Somerset Arts Weeks Festival: Cultural Connections
Lay The Line | 19 September - 3 October
An exhibition by Gemelle Debice Rivers & Anne Briggs for Somerset Arts Weeks Festival 2026
Lay The Line brings together designer and maker Gemelle Debice Rivers of Lọ̄me Handwoven Designs and Somerset artist Anne Briggs in a collaborative exhibition created for Somerset Arts Weeks Festival: Cultural Connections.
Rooted in the landscape surrounding Shepton Mallet and the Mendips, the project responds to the continual and enduring movement of those who make their homes within the Somerset landscape.
Working across weaving, linoleum and mixed media, Gemelle and Anne explore ideas of place, movement, home and our connection to the land. Their distinct practices meet through a shared interest in material, texture and the marks left by both people and landscape, creating a body of work shaped by the rural environment in which they both live and work.
Designer & Maker | Gemelle Debice Rivers
Gemelle studied Art & Design at Bournemouth Arts Institute in the early 2000s and has worked across a number of different mediums throughout her creative practice. She came to weaving in 2019 and, not satisfied with working on a small scale, soon found pleasure in creating much larger pieces on a handmade frame loom.
She founded Lọ̄me Handwoven Designs as a way to hone her practice and develop conscious, slow-made pieces with an emphasis on British wool and renewable natural fibres.
Working by hand from her studio just outside Shepton Mallet, Gemelle's practice is rooted in the tactile nature of weaving: the rhythm of the process, the qualities of the fibres and a connection to the landscape from which her materials emerge.
Artist & Maker | Anne Briggs
Living in the Mendip area of Somerset, Anne found her sketchbooks increasingly filled with drawings of the hills, houses and buildings of her local landscape.
Walking along paths and across fields, her eye is repeatedly drawn to the shapes and textures of the buildings that sit amongst the hills and fields of this part of Somerset, and to the relationship between the structures we create and the landscape they inhabit.
Searching for a medium that could convey these qualities, Anne began working with linoleum, not simply as a means of producing a print but as a material in its own right.
Viewed from a distance, her pieces have a strong, graphic quality. Up close, the marks left by the carving process reveal the textures of houses, hills and land, transforming familiar elements of the Somerset landscape into richly worked surfaces.
Somerset Arts Weeks Festival
Lay The Line forms part of Somerset Arts Weeks Festival 2026: Cultural Connections, celebrating creative practice and connections across Somerset.
The exhibition is presented at The Rising Gallery at The Black Thistle, 21 High Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
Gemelle Debice Rivers of Lome Designs and Anne Briggs have come together to collaborate on a creative project for Somerset Arts Weeks Festival, Cultural Connections. 'A collaboration responding to the continual and enduring movement of those who make their homes in the Somerset landscape'.
They will talk about the collaborative project from its beginnings to the final pieces and their own individual creative practices. There will be time for Q&As. Drinks and nibbles included.
Exhibition Name: Lay The Line
Date: Saturday 26th September
Time: 4:30-5:30pm
Price: £5 per ticket
A small and intimate gathering, with just 14 places available.
Meet the Artists
Join Gemelle Debice Rivers and Anne Briggs on Saturday 26th September for an intimate talk exploring Lay The Line in more depth.
Together, they’ll share the story of the collaboration, from its beginnings through to the final pieces, alongside insights into their individual creative practices. There’ll also be time for questions, with drinks and nibbles included.
Saturday 26th September | 4:30–5:30pm
Tickets £5 | Places limited to 14
Gemelle Debice Rivers of Lome Designs and Anne Briggs have come together to collaborate on a creative project for Somerset Arts Weeks Festival, Cultural Connections. 'A collaboration responding to the continual and enduring movement of those who make their homes in the Somerset landscape'.
They will talk about the collaborative project from its beginnings to the final pieces and their own individual creative practices. There will be time for Q&As. Drinks and nibbles included.
Exhibition Name: Lay The Line
Date: Saturday 26th September
Time: 4:30-5:30pm
Price: £5 per ticket
A small and intimate gathering, with just 14 places available.