Worthing exhibition: friendship through art

The two are joining creative journeys to showcase a collection of works exploring themes of womanhood, beauty and local scenery.

They met through exhibiting and became good friends, Jan said.

Eleonora specialises in mixed media and collage: “Collage is my favourite medium and my inspiration source is women. I don't know why but as far as I can remember it has been my favourite thing to do.

“My heroines are women. Strength, vulnerability. They are different, just like us. And I continue to look for them – in myself and in colour.

“The women in my family were strong. The time they lived in was challenging and hard. My grandmother survived the Holodomor (also known as the Ukrainian Famine, a mass famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians) and the Second World War. My mother was born just before the Second World War and who knew that she would have to go through the war again in her old age. I mean the brutal invasion of Russia to Ukraine in 2022. The women in my family were beautiful. In my art I am looking for beauty – both external and internal. Because I was born a woman, choosing a woman as my subject matter is the way to learn about myself, to try myself in different female roles. What could be better for this than art? "

Jan went to Camberwell School of Art but worked in advertising for a number of years. Afterwards she got into painting: “I will go somewhere and something will strike me and I think it's something that I want to paint. It can be peeling paint in a building or a tree or a view of something or it could be a funny object or it could be a person but I just want to paint it.

“And I just want to keep doing things. You must try to do something every day. You can get very miserable if your work doesn't go according to plan but then if it does come right then that is a real high and that's why you do it. It is quite tricky being an artist. It's lovely when you sell something at an exhibition but what is really wonderful is if someone comes in and starts talking about their work and what it means to them. That is the real achievement.”

Also coming up at Colonnade House is No Title, July 29-August 2. Spokeswoman Paula Tollett said: “(This is) an experimental artist trying his hand at woodcut, linocut and other printmaking techniques inspired by bold imagery and colour.”

Paula added: “Colonnade House is the home of local art in Worthing, showcasing work by painters, printmakers, sculptors, photographers and more. On the ground floor there are two gallery spaces, and on the upper three floors are ten studios available to rent to people working in the creative industries. Find out more about what we do at colonnadehouse.co.uk/about.”

Colonnade House, 47 Warwick Street, Worthing, BN11 3DH; Tuesday- Saturday (plus some Sundays), 10.00-17.00.