A major contemporary art project inspired by ancient objects found in the Lincolnshire landscape
In 2026, Vessel Projects delivered an ambitious visual arts programme inspired by prehistoric ceramic ‘beakers’ found across Britain and Europe.
National Trust Sandilands 18-19 July 2026
Oxcombe Church 18-20 September 2026
Re:Beaker connects the process of contemporary making and cultural exchange with the ancient movement of people and evolution of creative practices and traditions through Beaker Culture, which flourished across Europe, Britain and here in Lincolnshire during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age.
Alongside making over 700 contemporary beakers with local people in summer 2026, an artist residency provided an opportunity for thoughtful perspectives on migration, material culture, symbolic traditions and some of the earliest creative practices in Lincolnshire. Jayne Cooper, Sophie Dickinson and Nicki Jarvis developed artwork in response to a visit to Lincoln Museum archives, artist-led research and conversations with creative producer Lucy Lumb.
Jayne Cooper
Toolbox for an Afterlife (work in progress)
Charcoal drawings, photographic prints and deceased pigeon
Using found objects as stand-ins for grave goods (objects found in burial sites), my charcoal drawings meditate on the transitional journey from life into death; the moments around passing as an unknowable, in-between state that touches on adventure, rapture and the divine. Shrouded, ambiguous forms come in and out of focus; part toolbox for an afterlife and part symbol of life’s passing.
The funerary customs of the Beaker People represented a major shift from group burials to single graves. The person would be laid on their side, legs curled tightly to their chest. My ‘found’ mummified pigeon, tenderly echoes this foetal position; its fragility shows a haunting beauty in bodily decay, whilst acting as a reminder of the transformation in our own existence we will never get to see.
Sophie Dickinson
Honoured Things (work in progress)
Ceramic stoneware, unfired clay, wild clay from Cleethorpes Beach, copper, copper carbonate, chalcopyrite, pewter (tin alloy), flint, wood, meadowsweet flower, flax strick, wool, beeswax
Fascinated by the beautiful, highly polished and patterned objects associated with Beaker Culture, I have been exploring transformation and our desire to give functional objects symbolic significance through care, labour and decoration.
Many Beaker artefacts occupy an uncertain space between functional and ceremonial. By translating Beaker patterns into sculptural forms, I create imagined artefacts that sit between tool, relic and ornament. I am drawn to the simple, repeating forms of patterns, where meaning emerges through rhythm, repetition and abstraction. Sculpted Beaker tools sit amongst these, their function shifted as they become objects charged with new meaning. Ephemeral materials restore what is absent from archaeology, granting them the same symbolic importance as more durable materials. Arranged with the logic of a Beaker burial, the work reflects the transformations that define Beaker Culture, where both material and meaning are continually reshaped.
Nicki Jarvis
Wild Clay (work in progress)
Fired clay from local places and commercial suppliers
Contemplating the courageous journeys made by the Beaker People, my work celebrates the movement of human culture across vast landscapes. Sourcing wild, clayey soil from the ground at Sandilands and Oxcombe, I began with a tactile ritual process – drying, grinding, sieving, and working the raw earth into a soft, creative medium. The emerging clay pots are rooted in a specific place, but tell a story that creativity belongs to everyone, everywhere.
I have developed ideas with pattern-making as a starting point for new clay works, and created enlarged pattern shapes with papier-mache moulds. Rather than making vessel forms, these new works in progress focus on the systems of repeated intricate designs, which was an important, and possibly symbolic, feature of Beaker Culture.
(photography by Faye Parker)
Artists:
Nicki Jarvis an artist and maker working predominantly in ceramic and textiles, based at Oxcombe Studios. Themes of resilience, rurality and tradition underpin an exploration of pattern-making and repetition, creating artefacts that reflect aspects of the Lincolnshire landscape, such as in her two-year residency and site-specific commissions for Mrs Smith’s Cottage. https://www.nickijarvis.co.uk/
Jayne Cooper, based in Louth. Grounded in painting, Jayne’s practice moves between image and object – spanning painting, object-making, assemblage and performance. Her work often carries a playful sense of fantasy and desire, engaging with themes of ritual and female transgression. Jayne is the founder and director of a new artist-led space; Queen Street Studios in Louth. http://www.jaynecooperpaintings.com/
Sophie Dickinson, a recent graduate of Manchester School of Art. One of the 2024 winners of The Manchester Contemporary Art Fund 2024, her work now forms part of the permanent public collection at Manchester Art Gallery. Sophie’s mixed media practice explores the historical, allegorical, and personal use of objects, including our complex relationship to materiality. She is based near North Thoresby and works at Oxcombe and also at Turntable Gallery in Grimsby. https://www.instagram.com/sophiedickinsonart/
Partners
Re:Beaker wouldn’t have been possible without support from our delivery partner Oxcombe Pottery. The collaborations with National Trust Sandilands and Lincoln Museum have been invaluable. Funding from East Lindsey Grassroots Investment Fund and Storytellers enabled the project to happen. And the biggest thanks go to to everyone who took part and made a beaker!
Images from the artists’ visit to Lincolnshire County Council Museum archives
