Exhibitions Across The South-East In 2002

Neck of the Woods celebrated the Start Contemporary Gallery's second birthday- and RAG's first Brighton exhibition. For the Brighton Festival Fringe, RAG and Start worked together to showcase 16 artists and makers from Sussex. Neck of the Woods ran from 14th May-15th June at Start Contemporary Gallery, 8 Church Street, Brighton BN1 1US, with RAG artists Dan Thompson, Nathan Bean, Olga Kohutek, Alison Milner-Gulland, Sally Harris and Tracey Thompson.

RAG BONE took the same six RAG artists to the Chromos Gallery in Canterbury. This busy space, in the Chromos Arts Shop, 77 Stour Street, played host to RAG from 1st-13th June.

"Thanks for a very interesting show, full of quality exhibits and showing much talent. Hope you can come again next year!" From all at Chromos.

Ragtag & Bobtail ran from January to April 2002 in The Studio at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, gain showcasing artists and makers from RAG. This exhibition entertained, enlightened and enraged in equal measures, with the Worthing Herald dedicating a front page to the show with the headline "Is This Art?". The public obviously thought so...

"Very stunning and varied collection of work"
Antoinette Kelly
"Contemporary arts in Worthing - whatever next?"
Hamish McKenzie
"As Oscar Wilde said 'All art is quite useless' - and this is more useless than most - well done!"
Dirk Beaumont
"I am impressed by the very beautiful use of colours and also the rich textures"
Dario Stefanou

"Great effort for getting the art movement going in Worthing. Well done - you deserve success" Mike Rome

The Worthing Fringe, which ran alongside the Worthing Arts Festival throughout July 2003, was a great success.

Thanks to all the artists, musicians, poets and the trusty RAG team, without whom none of this celebration of the Worthing arts would have been possible - to the local press for their support for all we do with contemporary arts & crafts and music - to the BabyLamb gang for this great Artists and Makers website - and to the enthusiastic visitors to contemporary arts & crafts exhibitions, artists open houses & to the first Roundabout who made the whole month so worthwhile!
Read on for more visitor's comments...

Described by the press as 'The biggest hit of the Worthing Fringe', the Art Trail was founded by Dan and Tracey Thompson to give the public a chance to meet artists in their homes and studios, and see work in venues across the town.

In 2000, Dan and Tracey persuaded just a dozen other artists to join them. By 2003 the Art Trail had nearly 100 members and was the most popular event in the Worthing Fringe.

Picture - From Adrian Crick's open house

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• New - Open Houses in 2004
• Open Houses in 2003

An exhibition of portraits by Tracey Thompson is the first event in this year�s Art Trail, which was described last year as �the biggest hit of the Worthing Fringe�.

Tracey, who works mainly in acrylics, will be exhibiting at Worthing Library from 14th - 28th June. Alongside portraits of children will be paintings of young people from Durrington, with local graffiti screenprinted in the background. Tracey, who trained at Northbrook College for a degree in fine art, is a founder member of the Art Trail, which now has over 90 members.

"The biggest hit of the Worthing Fringe" said the West Sussex Gazette last year - and the success of The Art Trail looks set to continue in 2003.

With nearly 20 open houses across the town, and exhibitions at The Acacia Guesthouse & Gallery, The Barn at Field Place and other venues, The Art Trail provides the biggest art exhibition in the town.

Add top-quality events from RAG, an exciting and eclectic international music programme from Duende, and the launch of new music and spoken word club Roundabout, and you've got the biggest and best ever Worthing Fringe, running alongside the Worthing Arts Festival.

And with listings, news and reviews for all these groups and more on this site, www.artistsandmakers.com is the ultimate guide to the Worthing Fringe

Two companies leading the arts in Worthing have teamed up for the first Worthing Postcard Competition, a great new initiative promoting art and artists from the seaside town which will be unveiled during the Worthing Fringe in July.

RAG and Newnum Art, the town's only dedicated art suppliers, have teamed up and are looking for the best art which has been inspired by Worthing. They want work in every media, every shape and every size, which takes its inspiration from the town. And they will be choosing the seven most original and interesting submissions and turning them into postcards to promote Worthing's growing arts scene.

"We're not only showing our commitment to local art in a real way," said RAG spokesman Dan Thompson, "but also promoting just what a great town Worthing is to a national audience."

RAGists Dan Thompson and Nathan Bean join the Brighton Fringe, showing in an open house above the Start Gallery, Church Street.

With all work chosen by the Start Gallery to match the domestic space, Nathan shows a new video piece, whilst Dan has a coffee table on show.

Open on 3,4,11,17,18,24,25 May.

A RAG artist has been chosen for the launch of a new project, which will see artists working in schools across West Sussex.

Dan Thompson has been chosen for the pilot of the Creative Space project, organised by the Arts in Education Co-ordinator at West Sussex County Arts Service.

Dan will be resident artist for ten weeks at Broadfield East Middle School in Crawley. He will work with students and staff on a project titled 'Leading The Way' which will see the school mapped, a guide book produced and new signage introduced around the buildings.

Artists from West Sussex Art Society put down their paintbrushes and pick up their poetry books for a performance at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery this Saturday, 3rd May.

The event, organised by the society with support from RAG's Roundabout, will see a variety of poets performing their work. Compered by Dan Thompson and Steve Carroll, the poetry performance takes place in the Studio, where West Sussex Art Society are currently holding their annual exhibition. The event starts at 2pm, and admission is free. The poets will also raise awareness of the Hands On initiative, which sees artists and writers raising funds to support the victims of atrocities in Sierra Leone.

A Worthing artist celebrated the great British seaside, and bed and breakfasts in particular, with an exhibition at The Acacia guesthouse & gallery which ran throughout 2003.

Sheila Guyatt's show, Breakfast & Boats, included views of the beach, boats and the breakfast table all in her unique, illustrative style. As well as quirky paintings and drawings, the exhibition featured MDF cut-outs, including a cheeky ship's cat! The work was on show in The Acacia's Breakfast Room, and perfectly complemented the room's 1950s seaside style.