Festival 15 - Robin Holtom

This show is a game changer for the Forum.

Robin Holtom

After gaining a Diploma in Art & Design at Chelsea School of Art in 1966, Robin Holtom went to The Royal College of Art and gained an MA in Film and Television. His painting teachers included Patrick Caulfield, John Hoyland and Ken Kiff.  Robin then worked for ten years as an Art Therapist in London and was a Council Member of the British Association of Art Therapists. Whilst there, Robin edited their journal called 'Inscape' for two years. In 1980 Robin moved to Wales and concentrated on painting and sculpture while running residential courses in Wales, Italy and Spain. In 1999 he was elected Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. In 2000 he moved to Hastings where he founded the SoCo Arts Group and was a trustee of the Hastings Arts Forum for three years.

Robin is presently a Board Member of Hastings Creative Ltd, a non profit company whose purpose is to transform a convent in St. Leonard's-on-sea into a School for the Arts.

One of the three curators  of the Festival 15 show (with Charlotte Snook and Matthew Burrows), Robin Holtom gives us a quick precis of his involvement with HAF and how the Festival 15 show came together.  

I have been involved with the Arts Forum as a member and trustee for nearly 15 years before which I was chair of SoCo. This show is a game changer for the Forum. Matthew and Charlotte were rigorous in their selection and hanging and it was an eye opener for me how such different artists could be shown together in such a way that they all look their best. The less is more mantra that is often spoken at Forum shows but not so often practised, has been demonstrated with conviction by this show. Also the fact that so many distinguished artists are willing to show here testifies to the regard the organisation is held in. A voluntary organisation that has been going for 15 years without any government arts funding is almost unique and is a model other towns envy. It depends of course on the generosity of volunteers some of whom devote hundreds of hours a year to the project. I think there is an opportunity to build on this show with more carefully curated shows.

ROBIN HOLTOM WEBSITE

Festival 15 - Jean Davey Winter

Jean Davey Winter: About the work:

A fascination with travel and the concept of the journey provide me with an ongoing source of inspiration. Over the years this has included a microlight flight over the volcanic island of Lanzarote; a road trip through New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and more recently a visit to the island of Cuba, the starting point for this new work.

Cuba has an extraordinary culture, a dense web of associations and contrasts which conjure up words like: seductive, poetic, alchemy and magic. There is a constant awareness that this vibrancy, colour and energy combine and conflict with reminders of a darker past.

Many diverse elements from these experiences are now coming together as the work continues to develop: glimpses of colours and textures and the fragmented memories of travel. It is intentionally ambiguous, hopefully to allow sufficient space for the viewer to bring their own interpretations to it.

Working practice:

Coming from a textile background I enjoy the freedom of working with mixed media. The opportunity to build up surfaces, to combine this with collage plus the fluid qualities and mark making potential of paint; I love the feeling of anticipation – that anything can happen, as a new piece begins.

What I find most difficult is the ‘letting go’, that moment of realisation that some of the bits you have become most attached to have to be sacrificed if there’s any chance of making the painting work – that’s the hard part….

Future hopes for Hastings Arts Forum:

Hastings Arts Forum has been transformed over the ten years since I first exhibited there. There have been major structural improvements to the gallery itself and the whole ethos and ambition of the Forum has become very much more ambitious and professional.

Whilst maintaining it’s commitment to the community I hope it will also continue to thrive and develop with the emphasis on curated shows, both group and solo, and maybe create a series of major annual exhibitions following on from the precedent set by Festival 15.

More about Jean and her work can be seen on her website

Jean Davey Winter

Festival 15 - Matthew Burrows

'Painting is not born out of intelligence but the fine balance between confidence and surrender.' 

Matthew Burrows 

Wall (2017) 
Oil on board 152.5 x 124.5cm 

1. Can you tell us something about your work in this show and something about how your work has developed over the years. 

I am fortunate enough to live and work in the rolling hills of East Sussex, my studio, on the site of an old wind mill, is firmly perched on a ridge between valleys. Despite the beautiful views and clear vistas, my relationship to place is not one of description or nostalgia, but one of dwelling and ritual. It is a process of mythologizing, of drawing meaning from the particularities of the environment, of realising its wilderness and ours.

I’ve always considered myself a painter of people and places, and yet, it's rare to find these fully articulated anywhere in my work. In one sense this is about the problem of metaphor - a picture of a landscape is not the meaning of a landscape and can easily lead to trite illustration. My painting ‘Oasis’, on show at HAF, is a painting of absence, it depicts a structure in a barren landscape that could be an alter or building, a means of display or container of sorts. Beyond the suggestion of a ground and horizon there are few clues to construct a narrative, instead one is left with the density of pigment and colour, the movement of mark and tension across its hard yet porous surface. The title suggests hope in the harshness of the desert, it is the mystic’s landscape of solitude and temptation, a paradise of emptiness and rage, a country of madness and silence.

Single and Divided (2017) 

Oil on board 122 x 94cm

2. What you find most enjoyable and/or difficult about the process of creating art? 

The most enjoyable part of making art is that it asks so much of you, it asks everything, no stone left unturned. Of course, that’s what makes it difficult too. It’s a hard task master, mostly it leaves you frustrated and despondent, months can go by with little or no joy. But there’s something compelling and surprising in its mystery that keeps you moving on.

3. What would you like to see the Hastings Arts Forum do in the future?
HAF plays a significant part in the artistic fabric of Hastings, it gives a sense of place and purpose to artists who live and move to Hastings. Moving forward it would be really exciting to see HAF look again at how it shows work, perhaps taking a more creative approach to the design, layout and structure of the walls etc. It maybe a step too far but an open competition to ask for design solutions to this may create some refreshing and surprising outcomes.

Eclipse II (2016) 
Oil on board 77.5 x 59.5cm

More about Matthew and his work can be seen on his website 

Matthew Burrows Website

FESTIVAL 15 - Celebrating 15 years of the Hastings Arts Forum

Hastings Arts Forum (HAF) was founded in 2003 by a group of artists and art enthusiasts with a shared commitment to support the visual arts in Hastings and St Leonards and to raise the profile of visual culture in the area. The Forum is now a registered charity and runs two adjoining gallery spaces on the sea front.  It is independent of any public funding and is almost totally reliant on its many committed and experienced volunteers. This makes it a space that is unique in Britain. 

The gallery offers professional artists the opportunity to exhibit at reasonable prices and gives all artist members and its volunteers the chance to show their work in annual shows. It develops exhibition programmes and has recently launched a new initiative called 'Rising Talent' where new and emerging artists can show their work in a professional gallery for the first time at no cost.

This year HAF is celebrating its 15 year anniversary by holding an exhibition and a series of events and talks that will showcase the extraordinary quality and range of artists connected with Hastings and St Leonards. Collectively entitled 'Festival 15', invitations to exhibit have been sent to a number of artists whose work has helped build the reputation of Hastings and St Leonards as a centre of artistic excellence. The exhibition will open on May 2^nd and the festival will last for two weeks. 

The aim of the festival is to bring attention to the excellence of art on offer in the area.  We will be contacting other local galleries and arts organisations to make sure that this opportunity to gain recognition is all encompassing. The exhibition at the Forum’s gallery will bring together the work of these highly-regarded artists’ work in one place and shine a light on the richness of the arts scene in Hastings and St Leonards.  We are very grateful to Matthew Burrows, Robin Holtom and Charlotte Snook who are curating the exhibition.

Lesley Barker, chair of the Forum’s exhibition committee.

Interviews with participating artists will appear here on the blog in the run up to the festival  so more soon! You can also check in via:

WEBSITE:      www.hastingsartsforum.co.uk

TWITTER       @hastingsarts

FACEBOOK   www.facebook.com/hastingsartsforum/