Artists' Open Houses In Brighton & Hove - 40th Anniversary Events Announced For May

Every weekend during May, thousands of artists will open their houses and studios in the city to exhibit their paintings, photography, ceramics, crafts and more.

The Artists Open Houses Festival gives art lovers an exclusive snapshot of how artists live and work.

This year, the festival celebrates 40 years of open houses in Brighton and Hove as well as commemorating its founder Ned Hoskins, who, forty years ago, created a movement enabling access to art for everyone, by simply opening his Fiveways front door and inviting the public inside to view his work.

Clara Wilkinson

Open House trails now happen all over the country and beyond, but it all began here with one man deciding to remove the invisible barriers that kept people out of art galleries and inviting them in to view art in a domestic setting.

The Brighton festival is the original and largest of the annual events, now encompassing the entire city, reaching out to the surrounding countryside.

Ian Daniels

For the 40th Anniversary, a series of special exhibitions connect through the theme Towards the Light, taken from a title of one of Ned’s paintings and reflecting his concerns with nature and the natural world.  

Patsy McArthur

Exhibitions include work of students, emerging artists, neuro-diverse and learning-disabled artists, established AOH artists and some of the earliest members of the Fiveways Artists’ Group; work is shown at Brunswick Square’s Regency Town House and Basement, at Devils Dyke Farm and The Old Market. Accompanying the exhibitions an oral-history film explores the history and legacy of the Artists Open Houses movement. 

Jo Watters-Pawlowski

The movement has evolved into a major, inclusive arts event that celebrates the art of all generations from students to residents of a seniors' centre. 

You'll find pieces by artists who are just starting out as well as established names and the personal setting allows visitors to converse with the Artists, some of whom even offer tea and cake in their gardens.

Ellie Hipkin

The 2022 May Festival will take place over four weekends in May. 

May 7/8, May 14/15, May 21/22, and May 28/29.

Most Open Houses are open May weekends from 11.00-17.00, but opening times may vary from venue to venue so check individual brochure listings. www.aoh.org.uk

Albert Irvin

Here's a taster of of some of the exhibitions on offer:

      Gary Goodman@The Old Market

Gary Goodman is a painter and poet who works from a shed at the end of his garden. Gary has exhibited his paintings and prints and has performed his poetry around the world: from the frozen wastes of Norway and Alaska down to the warmth of New Zealand and the Southern States of USA.

Gary teaches at various colleges and universities and runs workshops in drawing, painting and printmaking. He likes animals and thunderstorms and lots of other things, often producing his best work when bored.

Gary’s work has a strength and rawness; his imagery is resoundingly direct, unbothered by artistic self-consciousness and politeness; unrefined, unmannerly yet sensitive. His art is about another world born of this world. A world you might not want to look at because it seems forever winter, cold and sad. But there is an unbearable attraction, a familiarity and a longing.

Gary will also be showing his prints and paintings at Art at 21 in the Seven Dials trail.  garygoodman.wordpress.com

Waterloo Room, The Old Market, 11a Upper Market Street, Hove BN3 1AS.  Check website for opening times www.theoldmarket.com

Catherine Anna Benson

Figment Arts Studio Artists: An Artists Open Houses festival exhibition at new pop-up venue, Devils Dyke Farm

As part of the AOH 40th Anniversary exhibitions, Figment Arts Studio artists are responding to the theme Towards the Light, a title taken from a painting by Ned Hoskins, founder of the Open Houses movement. Using different mediums the exhibition includes poetry, illustration, photography, performance art and screen-based work.

The Figment Arts Studio is a group of autistic, learning disabled and neuro-diverse artists.  They worked together remotely in 2020 for an Artist Open Houses exhibition in the window of SOLD in Shoreham-by-Sea.  This new chapter of the studio project brings the group together in-person, working from their new space in Lawrence’s Art Studio in Hove.

Exhibiting artists: Sarah Watson, Ryan Medlock, William Hanekom, Eleana Button, Debbie Caulfield, Richard Channer.

The artists are supported by Figment Arts Director, David Parker, and Freelance Producer and Curator, Clare Sheppeard. www.figmentarts.co.uk

Devils Dyke Farm, Devils Dyke Road, Brighton, BN1 8YL.  Weekends 7-29 May 11.00- 17.00. Figment Arts is supported by Arts Council England

Ellie Hipkin

·      Towards the Light: an exhibition of work by current AOH artist

      The theme of this exhibition, Towards the Light, is taken from the title of one Of Ned Hoskins’ paintings. The exhibition invited submissions, connecting to the theme, from all artists taking part this year in the Artists Open Houses festival.

      Ned was distinctly inspired by the environment, seeking out nature and places to wander whenever possible; from his early days at art school in Harrogate where he painted on the Yorkshire Moors, through to his time in California, Europe and more locally, where his work took frequent inspiration from the South Downs. As we all look towards brighter moments after recent restrictions, Ned’s work, actions and legacies offer a fabulous opportunity to remember how important it is to take risks, make art and work with your community.

      Upstairs @ The Regency Town House , 13 Brunswick Square, Hove, BN3 1EH. May 7^th - 29^th, Fridays 2pm – 5pm  Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm

   Ruth Mulvie

   Patsy McArthur

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