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| Printmaker Maria Munroe is one of this year's participating artists |
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| Bridge Invasion by Michael Woolley (Breakspears Road) |
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| Some of Aimee Henderson's work |
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| Satvinda Bahra, Manor Avenue |
Lewisham Arthouse
Annual Open Studios
Friday 30th September 6-9pm
Sat 1st & Sun 2nd October 12-6pm
Cara Barry, Richard Buckle, Barry Cunningham, Ali Day, Mary Louise Evans, Val Fox, Amanda Francis, Pascal Furminieux, Anita Gwynn, Charles Hayward, Pat Hextall, Terence Humphrey, Janet Hyde, Julia Mcneal, Nina Necak, Janine Nelson, Mark Nelson, Stephen Palmer, Rosey Prince, Ben Parry, Toby Rye, Joyce Saunders-Diop, Fiona Smithers, Heather Steed, Irene Stewart, Shirley Stewart, Derval Tubridy, Alexandra Valy, Benjamin Varney, Sara Willett, Alma Tishler Wood and Peter Wright.
Have a peek around 30 artists/makers studios and explore 3 floors of beautiful Edwardian building.
On the first floor Sara Willett will immerse you in an opulent halucigenic fantasy inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s Ligeia. In the bowels of the building Charles Hayward’s projects an archive of sound recordings collected during the midnight hour these ‘silences’ refill an empty space with traces, ghosts. In our gallery artists Zoë Walker and Neil Bromwich present ‘Dancing Borders’ a film work documenting a live event using dance, marching and pollination to transform the psychology of the much besieged border town of Berwick –Upon-Tweed. The film is accompanied by ‘Siege Weapons of Love’; a series of inflatable sculptures, which transform symbols of war into Flower Power.
Art in Perpetuity Trust
Harold Wharf
6 Creekside
Deptford
London SE8 4SA
The 2011 Brockley Open Studios starts today. Click here for details of this year's event. On a summer's day there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing.
This is Brockley Open Studios weekend starts today at 2pm and lasts until Monday. In total, 43 artists across Brockley will be opening up their amazing homes to showcase their work.
Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th June 12-6pm, Flat 4, 12 Montague Avenue, Hilly Fields, Brockley, London SE4 1YP.
If you're wondering how to replace the hole left in your life by the Brockley MAX, then here comes the Brockley Open Studios, which this year will take place on:
Saturday 3rd July, 2.00-8.00pm
Sunday 4th July, 2.00-8.00pm
Monday 5th July, 5.00-8.00pm
Now in its 18th year, the event will see 43 artists open their studios and homes for the public to browse a wide variety of art in some amazing homes scattered throughout Brockley.
The website isn't updated yet, but in the coming days, the new line-up should be published.
Not that all we've got to talk about is open studios, but if you missed out on last week’s art-fest in Brockley, or have a thirst for more, it’s Forest Hill's turn this weekend, in the form of Havelock Walk Open Studios.
Things are a bit different to the Brockley setup - with it being centred around one quirky street of live/work units, there's far less walking (and possibly less nosing around getting house-envy) but the quality looks to be just as high. It'll be our first time there, so expect a follow up in the next week or two.
A quick reminder that this weekend is Brockley Open Studios. We've been twittering about it today and will do the same tomorrow.
This picture is reproduced courtesy of Gillian Golding, whose rabbit-gnawing-on-Parliament was one of our personal highlights today.
Homer: This pea soup is as weak as the acting and nowhere near as hammy.
Lisa: Dad, that's so mean!
Homer: The other critics told me to be mean, and you should always give in to peer pressure. Lisa: But what if someone bad tells me to...
Homer: Always!
More than 40 local artists will be participating in the Brockley Open Studios, which takes place this weekend, from Saturday to Monday (click here for the times). This is the 17th annual event, which appears to go from strength-to-strength.
We know Brockley Kate bats for the Summer Fayre, but in our opinion, this is the local event of the summer.
Every year, someone with a fine art degree and a career in pen pushing emerges on to the pages of Brockley Central and declares the art on show at the Brockley Open Studios weekend to be mundane. And each year, they are wrong. Hopelessly so.
The Brockley Open Studios weekend is joyous - as memorable for the hospitality as it is for the art. There is a wide variety of work on display - some serious, some playful. The experience of exploring the neighbourhood with hundreds of other people is like a community treasure hunt, with the occasional bowl of complimentary crisps thrown in. And there are plenty of treasures to be found, if you are prepared to look.
Click here for the list of participating artists and click here for Brockley Sarah's review of last year's event.
The Telegraph Hill Festival, March 13th - 29th 2009
Highlights of this year's Festival include a community production of the Threepenny Opera and a 'promenade performance' called Making a Killing but the programme includes everything from a cake sale to a comedy night.
Most of the action takes place at venues like St Catherine's Church, Hatcham Oak Children's Centre and Narthex (part of the Telegraph Hill Centre). For the weekend of March 21st / 22nd local artists will stage an Open Studios event.
This year, Brockley venues have joined in, with Tea Leaf Arts opening the Brockley Cross Gallery for an evening show (March 20th, 6pm-8pm) and Crossways Academy staging an eclectic evening of Thai Boxing followed by poetry and music (March 20th, 7.15pm-11pm) as well as a young talent showcase (March 16th, 7.00pm-9.30pm).
Download the full programme here.
As promised, here's a round-up of the Brockley Open Studios 2008, kindly penned by BC regular Brockley Sarah...
Lets get the confessions out of the way first - this is in fact our third year attending the Open Studios, and we have kept notes on each year's entrants! Dedicated to the cause, hey?!
We were certainly not disappointed with the standard of art on show. Don't forget that not only do the featured artists pay to exhibit, they allow complete strangers to roam freely about their studios and on many occasions their own homes!
We can't give all the artists involved a mention, as we'd be here for sometime, but here are some highlights:
Our first stop was Toni McGreachan with her Subbuteo inspired canvasses and local Lido studies. Her work showed such skill and surely found many admirers over the course of the weekend.
Martin Davidson's work is quite unique, as he prints on his own exquisitely handmade paper. Some might see paper making as being a little staid, but Martin's bold imagery and clever compositions will soon win you over.
Open Studios wouldn't be right without the usual suspects, such as Biddy Bunzl's candy coloured canvases that adorn her incredibly inspiring home.
No 42 & 94 Manor Ave always put on a fantastic show, especially Jeff Soan's hugely tactile wooden creatures, and we would have gladly given one of Julia Darke's beautifully crafted wooden dogs a home! Mimi Soan also deserves a mention with her kooky Tim Burton-esque portraits and knitted characters. 
Nobuo Okawa's studio is a real treat, as we were given a full tour and instructions on how his painfully intricate work is produced.
Ruth de Monchaux is an absolute must. We are now proud owners of two of her prints and every time we've been there her studio is bursting with visitors. And we know it isn't just the great selection of drinks and nibbles on offer that tempt the crowds!
Finally we most certainly have saved the best 'til last! What a thrill to enter Jolyon Dupuy's garden on such a stunning summer's evening. Every inch of his house is adorned with fabulous 'beings' that have been constructed from found objects. The success of his art is that all of his pieces work so beautifully together. The best way to describe our experience was as if we'd snuck behind the stage of an exciting new theatre production, with all the props and costumes ready for action.
For more information on all the artists mentioned and links to their own websites, go to the Open Studios website.
If you want to feel bad about your crappy house, your unkempt garden and your unrewarding desk job, then Brockley Open Studios is the event for you. It is also one of the finest ways to spend a sunny afternoon:
Strolling around Brockley's beautiful, sun-dappled streets, popping in to any doorway with a poster outside, appraising their work, nosing around their amazing houses and gardens, chatting to the uniformly charming hosts and eating their crisps.
We had been aware that Brockley is an artistic community, largely because people kept telling us it was so. But we never really felt it. Today, we did. Some of the work is fantastic - all of it was pretty good (although we seem to be more generous in these matters than some). Biddy Bunzl could charge admission for her technicolour beachcomber house.
Monday is the last night of this year's event. If you've not been, go. You may hate yourself if you do, but you will hate yourself a lot more if you don't.
Click here for details.
...
Walking along Wickham Road, we bumped in to Brockley Sarah, who had a map of the event, with notes from the last two years' events. She's seen nearly every artist and we are hoping to persuade her to write a comprehensive review.
Brockley Open Studios takes place this weekend, beginning Saturday at 2pm and running through to 8pm on Monday.
The full list of participating artists is available at the Brockley Open Studios website. Manor Avenue would appear to be the epicentre of Brockley's artistic community, with no fewer than six different artists displaying their work.
You can read more about the history of the Open Studios here.
