning wedding venue, Treseren House. The Poet's Stone.


March 2023: Unveiling of the Miners memorial, St Newlyn East, Cornwall. This link will take you to the full story, covered by the BBC and ITV news teams.


December: New series of works to celebrate the colours and legends of the Dingle Peninsular. Please follow this link to see images.

December: New Gallery with artist Lynn Parr, Curlew Shores Gallery. An exciting new venture with pop up shows and workshops.


November: Selected for 2023 Summer long the prestigious sculpture exhibition at Beaulieu Castle Estate. More details to follow.


Summer: Local stone research and design for large scale commission.


April 30th - May 2nd: Feile na Bealtaine. As part of Ireland's largest independent Arts festival, this new art trail for the Dingle Peninsular will showcase Ben's sculpture in the landscape as part of a rich tapestry of art, nature and history come together in this collaboration with Artist and writer Lynn Parr.  Sculpture trail/Open Studio and local art displays by the community of Ballyrishteen. Please click this link for more details.


Spring 2022: New stained glass work installed at The Ferryman's Cottage, Moulsford, Oxfordshire.


Stained Glass design Ben Dearnley

Spring 2022: Dingle: 8ft x 4ft sign for the re-lunch of 'The Men's Shed' on the Dingle Peninsula. A collaboration with Patrick Sheehy, AKA Mr. Steel.

Steel sign design Ben Dearnley

Winter 2021: New commission for a large stained glass pubic work in the UK, details to follow.


Autumn: Collaboration project with International Artist, turning the 2D into 3D, more information on request.





July: Hold on to Hope commission, Cornwall. Please follow the link here to see the full story behind this work


June: Winner of the East Wheal Rose Mine sculpture 175th anniversary commission, Cornwall. Ben will be carving his winning design on the site of the original mine owners house, now known as Treseren, deep in Poldark country. The project which will commemorate one of the worst mining disasters in Cornish history is headed by the eminent Cornish researcher and historian Mr. Barry West.

May: Dingle, Co Kerry, Ireland: Ben is delighted to announce that he has been selected to showcase his works with the world renowned contemporary fine art gallery, The Greenlane Gallery, Dingle. Please get in touch to view available works.

2021 May: Interview with senior writer Tim Rohan, for Religion of Sports. Founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra. The New York based company who explore the deeper end of the top athletes world and their team brings another dimension to the art of the sporting documentary.

August 2020: The 'Light Chamber'. The main entrance to the Beetle & Wedge Inn contains 12 stained glass windows designed and created by Ben, to capture the flow of the river and the landscape surrounding this amazing historical Inn. Once inside, behind the Bar you will see the feature window mounted in a Portland stone carved frame. For full details please see the Public Art section.

April 2020

April: Easter at St John The Evangelist Church Bath. The Garden is complete, the rose arch is up to help protect the  sculpture from the rain and the sun is breaking out once again. We might not be able to travel freely at the moment however, when this time of 'lock-down' has passed, why not plan a visit to Bath and seek out this hidden gem of tranquility in this beautiful city of art and culture.

Please click here for the full story.


March 2020 Treseren House showcase and commission.


March: New marble and bronze sculpture showcase in Cornwall at Treseren House + a family affair to help create the main entrance sign with everyone getting involved.


Max Caddis painting the gold detail on the marble sign.

February: Newbury. Southbrook House.

This unique collaboration with Matthew Moat and Highfield Developments, "an inspirational fusion of art/design and technology the like of which has never been seen before..." is a project where art is not just an add on, rather it is part of the building's make up, in this instance it is a document of Newbury's extraordinary journey through time:  Art meets business in a perfect marriage giving a focus to these bespoke developments in the heart of the town centre. For the full story please click this link.

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