Cathy's Art Diary

Lovely art trail around East Sussex showing the work of local artists and crafts people in their studios. Sadly I didn’t have a lot of time the weekend I was there but did get to one in Isfield and a few in Kingston. My friend bought this sculpture from a wonderful stonemason, Tracy Steel, in Isfield and we saw lots of good landscape paintings of the Downs. Closes 17 September 2023  

Fun art festival Artwave   of work by artists and makers from Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven and surrounding villages. Although this festival was over three weekends we didn’t get a lot of time to go round so ended up concentrating on work around Uckfield, Isfield, Glynde and Firle. It is always good to pop into the forge at Glynde and I liked the new tables made with colourful tops made of recycled material and St John’s church in Piddinghoe had some interesting work again. We got a warm welcome at The Stitching Post and Friends and the attached photo is a sculpture by Rachael Nicholson there and I bought a small poppy trinket bowl by ceramist Liza Morton. I also enjoyed the variety of work at the Victoria Pavilion in Uckfield including lovely woodcuts by Adele Scantlebury. Closed 18 September 2022  

Eclectic art festival around Lewes showing work by local artists and craftspeople. Sadly we didn’t have a lot of time to go round many places this year so we concentrated on Glynde and Isfield as we were driving through! First stop was Stitching Post and Friends the core of which was a patchwork company selling materials and classes which was joined by other textile artists. It turned out we had been at a drinks party the night before with the owner so that was a happy reunion. In Glynde we started at Glynde Place where there was a series of fun installations in the house by Isobel Smith which mainly consisted of cuddly toys turned inside out and restuffed. They weren’t as creepy as they sound! I also loved two houses made of tea bags. We also popped into the forge to say hello as I had bought a piece by the blacksmith, Thomas Gontar, and to see what new pieces he had. He was joined by shoemaker Thomas Murphy. Closed 26 September 2021