For 3 weekends in August Jacky will be opening her studio at Glynde Gardens.
She will be showing her stonecarving, found sculptures, charcoal drawing and paintings.
On Sundays from 2pm she will be opening her garden…
Glynde Gardens Open Studio, Artwave Venue 17
Open 10.30 – 5.30pm 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31 Aug
1 Sep
At the weekend I spent another afternoon at one of my favourite places to be, Much Ado Books in Alfriston. So much more than a book store…
For most of my adult life I wanted to open a book shop, but when I found Much Ado Books several years ago I immediately knew I wouldn’t. And this was a good thing! They had already created the perfect place for book lovers so I didn’t have to, it was here already 🙂
Anyway, the reason I was here on Sunday was to continue a project I am working on collecting people’s book stories. Favourite books, childhood memories of books, most influential book – anything at all. And they came flooding in from visitors…
One couple had travelled all the way from Milton Keynes because of a book the husband had first seen 63 years ago, The Countryside Companion. It had a photo of Alfriston high street and he wanted to see how it had changed over the years, a perfect example of a book story!
A woman I spoke with, visiting with her daughters and grandson, said she felt quite emotional writing her book story. She could see how her love of books had been passed down the generations. Here is her story…
and here is her grandson’s…
his favourite story is batman!
At this stage I am not sure how my book stories project will turn out. My finished piece of work may be the handwritten stories by people visiting Much Ado Books, they may be published into a little book, I may make a piece of artwork incorporating them, or photos of them. I don’t know yet. At present I am happy making my postbox for the stories and talking to people, gathering their stories.
If you would like to pop along to Much Ado Books and share your own book stories I shall be visiting next on Wednesday 19 June, 2 – 4pm and Saturday 29th June between 2 and 4pm.
I hope to see you there…
As part of Artwave this year I will be curating two Colour in nature walks along side Lewes District Council Ranger Thyone Outram.
Info and links to booking below…
Over the weekend I curated and contributed to the Chalkpit exhibition of contemporary art at Glynde Place.
It was a lovely, sunny weekend and we attracted over 300 visitors.
The incredibly talented and varied artists I asked to work alongside me were; Jenny Arran, Sarah Colbourne, Bob Dixon, Alexander Johnson, Lucy Newman, Isobel Smith, Guy Stevens and Emily Warren.
The exhibition pieces…
Visitor comments…
This weekend, there will be an exhibition of contemporary art at The Coach House, Glynde Place.
Called Chalkpit, it is the first in a series of events that I am putting together as part of my residency in Glynde.
I have asked eight local artists to create pieces of work as a response to the chalkpit (called Balcombe pit) as it is today.
These will be on display for one weekend only, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th April.
The artists are: Jenny Arran Sarah Colbourne Alexander Johnson Isobel Smith Bob Dixon Lucy Newman Guy Stevens Emily Warren
More information about the exhibition can be found here
Hope you can make it along!
As Artist-in-residence for Glynde, I am working on a project based on the chalkpit at the back of Teddy Street.
Called Balcombe Pit, it was in operation from the 1840s right up until the 1980s.
I became interested in the chalkpit after doing some research at The Keep and coming across the 1881 census for the village…
As you can see, most of the people worked in the chalkpit.
Today, the chalkpit is unused apart from the odd dog walker and kids playing. It is tucked away and you would easily walk straight past the entrance without even knowing it is there.
I decided to make it the central point of my first project as Artist-in-residence.
Over the coming year I will be involving local residents of Glynde and other artists to put together a collection of work and hold a variety of events around Balcombe Pit.
Between the 12th and 18th February Jacky will be creating a participatory installation at Martyrs’ Gallery, Lewes
Inspired by Raymond Queneau’s 1947 work Exercises in style the installation will explore different experiences, memories and perspectives from 99 people of the same walk through Lewes.
Viewers will be able to watch the artwork developing and are invited to take part by going on the walk and drawing or writing their walking experiences on prepared cardboard canvases. These will be incorporated in the installation for show at the weekend.
Jacky is interested in how different people remember, interpret and react to similar places and situations. Her installation will be a visual representation of some of these differences (and similarities).
Opening times: Tues 13 – Thurs 15 Feb, 10am – 12.30pm All welcome to watch the artwork being created and take part by going on the walk and producing your own ‘map’ Sat 17 & Sun 18 Feb, 12 – 4pm Viewing days
Jacky Misson 