Exhibition Counterpoint opens at Sladers Yard, West Bay on January 18 and continues until March 1.

Artists Martyn Brewster, Daisy Cook and Brian Graham will be displaying their artwork.

Paul Wearing will be displaying his ceramics and Petter Southall his furniture.

The three painters in this show occupy the space between figurative and abstract work. All three are inspired by the natural world with a strong awareness of the human impact on that world now and, in Brian Graham’s case, in the long distant past.

All three respond emotionally and physically to their subject matter producing paintings of powerful and lasting impact.

Their three different approaches accentuate each other.

Set against the paintings are the richly textured, almost barnacled, ceramics of Paul Wearing.

Petter Southall’s graceful, effortless-looking furniture designs are made in solid hardwoods that speak of reassuring warmth, strength and the value of individual personality.

All five artists are concerned with landscape, the coast, trees and woodland. Martyn Brewster, Brian Graham and Petter Southall are Dorset-based and to some extent occupied with the Dorset landscape and sea which Petter sails in his stunning steambent boat..

Martyn Brewster’s work focuses on light and water in the moment while Brian Graham connects the present with the long-distant past, reaching for belief patterns, mood and memory of our earliest ancestors.

Daisy Cook is London-based and deeply connected to the natural world and woodlands which she paints in

abstracted forms and subtle colour combinations that are very new and spring from the ideas of Ben Nicholson and St Ives painters.

Martyn Brewster’s lyrical abstract paintings combine seductive combinations of colour with vigorous poetic compositions producing paintings, prints and pen and ink drawings that are collected worldwide.

Daisy Cook works in layers, abrading and paring back the surfaces to reveal or partly reveal what is behind, giving a remarkable sense of depth and of time.

Brian Graham is fascinated by the original humans to inhabit Britain and his work reaches back to locate their moods and beliefs. Brian's work has been enthusiastically embraced by archaeologists and art lovers alike.

The Natural History Museum, London, possesses and has exhibited one of his portfolio works, The Book of Boxgrove.

Paul Wearing is a ceramicist based in Cardiff. He is a Selected Member of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain and has studied ceramics to post-graduate level.

Award-winning designer craftsman Petter Southall has been making his distinctive furniture at his studio outside Bridport since 1991, converting Sladers Yard as his showroom and contemporary art gallery in 2006. Originally from Norway, he makes his designs using an innovative combination of boat-building and fine cabinet-making techniques.

*Counterpoint, Sladers Yard, Contemporary Art, Furniture & Craft Gallery, West Bay Bridport Dorset DT6 4EL. January 18 to March 1. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4.30pm and Sundays 10am to 3pm. All work can be viewed and bought at sladersyard.co.uk; t: 01308 459511 e: gallery@sladersyard.co.uk