Fallowfield: A solo exhibition by local artist Clare Ormsby

ArtHouse Jersey is proud to present Fallowfield, a striking new solo exhibition by acclaimed local artist Clare Ormsby, opening at 5.30pm Thursday 17 July 2025 at our St Helier exhibition space at Capital House.

The exhibition runs until Sunday 24 August 2025 and is open to the public from 12pm to 6pm, Tuesday to Sunday.

Fallowfield is a deeply personal and imaginative exploration of abandonment, regeneration, and artistic rebirth. Rooted in the story of a miniature Victorian-style dollhouse painstakingly constructed, decorated, and ultimately destroyed by fire, the exhibition documents the life and slow demise of this small structure through photography, film, installation, and sculptural pieces. The result is a powerful meditation on memory, decay, and transformation.

What began in 2022 as a spontaneous creative experiment – inspired by the abandoned homes of post-industrial Detroit and the large-scale conceptual work of Canadian artist Heather Benning – evolved into something far more significant. Left to the elements, the dollhouse became a living installation: mould spread, birds nested, and nature reclaimed the space. Eventually, in 2024, the house was ceremoniously set alight, its destruction captured as the culmination of a long observational process.

Yet from the ashes emerged Fallowfield – a rebirth in the form of new life-sized works. In the exhibition, Ormsby reimagines the interiors of the miniature house, creating full-scale installations using vintage furniture, ephemera, and the Japanese wood-preservation technique of Shou Sugi Ban. From singed wood to salvaged ornaments, every element evokes the rich inner lives of forgotten spaces.

“The word Fallowfield stayed with me long before the house existed,” said Clare. “It became a mantra during a decade of creative silence – a way of believing in regeneration rather than artistic failure. This work marks the end of that silence.”

Clare Ormsby is an abstract artist based in Jersey and a previous winner of the Fox International Art Prize (2006). Her work has been exhibited across Jersey, Portugal and France, with pieces held in private collections from Guernsey to San Diego. Fallowfield marks her return to public exhibition after a significant hiatus.

Visitors to the show can expect a rich, multi-sensory experience that fuses visual storytelling with tactile memory. Drawing influence from artists including Ron Mueck, Edward Hopper, and Paul Nash, and curatorial approaches as found in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Fallowfield is an atmospheric and emotionally resonant body of work – a story not just of a house, but of artistic revival.

ArtHouse Jersey’s Head of Programme, James Tyson, said: “We’re very proud to be presenting Fallowfield, which takes visitors on an evocative and rich journey through sculpture, miniature models and photography. Each piece has been painstakingly created and together reflects on the homes we live in, the memories they contain and our relationship to the elements with a wonderful sensitivity, wit and imagination. We warmly encourage all Islanders to experience Fallowfield this summer!”

Artist Clare Ormsby, said: “From conception to completion Fallowfield has been several years in the making; and has been designed specifically for the superlative gallery at Capital House. I’m very grateful to ArtHouse Jersey for giving me the space and time for my work to grow and develop, and for the support which has enabled me to process my ideas from my private studio to public display. I hope that those visiting Fallowfield get as much enjoyment from it as I have had in its creation.”

Main picture: Ceremony by Clare Ormsby