Your chance to buy a mini artwork gem
An innovative art exhibition featuring around 500 postcard-sized artworks by artists and the public to raise money for a creative initiative opens in Eastbourne this week
By Rebecca Maer
An innovative art exhibition featuring around 500 postcard-sized artworks by artists and the public to raise money for a creative initiative opens in Eastbourne later this week.
The mini works will be sold on a pay-what-you-can basis starting at £5 to raise funds for the Creative Eastbourne art collective.
The A6-size artworks were submitted by artists and members of the public (including Eastbourne Reporter) in a range of media including painting, drawing, illustration, collage, print, photography, digital work, 3D and the written word.
The four-day exhibition opens on Thursday (February 19) with a public preview to which everyone is invited.
Organiser Caia Matheson, a contemporary oil painter based in Eastbourne, has been overwhelmed by the response.
Caia said: “It has been a fantastic response. It was quite emotional to see the amount of work people are putting into them. Everybody is creative – it’s such a healthy thing to do for your mind.”
Creative Eastbourne, which launched last summer, brings creatives together in meet-ups in cafes around the town and hopes to develop initiatives involving people from all walks of life.
The impetus for grassroots creativity is growing in Eastbourne: the Eastbourne International Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, is being held in May and the town’s first literary festival is planned for September.
Meanwhile, Eastbourne Borough Council has announced it will prepare a bid for the Government's Town of Culture award, asking residents to take part in a survey.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Everybody deserves the chance to share their pride in the place they call home and to have access to quality art, music, dance and drama wherever they live. That is why we are launching the UK Town of Culture, to celebrate towns and help to create a lasting cultural legacy.”
The winning town will be named UK Town of Culture 2028 and receive £3 million, while the other two finalists will each receive £250,000 to deliver an ambitious programme of cultural activity in 2028.
For the postcard exhibition, pupils at Stafford Junior School in Eastbourne have also created mini artworks.
Graphic artist Maja Jones, founder of Creative Eastbourne, emphasised that anyone can be involved with the initiative.
“This is about community building. It is about doing things ourselves and showing that there are so many creative people in Eastbourne and the surrounding area who have not been showcased,” she said.
“There is a lot of goodwill – people really want to make this work. Collective collaboration and enthusiasm is the key.”
:: The public preview is on Thursday, 19 February, from 5pm to 7pm: all welcome. The exhibition then runs from Friday, 20 February, to Sunday, 22 February, from 11am to 4pm at the Emma Mason Gallery, 21 Lushington Lane, Eastbourne (behind Eastbourne Funeralcare).
The opening night is supported by Wolf on the Corner, a newly-opened bar on South Street, Eastbourne; Artelium, a wine estate near Hassocks, West Sussex; and Old Tree Brewery, Glynde, near Lewes.
