Rising Talent is an initiative with the specific aim of giving young and emerging artists an opportunity they would not necessarily get elsewhere.  That is, the opportunity to show their work in a commercial gallery and the experience that goes along with that. We think this may be a unique opportunity as artists can exhibit at no charge and the work is for sale*.

The exhibitions committee received many applications and have been overwhelmed not only by the quantity of submissions but, most importantly, by the quality. After considerable deliberation, they have selected the artists whose work will be exhibited. (The names of contributing artists will be published on this web page shortly).

Our newly appointed patron, Antony Penrose, has chosen to introduce himself to Arts Forum members and supporters at the open evening for this show, as this initiative resonates with his personal aims and interests.  Antony Penrose is co-director of the Lee Miller Archive and Penrose Collection at his parents’ former home, Farley Farm House. He is a photo-curator who gives lectures worldwide on photography, fine art and his parents’ work to museums and photographic societies and is accredited by the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies. He is a director of the Farley Arts Trust, a registered charity, which he founded to promote art education in schools. The trust holds the biennial Farley’s Yard Arts Award for GCSE and A-level work from up to fourteen local comprehensive schools.

Hastings Arts Forum member, artist, writer and blogger, Valerie Grove, will be interviewing all the artists chosen to show their work in the Rising Talent exhibition and you will be able to find the results of these interviews on naturestrikesback.blogspot.co.uk

The exhibition is a result of an initiative sponsored by the Rye Creative Centre where artists were invited to come together to share and exchange an edition of various printing techniques.

The exhibition at the Hastings Arts Forum will showcase the work of these artists and printmakers and will include examples of a wide range of traditional and experimental printmaking methods.

Putting It All Together is a show of two and three dimensional works of assemblage, collage and photomontage by artists working with a variety of media and forms. With the constant changes in technology, all three of these overlapping fields are constantly changing and growing in possibilities.

This exhibition brings together a group of artists whose work represents different ideas through the manipulation and mixing of materials from both found and made objects and images.

The East Sussex based group, SoCo Artists, initiated this project last year as an opportunity for members to develop a new body of work or show work from their ongoing practice, in a curated exhibition.

The selected artists for SoCo Showcase 2 are Lynne Bingham, Sally Cole, Jean Davey-Winter, Jill Hartman, Adrienne Hunter, Gillian Metcalfe, Carly Ralph, Katherine Reekie, David Reeve, Helen Scalway and Suzy Watts. Expect a broad range of work including drawing, installation, painting, collage and textiles.

www.soco.org.uk

Felicity Montaigu’s work involves recording images observed directly from landscape, in drawings, watercolours and oil studies. These are sometimes the roots of larger pieces of work. She is particularly interested in land which is mountainous with hidden valleys, both in Southern France and Westmorland, and the sea and shore in East Sussex.

Compromised Perceptions. John Cole and Annie Rae offer their individual studies of hearing and sight loss.

After a career of illustration and painting, Annie Rae has experienced severe sight loss.

The drawings and collages shown here concern the fragmentations and visual aberrations caused by Macular Degeneration.

Note: There are two private views for this exhibition. Wednesday 17 May 6.30–8.30pm and Friday 19 May 6.30–8.30pm

Part of Compromised Perceptions with John Cole and Annie Rae.

Jess Norgrove was born with mild cerebral palsy and has always had a sense of not being quite right. Through urban exploration, her photos emphasise buildings and objects that also aren’t quite right, but they draw attention to the striking and attractive in dereliction and decay. The images in the exhibition show a hidden and unseen world beyond the walls of derelict buildings and evoke stories through their structures. The photographs were taken in various locations, both in the UK and further afield in Europe.

“The images in the exhibition show a hidden and unseen world beyond the walls of derelict buildings and evoke stories through their structures. The photographs are taken in various locations, both in the UK and further afield in Europe”.