Do you have drawers full of old art materials? Lots of people do! Artists Open Houses offer you the perfect way to clear out your cupboards and help artists in need. Many Open Houses include artists who have experienced periods of homelessness or are vulnerably housed, as well as those in recovery from drug and […]

Jan Burgess, SOL Design Collective’s founder met with portrait artist Jane Palmer to talk about her love of portrait painting, commissions, opening her house to exhibit and future plans since winning AOH Artist of the Year… I first met Jane Palmer when she came along to our popular pricing workshop. Jane is a figurative artist […]

We asked: ‘What extra and unexpected benefits did you receive from taking part in the Open Houses festival?’ ‘I was invited to contact a London gallery to discuss options for taking my work forward.’ ‘It was useful for making contacts for illustration work as well as for artists meeting each other and planning further events […]

Our visitors told us what they liked best about Artists Open Houses “I love meeting the artists, looking at the lovely work displayed in their homes, talking to the artists and makers about their work. There is a vast variety of art in just about every conceivable form and medium.” “It’s a chance to see […]

Open House blog post from Olive Carr: ‘I am an art student at Varndean College, Brighton. As part of my recent project, my teacher suggested going to open houses to get ideas for our own art. I spent a day going round many of the houses and was particularly inspired by Sophie Wake’s art. Her […]

The AOH Awards Night on Monday was a fantastic event. A big thank you to MyBrighton for hosting the evening and to all our wonderful sponsors for selecting such great winners and presenting generous Awards. Congratulations to all the brilliant artists nominated for this year’s Awards. Latest Best Open House Award  The nominees were: 11 […]

20 Fabulous Years Fiveways Trail Adelaide Artists Brunswick Town Trail Art In Bloom Hove Trail Brighton Etch Corner House Beyond The Level Trail Brunswick Basement Brunswick Town Trail Jehane’s Open House Fiveways Trail Milton House Beyond The Level Trail Rex Matthews Fiveways Trail The Jewellery Workshop Brunswick Town Trail The Secret Garden  Hove Trail The Secret Garden – At 142 Fiveways Trail Travelling Tales Brunswick Town […]

Could you tell us a bit about Justlife Creative? Justlife is a charity providing support to people who are close to the streets across Brighton and Hove. Our team helps them to progress towards safe, healthy and stable lifestyles, through developing positive relationships, re-building trust in services and ultimately believing in them as individuals. Last […]

Hi Gil. Your exhibition at BMECP is called Limbo. Could you tell us about the ideas behind this theme? Limbo characterizes our present times, where Limbo conditions are, unfortunately, engulfing the lives of many of us.  Since the Brexit referendum Britain has been in a state of Limbo, with British people, industries, universities and art […]

Could you tell us a bit about Creative Future? Creative Future was established in 2007 with the aim of making the arts more diverse and representative of the world we live in. A national charity based in Brighton, we specialise in working with under-represented artists. We provide skills training, mentoring, exhibiting, promoting and publishing opportunities […]

Hi Idil Can you tell us about your New Grounds exhibition Fake/Make – where does the name comes from? The name comes from the phrase ‘fake it until you make it’ as many of us must have heard it at some point in our life. The phrase has a reasonably long history.  Its early uses […]

We are loving seeing the May 2019 AOH brochure cover illustration by Hannah Forward on posters, lamppost sleeves and dispensers all around the city  – as well as on the digital MAXX screen at the top of North Road. We think her brochure cover illustration is really clever and works brilliantly well on all the […]

Hi Lucy – it’s great to have you back in the AOH festival. Thank you – lovely to be back! Whereabouts is your Open House? studio55 is at 55 Woodruff Avenue Hove, BN3 6PH. It’s within a couple of minutes’ walk of Hove Park, about ten minutes on foot from Hove Station and on bus […]

Photo: Victor Stuart Graham, centre left, wearing shorts We are really sad to hear of the death of Victor Stuart Graham earlier this week. Victor exhibited his driftwood boats and assemblages at very many Artists Open Houses over many years and was greatly loved by so many people. We will all miss him. In Victor’s […]

Encounters  Winners of Best Artists Open House 2018 We visited the amazing Encounters, in the West Hove trial. Encounters were winners of the 2018 Best Open House Award. And here is a round-up of other really great Open Houses we went to last weekend: Ruth Mulvie @ 1 Courtyard Lane Ruth Mulvie is exhibiting her […]

We visited South Heighton pottery, near Newhaven, in the Coastal trail where, alongside Chris Lewis’s beautiful ceramics, there is a special exhibition of textiles and earthenware pots. These pots and textiles, which are from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Americas, have been collected by Chris over many years and have provided inspiration for his work. A […]

The House of Qualia sounds intriguing – what are the aims of your Open House exhibition? Qualia (singular, quale) is a technical term used mostly in philosophy and neuroscience representing individual instances of subjective conscious experiences. These experiences, such as a smell of a rose, taste of wine, colour or pain, are understood to be […]

Hi Sarah – we are really pleased to have you exhibiting in the Artists Open Houses festival this year! We love your exhibition of portraits of friends and famous people.Can you tell us a bit about how you chose the people you have pictures? Sometimes people make suggestions of famous people and I draw them.  […]