Visual artists invited for Lighthouse Poole art exhibition

Lighthouse Poole has issued an open call for its seasonal art exhibition, inviting artists at all career stages with a Dorset connection to submit work that explores this year’s theme, BURROW.

Nyah Boston-Shears, creative engagement producer at Lighthouse, said: “Last year, self-taught artist Carmel De’Lisser’s interactive installation, The Wintering, transformed the Main Gallery into an organic woodland over the winter months, creating a space to exhale.

“This winter, BURROW will be a creative space in which visitors can again find some respite from the festive season.”

The Wintering (Image: Jayne Jackson Photography)

The theme is open to interpretation and welcomes all art forms and mediums, with suggested concepts including hibernation, searching, and finding comfort or safety.

The exhibition will also feature workshops and activities, and both applications and entry will be free of charge.

Submissions should explore themes of seasonality, wellbeing, and creative health, while considering the scale of the Main Gallery and using sustainable materials.

Artist Carmel De’Lisser is part of the selection panel, alongside Mille Lake, curator and collections manager at the Museum of East Dorset, Paul Newman, creative director of Dorset Visual Arts, and Tom Pouncy, co-founder of AUGER Collective CIC.

Ms De’Lisser said: “I’m really excited to see work that is out of the ordinary and explores the many different ways in which the theme can be interpreted.”

The exhibition will run from November 12 to February 27, 2026, with installation taking place from November 9 to 11.

Applications close at noon on Thursday, August 13.

For more information, email nyah.boston-shears@lighthousepoole.co.uk.