Exhibitions
The Nightjar Project
African Activities
This October, African Activities take over the Coda Gallery with their Nightjar Project exhibition, bringing together Global Majority artists working across painting, drawing, photography, textiles, puppetry and installation.
Exploring identity, memory, migration, heritage, home and belonging, the exhibition is centred around two questions: The Map of Me – how are we shaped by the places, cultures and experiences we belong to? And Who Tells Our Stories? – who gets to decide how our lives, communities and identities are represented?
Collectively, the work considers what it means to belong across places, cultures and communities, inspired by the nightjar’s migration between West Africa and the New Forest.
02 - 31 October
Open Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm | Free entry
Closing celebration: Fri 30 Oct, 6pm (FREE)
Find out more & RSVP
About African Activities
The Nightjar Project is an African Activities CIC project. African Activities is a Black-led arts and cultural organisation creating exceptional African arts experiences across the UK - in schools, communities, workplaces and festivals, alongside original artistic projects.
About the Nightjar Project
Nightjar is a place-based project rooted in the New Forest, working with local communities to explore belonging, migration, and connection to land through art, story and shared experience. The Nightjar is developed in partnership with the New Forest National Park Authority and local organisations to connect communities with the landscape and each other.
Exhibiting artists
Adekunle Taiwo, Adilson Naueji, Anne Charbel, Adeola Sheehy, Ana Williams, Steve Béga, Sharon James, Mahtab Grimshaw, Kwame Bakoji, Carmel De’Lisser, Berthram Hall
Upcoming Shows
Play
Young Artists Open Call
Play is at the heart of Coda's creative practice. For us, play means being curious - we love exploring ideas, experimenting with materials and making discoveries.
This Summer, we invited young artists aged 4–18 across Dorset and the New Forest to submit artwork responding to the theme of Play.
Our aim was to celebrate the creativity, ideas and imagination of young people across Dorset and the New Forest.
In this exhibition, over 100 local young artists use their creativity to show us what inspires them, what they’re curious about, what they love, or simply what ‘Play’ means to them.
Come and see the world through the eyes of our local young artist community.
7 November - 20 December
Open Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm | Free entry
Weekend opening dates:
Sat 7 Nov, 10am-1pm
Sat 14 Nov, 10am-1pm
Sat 21 Nov, 10am-1pm
Fri 27 Nov, 4pm-7pm (Christmas Market)
Sat 28 & Sun 29 Nov, 10.30am-5pm (Christmas Market)
Sat 12 Dec, 10am-1pm
Past Shows
Hampshire Open Studios
Coda Resident Studio Artists
An exhibition by Coda’s Resident Artists, showcasing ceramics, textiles, jewellery, printmaking, paintings and more!
You’re invited to take a look behind the scenes in the artists’ studios, browse and buy artwork in the gallery, and take part in a range of taster workshops and events…
Learn more about our Resident Studio Artists at Coda here.
22nd - 31st August 2026
About Hampshire Open Studios
Hampshire Open Studios is an annual art trail in which visitors can meet artists in their studios and galleries to discover, explore and shop local artwork.
PLAY INTERACT EXPLORE
Leap then Look
June - August 2026
PLAY INTERACT EXPLORE is an interactive exhibition by Leap Then Look that invites audiences of all ages to experiment with sculpture, sound, moving image, and performance.
The exhibition is designed as a space for curiosity and discovery, where visitors are encouraged to make, play, and collaborate in shaping their own experience.
PLAY INTERACT EXPLORE has toured extensively across the UK to galleries including Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Turner Contemporary and Tramway, reaching over 250,000 people and continuing to grow as a living, evolving project rooted in participation.
Guardians of Play
Nurturing Creativity
May 2026
In this residency, Magic Acorns joined us to work with our Early Years practitioners, collectively the Guardians of Play, to create an immersive space and develop their creative practice. Throughout May, they invited Early Years families to play and explore through trial workshops and experiences.
“A garden is growing at Coda. Planted by artists, shaped by children, watered with play, curiosity and care.
This Spring, our gallery has been transformed into an immersive garden, designed especially for babies, young children, and their carers.
This is a space to explore, play, and imagine. Nothing here is fixed. Nothing is too precious. Let the space change with you.
The garden will continue to grow and change - shaped by the artists, children and families who spend time here.”
Lightscapes
Tom Winter
March-April 2026
Tom Winter is a Dorset-based artist working across painting and drawing. With a lifelong focus on observation and craftsmanship, his works capture the expressive possibilities of light through careful looking and skilled mark-making.
About the Artist
Alongside his studio practice, Tom has spent over thirty years teaching life drawing, helping generations of artists build confidence, skill, and a lasting understanding of the human figure. His thoughtful, disciplined way of working reached a wider audience through his appearance on Sky Arts’ Landscape Artist of the Year (Season 11), where his refined eye and calm focus stood out.
Tom’s work is held in private collections, including those of Ronnie Wood and PricewaterhouseCoopers. His work reflects an ongoing fascination with light - and its ability to quietly transform the world in front of us.
Hand & Earth
Imogen Charleston
Mid-January - March 2026
Winter 2025/26, ceramicist Imogen Charleston takes up a residency at Coda, bringing the theme of play into the gallery through clay, fire, and shared making.
Using local materials and reclaimed bricks, Imogen worked with participants from local schools and SEN groups. Together, they explored sensory clay experiences, outdoor firings, foraging, and sound-making experiments.
Visitors were invited to meet Imogen in the Coda gallery throughout the winter, discover her work, and engage with her ritual-inspired practice rooted in clay, fire, and community.
About the Artist
Imogen is a ceramicist and arts educator based in Christchurch, Dorset. In 2015 she founded Moon Studio Ceramics, a studio and teaching space dedicated to creative exploration and community learning.
Imogen’s residency with us at Coda recognises the deep links between tradition, community, and nature. The residency culminates in an outdoor firing event in Coda’s meadow - a joyful gathering around the warmth of the kiln where creativity, ritual, and transformation come together beneath the winter sky.
Throughout the residency, Imogen also explores the creation of sound-making ceramic objects such as whistles, fired in a wood-fuelled outdoor kiln, made from up-cycled materials.
An exhibition exploring art, identity and resourcefulness through the recreation of artist’s selfies through the ages.
This playful and inspiring exhibition was born during lockdown, when artist and designer Will Hargreaves turned his home into a studio and started restaging iconic portraits with whatever he had to hand. What began as a fun experiment soon became a powerful exploration of art, identity, and creativity.
From ruffs made of lampshades to turbans fashioned from blankets, each piece combines humour with homage. These colourful, theatrical self-portraits show how everyday items can be transformed into something extraordinary - and invite you to do the same.
About Will Hargreaves
Will is a theatre designer with over 30 years of experience creating bold, imaginative productions across the UK and beyond. He’s designed for theatres from the National Theatre to the West End, and brings a passion for storytelling, sustainability and education to everything he does. Currently Course Leader at Arts University Bournemouth, Will is also a trustee of Ecostage and co-editor of the student Theatre Green Book.
With Staging the Self, Will encourages us to think differently about art, and invites us to become part of it.
Staging the Self
Will Hargreaves
Sept – Dec 2025
Dorset Art Weeks
Coda Studio Artists
Discover the work of our resident studio artists here at Coda by exploring their studios, and diving into a range of creative workshops including printmaking, textiles, clay sculpting, and silversmithing.
Dorset Art Weeks is the largest visual arts event of its kind in Dorset. Celebrating contemporary visual arts and crafts, this 2 week event invites the public to explore artists' studios, workshops, group shows, and curated exhibitions throughout Dorset.
23rd May - 7th June 2026
Hampshire
Open Studios 2025
August 2025
Exploring the vibrant creativity of Coda’s resident artists during Hampshire Open Studios.
Artists Hayley Potter, Tracy Dovey, Gabriella Cohen, Maddison Collymore, Kate Smith, Sally Ovenden, Nancy Beardall and Rachael Williams open their studios and exhibit an exciting mix of paintings, textiles, ceramics, printmaking, jewellery and installations.
Try something yourself, with a range of fun and friendly taster sessions giving a flavour of the workshops we run throughout the year.
