DAWN HURTON
Contemporary sculptor and artist based in the North Pennines
My practice begins with walking, making and sustained attention to place.
I work with hand-formed rag pulp, plant fibre, wool, earth pigments and mineral material gathered from the worked landscape of the North Pennines. Sculpture sits alongside fragmentary writing, moving image, printed matter and the structures of museums and archives.
I am interested in forms of knowledge held through labour, repeated observation, material handling and lived relationships with landscape - and in what happens when those forms of knowledge fall outside institutional systems.
The sculptures are not the final destination of the work. They are physical anchors within larger environments through which different ways of knowing can be brought into relation.
My central current work is The Dufton Hoarde, an artist-led Museum of Rural Memory situated in the village where I live and work.
Dawn Hurton is a contemporary artist and sculptor based in Cumbria, UK.
Her practice has developed through sculpture, public art, museums, archives, historic houses, libraries and long-term work with rural communities and particular places.
Before establishing her current studio practice, Hurton worked in museums, archives and cultural development, including roles with Cumbria Archive Service and Cumbria County Council. This experience informs her use of collections, catalogues, interpretation and institutional structures as artistic material.
She holds an MA in Community Art with Distinction from the University of Cumbria. Earlier work includes the Arts Council-supported Beneath the Beacon and Story Giants of Eden, an artist-led storytelling and large-scale making project developed with eighteen schools.
Her major current work is The Dufton Hoarde.
CURRENT RESEARCH
The Dufton Hoarde has developed into a living research site organised around landscape knowledge, material knowledge, fragments and evidence, and institutional stewardship.
The work asks how knowledge held through landscape, labour and repeated observation can be recognised when modern institutions are not designed to record it.
This framework is now being developed toward future practice-led doctoral research.
A PICK, THE PIKE AND A PEAR TREE
Alongside the Hoarde, Hurton has been leading the vision and development of A Pick, the Pike and a Pear Tree, a long-term heritage and community project centred on St Cuthbert's Church in Dufton and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project connects geology, lead mining, farming, land and stewardship through improvements to the church, walks, seasonal gatherings, a community archive and new interpretation.
Hurton's continuing role is focused on creative leadership, interpretation and public engagement.