WHEN socks or yet another scented candle just doesn’t cut it at Christmas, an original piece of art or craft from an independent artist might fit that gift-shaped hole.
And when those independent artists invite you into their own homes and studios to see the work, it’s a great way to avoid over-heated over-busy shops on dull November weekends.
The Eastbourne Artists group is staging Christmas open houses and studios over the next two weekends – 19/20 and 26/27 November at 24 venues across the town.
Artists, makers and designers will offer a huge range of artwork including paintings, prints, sculpture, jewellery, photography, ceramics, textiles and Christmas decorations in their own homes and studios.
Many of the venues feature work by several artists under one roof. One of these is The Big House in Prideaux Road (above) where there will be ceramics, paintings, glass and jewellery hosted by John and Helen Warren.
A copy of the brochure can be downloaded here along with more details of the venues.
:: Event organiser Julian Sutherland-Beatson is a professional artist who has had work displayed three times at the Royal Academy summer exhibition and at the House of Lords.
He thinks open houses are a great way for visitors to see original work at reasonable prices and for artists to hear opinions of their work.
“The artist might not be brave enough to go into a gallery, so it’s a great way to hear feedback about your work,” he said.
Julian, above, who trained at Eastbourne College of Art in the early 1970s, worked for many years as a graphic designer, often producing tourist brochures and town guides.
He used to publish a shopping and eating out guide to Brighton & Hove; he would quickly paint very small pictures of the featured restaurants and shops for the adverts, sometimes up to four in an hour.
Julian became a full-time artist when he felt the need for a greater creativity. He also started running workshops on how to make a living as an artist.
“It’s an attitude thing – there are plenty of artists who are brilliant but who make no money,” he said.
His studio in Dittons Road, featuring landscape, coastline and urban work in acrylic he describes as ‘contemporary realism’ (above) will be open to visitors.
:: Justine Munson is a ceramicist who exhibits in London and across the south-east. She is a member of The Sussex Guild of professional designers and artists, and also sells her work in the prestigious British Museum in London.
She trained at Central St Martin’s School of Art in London having become fascinated with creating ceramics, due indirectly to the work of Lucy Rie.
Lucy Rie was an Austrian-born British ceramicist who pioneered the idea that pottery could be elevated to art forms and need not just be functional objects. She died in 1995 at the age of 93.
“I was very drawn to ceramics from a young age because I knew an Austrian potter who was a contemporary of Lucy Rie,” said Justine, above in her garden studio.
“This lady had a beautiful house and a beautiful studio, so I was always very impressed by her.
“For me, ceramics encompasses everything – it has all the elements of design but I also still do drawings. I also like the chemical side, it’s precise and quite technical.”
Justine, who moved to Eastbourne in June last year from Surrey, produces up to 100 items a month. Her output ranges from bud vases selling for £15 to large, decorative vases for £300.
She is opening her home in Hurst Road, Upperton, along with three other artists.
:: David Rice trained as a graphic designer and it’s that aspect of art which attracts him to creating semi-abstract oil paintings, which he started doing about four years ago.
His portfolio features city street scenes with light reflecting on rain-soaked pavements and through raindrops on windows. There are also seascapes and downland landscapes.
David, above, who was made redundant from The Sunday Times travel magazine when lockdown came, works a freelance graphic designer and art director.
He is opening his home in Parsonage Road, Old Town, on both weekends of the art houses along with illustrator Nina Mooncie.
“What I really love is finding the abstract in the figurative – so something could be seen as an abstract painting, but it is also actually a painting of something,” he said.
“I like to paint the weather and light, for example rainy streets and raindrops. I also like graphic shapes: if you crop a picture in a certain way, it can also look abstract.”
David uses oil on canvas, finding the medium adaptable to work with and move around because it stays wet.
:: The open house leaflet is also available from the Visitor Centre in the Welcome Building, Compton Street; the Lighthouse Gallery in Cornfield Terrace; or any of the houses taking part.
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Very cheering and interesting to know that your Borough is staging the Open studio, lucky them and the public. Wandsworth will probably never re-instate this event- they propose “street markets ” instead….. or printing an artwork on banners, crappy, and glued on lamp posts….I cry….because this Open Studio trail was such a success… will have to organise my own in the Spring for the new Series.
It’s not organised by the council here either. I look forward to a Wandsworth version if the artists can get together!