FELICITY WARBRICK

WEDDED ROCKS WOODCUT SHORTLISTED FOR THE FENN DITTON GALLERY CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING PRIZE 2026

The artists in the exhibition were selected from over 500 entries to the prize and present a compelling showcase of the creativity, technical expertise and ingenuity of contemporary printmakers. All shortlisted works are for sale. For early access to the catalogue, contact the gallery at info@fendittongallery.com.

The overall winner will be selected in person at the gallery and announced on Thursday 21st May at the opening event.

 Exhibition dates: 23rd May - 14th June 2026

Weekends: 10am - 5pm Weekdays: by appointment

Fen Ditton Gallery, 23 High Street, Fen Ditton, Cambridge CB5 8ST

For more information, visit fendittongallery.com

WEDDED rocks Four piece woodcut on prepared japanese paper 120cm x 90cm
THESE WONDERFUL ‘WEDDED ROCKS’ ARE LOCATED IN JAPAN OFF THE COAST NEAR FUTAMI. THEY ARE LOCATED VERY NEAR ISE GRAND SHRINE, THE MOST IMPORTANT AND SACRED SHINTO SHRINE IN JAPAN. THE ROCKS ARE JOINED TOGETHER IN MATRIMONY BY THE SHIMENAWA, A SACRED STRAW ROPE WEIGHING OVER A TONNE. IT IS REPLACED THREE TIMES A YEAR IN A SPECIAL SHINTO CEREMONY. THE ANCIENT SHINTO CUSTOM OF WORSHIPING STONES IS CALLED IWAKURA, AND THESE PLACES ARE CONSIDERED PURE AND SACRED.

HEATH PRINT SHORTLISTED FOR JOHN RUSKIN PRIZE 2026

HEATH 2 PIECE WOODCUT ON PREPARED JAPANESE PAPER 60CM X 90CM

SHOWING NEW PRINTS WITH THE VIOLET HOUR IN THEIR ANTHOLOGIA SERIES, ONE POEM ONE ARTIST PER MONTH

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
by William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

PORTAGE FOUR PIECE WOODCUT ON PREPARED JAPANESE PAPER Image size 90cm x 110cm

TWO MONOTYPE DRAWINGS SHOWING AT ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER SHOW 2024

MUSEUM (VENUS DE MILO) MONOTYPE DRAWING ON JAPANESE PAPER 65CM X 47CM

WATCHTOWER MONOTYPE DRAWING ON JAPANESE PAPER 65CM X 47CM

SOLO SHOW OF NEW WORK AT THE WOOLWICH CONTEMPORARY PRINT FAIR AUTUMN 2023 AS CONTEMPORARAY PRINTMAKING PRIZE WINNER

YAMAKI PINE woodcut on Japanese Paper 5FT X 4FT

Felicity’s latest body of work presents a down-to-earth, pared-back world in which the primitive and the handmade take centre-stage. Many of the objects and scenes she finds to draw – some sourced online, others from favourite books or found photos – relate to a particular culture or time that tell of a more resourceful and less commodified way of life. There is wisdom in the know-how and self-reliance of past generations and in living in reciprocity with nature, or so she seems to be saying.
   Her images strike directly at what it is to be human, stirring in us an instinctual kinship. In this age of complexity in which we find ourselves they help to anchor us and return us to our analogue selves and imaginations, reminding us of the importance not only of using our hands but what is to hand, and of living in cycle with the seasons. A shelter of branches, a head-dress of feathers, a shawl from salvaged scraps of wool: these all speak to us because at base we are all makers in search of a more constant world. They serve as totems, reminding us that another way of living out our lives is possible.
   In a departure from previous work, Felicity makes a woodcut of a quote from an anti-clerical tract by John Milton, which appears hand-painted like some 17th-century activist’s placard or a seditious motto on a tavern wall. She includes it here because, just like the objects she selects, it is able to transcend its historical context and time (which was similarly one of political upheaval), and hold up a mirror to our own time.
   But, as the inclusion of Milton’s words infers, there is also a darker thread here – that of human hubris and our attempts to control and subjugate, both nature and one another. The outsize print (another woodcut) of the Yamaki pine preserves the miraculous story of the 400-year-old bonsai tree that somehow survived the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. The art of bonsai has its roots in an ancient Chinese horticultural practice which played on the idea that the further a reproduction was in size from the original, the more potent and magical it was. Felicity works with that here, making the bonsai tree deliberately larger-than-life, a testament to a people's remarkable resilience in the face of one of humanity’s most devastating acts of war ever.     How we live matters, as does what we choose to remember.