DORSET Art Weeks is set to return for 2018 with a fantastic line up of open studios, exhibitions and events taking place throughout the county.

Produced by Dorset Visual Arts, the popular biennial Dorset Art Weeks runs from May 26 until June 10.

Last year marked 25 years since the original Dorset Art Weeks event back in 1992. For 2018, a striking new yellow and black logo headlines the famous free DAW guide and the studio banners welcoming you at 312 free venues across Dorset.

The new DAW brochure will start to reach libraries, tourist information and arts centres straight after Easter, as well as shops, B&Bs and other outlets across the south west region. The DAW website also goes live straight after the Easter weekend giving everyone six weeks to plan tours by art form, geography or named artist.

Supported by Hall & Woodhouse - and their Badger Beer label, and by Wyke Dorset Cottages, the event’s success has much to do with the fact it is the only truly county-wide Dorset festival. You needn't go far to visit a furniture maker, potter, painter, sculptor, printmaker, textile artist or photographer. Almost any tour will take in aspects of Dorset’s fantastic rural and coastal landscapes.

The emphasis of the event is to enable the public to meet local artists and see their work in a studio or workshop setting; surrounded by the tools, the materials, the stimuli and the successful results - sometimes works in progress too.

Jem Main, Director of Dorset Visual Arts said: "Dorset Art Weeks reminds us just how much creativity is integral to every community in Dorset. This year over 800 participants in 300 venues welcome you to be curious and visit the studios, workshops, converted domestic interiors where art and the hand made is conceived and formed. As well as calling in on those artists working locally, this is a great time of year to explore and revisit Dorset’s varied landscapes."

Venues are free to visit, the only non-free venue is a one-day special fundraising event at the home and gardens of renowned furniture designer, John Makepeace, Farr’s, Beaminster on Sunday, June, 10, 10.30am - 4.30pm.

The Dorset Art Weeks guide 2018 can be ordered from Dorset Visual Arts via admin@dorsetvisualarts.org, £3.30 to cover postage. For more information go to www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk. You can find Dorset Art Weeks on facebook, instagram and twitter @dorsetartweeks.