Artists will open their homes, studios and gardens in one of the biggest celebrations of arts in the county, when Horsham Artists' Open Studios takes place in June.

The event was formerly part of the wider Artists and Makers Festival, which saw artists open houses across Horsham and Worthing. This year, artists in Horsham town, Warnham, Slinfold, Cowfold, Partridge Green, Copsale, Plummers Plain and Steyning will stage exhibitions over two weekends.

Exhibitors include textile artists, potters, ceramicists, sculptors and jewellers alongside painters, printmakers and photographers.

 

A Sussex arts group are behind a national movement which is seeing empty shops transformed into art exhibitions, studios and workspaces, and community hubs.

The Worthing-based Revolutionary Arts Group have been using empty shops for nine years, since opening a temporary art gallery to coincide with a village fete. Since then, they have used shops to hold exhibitions and promote arts festivals, and partnered with Brighton organisation ConTemporary Gallery on projects in the city.

In fact they've been so successful that the Revolutionary Arts Group now run a national Empty Shops Network.

A cafe that's built a reputation for finding the best local food producers is giving space to the best Sussex craft makers.

Worthing cafe and delicatessen Pestle & Mortar, a finalist in the Sussex Food Awards two years running, is hosting an evening craft fair. A wide range of artists and makers will have work on show and for sale � and some will be giving visitors a chance to have a go.

Exhibitors include textile artists, jewelers, photographers and painters. And to add to the diversity, the publishers of an anthology of Sussex poets will have a stall, as will a designer cake-maker.

Chalk boulders, bubblewrap, broken skateboards, concrete and objects found in junk-shops are amongst the materials used by artists from artistsandmakers.com in an exhibition at Horsham's The Capitol.

A dozen contemporary artists and makers from across the South will be exhibiting together.

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery has just marked it's 100th year, but the organisers of a new gallery in Worthing have slightly more modest ambitions.

The Revolutionary Arts Group are planning a Pop-Up Gallery, which will be open to the public for just four days. Next Wednesday 1st April, artists will get the keys to a shop in Worthing's Guildbourne Centre, and will open an art gallery the next day. And at the end of Sunday 5th April, the gallery will close its doors for the last time.

The gallery will include gritty black and white photography, dramatic paintings, installation art and digital illustrations. Much of the work will be for sale, and there will be handmade cards, badges and locally-published poetry books too.

The Revolutionary Arts Group have teamed up with a bespoke picture framer for an unusual event for artists and art collectors.

On Saturday 28th March and Saturday 4th April, the group will be based at Trevor Rush's Chichester workshop, to give advice on professional picture framing to both artists and art collectors.

Organisers of a networking event hope that their monthly meeting will see sparks fly � for all the right reasons!

Since 2001, the Revolutionary Arts Group have held regular networking events for artists, makers and creative people. And after taking a break in 2008 to concentrate on some 'one to one' sessions the group is relaunching its networking meeting in March under a new name � Spark.

Are you an artist or an arts organisation using empty shops?

The Revolutionary Arts Group are keen to hear from artists, organisations and other creative practitioners using empty shops and commercial premises. Shops are being used as galleries, to run workshops, for showing short films and artwork is being used to decorate empty windows. If you're doing any of these - or something different - get in touch.

The founders of Worthing's popular 'open house' scheme are having a spring clean - and want to give people a chance to spruce up their own home with original artwork at credit-crunch prices.

Dan and Tracey Thompson have been running Worthing artists' open houses since 2001. They were discussing exhibition venues with other artists based at 12 Miles West Studios, and decided that hiring a traditional gallery was too expensive. The first year, they used shops and cafes to form an 'art trail' with just five artists also opening their houses. Since then, over fifty houses have been opened, exhibiting hundreds of artists every year.

And in preparation for a packed programme of exhibitions this year, Dan and Tracey have been clearing out the studio and store at their own house, finding a treasure trove of artwork from the last ten years. Work for sale includes a screenprint of the logo designed for the first Worthing open house, life drawings and paintings of Welsh landscapes from the couple's honeymoon.

A Worthing artist is continuing an innovative campaign to promote the town where he lives.

Dan Thompson has designed a series of small badges with the town's name on them, which can be worn to show your support for the Sussex seaside town which is at the start of a massive regeneration programme.