BACK TO THE CAVE: THE FULL SPECTRUM at Clearwell Caves in Gloucestershire

Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum is an exhibition of seventy sculptures, including ceramics, by sixty artists at Clearwell Caves, an ancient mine below the Forest of Dean.

Curated by Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig, the founders of Pangolin Editions, visitors can trace a story of colour through the exhibits which are cleverly installed in large natural caverns and excavated tunnels along a 550 metre route up to 30.5 metres below ground. The exhibition title is based on the fact that Clearwell Caves is an old colour mine. Ochre pigments from the caves have been used in art for around 5,000 years in a range of mediums and are still mined in small quantities today.

Artists include Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Keith Tyson, Monira Al Qadiri, Lorraine Robbins, Tavares Strachan, Patricia Volk, Jason Wason, Patricia Volk and Jason Wason.

Jason Wason has chosen to respond to the environment in which both pigment and raw clay are extracted by creating the sculpture Studded Red and Gold Vessel (2025), incorporating the red iron oxide ochre from Clearwell Caves into the surface of the work. This bowl-shaped piece has connotations of religious worship, with the pyramid studs on either side suggesting and implying protection for what is held inside.

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