VIDEO: Preview exhibition for this year's Chichester Open Studios art trail

As chairman Mim McCann explains: “The preview exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to see work by the majority of our 156 Open Studio artists, under one roof. It gives a snapshot into the fantastic array of work available, and it is an opportunity for visitors to make a note of favourite artists ready to make a route when COS begins at the end of April. Come and see the variety of talent, styles and medium created by artists in Chichester and the surrounding areas. This year we include painting, pastels, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, jewellery, wood, glass and metal work, textiles, artists books and for the first year, Ikebana, the Japanese art of flowers, plus much more. Chichester Open Studios is an experience for visitors to learn directly from artists, their concepts, processes and personalities and to physically see their creative spaces.”

The trail will be slightly earlier for 2023: “This year, in light of the coronation of King Charles III, local artists are opening their studios for two weekends at the end of April. Participating studios will open from 10.30am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23 and Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30 plus Monday, May 1.”

Full details are on Chichester Open Studios’ new website chichesteropenstudios.org or you can pick up a COS Guide from Oxmarket Contemporary, The Novium, Pallant House or download from the website.

Mim is delighted with the number of artists taking part, roughly the same number as usual, but they will be doing so across an increased number of venues – a sign just how well the trail is re-emerging post pandemic and since its rebranding.

“I think we're back to where we were in terms of the volume of artists although I do think that long Covid is still a problem and we've had a number of problems with people having it. Covid is certainly still around. It does seem perhaps more contagious now but perhaps less detrimental but so many people have been so poorly and have been affected by it and we've had some people on the team who have been affected.”

Mim is delighted too with the rebrand: “We were having a bit of a chat in the summer when we were going through the feedback from the artists and there was a lot of talk about what the art trail actually is. A couple of people said that with Brighton Open Houses, you knew what you were going to and we wanted to stress that you are actually going to the artist studios, that you are actually seeing the artists making work. That is the point of it. You’re not going to a showroom. It's not a gallery. You are seeing the artists and you are seeing their process.”

And that’s a big part of the fun for the artists too: “They enjoy chatting about their work. There's such a fantastic variety of artists around Chichester. I've always been really impressed by the artists that we've got around here, and I think our artists are just really excited to be doing this again.”

The Chichester Open Studios’ Snap-Shot Exhibition at Oxmarket Contemporary is open 10am-4.30pm from Tuesday, March 21-Sunday, April 2.