Memories of Dora House - of finding a place of belonging in the often dispiriting art world in which the passion for making art is often drowned out by the fierce competition for being heard, being in front, ‘making it’ etc. The huge expectations that often live in our heads and bug us.
I remember when Derek Morris took on the presidency - his kindness and warmth were so welcoming that it drew me into the society. Dora House then was undeniably a beautiful building but creaky and leaky. Board meetings in the winter were in its icy spaces where the toilets had buckets of water on standby. Look at the swanky restrooms now!!!
We are so lucky to have Dora House thanks to Cecil Thomas in the first place but afterwards thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Director Caroline Worthington and the building committee which has brought about a fantastic transformation.
Almuth Tebbenhoff VPRSS, picutred above next to her work Redhead Sunset Stack that was on display on the sculpture terrace at Dora House in the Summer of 2025.
Ahead of the Year of the Home in 2026 when we celebrate the Society's 50 years at Dora House, we asked members to share with us their personal memories of Dora House. We will be sharing them throughout 2026 as part of a programme of this milestone, marked also by the delivery of our project Creating a Home for Sculptors. If you have a memory you would like to share, you can still do so via this link.
