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- Rye Art Gallery
107 High Street, Rye
East Sussex. TN31 7JE - 01797 222433
- contact@ryeartgallery.co.uk
Exhibitions & Events
Rye Art Gallery Trivia Quiz for June!
Now!
Online
To help you through the Corona Lockdown and keep you entertained we proudly present our fun online Trivia Quiz.
Friends and Supporters on our Mailing List will have already received details. (Sign up via the 'Subscribe' button on the left or 'Get in Touch' page - what are you waiting for?). We are offering a quiz monthly so do have a go.
The May Quiz attracted over 100 entries and we are delighted to announce that Polly Dutton was the month's winner.
The top scorers will be entered into a random prize draw to win a gift card for £20 off their next fine art purchase over £80 in the Gallery.
RAG Artist Video Launches
Sunday 7th June at 5.00pm and Thursday 25th June at 5.00pm
Online - YouTube
As we have had to postpone our planned exhibition programme (see entries below) we are showing a video programme instead. To help us survive financially, these are ticketed showings, at £5 per event.
Contact the Gallery at ryeartgallery@gmail.com to register and for tickets.
Sunday 7th June, 5.00pm
Artist's Studio with RICHARD ADAMS
Richard is a pastels artist of national stature. His work is collected all over the world, loved for its creative locations and characters - human, animal and mixed - all in intense detail.
Thursday 25th June, 5.00pm
Artist's Studio with TESSA HOLMES
Tessa is a printmaker and graphic artist who has a Masters degree from the Slade. Her prints at RAG at the moment are coolly colourful and near-abstract landscapes. They are balanced by her wire sculptures of quirky animals.
COLOUR - A lecture series by John Fewster FCSD
Weekly: 13th, 20th and 27th May, then 3rd,10th and 17th June, all at 6.30pm
Online - YouTube
Back by popular demand! John presented a Colour lecture series in February (see Gallery News page for write-up). We are delighted he has agreed to present them again online.
Colour Science: Part 1 - 13th May; Part 2 - 20th May
Colour Theory: Part 1 - 27th May; Part 2 - 3rd June
Visual Perception: Part 1 - 10th June; Part 2 - 17th June
To help us survive financially these are ticketed events at £5 per showing. Contact the Gallery at ryeartgallery@gmail.com for information, to register and for tickets. They can be booked separately and each lecture will last about 45 minutes.
'Embodied Land' - Sally Cole
Originally programmed March - April. Now a Virtual Exhibition!
GALLERY 3
Sally writes "I am a landscape painter and printmaker.
In 2019 I was privileged to be granted a month’s creative residency close to a remote beach on the spectacular west coast of New Zealand.
Embodied land is a direct response to the sounds of the sea and the resulting vibrations of the land, which were with me 24 hours a day for the month I spent there, and became embodied within me.
Working on the ideas and feelings from this time I have produced paintings and prints both in the studio and working outside in Pembrokeshire where the coastline also resonates with sound.
This will be an ongoing project, which I intend to continue over time."
Sign up for the RAG Newsletter to receive the link. See 'Subscribe' button in the menu on the left, or visit our 'Get in Touch' page to send an email request.
'Green Havoc' Exhibition
Originally programmed March - May. Postponed
Stormont Studio, Gallery 6
Local artists Denise Franklin and Sarah Palmer have linked together with the curator of Rye Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection, Julian Day, to stage an exhibition which celebrates the explosion of growth in Spring. The inspiration came from the poem “Almond Blossom “ by Fiona Benson.
Sarah and Denise have selected works from our Collection to show dynamic mark-making, intimate endeavour and a joy in nature. The artists' own practice has always led them to walk together in the landscape. By examining the works in the Collection it has challenged and energised their conversations and required them to reflect on their own practice.
'Green Havoc' - Reception and 'Meet the Artists' event
Originally in March. Postponed
Stormont Studio
Sarah Palmer and Denise Franklin will be at the Gallery for the Reception in the morning and then invite you to join them at 2pm in the Stormont Studio for a 'Meet the Artists' talk. The talk is free and will be informal with a Q & A session with the Collections curator, Julian Day.
Denise and Sarah will be on hand to talk about their work and how they have responded to some of the paintings in the Gallery's Permanent Collection and Archive.
The show comprises poetry, collage, drawing, painting on paper and linen and clay works.
New Work - Rye Society of Artists Exhibition
Originally programmed March - April. Postponed
GALLERIES 4 - 5
Now in its 69th year the Rye Society of Artists is an inspiring showcase. The Society is made up of practising professional artists living and working within a 15 mile radius of Rye.
The Rye Society of Artists annual shows attract buyers and collectors from near and far who come to see the latest work from over forty artists who are outstanding in their particular field. All work is for sale and will include drawing, painting, collage, photography, print, clay, mixed media and glass.
This year the focus for the Spring display is NEW WORK and there will be several “Meet the Artist” sessions during the show. These slots will give the public a chance to come and meet one of the artists and hear them talk about their work and answer questions.
Please see here soon on the website for forthcoming details of these events.
'Bees and Wands' - John Wiltshire
Originally programmed May, with opening Reception and 'Meet the Artist' Event . Postponed
GALLERY
John writes "The bees derived from working on a project for the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth with Cambridge University Museum of Zoology in 2009. We recreated his beetle collection as paper models and this necessitated looking at insects in detail. Since then they have become subjects for portraits.
We are alert to our surroundings and notice the incongruous. I tend to collect objects everywhere I go. Things usually jump out at me and become souvenirs or talismans of a place or time or person, or emotion or moment or idea. I also save ribbons and string from gifts because I enjoy concealed inspiration from loved ones.
These collections provide components for assemblages, which then become painted. Resembling ‘wands’ they began in the 1980’s in collaboration with another artist. We posted a stick back and forth attaching more and more found objects. This work is still often the donor for paintings and gets updated with new objects and reinvented.
Making paintings is a way of marking life and stopping time. It offers a resistance to our fast paced lives and imagery in which there can be resolution and stillness."

'Seascapes' from the Permanent Collection
Originally programmed May - June. Postponed
Stormont Studio, Gallery 6
Rye’s own rich connections with the sea, both as a Cinque Port and a fishing harbour, have been explored by major artists throughout history. It is a theme that continues to be the focus for many contemporary artists working in Rye and further afield, who present their work in the Gallery throughout the year.
We are lucky to have a large variety of paintings and drawings in our Permanent Collection that are both historic and contemporary and are evocative of sea and sky.
Rye Art Gallery Collections curator, Julian Day, has selected over 30 works for the exhibition.
'Painting Places' - Karl Terry & Tom Marsh
Originally May - June. Postponed
GALLERIES 3 & 4
Karl and Tom are both dedicated and enthusiastic artists who delight in setting up their easels and immersing themselves in the landscape, from the wilds of Romney Marsh to the foaming seas of a bright, bracing day on Camber Sands and to scenes far beyond.
Their skilled brushwork, painting from direct observation, reflects a real sense of place and atmosphere.
During the show there will be an opportunity to meet Tom and Karl and watch them at work as well as demonstrations in the Gallery.
Details will appear here on the website.
The Rye Art Gallery Trust - No. 310318