Artists Maxime Allan and Ben Fenton invite us to embark on a documentary journey about “belonging and place” in an interdisciplinary exhibition, with painting and jewellery as main media. The artistic duo describe the collaboration as “exciting” – both re-examine their lives and connections with the idea of ‘home’, before and after moving to Hastings. 

Ben Fenton and Maxime Allan

Maxime was born in Winchester and studied silversmithing and jewellery design at London Metropolitan University where she completed her HND and Masters.  Her process is constantly changing, and as she moves away from the enamel she experimented with in the past, she is working more with gems and beads, in and against precious metals. Inspired by her childhood spent on the beaches of Herne Bay and her adult years as a mum in Hastings, the pieces from the exhibition encapsulate personal life-defining events.  Stories of medieval history from Winchester and tales of pirates and smugglers from the coast inhabit her jewellery, as the past and present weave unique pieces to be worn and loved. 

For Ben, this is the third year at the Coastal Currents as an artist living and working in Hastings. Originally from Dungeness and growing up in Romney Marsh, his subjects in his paintings revolve around faded seaside architecture that lost its 20th century grandeur, an aesthetic which is also present in Hastings. He mentions the attempt of Sidney Little to redesign the town in Art Deco style to draw tourism in and how the marsh uses the same material in order to keep the sea out. His inspiration comes from “the parallels and differences in the utilitarianism of these constructions”. Ben hopes the work that he and Maxime put together represents and reflects the warmth and authenticity of the Hastings’ community. 

• The exhibition is part of Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2021 and is at Trinity 7 Gallery, 7 Trinity Street, Hastings.

Open: Daily from Saturday 4th September until Thursday 16th September; Private view:  Friday 3rd September. 6.00pm-9.00pm

Artist’s impression

We met outside as a small group, huddled against the wind and rain and took refuge inside a derelict building: two journalists, a photographer, a writer and representatives from Heart of Hastings and White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures (the owners of the building) including the tour leader, Jay Simpson.

We were led via the executive stairway (soon the be restored to its former glory) up to the board room where artist in residence, Ben Fenton, was working on an enormous painting. The angular ceilings of the wide-open first-floor space evoke many of his paintings.

Ben Fenton working in the Observer Building

Ceilings evoke, artist Ben Fenton

Although there had been previous visits for various markets and exhibitions, this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to see the place in its entirety. But also, during this tour, the building could be seen as a coherent whole, waiting to spring into life. During previous visits, the air of dereliction had complemented the edgy installations. This time, with ceilings repaired and painted, basement brickwork sandblasted and much of the mess cleared away, it had an expectant air.

As we progressed through the building the scale of the project became more apparent. After years of neglect, this building seems set to become a beacon of regeneration – but you will have to wait until March 2021 to see the results of phase 1.

The Observer Building will be hosting two walkthroughs every Thursday until Christmas, starting at 12pm and 1pm, for groups of up to five people with a tour guide (Covid safe rule of 6). Anybody who is interested in seeing what’s been planned for the redevelopment, or just wants to walk around a huge derelict building, should take a look before building works start in January.

• Responding to the lockdown, tours for November have been cancelled. These will restart in December if circumstances allow. As there has been a lot of interest, the organisers aim to have three or four tours per week to accommodate numbers. To book a tour, check the website theobserverbuilding.org.uk/2020/10/20/ob-tours for updates.

BFI Player and funding for the Screen Sector

On 24th March BFI announced a new partnership with The Film and TV Charity to create a new COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund. Established with a £1m donation from Netflix, the new fund will provide emergency short-term relief to active workers and freelancers in the UK who have been directly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Film and TV Charity is currently working on the precise eligibility criteria and level of individual funding, but the fund will be open to those working in production, distribution and exhibition.

The excellent BFI player is currently offering a two-week free trial, and the BFI website provides a number of archive clips and features to watch for free anyway. 

National Theatre YouTube Streaming

Starting on 2nd April with a showing of One Man, Two Guvnors, the National Theatre will be streaming full performances on its YouTube channel every week, with each performance remaining free to watch for 7 days after the first streaming. Following One Man, Two Guvnors will be Jane Eyre on 9th April, Treasure Island on 16th April and Twelfth Night on 23rd April. 

It has also announced: “In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, the National Theatre Collection, including 24 full filmed plays, will now be available to pupils and teachers at state schools and state-funded further education colleges via remote access in partnership with “Bloomsbury Publishing. During this temporary period schools will be able to share log-in details with pupils to access resources at home.

Bloomsbury Publishing has also extended the free trial period for academic institutions including universities, libraries and independent schools until the end of May 2020 to continue to support the educational community across the globe.” 

Get your login details today! 

The blackShed Gallery Announces 

“While the gallery is closed, we want to stay open in other ways for you, our loyal supporters. The blackShed has been a voice for art and artists for over 10 years, which we’re extremely proud of! Over the coming weeks we plan to revisit and share some of our favourite exhibitions with you. Entitled Virtual Spaces we’ll be featuring highlights, videos and interviews from some of the artists who have worked with us during this time.

“On Monday, we will launch our first online exhibition A Return To Order by an artist you all know and love, Robert Sample. Robert has exhibited with us on three different occasions and we look forward to revisiting these events with you all, next week!

“We want to encourage your comments and thoughts along the way, as we work on creative inspiration and new ways of working and connecting with our followers.

“We’ll continue to be in touch with regular updates and developments via email, but as always the content will be featured on our social media channels, so if you’re not following us already, please do!

“We look forward to welcoming you back to the gallery as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope the blackShed can continue to offer our supporters something different! Please continue to interact, share and support what we do, your support means more now than ever!” 

• Read more here or visit www.theblackshedgallery.org.uk

An Exhibition of Works made by Isolation?

Local artist Ben Fenton writes: 

“This is to any and all artists local to Hastings and St Leonards. I’m imagining that like me, you’re holed up, probably at home, and away from your usual studio or work materials. I also imagine that, like me, that’s not stopping you from creating work in any way that you can. 

“Well, I’ve had a thought. I would dearly love to collect as many as you together, find a venue and then, when this surreal and terrible period of time is over, exhibit all our lockdown work together. 

“It might help some of us recoup a little of our lost earnings, but primarily it will stand as an example of the triumph of imagination and creativity in adversity. 

“This is just an idea right now, so I would love to hear from you if you’d be interested in taking part. When I have an idea of numbers, I can try and make some solid plans. There’s an awful lot of truly fantastic artists round here, and I think it would be wonderful to unite in this way and have something to focus on.” 

• You can find Ben Fenton on Facebook and Instagram, or email us at 
arts@hastingsindependentpress.co.uk and we can pass on the message.

“I come from Dungeness, the only desert in the UK. A place where the land is as flat as the sea and both are pressed down upon by the weight of a leaden sky. A place where life and living is dictated by the elements and there is nowhere to shelter from its extremes.

I suffer from mental illness, and I believe the parallels are impossible to ignore. My life has been battered and roughly hewn into the shape it is in by the unrelenting and corrosive tide of depression and anxiety. It has gradually stripped away my worth and desire like the shingled coastline of my home.

Painting is what keeps me going, and it is what brings both together – my illness and the vistas that mirror it. When I am stood before a canvas, stained in oil paint and fizzing with purpose, it is the only time that my hound, my wretched black dog, quietens down. I am, whilst in my studio, for as long as I work, master of my erratic existence. I am in charge of creating and manipulating the images of the lands I grew up in, and still inhabit, that reflect the illness that wants to cut my life short.

I believe there’s a beautiful, rather twisted serendipity to the process. One that is finely balanced but imperative to my life. I hope that others find a beauty in it too.”

See website for best dates to attend – reste.co.uk/pages/coastal-currents-art-festival. Ben is also involved in: People and Place at The Observer Building (see above); a group show at Rogue Gallery Studios, 62 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea on the weekend of 7th / 8th September; and has an open studio at Common Mormon Studios, 2a Mount Pleasant Road, Hastings on the same weekend (7th / 8th September). His work will also be included in the inaugural Grand Coastal Postcard Hunt. 

• Take a look on the website and see what you can find… coastalcurrents.org.uk/grandcoastalpostcardhunt

Day Trip to Farley Farm
Just in time for the summer holidays, Farleys House and Garden presents a breathtaking exhibition by Sir Peter Blake, heralded as the Godfather of British Pop Art. As with all the exhibitions at Farleys Gallery, works are for sale. Blake is probably best known for co-creating the highly acclaimed album sleeve art for the Beatles’ Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

• “Day Trip to Farley Farm” Sundays, 9th June-4th August. Gallery is free and open Sundays 10am to 4.30pm. The Lee Miller archives will also continue to show on various Sundays until October. Farleys House & Gallery Muddles Green, Chiddingly. 

In Paths Taken
New exhibition at Elisabeth Bauer Contmemporary Art Space. Photography performance in series by Kay Sobolewska. Photography performance in series, drawings and moving image by Victoria Kiff. Poetry by Eve Ruschin. Photography performance by Bonnie Kiff. Drawing and digital media by Marie-Louise Miller.

“The making and presentation of the images allow the artist to construct and perform visually their identities as a spectator in
an alternative reality.”

• Opens on 13th June 2019, continues until 7th July 2019. 55 George Street, Hastings Old Town, East Sussex TN34 3EE. www.elisabethbauer.co.uk

Dead
Experienced writer and journalist Ian Probart presents a series of figurative watercolours considering singers and musicians who have tragically died young. Ian spent much of his career writing about boxing, but his move into art and painting is certainly worth investigation. Ian’s work will be on show at Hastings Arts Forum from 11th-23rd June. 

Open Studio and Painting Sale
Local artist Ben Fenton’s work will be visible and on sale at Common Mormon Studios, 2a Mount Pleasant Road, Hastings, on Sunday 23rd June, from10am-4pm.

As Long As My Arm 
A list of local artists show photography, painting, and sound art at the Dirty Old Gallery on West Street. This series of work brings together a range of artists working with a broad palette of techniques to express aspects of the human condition, and how it can clash – and work together – with nature.

• Exhibition runs Saturdays and Sundays throughout June 12.00pm – 5.00pm ish. A limited edition book collecting the artists’ work may be available, price £10 and published by local Silverhill Press.