From the Downs to the Dunes is new Chichester exhibition

Taking part are Katherine Lawrie, Frans de Leij, Marie Monro, Bec Hopkins, Deborah Hochreutener, Paula Chuter-Baker, Min Maude, Elisa Dodd, Sylvia Tomkinson, Claudia Barratt and Ellie Philpott.

Spokeswoman and jewellery designer/maker Katherine Lawrie said: “We are all members of the Artisan Gallery in Chichester. Most of the group are based in the surrounding towns and villages.

“The idea of exhibiting at the Oxmarket was mentioned as something that would be great to do, something that might give the group a new creative focus. We run the Artisan Gallery in North Street together as a cooperative, but each member displays work there usually with no connection to the exhibition next to them, sometimes creating work primarily to sell, although not the sole reason for any of us. So the idea of exhibiting together in a loosely themed exhibition was a great creative challenge, giving many of the group the impetuous to create something different and new from the work on display at our gallery.

“In the exhibition at the Oxmarket we will have work from 11 artists and makers each inspired in their own way by the countryside and coast they reside near. One cannot avoid being influenced by the beauty of the Sussex and Hampshire downland and coast. Each piece of art in the exhibition has come about with the influence of the theme From the Downs to the Dunes, whether indirectly or purposely.”

It will feature work from two jewellers, Katherine Lawrie and Sylvia Tomkinson, a glass artist, Elisa Dodd, a ceramicist, Claudi Barratt, Sculptor Deborah Hochreutener, five painters, Min Maude, Frans de Leij, Paula Chuter-Baker, Ellie Philpott and Bec Hopkins and artist and lampshade designer Marie Monro, each interpreting the title in their own specialist genre or media.

“Our group is made up of artists and makers, several whom have been working professionally in their chosen genre for decades, others who are returning to art after time out. We have artists who have had several previous careers before art or who are juggling life but the need to create. For all of us creating art is an urge that just can’t be ignored.