Works inspired by two female artists' relationship and their resilience will be showcased at Dorset Museum.

Quiet Revolutions, an exhibition of ceramic pieces inspired by the lives of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland, will run from January 22 to March 27 in the museum's Artists' Dorset gallery, which is dedicated to the artistic and literary Chaldon Herring community.

Novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) and poet Valentine Ackland (1906-1969) were part of this community and it was here that they fell in love and become life partners.

Artist Amanda Chambers explored the Sylvia Townsend Warner archive and collection held by the museum in 2013 and created the pieces in 2014.

It is largely the domestic sphere of Sylvia and Valentine's lives which inspire the six ceramic works. Living openly together in rural Dorset in the early 1930s, they shared a deep-rooted commitment to each other despite extreme challenges - notably the prospect of a three-way relationship with author Elizabeth Wade White and Valentine's struggle with alcoholism, which she endured for several decades in secret. The works highlight the immense resilience shown by both women during their partnership.

Amanda Chambers is an academician at the Royal West of England Academy and a member of the Royal Society of sculptors.

She said: "I loved the idea of two very driven women being quietly industrious in revolutionary politics in rural Dorset, but also living openly in a partnership that was unconventional.

"It also worked well when I considered how clay is formed and 'resolved' on the potter's wheel. I like the way pottery contains a human imprint, a charged quality - and I began to see how Sylvia and Valentine's life might emerge from it."

The exhibition will take place during February's LGBT+ History month and a special talk on February 12 in the museum's Victorian Hall will feature Chambers discussing the creation of the ceramic pieces. She will be joined by writer Frances Bingham who will discuss her recent biography of Valentine Auckland, Valentine Ackland: A Transgressive Life.

Elizabeth Selby, Dorset Museum director of collections and public engagement, said: "We're excited to be displaying these contemporary ceramic pieces by Amanda Chambers within our newly developed Artists' Dorset gallery.

"The lives and work of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland continue to inspire and enthral artists, writers and researchers.

"Chambers' work is an evocative response to the challenges the pair faced in their personal relationship, but also the resilience they showed. It is particularly fitting that these works will be displayed during 2022's LGBT+ History month."

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