News & Events

Time and Tide

2024 - Carol is now making a new series of abstract images investigating the changing environment of St Ives Bay, Cornwall. This work will be shown at the Avivson Gallery, Highgate High Street, London in 2025 with other venues and dates to be confirmed.

Workshops with MAKE Southwest

September 2023 - Carol worked with young people at MAKE Southwest. As part of the Responding to Light photography exhibition, students made collaborative photomontages highlighting threats to the flora and fauna of our woodlands.

Sea Songs

2019 - An Arts Live performance of Sea Songs at MAKE Southwest
with guest poets Susan Taylor and Simon Williams.

Arts Live present performances combining music, stories and poetry against a backdrop of projected images.

Comments about recent events

"Thanks to Carol Ballenger and Arts Live for last night's wonderful evening of sea themed songs, stories and poetry, set to a backdrop of gorgeous coastal photography. We're already looking forward to next year's performance!"

"We just wanted to say how much we enjoyed the evening of music, poetry and photography on Friday. It was well worth the journey up. It was so nice that you are such great friends and been working together for so long."

"Thanks again to all of you for a fab evening on Friday - it was great to have you performing here, and we had some lovely feedback."

"Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed last night."

"Thank you so much for telling us about the evening at the Devon Guild, we enjoyed it so much."

"Thank you so much for a simply wonderful evening. It was nourishing for the soul and your photos brought sunlight, something we don't have much of at the moment. Please give all the team my thanks for all the hard work putting it together. Look forward to the book. All best wishes."

"Your show was wonderful - we so enjoyed it. So many thanks.I think it was the introduction of some humour that led to it all being so beautifully balanced and appealing."


Events


2022


June to September 2022

Dartmoor Dreams

Book and exhibitions.



Through black and white photographs and poems Carol Ballenger and John Powls celebrate a 25 year collaboration with an exhibition in two parts and the publication of their new updated and enlarged Dartmoor Dreams book (160 pp hardback £19.95). The book will be available at the exhibition venues and from Arts Live and other outlets.

Carol's early photographs, scanned from original darkroom prints, and recent digital photographs, are presented in the two exhibitions as fine art prints together with John's poems. They represent the special and longstanding relationship of photographer and poet to Dartmoor and to each other's work. These exhibitions provide an opportunity to see the result of a unique collaboration between these artists whose work has been shown widely in this country and abroad.

Carol Ballenger and John Powls.

7 June to 1 September 2022

Dartmoor Dreams - Early Work

Exhibition - free admission.

Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre, Princetown.





16 July to 23 August 2022

Dartmoor Dreams - New Work

Exhibition - free admission.

MAKE Southwest (formerly the Devon Guild of Craftsmen), Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey.





13 June 2022

Dartmoor Dreams

Arts Live workshop with children from Princetown Primary School.


2020


10 December 2020

Halsgrove publication of North Sea to the East by John Powls.

John's latest collection, inspired by the landscape and language particular to his native North East of England that shaped his aesthetic as a poet and writer.


September 2020

Carol's Tree of Life - Homage to Darwin image included in new publication How Zoologists Organise Things - The Art of Classification by David Bainbridge.


24 February 2020

Carol gives a talk to pupils of Cockington Primary School.


2019


October 2019

Carol was shortlisted for the Science Photographer of the Year at the Science Museum, London.


7 July 2019

Collaborations

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


20 June 2019

Defining Treescapes

Evolving the Forest conference

Dartington Hall, Devon.


15 March 2019

Sea Songs

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


2018


2018

Kaze

Geumgang Nature Art Binalle, South Korea.


November 2018

Winter Wonderland exhibition

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


13 May 2018

Sea Songs
performance by Arts Live

St Ives Literature Festival

St Ives Arts Club, St Ives, Cornwall.


2017


13 July, 2017

Route 66 - Open Road for Promiseland
book launch and exhibition of photographs.

Photographers Gallery, London.


2016


1 December 2016

Route 66 - Open Road for Promiseland
book launch and performance

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


24 November 2016

Route 66 - Open Road for Promiseland
book launch and performance

Dragonfly Cafe, Wokingham, Berkshire


8 July 2016

Arts Live perform at Word Circus

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


15-22 May 2016

Journeys exhibition

St Ives Festival

St Ives Arts Club, St Ives, Cornwall.


15 May 2016

Journeys performance

St Ives Festival

St Ives Arts Club, St Ives, Cornwall.


2015


5 December 2015 - 18 January 2016

Journeys exhibition

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


10 December 2015

Journeys performance

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


6 November 2015

Route 66 performance

Thrive Cafe, Totnes, Devon.


5 July 2015

Journeys performance

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


2013


7 July 2013

Working with Light - a celebration of High Cross House

Carol Ballenger in conversion with Emma Carter from the National Trust

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


3-28 June 2013

Working with Light - a celebration of High Cross House

Exhibition

Carol Ballenger

High Cross House, Dartington Hall, Devon.


2012


December 2012

Text, Image and the Dartington Project

An Arts Live Performance at the

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


8 July 2012

The Dartington Project - Ways With Words Festival - Dartington Hall

Talk by Carol Ballenger: Dartington Hall - One Endless Garden

Carol provided an insight into the making of this book of her photographs of the Dartington Hall Estate which includes quotes from Dorothy Elmhirst's Garden Notebooks, Leonard Elmhirst and Tagore.

Carol and colleagues from Arts Live also read from the book against a backdrop of projected images.

An exhibition of Carol Ballenger's Dartington photographs was shown in Studio 5, Dartington Space from June 19th - July 16th


7 July 2012

Carol's talk about Dartington Gardens

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


21 June 2012

The Dartington Project - One Endless Garden Summer Solstice Event and book launch

The Garden Room at Space, Dartington Hall, Devon.

On the Summer Solstice we celebrated the completion of our Dartington Project and held an exhibition of work produced by Arts Live artists and workshop participants including the new book Dartington Hall - One Endless Garden. This book of photographs by Carol Ballenger celebrates the special qualities of Dartington's gardens, fields and woods and includes quotes from Dorothy Elmhirst's garden notebooks.

We are grateful to the Dartington Hall Trust, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Arts Council England and Halsgrove Publishing for their support.


19th June - 16th July

The Dartington Project - One Endless Garden exhibition

Studio 5 at Space, Dartington Hall.


2011


21 October 2011

Talk for the Devon Guild of Craftsmen

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


1 October - 14 November 2011

Devon Guild of Craftsmen - showcase exhibition

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


June - July 2011

Sea Songs and Dartington exhibition

The Cider Press Centre, Dartington, Devon


April 2011

The Dartington Project

Arts Live in association with The Dartington Hall Trust, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Dartington C of E Primary School planned a project to start in April 2011.

This Arts Live project celebrated through photography and writing the rich heritage of Dartington Hall and the cultural legacy of founders Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst alongside new work from contemporary artists inspired by Dartington. It also, through the work of school children, looked at issues of sustainability through students engaging both with the local natural environment and with their new eco-friendly school. There were also be opportunities for parents and teachers to acquire skills in photography and digital editing techniques. These workshops were supported by a series of talks and workshops.

Two books documented the project. The first was an internet book published by Arts Live of work produced by workshop students. A book of photographs of the Dartington Hall Estate by Carol Ballenger with historical and contemporary text was published by Halsgrove Publishing late 2011.


2010


13 November 2010 - 2 January 2011

Devon Guild of Craftsmen Make - Contemporary Crafts for Christmas exhibition

Included work by Carol Ballenger

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


3 October 2010 - 31 January 2011

Digital 2010 : Planet Earth

Carol Ballenger's work was selected for the 12th International Digital Print Exhibition, New York Hall of Science, organised by Art & Science Collaborations, Inc (ASCI).


13th - 18th September 2010

Totnes and Dartington Open Studios exhibition

Carol Ballenger and Graham Hodgson had work in this exhibition.

Birdwood House, Totnes.


18th July 2010

Red Comet - a story reflecting a day in the life of a city and its people - using projected images with poetry and live music.

Carol Ballenger, John Powls and Andrew Downton performed at

Ways With Words

Dartington Hall, Devon.


3 July - 2 September 2010

Devon Guild of Craftsmen summer exhibition

Included work by Carol Ballenger

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey.


28th - 31st May 2010

Totnes and Dartington Open Studios

Carol Ballenger and Graham Hodgson took part in Totnes and Dartington Open Studios. Photographs, in monochrome and colour, celebrated the landscape, rural and urban.


2009


21 November 2009 - 3 January 2010

Devon Guild of Craftsmen annual Christmas selling exhibition - Wrapped Up

Carol's work was shown in the gallery.

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


13 - 14 November 2009

Delamore Christmas Fair

Carol's work was shown in the gallery.

Delamore is at Cornwood in South Devon.


30 October 2009

Ahide - Japanese Gardens in the UK Talk/performance

Photographer/musician Carol Ballenger with poet John Powls and musician Andrew Downton performed against a backdrop of projected photographs.

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


3 October - 1 November 2009

Devon Guild of Craftsmen - Exhibition

Recent work by Carol Ballenger included Ashide - A Second Nature: photographs of Japanese Gardens in the UK with Haiku poetry by John Powls. Also included new Dartmoor and coast pieces.

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon.


5 - 16 September 2009

Bowie Gallery Eye Contact group exhibition

Photographs by Carol Ballenger, Paul Biddle and Anna Stephens.

Bowie Gallery, Totnes, Devon.


22 June - 17 July 2009

Still Life Revisited

Graham Hodgson had photographs in this Royal Photographic Society Contemporary Group touring exhibition.

Cube 3 Gallery, University of Plymouth.


22nd - 25th May 2009

Totnes and Dartington Open Studios

Carol Ballenger and Graham Hodgson took part in the Totnes and Dartington Open Studios. Photographs and video, in monochrome and colour, celebrated the landscape, rural and urban.


20 May - 28 June 2009

The Great Create Festival of the Arts

Carol Ballenger and Graham Hodgson exhibited.

Greenway House, Devon.


1 - 31 May 2009

Art @ Delamore

Delamore Arts is based at Cornwood in South Devon. The superb house and gardens are ideally suited to the provision of an exhibition. In May each year they bring art and the public together within this idyllic setting. In doing so they create a showcase for a wide range of artists, and provide an interesting and stimulating place to visit while raising funds for their designated charity.

Carol's work was shown in the gallery at the Art @ Delamore Exhibition.