Guest Blog by Grace Eyre
Grace Eyre is a local charity that works with adults with learning disabilities. Our building on Montefiore Road in Hove has been opening its doors to the public by participating in the Artists Open Houses for about 10 years now.
During this time we’ve exhibited many of our artists’ work in a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, paintings, mosaics, textiles, photography, knitting, print making and drawings.
The people with learning disabilities who use our services say that they want to be part of our communities so being part of the Brighton Open Houses is a fantastic opportunity for our artists to exhibit their work and for it to be seen by a wide audience in this large scale community event. We were so excited to be nominated for Best Open House Award this year and were delighted when we won!
Quotes from our visitors: ‘This is the best thing I’ve seen all day!’ ‘Fabulous! Loved this exhibition. A lot of talent all under one roof. Well done all’
Taking our art forward and bringing it into community spaces. We recently had a collaborative exhibition with landscape artist Natasha Kissell in our space at Unit 2, Marshalls Row, Open Market, Brighton (Sat 24.06.17- Sat 08.07.17). Natasha came and worked with a group our artists who made response pieces to her work – these were then hung alongside her work in the exhibition.
Quote from Natasha: ‘I’ve been inspired by everyone’s freedom, this has inspired me to have more freedom in my work and not to be so controlled. I’ve learnt a lot from seeing your work.’
Quote from our artists: ‘I think we’ve done well’ ‘I liked the sponge the best, can get better patterns with that’
Following on from our Montefiore Artists Open House exhibition we will be once again be opening our space at the Open Market with a selection of paintings and ceramics from the award winning show. This runs between 17.08.17 – 06.10.17, opening on Thursdays and Fridays between 11.30am – 2pm. Please come along and say ‘hi’. We look forward to sharing our artwork with you.
This is just a snap shot of one the projects we run at Grace Eyre. If you’d like to find out more about our vibrant charity then please visit our website www.grace-eyre.org.
