18 December 2025 – 1 February 2026, City Space, The Arc (free entry)
Pattern and Progress is a vibrant and visually rich exhibition that explores the relationship between tradition and innovation. Inspired by the enduring ethos and appeal of the Arts and Crafts movement, it brings together printed works on wood, silk, glass, paper and cloth by artist Tori McLean, alongside furniture from the Edward Barnsley Workshop and Hampshire Cultural Trust’s historic collections.
Celebrating the natural world, decorative design and the integrity of materials, McLean reimagines Arts and Crafts values through the lens of contemporary printmaking. Her work places historical ideals in quiet conversation with digital possibility, inviting close attention to surface, pattern and process. McLean explores how beauty emerges through transformations in both material and technique. Each piece becomes a reflection of layered making, where subtle disruptions and shifts are embraced as part of the final image.
As a recent graduate of the MA Print programme at the Royal College of Art, McLean treats print as a site of playful experimentation. Working fluidly between traditional and digital tools, she uses repetition, variation and technical shifts to produce work that feels at once timeless and current. Pattern and Progress suggests that innovation lies not in breaking from the past, but in reimagining it as an ongoing conversation between tradition and transformation.
