Events in Sussex – Page 17

Open 11, Worthing Art Exhibition & Competition

Nicholas Toovey has been selected as one of the three judges for this year’s Open 11 Art Exhibition & Competition at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery. The competition is open to all artists, amateur and professional, who reside in Sussex. Nicholas is delighted to once again be supporting and promoting contemporary art in Sussex. Entries are invited for the competition until 27th May. Selected work will then be displayed after the launch and prize-giving evening on the 17th June until Saturday 24th September. The themes for this year’s competition are: ‘Food for Thought’, ‘Celebrations’ and ‘Sport and Fitness’. If you would be interested in participating in the event and would like more information please visit:

http://www.worthingmuseum.co.uk/exhibitions/open11exhibitionandcompetition/

Hung, Drawn & Displayed at Horsham Museum

If you want your visual senses to be numbed by the quality, revived by the beauty and then ripped apart by the drama of some of the images, then you don’t want to miss Hung, Drawn and Displayed at Horsham Museum & Art Gallery. If that wasn’t enough you can have the adrenalin rush of the auction process as you can enjoy the chase of buying your favourite piece on May 28th at Toovey’s Spring Gardens salerooms. In an exhibition featuring the work of sixty artists, including some of the regions most talented contemporary names, the visitor can, in the relaxed atmosphere of Horsham museum, enjoy seeing the contrast of 21st Century art in the relaxed atmosphere of the Causeway’s medieval timber-framed building.

Horsham Museum’s new Art Gallery was launched last year with Artventure, a preview exhibition of Toovey’s Contemporary Art Auction. It proved to be a great success, not only in showcasing work, but also in revealing that there was a desire in Horsham District for such an opportunity. The success of the show was such that Horsham Museum and Art Gallery were delighted to be able to repeat the opportunity. An opportunity where the public can enjoy spending hours looking at the works hung, drawn and displayed.

The exhibition and sale has been organised by Nicholas Toovey, sourcing emerging and established artists and craftsmen from across the region with an emphasis on the local scene. Nicholas has managed to pull together some amazing works by renowned artists including Chris Kettle whose painting Natura Sola Magistra, will be a talking point for visitors. Along with paintings are various craftsmen, some exhibiting for the first time, each merging the boundary between art and craft. No doubt tying people in to knots over the meaning of art, will be Horsham-based ceramicist Deborah Timperly, whose work Knotted and Hung will cause some debate.

Chris Kettle's oil on canvas 'Natura Sola Magistra' — 'Natura Sola Magistra' by Chris Kettle

Deborah Timperley bone china 'Knotted and Hung' — 'Knotted and Hung' by Deborah Timperley

The free exhibition Hung, Drawn and Displayed opens on Friday 8April and runs till 11 May at Horsham Museum & Art Gallery. Two weeks later on 28 May all works displayed will be auctioned at Toovey’s, Washington. A fully-illustrated catalogue with more information on every artist is available from the museum, helping raise funds to enable it to buy contemporary art, preserving the present for the future.

An Introduction to Toovey’s Contemporary Art Auction 2011

Contemporary Sculpture by Eve Shepherd, 'Masquerade' — Eve Shepherd's 'Masquerade'

We at TOOVEY’S Antique & Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers are pleased to announce our fifth sale of Contemporary Art at Auction, this year in association with Horsham Museum.

The ethos of these sales has always been to promote the arts in Sussex by creating a refreshingly different way for artists to showcase their work in this county. We are delighted that Horsham Museum & Art Gallery share this same outlook, deciding to exhibit many of the artworks in this catalogue in the ‘Hung, Drawn and Displayed’ exhibition. The medieval timber-framed building in Horsham’s picturesque Causeway provides a contrasting backdrop for this diverse selection of 21st century art.

We hope that the auction will reciprocate this support by acting as a stimulus for people to visit the museum and preview some of the works in the sale. Horsham Museum features a stunning collection of local and national importance and is free to enter.

Toovey’s support of the arts is not limited to these auctions. In addition to our on-going support of Horsham Museum & Art Gallery and Worthing Museum & Art Gallery, this May we are sponsoring the HOUSE festival in Brighton and the Brighton Open. The Brighton Open is a fascinating fridge magnet exhibition on the seafront of Brighton on the 7th May, where you can rearrange the artworks and even take your favourite image home with you for free.

In addition, I have been approached by Sussex Life magazine to write a regular feature on contemporary Sussex artists. The first two articles were published in the March and April issues.

For collectors and patrons, the auction offers an exciting platform for the acquisition of art by established and emerging names. Drawing on 15 years of experience in the resale art market, I have selected all the artists on their individual merits, creating a diverse and eclectic fusion of styles. Many of the artists have featured in our previous auctions, but the list of names always changes and we are delighted with the fantastic selection offered in this year’s sale.

We look forward to welcoming you at our Spring Gardens rooms for the auction on May 28th. If you are unable to attend the sale, but still wish to bid on any lots, we will be pleased to execute absentee bids on your behalf. For more information on bidding and buying at our auctions, please visit www.tooveys.com or call our offices on 01903 891955. Nicholas Toovey FRSA, BA (Hons)

The Brighton Open Press Release

Brighton is about to attract its first magnetic art festival. Event organizer and artist Alban Low has over the past two years established smaller exhibitions across the country from Bath to Manchester. With the kind sponsorship of local fine art and antique auctioneers and valuers, Toovey’s, The Brighton Open will be the biggest and most high profile outdoor magnet exhibition undertaken in England (or even the world). In this distinctive exhibition over 200 artists will be participating and 500 magnetic images will be displayed on the seafront of Brighton from May 7th as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.

The headline artists for this intriguing new event are Chris Kettle, Alban Low, Jane Denman and Natalie Martin. Featured artists are Sarah Young, Gemma Cumming, Amanda Brownridge, Dean Reddick, Stuart Simler, Bryan Benge, Shyama Ruffell, Peter S. Smith, Citizen Skwith and Glyn Walton. But everyone in the city is invited to take part – not just artists, but doodlers, photographers, children, pensioners, schools and whole local communities.

For this show students of the local Varndean School have been invited to participate, keeping the ethos of the Brighton magnet exhibition ‘open’.

Alban says ‘The Brighton Open will conceptually transform the seafront of Brighton into an open-air museum, where viewers are unusually invited to move artworks around and even take their favourite work of art back home with them – for free’. Collectors can then log onto the website address on the magnet to find out more about their new 5cm x 7cm miniature artwork. Visit www.brightonopen.blogspot.com for more information.