Now in its seventh year, the Brighton Art Fair is the largest visual art exhibition on the South Coast with year on year sales growth exceeding expectations with over half a million pounds worth of art being sold in 2009, not including the commissioning work which inevitably arises from such events.

Painters, printmakers, ceramicists, photographers and sculptors will be exhibiting, chosen in a rigorous and competitive selection process to represent the most exciting and eclectic work across as wide a variety of methods and subjects as possible. This art fair is almost unique in that the artists themselves sell their work direct to the public, bringing a personal feel to viewing and to the buying process. Visitors enjoy meeting the artists – learning about their creative inspirations, techniques and future projects.

The Brighton Art Fair is delighted to welcome back the ARTHOUSE Meath, a charitable enterprise that creates and exhibits artworks for sale in printmaking and painting which celebrate the skills and talents of adults with learning disabilities, many of whom live with severe epilepsy and physical disabilities. ARTHOUSE Meath highly regards the skills and abilities of all its artists and the work offers an insight to a way of seeing the world, has humour and warmth and will inspire us all.

Tickets are available on the door priced £6 (children under 14 free). Entrance includes an exhibitor catalogue. Visit www.brightonartfair.co.uk for full information and details of special offers.

Steve McPherson	Four Square Fine Arts
Dan Llywelyn Hall	Elizabeth Jardine

Notes:

1. Open: Friday 11am – 7:30pm, Saturday 10am – 6pm Sunday 10am – 5pm
2. Address: Corn Exchange, Church Street, Brighton.
3. Tickets £6 on the door. Children under 14 free
4. Travel direct to Brighton from London Victoria by train 10 minute walk from Brighton station
5. For more information please visit the Brighton Art Fair website www.brightonartfair.co.uk

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery has invited ten members of The Brighton Sculptors to show a diverse selection of their outdoor and indoor pieces in the beautiful surroundings of Worthing’s Sculpture Garden and Garden Gallery.

Teresa Martin, Rochelle Oberman, Patricia Tyrer, Abby Martin, Tanya Blunden, Alison Parker, Lesley Stepney, Gloria Wing, Steve Futcher and Valerie N’Doye are a mixed group of established, professional sculptors and enthusiasts, who model, cast, carve and construct their large and smaller scale pieces in metal, stone, resin and mosaic.

Double Take as an exhibition title refers to an unusual take on an initially recognisable subject, and also that second glance of the passer-by. Having exhibited for the last 9 years in the candlelight of the splendid Brighton Church of the Annunciation as part of Brighton Festival’s Hanover Trail, we wanted to flourish in the open setting of Worthing’s popular public sculpture garden.

There is a great range of work to enjoy in this exhibition. For example, Steve Futcher used to work for Madame Tussaud’s in London and now creates his sculptures from life casts: look out for his “Ghost”! Teresa Martin’s work likes to play games on the theme of the casting process: can you spot her “Re-inventing the Wheel”? Valerie N’Doye uses the unusual medium of light boxes to express herself in 3D, and “For the love of chocolates” takes Damien Hirst’s famous diamond encrusted skull idea and re-interprets it using resin and “Smarties’!”

To celebrate the 2010 Artists’ Open Houses, VisitBrighton  teamed up with Artists’ Open Houses photographer, Tony Bowall of The Happy House, in Hove Arts trail, to give away a fantastic canvas of the iconic West Pier. Entitled ‘The Old West Pier, Brighton – in Pink’, the canvas has a retail value of up to £375!

Altogether there were 1599 entries, with the competition publicised via the both the AOH and VisitBrighton website, enewsletter and twitter.

Tony Bowall and VisitBrighton’s Sarah Baker met with Mari Booker, the competition winner, last week to present the Pink West Pier canvas.  In the photo are Tony, Sam the dog and Mari. Mari came along with a US friend she’d just picked up from Heathrow who is destined to play Glastonbury with Al Stewart at the weekend…!

We wish to thank the staff on the Faculty Academic Board who voted against the suspension of CVE/arthouse.  They were pivotal to the campaign. Their action allowed CVE staff to present an alternative view and ensured that the suspension be lifted for 2010-11 and that our provision be re-instated from January 2011.

We would also like to thank all present and past Brighton University students, Sussex University students, Brighton Illustrators Group, Open House, Fabrica, the Brighton community, Brighton’s councilors and MPs, friends and relatives, Brighton University staff both members of administration and faculty and everyone who wrote in or signed our petition both digitally and manually.  Their support was crucial. The letters sent to the Dean, Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor were very important to the campaign and brought the issue to the attention of senior management.

Most importantly we would like to thank UCU chairman Tom Hickey for his sterling work in negotiating with management on our behalf.  He was clear sighted and tenacious and instrumental in turning the decision around.  He kept us on track and helped us to focus on the important aspects of the campaign.  Tom gave us the courage to fight for lifting the suspension which means that the Saturday Art School and Adult Education will continue and the University’s commitment to the community has been preserved.
This summer will be spent redesigning and expanding the provision, and fitting CVE/arthouse with the new developments.  The marketing and recruitment of the courses will commence in October.

Thank you all on behalf of CVE staff for your support.  We can now commit ourselves fully to the new developments and to the re-launch of CVE/arthouse provision in January 2011.

CVE/arthouse
Fraser Gray
Louise Bristow
Roger Harmar
Jacky Johnson
Malcolm Jordon
Wendy Caules
Peter Jones
Sue Tribe

Jon Mills and Mr Watt

It was the final weekend of the Artists’ Open Houses festival, it was sunny, and I was taking recommendations on which venues to visit via FaceBook and Twitter. First stop was the first-time open World of Sheep, 10 Rose Hill (Venue BL15) and Toby Meader’s large-scale paintings of – you guessed it, sheep (with the odd alpaca). Then it up the hill to 46 Buller Road (Venue BL 20) and Group 46 led by Rose Lane. Not only does is the house packed with lots of great artists and makers (and it does tea and cakes) but it has a surprise in the garden – (possibly) the world’s smallest cinema in their shed (part of the HOUSE festival, Venue 2). I was in luck as it was showing the 1903 version of Alice in Wonderland – the one I thought I’d missed – it had been requested by a previous occupant. Next it was back into town for one of Harriet’s recommendations, Unlimited Editions (Venue CB21) who I believe may be opening again next weekend. Letterpress prints seem to be all the rage this year and there are some fabulous examples here.

Then it off into Fiveways territory to visit Kate Osborne’s open house, 32 Stanford Avenue (Venue FW9). Here, apart from the famous cake, were Jon Mills’s amazing constructions, including Mr Watt the grumpy old man of metal. Then it was round the corner to Into the woods, 4a Florence Road (Venue FW6). [I had also intended to visit Out of the woods over in Kemp Town (Venue KT6) but sadly time was against me.] Spectrum Photographic Award  winner Emily  Warren was showing work here, along with lots of other desirable arts and crafts, with lots going on in the garden, including wood whittling, kid’s pottery and even more cake! Go see it next year! By now the weather was scorchio and I was all cultured out. Just before I went under the viaduct however I popped into Firefly Studio (Venue BL8) which turned out to be a bit of a Tardis. It’s basically a jewellery studio, but there was lots to see, including contemporary prints and knitwear – I’m not usually enthused by the jeweller’s art but Chris Hawkins‘ more ‘manly’ silver pieces really caught my eye. So, that’s the end of AOH until the Xmas show, tho there are one or two venues open next week and the bank holiday – check the brochure. And apologies if I didn’t get to visit your house, will make more of an effort next year! Hope you all had a successful festival.

Photography at Court Farm House

We kicked off the day at the Regency Town House (HOUSE Venue 6) in  Brunswick Square, currently in its incarnation ‘House Open: Regeneration’. It was an interesting range of work, and I enjoyed the Spectrum photography prize winners’ work in particular. It’s just a shame the lighting wasn’t better so we could have a proper look, especially at the overall winning piece, ‘Auschwitz Rose’, with its beautifully nuanced use of unsettling colours and textures.

Across the grass is 55 Brunswick Square (Venue in17). I loved Gracie Collins’ delicate silver and gemstone jewellery and Fiona Howard’s ‘Fifi’ range of homewares. A sunny stroll down the promenade away is the Stables Studio (Venue ho8), also worth a look – as much for its beautiful garden and interesting interior as for the skilled sculptures on offer.

Court Farm House

The most interesting venue of the day by far, though, was Court Farm House (Venue in30). Just off the Devil’s Dyke roundabout, this is a sustainable living project, open house, music festival and garden fete all in one, where we were made to feel incredibly welcome throughout.

Head along at the end of the day to unwind with some beer and local music – it’s the most relaxed venue in the festival. Children ran around with hefty pieces of artwork on their shoulders amongst amazing metal sculptures and food stalls, while a fun folk band played in a yurt (or possibly a tepee. I’m never sure). The King George IV Avenue’s never been so lively.

Sculpture at Court Farm House, with complimentary sea view

Inside the house was glassware, furniture made out of what looked like tractor parts and other reclaimed metal, fashion, paintings and more. I thought that the photographs of children living on the farm, lumpy jumpers and all, were outstanding, as were the metal sculptures of birds and dinosaurs outside.

Tomorrow’s the last day of the Artists Open Houses festival, and, while my neglected flat and garden will be glad of some love and care, I’m going to really miss trotting round Brighton and Hove each weekend seeing all the talent, innovation and friendliness out there. Let’s get the most out of the last six hours of AOH 2010 – see you there.

14.00-16.00 HOUSE Studio Tours

Karin Mori, David Miles

Admission £6

Phoenix Studios

10-14 Waterloo Place

Brighton BN2 9NB

01273 603700

www.phoenixarts.org

info@phoenixbrighton.org

EXHIBITION CANCELLED

17.00 closing talk with Matthew Cornford

Blank Studios and Gallery

108 North Street, Portslade

Brighton BN41 1DG

www.blankstudios.org

www.blankstudiosgallery.org

www.scurtis.co.uk

Sun 23rd

14.00-16.00 HOUSE Studio Tours

Monica Ross, Jayne Wilson

Admission £6

Phoenix Studios, details as above

Dream Home

19.00- 21.00 Home movie screening, with Gary Barber, music by Chris Phelon.

14.00-16.00 Screening of ‘Searched Footage’

Phoenix Brighton

details as above

EXHIBITION CANCELLED

Blank Studios and Gallery

details as above

by Harriet Mancey-Barratt

Prefer an N-dash in the hand to an artistic flash in the pan? Some of my favourite picks of this year’s Artists Open Houses have been those using paper or print in an exciting, fresh way. There’s so much modern, witty work going on, from the cool letterpress prints by Flowers & Fleurons and Julia Trigg at Nine by Nine (Venue dr1) through to my fellow blogger Fred Pipes’ lovely prints at The Dragonfly House (Venue bl6).

I have to admit an embarrassing bias here; I’ve worked in editing for several years and feel the way about style guides and colour palettes that most people feel about things like the sun, say, or Wispa bars. So you can imagine my joy when I walked into Unlimited Editions, which specialises in typographic collectibles, last weekend (Venue cb21, Upper Gardner Street).

The resident designers have been joined by guests specially for the festival, and there’s an amazing range of work for such a small space (the designers are using their desks as exhibition tables, whipping their computers back out of the loo each Monday morning).

Sara Morrissey's Brighton maps

Amongst the many and varied prints, T-shirts, textiles and pieces of jewellery are Sara Morrissey’s wonderful foil-embossed Brighton maps. These are both attractive and clever – the whole map is made of street names arranged in their rightful real-life locations like a sumptuous game of Tetris, minus the annoying music. Though the prints are reasonably priced, there are also tea-towels with the same design for those of us who need to watch our pennies. Sara’s planning to do a London version soon… so be sure to check back in 2020.

I also loved the great collection of jewellery, including fun Scrabble necklaces, and the bright, comfy cushions – perfect for gifts. If you haven’t made it to Unlimited Editions yet, you’ve got two more chances this weekend – I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Perhaps I’ll see you there as I return with some cash (having fallen foul of the North Laine cash machine drought) to stock up on cheery presents – until then, have a great week.

Lesley Thomson signing copies of 'A Kind of Vanishing'

P.S. For those of you who missed The Dog House’s readings last Sunday, more fool you. Three authors from local publisher Myriad Editions read extracts of their work to a crowd of appreciative festival-goers in the rooftop studio, with signing sessions following. Definitely something to watch out for in future years.