Calling For Entries

Applications are now open for Brighton Art Fair and MADE12 - Brighton's Design and Craft Fair.


Brighton Art Fair will take place between 20th and 23rd September 2012.
Artists interested in exhibiting should download the application form for information and apply online here

 
MADE12 will take place between 22nd and 25th November 2012
Artists interested in exhibiting should download the application form for information and apply online here

(photo by Steve Speller)

The deadline for applications for both shows is 31st March 2012


The Palace Art & Craft Fair will take place17 – 19 May, 2013 with the application form ready after May 2012. Artists and makers interested in exhibiting should register your email here


All our shows are aimed primarily at artists wishing to communicate directly with the public and art buyers. We don't have a 'house style' but want to present the best show we can, featuring a wide variety of art and craft by innovative and original artists and makers who are passionate about their art.

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Brighton Art Fair Banners and Cotton Bags

Ok now for a little vanity - it's great when something you've had a hand in designing goes up all around the home town and it's even better when it looks good. The banners are designed and illustrated each year by the founder of our fair - Sarah Young and have a loose 'transport' theme - this year the lady is leaving Brighton Art Fair happy, with art purchases in her personal submarine. (of course)

On some of our literature the submarine imagery has printed more subdued than we intended but these banners really look great on the seafront and hopefully do the job of enticing art lovers into our show too.


We're well into the countdown for the fifth Brighton Art Fair. The Leaflets went out on the 18th August the banners and posters on Monday. Invites have been posted and the PR campaign spurred into action.

As you can see the sun always shines in Brighton, and we're keeping our fingers crossed for the one good weekend of the summer for the Art Fair.


Also in the post this morning was a pallet of cotton goodybags designed by Sarah Young, to be given away exclusively to visitors to the Brighton Art Fair next weekend! We rather liked the shocking pink last year but perhaps the dusky purple is more classy!

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Brighton Art Fair - Readers offer.

Many of you will know that the founders and some of the writers of this blog organise the Brighton Art Fair and MADE08 - Brighton's Design and Craft Fair.

We would like you to come and can offer readers (well the first 25 to email me) a 241 ticket to the show which starts on Friday 19 September. Just send your name and postal address to me on 241@brightonartfair.co.uk quoting MADEUK.

The show looks like it will be a good one. We have over 100 artists exhibiting representing a wide variety of subjects and styles. Please do have a good look at our website to see all the artists attending - Brighton Art Fair is a show where artists sell work direct to the public - its a good place to learn about art from the artists themselves.

Below is a small preview of some of the artists.

Ali Yanya - depicting crowd scenes in obscure spaces

Sasha Bowles returns with her figurative and narrative paintings.

Penny Green's - figurative ceramics which echo and reinterpret literary and cultural ideas

Rhoda Baker - 2D paperscapes with complex and intricate structures that seemingly evolve and change before your eyes.

Paul Debois - stunning large scale pinhole photos of landscapes and trees. (image at the top of the page)

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Brighton Art Fair - MADE08 decision time

We're entering the decision phase of Brighton Art Fair and MADE08 which happily gets more and more difficult every year - the applications get better and better and are increasing every year so we should be able to put together quirky, diverse and high quality shows. The downside is that the committee find it difficult to go to gallery openings or artsy events for a few months as every year we have to turn down 3 times as many artists as we accept due to lack of space in the hall and so feel a little unpopular! However it is very exciting opening the envelopes or on-line applications and seeing the images, websites and artists statements. Then the difficult job begins of choosing 90 artists who are different enough from each other, produce high quality work, are passionate about their art and will appeal to different groups of people. It's looking good though!We are delighted that Elle Decoration will be sponsoring the Brighton Art
Fair this year. We are confident that this partnership will help bring a
wider audience to the Fair, promoting the event as a wonderful opportunity
to buy top quality art direct from the artists.

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK - MAXINE SUTTON

Maxine Sutton Embroidered & Printed Textiles

My practice centers on contemporary embroidery and moves across the boundaries of craft, art and design.

I use hand and machine embroidery, screen printing, appliqué and needle-punch techniques. A personal language of abstracted forms and figurative images is continuously developing and springs from a variety of sources, such as; anatomy, nature and our relationship with the environment. Also folklore, customs and superstitions, witchcraft, religion and fertility rites that connected people with the natural environment and have provided a means of celebrating the world around us.

Recent work concentrates on printed and embroidered framed pictures and panels, worked on found fabrics and linens. Semi-figurative still lives and landscapes suggest narrative possibilities, and reference either domestic interior objects and spaces, or exterior environments.



1 Favourite living artist
Too hard to pick just one, but probably Kiki Smith. I really love her drawings and prints, and that she appropriates all kinds of materials and forms to express her ideas. I find the work honest and direct and I really like the play between the abject and the beautiful, fragility and strength. Like life really.


2 Favourite living craft maker
Primmy Chorley, I like the biographical narrative in her work and use of materials. Again it’s very honest and without pretension.

3 Favourite historical artist .
Roger Hilton for his colour and paint marks, his drawing, his irreverence and once again his honesty. His work makes me feel very happy.

4 When and where did you first want to do what you do?
Probably as a small child, doing sewing things with my grandmother,
Noona. Though I didn’t recognize it then.

5 What was the last art/craft/design thing you purchased?

I bought a tall green/grey metal lampstand, without it’s wiring, for £4 from a fantastic secondhand furniture & bric a brac emporium in Margate, called Scotts. It’s beautifully proportioned and has a lovely old smokey green patina and it is more than earning it’s money’s worth now I’ve got it home. I mostly like ‘un-designed’ but beautiful ordinary things.
I like recycling & buying old things that have been around a while, if I had any spare £ would love a prehistoric petrified wood stool I saw in Mint.
Also, I would love to have one of Rob Ryan’s large paper cuts.


6 Where and what is your studio?
I work in a studio in my garden, listening to Radio 4, or music, seagulls and occasionally very low aircraft.

7 Do you have a good work/life balance?
I have a lot of trouble with the many hats - no balance at all. When I’m working I worry about my family and when I’m with them I worry about my work – Balance is something I am continually striving for.

8 What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
It really depends, engrossing/happy or hurried/guilty.

9 Would you rather be doing something else?
Sometimes I would rather be with my family.

10 Do you think art and craft has any real importance?
Of course, isn’t art in all it’s forms, the most important thing ever, together with philosophy & science.

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK - PETER GREENHALF

Peter Greenhalf: Photography

I’m one of a small number of photographers working today who still print and tone B/W silver gelatin images by hand, in the traditional way. My interest lies in the unpredictability of employing so many toners on each image, because the chemicals always react differently. Each time I develop and tone an image I get a different result. No two photographs can ever be the same: each one is unique.

Exhibitions:
At present I have my second exhibition of landscape photography running in France. This one is a project exploring the similarities and differences between the two coastlines and is showing at the Marquenterre wildlife centre in Picardy.

In the UK, my latest exhibition at Henry Paddon Contemporary Art runs from 27th October. I’m taking part in the Tunbridge Wells Museum art exhibition from 2nd November and the Rye Art Gallery Christmas show. I’ll also be hosting the Rye Harbour Contemporary Art and Craft Open Studios with jeweller Ruth Praill on the first weekend in December (info@greenhalfphotography .co.uk).


1) Money spent on maps is never wasted because they show you things in the landscape you never knew were there.

2) Favourite living artist ?
Kenro Izu, a man not afraid to carry a 300 pound camera to the top of a mountain in Tibet in order to find a sense of the sacred in his work. I’m also interested in the process Izu uses to create his own palladium-coated paper and his use of 14 x 20 inch negatives.


3) Favourite historical artist?
Edward Weston for his ability to eroticise the simple bell pepper, his skill in bringing out the mysteries of nature and for his little known abilities as an Apache-dancer.

4) What place has inspired you?
Day to day it has to be Sussex because I love the downland and the coastline of this part of England. But Avebury has also been incredibly inspirational. I’ve always been fascinated by Neolithic sites and my photographs of the circle at Avebury really marked the start of my serious exploration of these ancient and sacred places.


5) Who buys your work?
I think what defines the people who buy my landscapes is a sense of individuality; they’re not led by the views of the crowd. Landscape photography is beginning to enjoy a revival at the moment and so my buyers are all pretty astute at spotting an upward trend. They’re also looking for craft and quality above everything else. I print and tone by hand, I cut all my mounts by hand and I have each frame made by local craftsmen to fit each photograph. This level of skill and care is reflected in the finished photograph and that’s what makes them appealing to people who are looking for something more than just an image.


6) Last piece of art purchased? The Wood Pool, an etching by Flora Mc Lachlan. I bought it at the last BAF where Flora had a stand just round the corner. I love this image of a stag drinking at a moonlit pool in the forest. It’s dark and mysterious and full of secrets. I think Flora really catches the sense of magic and the unknown in nature.


7) How do you start a new project?
My projects are all quite measured and slow to come to life. I do a lot of pondering before I start work. I’m not one of these photographers who always carry a camera and never stop shooting. The things that inspire me to take a photo are often quite specific: a particularly graphic intersection of water and land, the way light falls on water, or the movement of clouds.


8) Where and what is your studio?
The whole place is pretty much devoted to photography. I process film downstairs; my studio is the entire middle floor of the building and my dark room is on the top floor. Because the place is so open, it’s easy to convert into a gallery, which I regularly do when I hold open studio events. I’m lucky because I live on the edge of the bird reserve at Rye Harbour and the beach is only a few minutes walk away.


9) How much do you bend your ‘vision’ to suit the market place?
Not at all. Until recently landscape photography was fairly unfashionable, but it’s what fulfils me and so that’s what I do. I think if you try to adapt your style to suit a market, then it’s really obvious and people see through you. I think trying to produce work to please other people instead of yourself makes your work lose most of its integrity.

10) Are there other fields you’d like to apply your work to?
Yes, lots. At present I’m working on several projects. I’m exploring a variety of different printing techniques and the possibilities of hand-made paper using British native plants. I’m also very interested in older techniques that can be given modern applications, such as salt printing, sun printing and cyanotypes.

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Road Roller Printing - Pics

Despite very blustery weather and a very doubtful looking start (heavy rain) 6 BAF artists met at the pavilion gardens to print specially commissioned lino-cuts for the lobby of Brighton Art Fair.


Brenda Hartill, Jane Sampson, Helen Brown , Ann D'arcy Hughes , Hugh Ribbans and Bernard Lodge all cut a 90cmx90cm lino block over the summer and we printed (some of) them today.
We were using a road roller as the blocks are too large to fit in a press and although the sun shone most of the day the conditions were not made easy by very strong squalls twirling our paper, pushing dusts leaves and stones onto the block and at one point turning our canopy into a kite.

The blocks though were great and some of the results outstanding despite the working conditions.

We got some spectators and Fred Pipes sent me this video he edited on U-tube


Jane Sampson keeps the 'blanket ' in position as the roller slowly applies pressure


Bernard Lodge and Jane begin to peel the print from the block


The print 'Harpies' revealed


Lino blocks ready to ink (ann D'arcy Hughes' the universe)


Brenda Hartill's finished print.

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK - PHILIPPA KARAKASHIAN

Philippa Karakashian

These pieces are compiled using a combination of collagraph, carborundum and collage as elements of the final image. The work is made in a limited series usually of about fifteen or twenty rather than an edition so each piece is uniquely formulated.
Combining intuition with some formal attitudes and a limited palette the work develops by exploiting certain unpredictable changes, together with a process of careful editing and selecting and the addition of diluted pigments.
Her interests lie in exploring the relationship between a duplicated system and the revelations which occur in the making.

Philippa is currently represented at national art fairs and exhibitions by Shirley Crowther Contemporary Art.


1 Money spent on learning new things is never wasted.
There is always something to find out about , discover or change your outlook on and sometimes you can even do it for free!

2. Favourite living artist

It’s hard to choose one, but Cornelia Parker is someone who I admire for her intelligence, sense of humour and ability to select, transform and present objects and materials in a totally new light. Poetic,thought provoking and always visually arresting , a bit of a winning combination.


3. Favourite historical artist

Agnes Martin, although not that “historical” as she died quite recently in 2004 aged 92 and continued to make work until then. I love the timelessness and quiet conviction of her paintings , the faded palette and grid format with its slight imperfections that create subtle imperfections. She lived and worked in virtual isolation and it is said that she had not read a newspaper for fifty years. I admire her dedication, intellect and humility.


4. Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?

On my own, the nature of my work is quite solitary.

5. Last best read?

In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki. An essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics.


6. What do you have on your pinboard?

I don’t have a pinboard as such ,although I do put things up on the wall I don’t keep them there for long as I find they are a bit of a distraction. I usually prefer to leave the space clear to look at my work in isolation. I like to keep the wall as clutter free as possible but I do have bundles of photos and postcards stacked up which I leaf through as well as lists of words, phrases or descriptions of colours.I also have a collection of objects, fibres and fragments of wood metal or paper collected from various sources which are a sort of three dimensional pinboard.

7. Where and what is your studio?
I work within a large studio complex in the centre of Brighton which houses about 100 other artists, although each space is completely self contained and peaceful so I am able to work alone. Quite often I will work in silence, although there is always the constant (but strangely comforting) roar of the traffic from the road below. If I listen to anything it will be Radio 4 , I like the way it punctuates the day and you can drift in and out of the amount of attention you give it.


8.Do you have a good work/life balance?

I used to work from home but found family life, lack of space and trying to concentrate on my work just didn’t mix. I would always be distracted by domestic life in one form or another so my studio is a complete haven where I can work almost uninterrupted. I still find it hard to switch off even when I am not doing my work. I think being an artist is and should be a way of life.

9. What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?

Contemplation
10. Would you rather be doing something else?

Not in a million years!

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