Brighton Art & Design Guide - Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux
Brighton Art and Design Map


Our favourite shop/gallery in Brighton opened in December 2002 in a small section of a more or less damp and derelict left luggage office on Brighton Beach, halfway between the two piers. The cavernous gallery now occupies three arches running under the promenade and Kings Road from the beach, and has an art & design bookstore, two gallery spaces for exhibitions and a gallery shop which shows jewellery, ceramics and textiles. At the back of the gallery is a framing workshop and pottery studio, where much of the stock is produced.


Mike Levy, the gallery director, says that the location is the key to Castor and Pollux - he scoured the South Coast for ten years before finding the right spot.


A huge amount of effort and time went into transforming these damp dark arches into a light, clean space. The initial transformation took 6 months and improvements are ongoing each winter.


Mike is a pottery designer and understands the gallery business from both sides, looking after and encouraging artists and presenting a gallery that encourages visitors to stop, linger and buy.


Castor and Pollux has an interesting, changing and varied selection of products and artists including - Michael Anchin, Anita Klein, Jonny Hannah, Mike Levy, Angie Lewin, Becky Blair, Rob Ryan, Paul Catherall, Chris Corr, Riley Burnett, Andrew Mockett, Suzanne Potter and Sarah Young.


Exhibitions this year.

Andrew Mockett, wood cut prints and handmade books
Becky Blair, new paintings
Paul Davis, drawings and prints
Derek Yaniger, prints
Sarah Young, new prints
Mike Levy, new pottery
Andy Lovell. screen prints (Not exhaustive and not necessarily in that order)

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Brighton Art and Design Guide - Hove Museum

Art and Design Map
Hove Museum sits on New Church Road, to the west of Hove, in shady gardens, a short walk from the shops and cafes of Hove. The Museum is housed in a Victorian villa designed in Italianate style c.1870 by Thomas Lainson. During the First World War the building was used to house German prisoners of war, and in 1926 it was purchased by Hove Corporation and opened as a public museum the following year.

Hove Museum is not a large museum well worth visiting housing as it does a Contemporary Craft Gallery of the national significant. It also houses an important Toy Collection showcasing items from the National Toy Museum and Institute of Play collection. It also has a great and well used cafe!


Hove Museum & Art Gallery attracts a wide range of people – from locals dropping in for tea and cake in the Tearoom, children and families, workshop participants, students, daytrippers to visitors from across the world. It is of especial interest to craft makers and enthusiasts.

The Craft Galleries have works by major 20th century craft pioneers like Bernard Leach, Alison Britton and Elizabeth Fritsch, alongside pieces by prominent contemporary makers including Tadek Beutlich, Fred Baier and Susan Cutts. The museum stages regular craft exhibitions featuring some of the most innovative and exciting international makers.


Hove Museum works with artists and local community groups: metal railings by Jon Mills and pupils from Peter Gladwin Primary School; gallery seating by Beatriz Matud and Brunswick Older People's Project; lift interior panels by Duncan Hoosen and Care Co-ops and a panel highlighting the many sponsors and funders of the redevelopment project by Ian McKay and BHASVIC students.


Hove Museum is one of the most family friendly and accessible centres of learning and enjoyment in the South East. It is also a comprehensive local history resource, providing an essential link with the past, keeping history alive and relevant for the local community.


Hove and Shoreham were one of the early pioneers of the moving image and the museum includes work by film pioneers – James Williamson, Alfred Darling, George Albert Smith and Charles Urban

Exhibitions taking place this year -

Follies of Europe
24 January to 3 May 2009
A photographic exhibition, which traces the development of architectural extravaganzas in Europe from the Baroque to the ultra modern.

Deviants: Irreverence in Contemporary Craft
6 June to 13 September 2009
An exhibition that boldly questions ‘what does craft look like?’ Deviants challenges the current popular opinion of craft as merely decorative or functional and presents objects from the Crafts Council Collection that shatter that notion. The ‘deviant’ artists featured make objects that – through a subversive use of materials, and irreverent exploration of form, function and concept – depart markedly from the norm and challenge accepted craft aesthetics. This is an anthology of surprising objects that invite exploration into the presence of deviance in craft.

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Brighton Art & Design Guide - Brass Monkeys

Brighton Art and Design Map
Brass Monkeys Jewellery Workshops and Gallery


Jenifer Wall and Samantha Maund moved their workshop/gallery to Portland Road Hove in December 2007 after 6 years in a drafty garage in St Johns Road Hove (now Boxbird Studio and Gallery).

Samantha Maund

We are both makers and so just had a workshop before. Because we are makers we know all our suppliers personally, and we understand how the work is made.

Jenifer Wall

Brass Monkeys are trying to offer their customers something special and unique, unusual and original pieces that they won't find on the high street. Everything is displayed in antique cabinets creating the impression of a collection in a museum.

Sarah Packington

We currently stock the work of over 30 designer makers including Jenifer Wall, Samantha Maund, Anne Massey, Annabet Wyndham, Becky Crow, Joanne Tinker, Ruth Wood, Julia Groundsell, Mike Gell, Penny Warren

Jennifer Kidd

Kate Orton

Hannah Bedford

Sam Maund

Jenifer Wall

Ruth Wood
David Poston

Anne Massey



Open Tues - Sat 10-5pm
Closed Sun - Mon

Or by appointment

Brass Monkeys
109 Portland Road
Hove
East Sussex
BN3 5DP
01273 725170

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Brighton Art & Design Guide - Cardigan Studio Shop

Brighton Art and Design Map
Kate Jenkins opened the Cardigan Studio Shop in 2007 in a Mews behind Sussex Square Kemptown. The shop is in part of her design studio and workshop.


Kate had been a freelance fashion knitwear designer for many years before starting the independent label Cardigan which now produces a large range of products including wraps, scarves, gifts and crocheted pieces of art.


Kate says that Cardigan had to be in Brighton "Because it is such a creative and beautiful town I couldn't see myself working and living anywhere else"



"I wanted to create an exciting space to show that anything can be made out of yarn. When I first opened, the products were mainly fashion accessories but this has now grown into a space where I can develop my ideas which have resulted in producing pieces of art which I feel complements the whole concept of the shop.
The space works on many levels - A design Studio, A Showroom & Shop and an Exhibition Space."
Cardigan Studio Shop is open Monday-Friday 9.30 -6.00. During the May Artists Open Houses Cardigan will be open weekends and will be launching a new range of limited edition prints. Kate has has a solo show of her crocheted artworks entitled 'Kate's Cafe' June at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London.


Images Rachel Whiting

Cardigan
Unit 5
Arundel Mews
13 -18 Arundel Place
Kemp Town
Brighton
BN2 1GG

Tel: 01273 671390
Website: www.cardigan.ltd.uk

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Brighton Art & Design Guide - Brighton Museum and Art Gallery

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Brighton Art and Design Map

Brighton Museum is housed in a beautiful regency building - completed in 1808, by architect George Porden, the building was commissioned by the Prince Regent (who became George IV) as a stable block and riding school. It was then one of the largest buildings of its kind in the world, with room to stable up to 60 horses. As well as the museum and the Brighton History Centre, the building now also houses the Brighton Dome Concert Hall and the Corn Exchange.

The Museum sits in the beautiful restored regency gardens of the Royal Pavilion – perfect for a picnic on a grass. The Gallery and related cafe are well used by locals for a break at lunchtime as well as visitors to the town.


Brighton Museum is an excellent smaller museum with well designed galleries ranging from the Story of Brighton, told in all its glorious and ‘inglorious’ detail, to one of the country's most significant ethnological collections; from punk rock renegade fashion to an international celebration of 20th-century art and design. The collections also contain 2,000 paintings – almost as many as the National Gallery – 15,000 artefacts of world art, 2,000 pieces of historic pottery, and some 10,000 items of costume.


The Museum excels in creative planning and thematic contextualisation. Its objects are displayed with wit and imagination, employing a range of interpretive techniques including the latest interactive information technology. It also encourages local participation. Many of its objects have been donated by the local community, while its oral histories and personal testimonies help bring the city's history to life.


One of the highlights of the Museum is Mr Willett's Poplar Pottery - Willett was convinced that ceramic figures and vessels could tell stories from political, social and cultural history through the images with which 'homely pottery' were decorated.

The main hall of the museum houses the Twentieth Century Art and Design Gallery - a stunning collection of 
20th-century furniture, ceramics, glass and metal work from Europe and America including pieces by Gallé, Lalique, Clarice Cliffe and modern masters such as Ron Arad and André Dubreuil. Salvador Dali and Edward James’ Mae West's Lips sofa c1936


Fine art highlights include an important collection of Dutch 17th century paintings, 19th century British landscapes and a major bequest from Paul Heyer’s personal collection of late 20th-century American artists such as Frank Stella, Jules Olitski and Alexander Calder.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Ray Kyte: Shirt Tales 10 February to 10 May Café Balcony
The shirts in these photographs are used as a vehicle to explore light, form and texture. They celebrate weave, pattern, colour and design. Most of all they are a means of using fabric as a filter, allowing light penetration to be the purveyor of drama, the nature of each shirt becoming the dictator of mood.

The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock A British Museum Tour 2 May to 31 August 2009
Admission payable
The American Scene features around 80 outstanding prints by 56 leading modern American artists, including George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois and Jackson Pollock.

The Land Girls: Cinderellas of the Soil 3 October 2009 to 14 March 2010
This new exhibition focuses on Sussex and the land girls who were trained, lived and worked on the Sussex Downs and surrounding areas.
It considers three main themes: women, land and army. Using personal stories, memories, propaganda, paintings, posters, photographs and other objects The Land Girls weaves a narrative around surviving items of their distinctive uniform - where it was made, who wore it, what they did, how women felt about wearing it and the reactions they encountered.
The exhibition also considers the lives of former land girls today and the enduring appeal of an idealised image of the Women’s Land Army in memorabilia, vintage and fashion clothing and re-enactment.

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Brighton Art and Design Guide - LAST

Last Footwear
Art and Design Map


Alex Herdman first opened Last Footwear in Kemp Town Village in the summer of 2004 in the workshop space where she had done her shoemaking apprenticeship. In 2005 Last moved to it's present position in Pool Valley in 2008. Last launched an online shop www.lastfootwear.com



Alex did an art foundation course at Bucks University and was undecided whether to pursue a career in 3D design or Fashion. When she moved to Brighton she came across a small handmade shoe shop and was lucky enough to be offered an apprenticeship she stayed on after the apprenticeship and opened Last


"It seemed a natural progression to stay in Brighton - I enjoy the friendliness and abundance of creative talent in the city"

This beautiful shop is based in Pool Valley just off the sea end of East Street in Brighton's Lanes, next door to the lovely and legendary Mock Turtle Tea Shop.

Last specialises in shoes, accessories and hosiery, mostly hand made and with a definite emphasis on quality and interesting design.


Alex takes some of her inspiration from gallery shops "I have always loved going to galleries and museums and I suppose I took a lot of inspiration from gallery shops, I like the feeling that you are walking away with not just a shoe but a little artwork. I try and make the shop as welcoming as possible and do not want to be elitist, I try and have products that suit even the smallest pocket. I also really enjoy makers and designers bringing in their creations to sell in the shop and have found lots of my suppliers this way."
Alex says that in the main the shop attracts people who work in the creative industries and students.




Among craftsmen and designers who supply the shop are
Wolfram Lohr - Leather work


Rachel Eardley - Jewellery and Prints

Jane Beckley - Bags


Neoma - Leather work
Funn Stockings - Hosiery
Cecile Gilbert - Tiki - Jewellery


Thomas Murphy - Shoes
Florrie - Knitwear


Alpa Mistry - Ties
Amy Phipps - Accessories

Zoe Olivia John - Accessories

Rosa Mosa - Shoes

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