From early March through to September, the Forge Gallery situated in the picturesque village of  Walberton near Chichester are running a diverse and eclectic range of one day artist courses.

The mediums and subjects range from making ceramic slab pots, playing guitar, weaving, lino printing and drawing,  to stained glass making etc.

Each workshop covers a full day and lunch is included in the cost, which ranges in price from £32 to £70. All the courses look very exciting and each class is run by an established artist in the field including Jessica Jordan, Tom Carter, Dudley Sawer, Hilary Charlesworth and Amanda Newell.

Check the website for details: Forge Gallery Artist Courses.

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Adult Events:

An Evening With Thriller Writer Emlyn Rees, Wednesday 27th June 7.30pm.

Sunday Times Best-selling thriller writer Emlyn Rees, author of the popular book Hunted, will be speaking at Chichester Library about his writing.

Emlyn Rees published his first thriller aged 25, his second a year later, and then co-wrote seven comedies with Josie Lloyd, including the Number One Sunday Times bestseller Come Together. They have been published in 23 different languages.  He is a self-confessed film and thriller addict. He now divides his time between restoring a wreck in Mallorca and Brighton beach, where he lives with Josie and their three children.

Tickets £3 available from Chichester Library (01243 777351 or Chichester.library@westsussex.gov.uk) and the Festivities Box Office.

An Evening with Peter Lovesey – Thursday 28^th June 7.30pm.

Best-selling local crime author Peter Lovesey will be speaking at Chichester Library about his writing

Peter Lovesey is the author of many crime titles, including: his Victorian Crime novels featuring Sergeant Cribb, a series set in Chichester featuring Detective Hen Mallin and his popular crime series with Detective Peter Diamond – who features in his two newest books Stagestruck and Cop to Corpse.

Tickets £3 available from Chichester Library (01243 777351 or Chichester.library@westsussex.gov.uk) and the Festivities Box Office.

‘The Secrets of Crime Writing’ Panel – Monday 2^nd July 7.30pm

Four popular crime authors will discuss crime writing, their own experiences of being a crime writer and reveal some of the secrets of the trade.

Rebecca Tope – Author of three popular murder mystery series also “ghost writer” of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme.

Priscilla Masters – Author of two popular murder mystery series featuring detective Joanna Piercy and another series featuring Martha Gunn the Shrewsbury coroner.

Cassandra Clark – Author of the Abbess of Meaux Medieval Mystery series, which introduces you to the world of Hildegard of Meaux – sleuth, spy, Cistercian nun and future abbess.

Amy Myers – Author of several popular crime series featuring Auguste Didier master chef and detective Jack Colby car detective. Classic Calls the Shots is the most recent in the Jack Colby Series.

Tickets £3 available from Chichester Library (01243 777351 or Chichester.library@westsussex.gov.uk) and the Festivities Box Office.

Crime with Wine: An Evening with Sophie Hannah – Thursday 5^th July 7.30pm.

Come along to Chichester Library and enjoy a glass of wine while listening to internationally best-selling crime/thriller author of Little Face and A Room Swept White.

Sophie will be talking about her most recent book Lasting Damage, writing crime thrillers and writing in general.

Tickets £3 and include a glass of wine, available from Chichester Library (01243 777351 or Chichester.library@westsussex.gov.uk) and the Festivities Box Office.

An Evening with S J Watson and Cath Staincliffe – Wednesday 11^th July  7.30pm.

Join best-selling Crime and Thriller writers S J Watson and Cath Staincliffe, for an evening of lively discussion at Chichester Library, with local author and Crime Writer Simon Brett leading the event and acting as interviewer.

S J Watson is the author of the critically acclaimed thriller Before I go to Sleep, which has been an international best-seller, won the Crime Writer’s Association Award for Best Debut Novel and the Galaxy National Book award for Crime Thriller of the year.

Cath Staincliffe is a scriptwriter and creator of the popular TV series Blue Murder, and has penned many popular crime novels, including The Kindest Thing and Witness. Her newest publication Dead to Me is a prequel to the popular TV series Scott & Bailey.

Tickets £3 available from Chichester Library (01243 777351 or Chichester.library@westsussex.gov.uk) and the Festivities Box Office.

Children’s Events – Open to the public:

Talk by children’s author Gwyneth Rees – Saturday 30^th June 2.30pm

Come and meet the fantastic Gwyneth Rees, author of Fairy Dust, Mermaid Magic, Twinkling Tutus and more. Hear Gwyneth talk about how she became a writer, the inspiration behind her books and also her new book The Butterfly Tiara. This event is a must for all fairy, mermaid and princess fans. Don’t miss it! Suitable for children aged 7+

Talk by local children’s picture book author and illustrator Layn Marlow – Saturday 7^th July 10am

Local picture book author Layn Marlow will be reading stories followed by a craft activity. Layn began her career working in libraries. She lived in Belgium for several years but it was on her return to the UK that she enrolled as a mature student at Southampton University and received a first class degree in illustration. Suitable for children under 6.

Talk by Teen author Vanessa Curtis – Saturday 7^th July PM Time 2.30pm

Get ready to be spooked by author Vanessa Curtis and her new book, The Haunting of Tabitha Grey. Learn about her inspiration to write a ghost story and learn how to write one yourself! Suitable for children aged 11+

Talk by children’s author Kate O’Hearn - Friday 13^th July 4.00pm

Raised in New York City, Kate O’Hearn would envision herself soaring among the city on the back of a wild dragon. Years later, her dreams spilled over into the books she loves to write. Suitable for children aged 8 – 13.

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Martin Paterson
‘Colours in Garden and Landscape’
6th – 18th March, 2012
Oil paintings inspired by the Scottish coastline and the artist’s own woodland garden.
 
 
 
 

Doris Malcolmson & William Pullen
6th – 18th March, 2012
Small watercolours and oils by Doris with egg temperas and larger watercolours by William. Although a generation apart, Doris and William were neighbours in Rake, West Sussex for many years and have been friends as practising professional artists for much longer. They feel their work complements each others, especially in the quiet space of the Wilson Studio.

John Harmer and Thom Lewis
6th – 18th March, 2012

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As much as the creativity in and around Chichester inspires, sometimes it’s refreshing to get out and about and see what there is to offer further afield. Chichester Creative Network’s Katy recently drew creative inspiration from Esbjerg Art Museum while on a trip to Denmark.

This truly innovative place holds modern art from the 1920s onwards and offers open stores where paintings have been hung on sliding walls, making even more art accessible to the public. The paintings are hung in the order that they were acquired, illustrating the history of the collection and how different styles have gradually permeated into the consciousness of the Danes.

Another fascinating feature is the museum’s scent installation. Large jars of different scents are placed in the open stores to create The Garden of Wittgenstein. Visitors are invited to take in each scent and see what pictures they conjure, there’s everything from eucalyptus and sherbet lemons to tar and rubber, and it certainly gets you thinking!

A favourite installation included a completely white room with images of furniture created on the walls using a single ball of string and cleverly placed drawing pins. The effect of such a large white space and the subtlety of the carefully crafted images was magical and a combined challenge and treat for the eyes.

The huge wall-mounted dome, which resembled something like half a golf ball, was another highlight.  Created from materials that looked like they would be used to make a sofa, this was strangely comforting.

There were installations demonstrating the fantastic things that can be done with wood too. A table crafted from intricate and colourful wooden shapes with a wooden flame as its centrepiece was beautiful while the shed full of human shaped cut-outs in the courtyard garden was a lot of fun.

It’s well worth a visit if you’re ever that way!

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We have a plethora of local creatives attending the event to sell their arts and crafts, including:

• DillyWorm Arts and Crafts – DillyWorm crafts is a mother and daughter team, born and raised in Chichester. Gill and Kate Lassetter design, make and customise cutesy crafty treats that will make ideal Christmas gifts! The DillyWorm Crafts range includes: bags, aprons, phone and glasses pouches, cushions, hot water bottle covers, lavender bags, cuddly friends, jewellery and framed photography and pictures. Please find out more by visiting (and liking) their Facebook page: Facebook – DillyWormCrafts.
• Versartile – Making it personal since 2010, VersArtile was founded by two friends whose skills are creatively very different but combined together are a true design inspiration. VersArtile is a unique personalisation gift company. Their main product is that of personalised canvas prints. Each design has an individual theme and theme name. Not only can the designs themselves be personalised with details about the child but each design will also come with a bespoke verse element that will be written about the child too, making it truly unique.
• Lesley Brown Clinical Aromatherapy – Lesley practices clinical aromatherapy and aromatology and is based in The Chichester Natural Health Centre. She offers treatments such as full body massage, Indian Head Massage, and hand and foot massages using a blend of essential oils created to suit your individual needs. She also sells the products that she makes using essential oils and gift vouchers for her treatments, which will make great Christmas presents.  You can find out more at: Lesley Brown Clinical Aromatherapy.
• Retro Rascal – Retro Rascal brings you vintage style fancy goods which are unique and affordable.
• Apuldram Centre Crafts – Those who attend arts and crafts sessions at the Apuldram Centre are encouraged to use a variety of media to explore their true creative potential. By exploring various craft skills, they discover hidden talents which raise their confidence and help them to maintain their individuality. Just some of the crafts created at the Apuldram Centre include wooden reindeers, which are a hit at Christmas time!
• Shabby Chic Arts and Crafts – Shabby Chic Arts and Crafts encompasses a range of crafts that are either sewn, knitted or hand painted, including Cath Kidston and ditsy floral fabric items. Many products can be personalised according to customer requirements and Sarah is also willing to take on commissioned orders where possible.
• Anne’s Salt lamps, Candles N Cards – Anne is a keen crafter and always up to something. Her main joy is card making and she sells cards to cover materials only, not to profit. She has a new founded love of salt lamps and their amazing healing powers. Anne also does glass painting with a difference and loves scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, embroidery, xstitch. Actually, she loves anything to do with crafts!
• Emma’s Interiors – Emma runs a small business from home in Bosham, selling quality gifts and interior accessories. Her range includes picture frames, candles, vintage signs, decorative ornaments, glass tea light holders, mirrors; something for everyone and every home!
• Buttons & Bows - Buttons & Bows was established by sewing lover and illustration graduate Hannah Clear. Hannah designs and creates unique textile gifts and art work from her home studio in Chichester. Hannah finds inspiration in everything around her; cupcakes in café windows, flowers in the countryside and beach huts by the sea. Hannah tries as much as possible to recycle old clothing to recreate new and exciting crafts. She hates to see anything go to waste and enjoys using fabric which has already had a life and gives it a new one. Website link: Buttons and Bows Shop
• What the Dickens? Gifts for Writers – What the Dickens? provides a wide range of writing and literary gifts for writers that love writing and readers that love books: What the Dickens? offers many literary gifts, from notebooks and journals to mugs and novel tea. Find out more at: Writers Gifts
• Nicky Linzey Designs – Nicky trained in textile design and colour; texture and pattern are very important to her and feature strongly in her framed prints, cards and other decorative items. Nicky’s mostly inspired by nature, observed while walking with her Jack Russell both locally and around the UK. She has sold to Harrods, Harvey Nichols and recently had designs featured in several pattern books including ‘Print & Pattern’ from the cult blog.  Find out more at: Nicky Linzey Designs
• Ali-Art and Gift Rocks – Alison Clements and Louise Hankin, both from Selsey, attend local craft fairs, take commissions and sell products via the internet. Ali-Art/ Gift Rocks sell handmade jewellery, created using genuine gemstones. Jewellery includes earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Also available are original hand painted canvases, cards, keyrings, prints and decorations.
• Kate Kernick – Kate will be making the most of our nautical location by selling her Recycled Sailcloth Bags at the Christmas Fair! Find out more at: http://flotsen.com/
• FingerTips Designs – FingerTips, set-up by a Mother & Daughter team, specialises in making art accessible to all ages and abilities. Their products allow anyone with a fingerprint to make amazing works of art. What could be more unique than using your fingerprint to create art!? They will offer the chance for people to make and take FingerTips products at their stall and to buy kits to continue the fun at home.
• Rosie’s Wreaths – Rosie loves felt and making Christmas gifts and decorations using it. She also uses wool and a few bag loads of acorns collected from the floor of the local forest! Rosie is very happy to accept commissions for larger wreaths.

All these Arts and Crafts plus more Creativity…

Children’s author Penelope Bush (Alice in Time, Piccadilly, 2010 and Diary of a Lottery Winner’s Daughter, Piccadilly, 2011) will be there on the day to give readings from her international best-sellers and provide book signings. We’re sure that the kids will love to visit Penelope before or after a boat trip around Chichester Harbour with the Cobnor Elves, a festive activity that’s not to be missed!

Andrew Bailey will also lead a team of local poets in seasonal poetry readings and the Cobnor Carollers will offer some acoustic Christmas tunes to keep festive spirits high.

Sizzling sausages, warming homemade soup, mulled wine and mince pies will all be available to buy from the Cobnor Friends who are hoping to raise money for their charity, which helps keep Cobnor Activities Centre running. Their aim is to help educate young people, to develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities so that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and that their conditions of life may be improved. They also want to give young people in the local area the opportunity to experience challenging outdoor activities, both water and land based.

Christmas Arts & Crafts at Cobnor starts at 10.00 am and the festive fun will continue until 5.00 pm. Entry to the event is free as is parking, you can’t ask fairer than that! Please support your local creatives and come and join us for some festive fun. It would really help us to make this event a success if you could spread the word. Here are some ways you can help:

• Save the flyer below and send it on to your family and friends via email
• Print out the flyer and hand it out at other creative events over the next few weeks. Click on the image below to download a large PDF version of the flyer (in RGB), if you would like a CMYK PDF version, then please contact katy@chichestercopywriter.co.uk
• Suggest our Facebook event page to your contacts and write on our wall: Christmas Craft Fair
• Talk about our event on Twitter and blog about our event, providing links to this blog for details

Thanks in advance your support. We very much look forward to seeing you there!

Kate and Lorrie x

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So, are they any good? Yes, very good indeed, and I did read every single one. They are gorgeous, shiny, well designed and laid out, great interviews, pertinent questions, excellent feature art etc, and at 4×6 a perfect size for the hand, bag, satchel, sock drawer etc.  Dave Hughes, the editor and founder of Ammo stated in the intro of Issue 1, that he experienced certain reservations about creating a printed magazine in this digital age, though I do believe the subsequent success has relieved those qualms.  So, yes, even in this digital age, we like, love, and covet shiny magazines, especially quality illustration magazines like these packed with fabulous illustrations from the best UK illustrators around, both established and up and coming, which include excellent interviews. I wont list them all here, because there are LOADS . I suggest you go buy a copy/copies for yourself…now.

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This body of work by Des Kilfeather comprises pigment ink prints from scanned or photographed watercolour marks made on pages of a found, 1966 copy of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The work includes the original source book, with pencilled comments by a previous unknown reader.

James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a Visual Response, represents a continuation of Kilfeather’s philosophical exploration of power, apathy and time. Drawing on his own personal experience of Irish Catholic culture, the work was Kilfeather’s emotional and reactionary response to his first reading of the book. Kilfeather absorbed the texts, made abstract watercolour marks onto pages of the book, plein air photographed these then applied a process of semi-destruction of the book in sea.

To resolve this phase, Kilfeather scanned pages containing anonymous handwritten comments, prepared for digital printing and published Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a Visual Response, as an eBook on Amazon and Google. These materials and processes establish the connection between Joyce’s early 20^th Century, Kilfeather’s critical 1966 and contemporary culture.

“Portrait” is Kilfeather’s third body of work exhibited that visually explores the philosophy of James Joyce. Dubliners, a Visual Response and Contemporary Contextualisation, a travelling exhibition, was first published and shown in 2010, The Philanthropic Atheist was first shown in September 2011.

Kilfeather, winner of the 2010 UK National Open Art Competition, pictureframes.co.uk Endowment Prize, studied photography at the University of Brighton and aesthetics, painting and drawing at the Edward James Trust’s West Dean College and Fine Art at the University of Portsmouth.

Des Kilfeather Contact Details
Phone: 07795 342662
Email: des@deskilfeather.com
www.deskilfeather.com

Wordsouth Gallery
11  The Pallant
Havant
PO9 1BE

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Space and Colour, Sun in Pyramid by Peter Kalkhof

MERSTON GALLERY
PETER KALKHOF
Colour and Space

 Exhibition open: 13^th – 25^th September.
(Preview Saturday 10^th and Sunday 11^th 3.00pm until 6.00pm).

Merston Gallery is a new type of gallery for the region. It is set in a tranquil rural location between two groups of villages, yet it will be showing nationally and internationally renowned art. The gallery is managed by Paul and Sylvia Kopeček.

Prepare to be surprised – the exterior is still that of a charming listed Victorian building, while inside a pristine white/grey modern gallery space has been created to show one-person exhibitions of contemporary fine art and design chosen to offer a stimulating and rewarding experience.

This third exhibition of paintings offers art of a very different kind to the previous two shows.

Peter Kalkhof was born in Germany and moved to England in 1963. He studied at the Slade and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He lives and works in London where he has been with the prestigious gallery Annely Juda since 1964, www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk. His next one-man show there is scheduled for spring 2012.

Kalkhof emphasises experience rather than emotion in his paintings cleverly combining a response to place with an understanding of universal values. He has always travelled visiting places which offer an opportunity to engage with the natural world or the culture of a particular society. His work has become more relevant as the decades have passed. Kalkhof is about unity, multiplicity and the need to value global culture, the natural world and all that this has to offer.

It is easy to describe the paintings as abstract. Nonetheless the elements that feature in the work are readily recognizable and almost literal. There are blues and earth colours, horizons and indications of topography. The use of colour is overwhelming and everything is almost held and managed within a strong geometry. The viewer moves away from the initial observation of squares, circles and triangles to consider the role of the centre and the periphery. The understanding of the colour is conditioned by texture, and the thickness and density of the paint.

Peter Kalkhof belongs to a Northern Romantic tradition which embraces painters such as Caspar David Friedrich, Kandinsky, Malevich and even Rothko. Yet he also admires artists such as Boucher and Gauguin. His work is both spiritual and sensual and creates an opportunity for reflection and contemplation.

Visit www.merstongallery.co.uk for opening times and further details.

Everything we do at Merston Gallery is the result of careful decision making with thought for quality, the community and accessibility.

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John Harmer’s paintings may have their genesis in a seen or remembered image, but they are constantly open to change and revision. This is evident in the painting surfaces, which are usually highly textured and dense with layers of paint. A painting is complete when the artist is satisfied that he has produced an evocative image from all this painterly activity. He explains: “For me, this open-ended approach is what makes painting such an exciting and compelling medium.”

John Harmer studied at Worthing College of Art and Design, GAD  and Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design.  He exhibited at Mall Galleries, London in 1992.  Between 2000-2009, he frequently exhibited at the Oxmarket Centre of Arts in Chichester, the Affordable Art Fair in 2002, Dulwich Art Fair in 2003, the Canon Gallery, Petworth and he also had a solo show there in 2008.  John Harmer lives and works in Sussex.  This is the first time John has exhibited in Lewes.

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New oil paintings by Nicola Rose & ceramic sculptures by GCSE students from Ditcham Park School.

This is the second collection of paintings Nicola has exhibited at Above the Blue following glowing praise for her powerful, dramatic compositions and her sophisticated use of colour and texture. The highly atmospheric style of her work has a richness and depth which exudes a quality many artists can only aspire to.

The focus for this body of work are the storms at sea she witnessed off the coast of Cornwall in the Autumn of last year expressing the violence and the power of water and air. This subject contrasts with paintings of the remarkable ancient yew trees at Kingley Vale (a National Nature Reserve near Chichester, West Sussex), known for its twisted and ancient yews which includes a grove of veteran trees amongst the oldest living things in Britain. She expresses the spiritual quality and incredible age of these living cathedrals through layers of paint and the building up of textured surfaces in sand.

A selection of ceramic work by year 11 GCSE art students at Ditcham Park School, which sits on the Hampshire/Sussex border, will also be exhibited. These creations were inspired by a trip to Kew Gardens and the colourful and abstract results are based on the natural forms they saw there and also by the very beautiful surroundings of the school.

Ditcham Park is situated on the outskirts of Petersfield, set in the inspirational surroundings of the South Downs National Park with impressive views over Hampshire to the Isle of Wight.

Although the students all had the same starting point they have created a very varied and diverse set of sculptures. They have each interpreted the theme, ‘natural forms’ in a very individual and creative manner. Some are abstract and very sculptural, whereas some have developed their ideas into close and accurate observations. All have sensitively and subtly interpreted the colours found in nature in their use of glazes and oxides.

Exhibition opening hours:
Wednesday to Saturday 10.30am – 7pm
Sunday 11am – 5pm

Above the Blue
The Upper Boardwalk
Port Solent
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO6 4TP

t: 02392 377099
e: lynn@abovetheblue.co.uk
www.abovetheblue.co.uk

5 minutes from J12 of the M27, just off the A27
Easy drive from London, offers free parking.

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