At a well-attended and buzzing event, the popular Rye Arts Society (RSA) spring show opened on Saturday, March 22 at the Rye Art Gallery and runs until Monday, May 5.
With over 150 new artworks, hung across two rooms of the gallery, the exhibition includes painting, prints, sculpture, photographs and ceramics by over 40 members of the society and is a lively celebration of the talent and creativity of local artists from Rye and the surrounding area.
To take part artists could submit up to four paintings, drawings and prints and six ceramics which have been curated by the RSA. In the studio room at the top of the gallery are works by artists invited by the RSA including paintings by Samantha Guertin, Lincoln Taber, Jillian Eldridge, Stephanie Fawbert, pastel drawings by Dominic Zwemmer, wood block prints by Fi Brown, ceramics by Joanna Terry and 3D textile work by Helen O’Leary.
In a speech, curator Dr Julian Day told the gathered RSA artists, friends of the gallery and other visitors, that this year the gallery celebrates its 60th anniversary of exhibitions. The first, in 1965, featured work by Mary Stormont, the founder of the gallery, and her husband, Howard Stormont. After thanking the contributing artists and the RSA organisers, he appealed for donations of artworks for an upcoming fundraising art auction to raise money to help maintain the historic buildings and the permanent collection.
Dr Day also announced the first ever exhibition of photography at the gallery, A Retrospective, Notes from a Landscape with Terry Hulf, which opens on Sunday, May 10 and runs till June 29. Terry Hulf has been photographing the landscape of the marsh and surrounding area for the last 50 years, and the gallery is thrilled that he is donating his photographic collection to the gallery’s permanent collection.
As well as being a photographer, Terry Hulf is a painter, video artist and musician and some of his paintings are displayed in the first gallery, alongside a selection of brightly coloured landscapes by Emma Turpin (not part of the RSA show).
If you are able to donate any works of art for the art auction please contact Dr Julian Day on ryeartgallery@gmail.com.
Rye Art Gallery is at 107 High Street, Rye and is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm, Sunday from 11am to 4pm, closed on Tuesdays.
Image Credits: Jason McGhie .