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Thursday 10am - 3pm Friday 10am - 3pm Saturday 10am - 3pm

The Art Stable

The Art Stable specialises in Contemporary and 20th Century British paintings, prints and ceramics,

The Art Stable specialises in Contemporary and 20th Century British paintings, prints and ceramics, presenting eight exhibitions a year of established and emerging artists. There are two spaces, one presenting solo exhibitions and the second a continually changing selection of other gallery artists. The gallery is situated in the courtyard of an organic farm next door to a farm shop and cafe. The gallery looks towards the iron age hill fort, Hambledon Hill, so is an ideal place to combine a good walk, delicious lunch and interesting art. Kelly Ross founded The Art Stable in 2006, very close to where she lives in Child Okeford, a village situated between Shaftesbury and Blandford in Dorset. She has worked in the fine art market for nearly 30 years since her first job after university with the European Print dealer, William Weston in Albemarle Street, London. After four years with Austin/Desmond Fine Art in Bloomsbury, she co-ran the Gallery at John Jones before opening the Coram Gallery in Bloomsbury in 1993. After moving to Dorset in 1999 Kelly ran the Summerleaze Gallery in Wiltshire before opening The Art Stable eight years ago. The gallery stock, for the large part listed on this website, is ever changing and offers a wide variety of art from under £100 upwards. We sell to individuals, businesses and interior designers and also purchase or help sell paintings on behalf of clients.

'The Art Stable, a little jewel of a gallery', Fiona Robinson in Proof Directory

Nicholas Usherwood, editor of Galleries Magazine, said of The Art Stable, 'the style of this gallery and the artists it shows.....would not be out of place in the West End of London'. Fanny Charles wrote, 'In just a few years, gallery owner Kelly Ross has established a remarkable reputation for The Art Stable - she has a sharp eye for talent, and confidence in the artistic knowledge of the Dorset community to support exhibitions that bring national and international artists to her tiny gallery in a farmyard.'

09/10/2026

The wonderful paintings by Kimberley Day are hanging in our upstairs gallery until 24th October.

We are open from Thursday to Saturday, 10am - 3pm.

Kimberley’s work is often motivated by a search for answers. Through landscape painting she finds a way to explore her own response to an immediate environment whether that is a frequently walked Dorset pathway or on her travels around the UK and further afield. The act of painting becomes part of the journey and memory making. Using composition, colour and mark making, as a part of that storytelling, ‘Searching for shadows’ is a collection of paintings that found their origin in Kim’s personal fascination with the shadows within the natural landscape, finding them both alluring and somewhat ominous at the same time.

Kimberley Day (b. 1975) is an artist and film concept artist. This year Kim won Sky Landscape Artist of the year, leading to a commission from the National Gallery of Ireland. She has also exhibited in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Kim has a Masters from the National Film and Television School (Royal College of Art) and a degree in Fine Art from Plymouth University.

02/10/2026

This is the corner of the gallery which contains a lovely dialogue between Liz and Yo’s work - an interest in mark making and working the surface, and a similar tonal palette.

Three wonderful exhibitions in the gallery at the moment and it’s been very busy. Thank you for everyone who has visited.

We will be open tomorrow from 10 am to 3 pm.

30/09/2026

Liz Somerville’s beautiful watercolours currently hanging in her solo exhibition Rhythm of the Hills.
This exhibition is about hills: the trees that grow on them, the water that comes from them and the ground that forms them.

YouTube
https://m.youtube.com › watch?v=HhRBOybimKY

27/09/2026

Kimberley Day
Stillorgan 6th Floor, No.1
oil and acrylic on linen
20 x 15 cm
£ 450

Currently hanging in Kimberley’s solo exhibition, Searching for Shadows, which continues until 24th October.

Kimberley Day (b. 1975) is an artist and film concept artist. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally, with a work in the National Gallery of Ireland and another exhibited in the Louvre Museum Paris. She has a Masters from the National Film and Television School (Royal College of Art) and a degree in Fine Art from Plymouth University. Kim won Sky television, Landscape artist of the Year in 2025.

25/09/2026

A little selection of ceramics by Yo Thom, currently in the gallery as part of her solo exhibition, Tsumugu *, continuing until 24 October.

I like working with clay because it is such a primitive form of human creativity. I’m especially intrigued by the markings and motifs that previous creators have left on the surface of their clay work. They represent people’s lifestyles, surrounding nature and their beliefs.

I have lived my life in two very different countries, both of which I think of as home - Japan and Britain. In my work I strive to combine the cultures and traditions of both those cultures.

Born in Tokyo, Yo came to England in 1996 to study 3D design at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, specialising later in ceramics. She set up her first studio in Deptford, London, in 2004 producing stoneware and porcelain tableware and some wood-fired pieces. She moved to Dorset in 2009 and has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe ever since. Yo is an elected member of the Craft Potters Association.

* In Japanese, tsumugu (written as 紡ぐ) literally means “to spin” or “to make yarn/thread.” Figuratively, it is widely used to mean “to weave” or “to create/put together” abstract things like stories, words, or relationships.

23/09/2026

Thank you to Dorset Magazine and Sarah Connell for this article in the October issue, about the gallery, the journey there, and it’s 20 years in Child Okeford.

22/09/2026

Liz Somerville’s solo exhibition, Rhythm of the Hills, is hanging in the gallery until 24th October.

To see a wonderful film about Liz and the making of work which is included in this show, go to the Liz Somerville page on The Art Stable website and click on the link.

This exhibition is about hills: the trees that grow on them, the water that comes from them and the ground that forms them.

West Dorset is a peculiar and particular part of the county; a quieter, slower, folk-lorey sort of place. I have chosen three subjects and worked my way around and into them, hence the inclusion of preliminary drawings. The first, Floating Oaks, are the trees (mostly oaks) that grow around Eggardon near Bridport. The second, Loscombe, centres on Lower Loscombe Farm and its relationship with the hill, Penwell where the water for the farm used to come from a well on top of it. The final subject are the hills surrounding Loscombe, Hinknowle and Poorton - dictated by geology and weather, these unusual forms are stranger than any imagination.

18/09/2026

Kimberley Day, Searching for Shadows, opens tomorrow from 11 am to 3 pm.

Kimberley’s work is often motivated by a search for answers. Through landscape painting she finds a way to explore her own response to an immediate environment whether that is a frequently walked Dorset pathway or on her travels around the UK and further afield. The act of painting becomes part of the journey and memory making. Using composition, colour and mark making, as a part of that storytelling, ‘Searching for shadows’ is a collection of paintings that found their origin in Kim’s personal fascination with the shadows within the natural landscape, finding them both alluring and somewhat ominous at the same time.

Kimberley Day (b. 1975) is an artist and film concept artist. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally, with a work in the National Gallery of Ireland and another exhibited in the Louvre Museum Paris. She has a Masters from the National Film and Television School (Royal College of Art) and a degree in Fine Art from Plymouth University.

17/09/2026

Kimberley Day, Searching for Shadows, opening this Saturday, 19th, from 11am to 3pm.

Kimberley’s work is often motivated by a search for answers. Through landscape painting she finds a way to explore her own response to an immediate environment whether that is a frequently walked Dorset pathway or on her travels around the UK and further afield. The act of painting becomes part of the journey and memory making. Using composition, colour and mark making, as a part of that storytelling, ‘Searching for shadows’ is a collection of paintings that found their origin in Kim’s personal fascination with the shadows within the natural landscape, finding them both alluring and somewhat ominous at the same time.

Kimberley Day (b. 1975) is an artist and film concept artist. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally, with a work in the National Gallery of Ireland and another exhibited in the Louvre Museum Paris. She has a Masters from the National Film and Television School (Royal College of Art) and a degree in Fine Art from Plymouth University.

Address

Child Okeford
Blandford Forum
DT118

Opening Hours

Thursday	10am - 3pm
Friday	10am - 3pm
Saturday	10am - 3pm

Website

http://theartstable.co.uk/

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