The absurdah international film festival has its fifth outing in the Criterion cinema and music hall, 69 high street, Blue Town, Sheerness.

‘An Old Friend’ is a very short film by @luc_mollett @frogmorris & myself created using Magic Lanterns and will be screened as part of the Absurdah film festival.

The screening event is on Saturday the 9th of August, it starts at 6 pm and ends at 9.30 pm. This year it will be compered by Mr. Salad n Chips. Entrance is free, but there will be a perspex charity box with all donations going to cancer research uk. 

http://www.absurdah.com/

Private view: 11 July | 6PM – 9PM

Exhibition Runs: 12–26 July
Opening Hours: Daily | 10am–5pm

Curated by Lizzie Hughes, this exhibition brings together contemporary sculptorsunited in their commitment to developing a longstanding intimate relationship with materials such as metal, ceramic and  wood.

This exhibition is the 4th show in ASC’s 30th Anniversary curating series. Lizzie Hughes, who has a studio at ASC’s Bow studios, is also the co-founder of the Urban Arts Foundation — making historic metalwork techniques accessible to all. Lizzie was recently welcomed as member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

Featured Artists:

Martin John Callanan @greyisgood

William Cobbing @william.cobbing

Giles Corby  #Giles Corby

Alexander Costello @alexandcostello

Jon Fawcett @jonfawcettart

Ron Haselden @ron.haselden

Lee Holden #leeholden

Lizzie Hughes @heizzil

Michael Johnson @thecopperworksnewlyn

Nicole Mollett @nicole.mollett

Tom Railton @tom-railton

Emily Speed @espeedina

Katie Surridge @katiesurridgeart

Gary Woodley @pocketdepartment

Emily Woolley @emwwoolley

The exhibition is free to attend, and we can’t wait to welcome you!

Location: The Handbag Factory | ASC Gallery

One day showcasing of the Chatham Mural on June 6th in Den Haag.

Exciting progress is being made on the Chatham Pumping Station project. Head to my instagram page to see the latest images.

I will be exhibiting two new drawings as part of Southwark Park Gallery Open.

2 NOVEMBER – 14 DECEMBER 2024   //   LAKE GALLERY

PREVIEW:  PREVIEW: SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER 1 – 4PM

EXHIBITION OPEN:  WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, 11AM – 4PM

Floating Ink Workshop, 15th August, Sheerness-on-Sea

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/floating-ink-workshop-tickets-953192403137

The Art of Mono Printing with Suminagashi

Jose Den Hartog & Nicole Mollett

Saturday June 8^th 11-4pm | Sunday June 9^th 2-4pm

Artists Nicole and José delivered a fun and easy workshop to a create a monoprint using a marbling technique called suminagashi (floating ink). 

The art of paper marbling originated in China about 2,000 years ago. Originally, it was a secret technique. It became popular in the 12th century in Japan, where it was called suminagashi and in the 16th century, the technique spread to India and Persia, where it was called kaghaz-i abri (“sunless paper”).  In suminagashi, you create a pattern with sumi ink and water, this pattern can be distorted in various ways, but the character of the water always remains visible. 

These workshops were part of Medway Print Festival & the Chatham Pumping Station Project.

Bringing in the Mayhem

Hand painted ceramic tiles and digital sound art installation, 2024

Nicole Mollett & Jane Pitt

Centred on themes of nature and the changing of the season, artists Jane Pitt and Nicole Mollett have created a site-specific audio visual art installation inside the Gardens at Eastgate House. This collaborative public artwork, Bringing in the Mayhem takes inspiration from a plethora of sources including local birdsong, and the rare 16^th century wall paintings found inside the Tudor House.  The artwork embodies the mayhem and revelry of the May Day customs which are celebrated as part of Sweeps Festival Rochester 2024. Hand painted ceramic tiles reveal an ornate pattern of greenery entwined spirals and ribbons around which strange beings dance and frolic about. The audio track is accessible via the QR code embedded within the artwork. It contains a wild mix of sounds made by humans and non-humans all recorded around the towns and countryside of Medway.

We’re grateful to the following groups of human participants for their vocal contribution: Electric Medway Young Hack; The Mess Room: both Kent Association for the Blind & Peer Arts Groups; Digital Teen Art at The Lightbox, and Nucleus Rochester.

Funded by Arts Council England.

The works existence in the public realm has been granted an extension thanks to the staff at Eastgate House. To visit please check museum opening hours (normally Sat & Sunday, 10-5pm).

4^th – 6^th May 2024

10am -6pm

Free, wheelchair accessible and open to the public

Eastgate House, Eastgate Gdns, Rochester ME1 1EW

I have been featured in the April 2024 issue of Inside Kent.

As part of my DYCP project (Developing Your Creative Practice- ACE funded 1 year grant) I have been exploring ways to place my drawings in the public realm. Working with Dutch artist Jose Den Hartog I have learnt about painting with glazes on ceramic tiles. I am using these new skills to create a small tile mural which I will temporarily install in a public space in Kent.

The exhibition launch event at Kaleidoscope Gallery Sevenoaks on the 12th of January was a very busy event. The curator Sarah Newman gave a introductory talk, as did Nick Johannsen from Kent Downs National Landscape who helped fund the project.

Just as John Constable is closely associated with the landscape of the Stour Valley, so the name of Samuel Palmer is indelibly linked to the Darent Valley, and in particular the village of Shoreham. For a period of ten years, from about 1824 onwards, he found inspiration in this remarkably un-spoilt corner of the English countryside, where he made his most intensely visionary work. In the intervening years, the valley has obviously changed; but it is still recognisably Palmer’s. To preserve it and to share it with a wider public was the main impetus for the Darent Landscape Partnership Scheme, with which I have been involved from the outset. Making the Samuel Palmer Trail, it was heartening to rediscover the sites he knew, from the great trees in Lullingstone Park to the surviving barns in the fields round Shoreham. It was also enormously encouraging that so many contemporary artists responded to the call to produce work in the Darent Valley which showed, however loosely, affinities with Palmer. They have responded magnificently to the challenge of looking afresh at the landscapes immortalised almost 200 years ago by Samuel Palmer.

Colin Harrison, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

For more info about the project go to https://darent-valley.org.uk/projects/inspiring/samuel-palmers-return/

Samuel Palmer: Visionary Landscapes Exhibition

From January to May, discover the life and works of renowned Victorian artist, Samuel Palmer, through a series of local events and exhibitions.

Samuel Palmer created many of his finest works while living in Shoreham in the Kent Downs 200 years ago. The landscape painter and printmaker was inspired by the beauty of the rural Darent Valley region creating visionary pastoral scenes during his time here.

At the exhibitions, you’ll be able to view prints of Samuel Palmer’s most significant artworks alongside creations from artists inspired by Palmer from the 1920s to the present day, demonstrating his enduring influence. I will be showing two new works alongside several Kent-based contemporary artists.

12th January -12th March, Kaleidoscope gallery, Sevenoaks
16th March – 16th May, Sir Peter Blake gallery, Dartford