Medals have long been associated with Much Wenlock, for the 19th-century organisers of the Wenlock Olympian Games issued medals as prizes in a tradition that continues to this day. It is therefore highly appropriate that this exhibition of contemporary art medals should be held in the town’s Twenty Twenty Gallery and also – in this Olympic year – to be reminded that medals have long had a life of their own, a life that has reached far beyond sporting excellence.

Ron Dutton, widely recognised as Britain’s leading medallic artist, has brought together for this exhibition twelve artists whose works suggest something of the diversity and vibrancy of the modern art medal. In their medals, these artists, from different countries, different backgrounds, different generations, employ an extraordinarily wide range of approaches and techniques.

A medal can contain a whole world – a world that can be held in the hand. It is a very intense way of experiencing art.

Philip Attwood, Keeper of Coins and Medals, The British Museum.