Curated Events Open studios
In this section you will find workshops, performances, films and exhibitions in shops, on the seafront, on the streets as well as in galleries, museums, art venues and cinemas.
Please use our map to help guide you to all the events and exhibitions happening during the Festival.
The following posts contain community listings that are not funded or organised by Coastal Currents. We cannot be held responsible for accident or injury at events and activities organised by external individuals and groups during Coastal Currents.
Printmaker Tessa Holmes recently relocated from her London studio to a large warehouse in Rye Harbour. Working with traditional and contemporary techniques, her images are inspired by the coastal and rural landscape of East Sussex. Framed/unframed prints available.
Demolished in 1993, the famed St Leonards Bathing Pool is a much cherished memory for many in our community.
Ella Guru, an American painter based in Hastings and a founder of the Stuckist movement, blends Old Master influences with vivid subcultural themes from nightlife and performance.
The Beacon is a quirky family home and business nestled on the west hill, with a cosy eatery and licensed bar, hidden gardens and artist studios. OPENING HOURS 11 – 5PM
We invite you to share your thoughts, which will be shared in the local news. We ask you to query who has created this piece of work but to respond to it in the way you wish to.
In 1995 a community project called ‘Hastings in Stitches’ launched, a tapestry made up of 68 small panels of embroidery that delivered an art piece depicting 68 organisations. This piece was created by local embroidery and textile makers with the organisations with the Women’s cooperative.
FREE 3-DAY DRAMA WORKSHOP for Creatives to explore topical issues, create and share a short performance on the final day lunch and refreshments provided.
Cinema exhibition will also be open before each public screening until end of October Artist Hramseig and WolfGang, in partnership with Eggtooth, bring you an exhibition of film posters and drawings based on the history of Hastings and Bexhill cinemas. Includes sketches of the Electric Palace, alongside many cinemas now lost: the Roxy, Ritz, Orion and Gaiety.
Is a new art manifesto in the making? Join us at the award-winning Barnaby’s Lounge jazz bar for MANIFESTO, an exhibition exploring the theme of generosity of spirit. Curated by Louise Whitham, and presented by the #BarnabysArtGroup, the show features diverse media and affordable art via the #ArtistSupportPledge.
Chris Mammone has walked and photographed most of the 100 square miles of Romney Marsh. The Fifth Continent is his record of the place and its history. Ian Land is launching a new book, Consolations, a hand made document of a brief moment in time.
Sixty-Nine celebrates 15 years of latex artist Michelle Mildenhall’s creative journey, bringing together 69 works exploring fetish culture, empowerment, and identity. Spanning 2010– 2025, this retrospective reveals the stories, influences, and experiences that have shaped her distinctive pop art style.
Phillip Cosham, Tim Riddihough, Siobhan Tanner, Jackie Attwood, Nigel Plumb plus invited artists. This diverse group return once again to bring you work including: painting, print, ceramics, photography, film and sculpture.
Outdoor drawing event. Free to all. Four varied locations, over four days
Julie’s paintings encourage dialogue surrounding boundaries and borders, both physically and creatively. Tom’s use the suburban landscape, its architecture, and the space between to explore and convey concerns about isolation and exclusion, class and identity.
With around 40 members and an array of styles, Neighbourhood potters will display their ceramic creations for people to peruse and enjoy. Some of the makers will be present to discuss their work and inspirations, with pieces available for sale.
Kick off Coastal Currents with a special free weekend at Hastings Contemporary. For one weekend only, admission to all our exhibitions is free, including a special pop-up show, Out Front. Showcasing the creativity of our talented team, Out Front will feature paintings, prints, photography, and sculpture – all created by Hastings Contemporary staff and volunteers.
The Serpent sheds its skin of transformation… The Sound Apothecary & Abstract Source follow on from Call of the Jaguar, their previous Coastal Currents submission with Serpentis, an immersive Journey of sound.
Join us for a group show exploring the qualities and contexts of metal. This exhibition features sumptuous sculptural forms, taking over Unit 2 for the weekend.
A celebration of all the participating artists this year and in previous years of the festival.
Come enjoy the new roof terrace of the Observer Building.
Join us for Open Rehearsals and enjoy a rare behind-the-scenes look at the making of four exceptional concerts for this year’s Chamber Music Festival. Spanning 350 years of repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary, these sessions feature internationally acclaimed performers and give a unique insight into the musical creative process.
St Leonards Ceramic Studio will be opening the studio for the sale of ceramics made by the students, members and teachers, celebrating their fourth anniversary.
Zoom Arts provides spaces for members to exhibit their work, either solo or as a collaboration; enabling member artists to benefit from experience whilst presenting an informal, approachable gateway for the public to access and engage with the visual arts.
We are thrilled to present a rare exhibition of Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn’s 1930s screenprints. The Dutch spiritualist, mystic, radical thinker and associate of Carl Jung founded the Eranos forum. Subsequently, she created the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism, a diverse collection of archetypes and symbols that dove into cultural history, a “magic wand of analogy”.
Pain recovery is more than meds and exercise. Explore how creativity rewires pain in this hands-on workshop led by Graham Stones, artist & physical therapist to the English National Ballet, Royal Philharmonic & celebrated creatives.
St Leonards based artist, Holly Newman, brings together a collection of her paintings in her largest solo exhibition to date. Expect to see a colourful medley of both impressionistic and lifelike portraits, landscapes and still lifes.
WE WANT ALL GENDERS AND ALL AGES TO JOIN US ON THE WEST HILL, DRESSED IN RED TO HELP US CREATE THE MOST WUTHERING HEIGHTS DAY EVER. BE THERE AT 1PM TO JOIN IN WITH THE DANCE BRING YOUR OWN PICNIC.
Georgie Wheeler, a local artist and public muralist, will be adorning the walls of Cake Room with an array of locally inspired and some, live painted landscapes, seascapes, pop nostalgia, disobedient seagulls and other paraphernalia, all at HALF PRICE.
Private view: with wine and nibbles, pay bar and live jazz with the Yair Katz Trio.
Curated by Sharon Wylde, Rowan Corkill and Hattie Hambridge. Moving image work by artists and performance artists. Including emerging and established artists.
The return of this perambulatory exhibition with contributions from a wide selection of artists.
Upcoming solo exhibition. Private View: Saturday 30 August 4pm- 6pm
Turn handles, push buttons & see automata move! Join us to celebrate 40 years of exhibitions. See mechanical marvels from CMT’s world-renowned collection including the epic Gormenghast Castle by artist Keith Newstead. You can also buy kits, books and handmade automata.
AURA QUE celebrates all things handmade. Visit our design studio and shop to discover how our products are crafted, explore our collaborative design process, and find out about the artisans in Nepal with whom we’ve worked for over 15 years.
A community response to the Sea Pollution crisis, drop by to see the work or sign up to make your creative response: tinyurl.com/stinkswim
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Open to the public with an exhibition of artwork available for purchase alongside a programme of film screenings.
Westminster University BA Honours ceramics mixed media graduate, my main inspiration is my childhood; I use found objects to complement my settings. The sculptures are made out of clay and sometimes papier-mâché and nicrome wire.
Linocuts, woodcuts, etchings, sketches, ceramics, cards, prints and portraits of people and animals by commission. Workshops on both Sundays (12noon-4pm). Watercolour: Sunday the 31 Aug & Linocut/Reduction Linocut: 7 Sep.
Visit 5 Artists at our loft space off the Queens Road. Annie Lawson, Claire Land, Cath Tajima-Powell, Mary Hooper, Chris Embury. Cartoons, Textiles, Prints, Ceramics, Sculpture and Jewellery.
The DEPO is a creative hub for those interested in wasting less, hosting popups and workshops with a sustainable theme. MAKU UK are on a mission to make useful, beautiful things from leather industry discards, with limited edition products, handmade from sheepskin and leather offcuts, available to purchase.
Chris Sherman Fine Art. Symbolist Pre- Raphaelite Painter & Sculptor. Paintings Nude & Portrait Figures;- History & Mythology(from life models).
Inspired by the countryside and shoreline of East Sussex as well as her collectionof ‘stuff’, Sara works in oils, pastels and charcoal. Sara has exhibited in the HAF new members exhibition 25.
This year, Blacklands Studio will have 11 artists in the building! Our studio artists will be opening their spaces, and some of our residency artists from last year will be showing work around the building.
Collages of memory and mistakes, SORRY I’M NOT SORRY brings together new work and old wounds.
Shapesplay: A journey in laser cutting. James Mayall designs unique art, cut by laser and assembled by hand.
AURA QUE celebrates all things handmade. Visit our design studio and shop to discover how our products are crafted, explore our collaborative design process, and find out about the artisans in Nepal with whom we’ve worked for over 15 years.
James Hartley is showing his Sculptures along with work by Poet Celeste Hartley and paintings by Brian Ayling, Susan Diamond and a collection of other artists. Pop in and see us in this beautiful space.
Coastal Paintings, Calendar and Greeting Cards inspired by the huts and hounds of Hastings, Fairlight and Rye Harbour. Three steps to entrance.
Annie Soudain uses images in her head or in her immediate surroundings as inspiration for linoprints, paintings, and collages.
Robin William Easterby – landscape painter inspired by the natural world working in mixed media, with a focus on ancient woodlands, dramatic seascapes & bright maximalist floral subjects.
Visit the studio of artist Samuel Peacock whose work is dedicated to exploring the effects of chemicals and oils on steel. Demonstrations throughout the weekend
A creative, community, wellbeing hub in the heart of Hastings Old Town, opens it’s doors for an open studio, pop-up art fair supporting local artists.
New makings and markings from Old Hope. Wood block prints available framed and unframed.
Five artists on four floors. Sculpture in copper and brass by Adaesi Ukairo, paintings and prints by Stephanie Fawbert, photography by Rod Morris, paintings, drawings and prints by Fi Brown and paintings, drawings and objects by Lorna Crabbe.
Art and illustration: originals, prints, cards, badges, etc. at studio prices.
Another exciting mix of textile works, rugs and costumes; films in the underground cinema; fun & conversation…and surprises!
Alternative gallery experience curators, The Two Ians transform the Hastings History House. This new exhibition, Walls Have Eyes, presents selected artists who interpret aspects of the town’s fascinating past via a range of creative responses.
A smorgasbord of paintings that I’ve done. Inspired by folk and outsider art with a little bit of fun and modern weariness thrown in too.
Richard Platt creates intricate and colourful stained-glass. Some of these quirky, original painted and fused panels incorporate sound and animation. Glass, cards and prints for sale.
Working with handmade charcoal and also pencil and pastel, Dominic has a passion for wildlife, wild landscapes and seascapes. He is inspired by the variety of marks that can be made with nothing more than a piece of burnt wood.
All are welcome to our open studios event at Silverhill Studios (by ASDA). Confirmed artists Studio IMO and Via Ceramics Studio, more artist TBC. Paintings and ceramics available to buy.
Hand built ceramics, paintings and prints exploring emotional strength. Join me at my studio to chat and to see my work. Free hand building ceramic workshop each day at 11am
5 diverse artists in a very Curious House: Mark Bean – painting/3D Printed sculpture, Hilderic the Valkyrie – mixed media/installation, Zander Clayton – Illustrator, Helen Bryant – Painter, Patrick Bean – laser printed art. Inc collaborative performance.
Alexandra Richardson is a British artist, born in Cornwall, spending most of her teenage years in Virginia U.S.A. With an unusual bohemian upbringing, Alex has been influenced by the magical fairy-tale estate gardens of Trevarno, travelling and living in Eco villages around Europe and spending her teenage years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
A rare opportunity to view drawings, prints, paintings and photographs both abstract and figurative by the late well known imaginative, multi talented artist who died in 2016. All work at affordable prices! Some free parking.
Victoria is a contemporary painter, mainly working in oil, who captures plein air urban and landscape scenes from around Sussex. Her most recent collection is focused on views of and through windows.
Bus Stop Studios is a creative hub in St Leonards-on-Sea, offering stationery & haberdashery art supplies, workshops, and a gallery space.
Liz Emtage impresses flowers and textures into porcelain creating translucent lighting, tiles & pieces for the home.
A rare chance to visit the Print Room of wallpaper maker Deborah Bowness as she celebrates 25 years of wallpaper making.
Theresa Hodge: Shop curator, crafter and disabled activist Penny Pepper: Author, poet, speaker, disabled activist Theresa Hodge is delighted to open up Crafting Connections,
Screenprint artist, creating vibrant monoprints inspired by seaside architecture, St Leonards and the changing colours of the ocean. Recent work includes still life and portraits.
Join us upstairs at 5 North Street to see work by Sally Adams, Roz Cran, David Fowler and Joanna Kerr including paintings, collages, prints, ceramics, book arts and jewellery.
Pacey’s mixed media sculptures explore Women’s issues, medicine and religious practices through the medium of textiles, clothing and related objects. Braithwaite creates ephemeral objects using natural and sustainable materials, exploring the folk/plant lore of Sussex.
Mixed Media Textiles using reclaimed materials such as vintage cloth and paper, found metal fragments and textile surplus, to create low relief wall hung pieces.
Stoneware ceramic collaged and printed wallpieces, sculpture and vessels. Combinations of clay, metal, tideline findings and salvaged scrap.
Producing vibrant landscape paintings, working with the spaces and edges where land and sea or rivers meet. Using materials found in the landscape and the idea of natural weathering, responding to the essence, atmosphere and materiality of place.
Give your wall a sea view! Hundreds of waves in all moods, shapes and sizes from tiny prints and cards to large paintings on canvas. Always something new to discover over tea and cake on the way to the beach.
Oil paintings and mixed media of gardens and nature by Catherine Farr; dreamy, surreal and jewel-like pieces by Morokoth Fournier; abstract sea- and landscapes in oil and watercolour by Khadija Khan and jewellery, textiles and prints by Erica Smith.
I work outdoors in watercolour using a variety of papers and laying on techniques. The Lawn is an inspiring safe space to work and exhibit in. Weather permitting.
Large scale photographic work capturing texture of materials and patterns of refracted light and shadow. The work strikes a balance between curation and chance, and is marked by impermanence.
Artists April Yasamee & Jane Higginbottom focus on the hand-made: April with hand-made papers & Jane with weavings of hand spun naturally dyed yarns.
The Wonder Room is full of amazing things. It is a collaboration between Mark Pulsford and Leslie Moran. Come inside to see amazing small work that puts on show their rich imaginings and techniques.
A collections of new ceramics sculptures and paintings, expanding from INHABITANT, a year long project noticing the creatures and sensations presented from within.
Leathercraft in locally sourced natural veg tanned leather. Bags, wallets, belts, cardholders, small leather goods. Bespoke commissions hand-stitched by Mike Hitchings.
A diverse collection of urban landscapes, beachscapes and botanical acrylics, digital prints, textiles, surface pattern design, ufos and uaps.
Unzipped is a working sewing studio and café.Showing handmade items by Ness Newman and others.
Take a plunge into sacred imagery that has come to us through time from the sixth century.
It’s not just carrots! Why not discover the many talented artists of Marina Allotments.
The studio is displaying a variety of work. Oil paintings, prints and drawings of dancers, bright landscapes,sculptures from Robin.
12 resident mixed media artists display their work in and outside the building with more work in the 1960’s converted rail carriage Cafe.
Enjoy the colourful garden and studio of Artist Julie Willard, BA and Photographer Cliff Willard.
Visual narratives infused with research into rites, traditions, medicine, folklore, belief systems. Lorraine Clarke’s mixed media work merges fact and fiction, art and science.
Through the medium of watercolour and mixed media Penny Nice explore the diversity and colours of the local coastline, communities and surrounding countryside.
TAKE PART IN OUR SURVEY TO HELP US UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT OUR CREATIVE COMMUNITY LOCALLY. THE MORE RESPONSES WE GET THE BETTER AS WE CAN USE THIS INFORMATION TO CAMPAIGN FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE.
