Author: Lizzie Benians

B. Tree and the BSG is a partnership between a local author, and the creative mind behind the Bexhill Sea Garden. Their joint imaginations and shared love and vision for Bexhill has produced an exciting new children’s fantasy, set around the town’s promenade over one magical night.

Their new book, The Sea Elf and the Happi Stone, is aimed at children between the ages of 7-12 years, and is the story of a sea-elf, a lost dog and some forgotten toys as they solve riddles of rainbows, mermaids and secret stones, to bring happiness back to Bexhill.

Gloriously illustrated by local artist Christopher Hoggins, the book is full of images of local landmarks, from the Old Bathing Station to the Sovereign Light Café – and locals and visitors alike may recognise one extremely unique seafront garden! At the very heart of the story is the De La Warr Pavilion, as one of the oldest secrets of the oceans is hidden somewhere within this iconic building. Through joyous adventure, the story aims to show children it is OK to be different or damaged in someway, and to understand their personal best, whatever it is, is always good enough.

B. Tree and the BSG have both lived in Bexhill for many years, and wanted to share the light and the colour and the beauty they see in the town. For them personally, Bexhill, and the DLWP in particular, can be places of great comfort and happiness and belonging. They want their book to encourage others to really see this and to love their home town, to realise it is here for all of us, and that above all, we must look after it.

For them, the DLWP is at the heart of all that is good about Bexhill, and they hope this story will help a new generation to see the joy in the ‘People’s Pavilion’, and an older generation to perhaps see it in a new, and very colourful, light!

B. Tree and the BSG, will be at the DLWP on Saturday, December 8, and copies of the book will be available to buy on the day.

More information is available at www.rainbowsundogs.com.

Music’s Not Dead at the De La Warr Pavilion
Friday 7 December
Shop opens 10am – 5pm and then at the same times, 7 days a week
Launch Party 7pm – 11pm in the Café Bar
with The Equatorial Group , Tom Williams (acoustic) , The Kiffs
And DJ Jonny Morris

We are delighted to announce that Bexhill’s independent record store Music’s Not Dead will re-open as a “pop-up” at the De La Warr Pavilion on Friday 7 December. You will find MND in the Café Bar on the first floor where it will be open 7 days a week and on gig nights selling a wide range of vinyl/labels covering all music tastes.

Everyone is invited to the “in-store” launch party featuring DJs and live music  on Friday 7 December from 7pm, Free – no need to book. Bar open until 11pm

Del Querns of Music’s Not Dead says:

We’re so happy to re-open Music’s Not Dead inside the beautiful De La Warr Pavilion! We can’t wait to get open and see you all again – roll on the 7^th December

Ed Frith, Head of Live Programme at DLWP says :

We are delighted to welcome Music’s Not Dead into the building. We look forward to working together and providing the community with a stronger, wider music offer.

Music’s Not Dead at the De La Warr Pavilion
Marina, Bexhill, East Sussex, TN40 1DP
Open every day during Café opening hours 10am – 5pm and on gig nights
Del Querns delquerns@hotmail.com    07903 731371
www.dlwp.com

From 3-7 December, we are getting involved in the National Lottery #ThanksToYou campaign. The money you spend on Lottery Tickets helps contribute to charities like ours, so as a thank you, we have created a range of special offers. All you need to do is show us your National Lottery ticket.

Our offers:

Between 3 – 7 December :

• 10% off to anyone who shows a National Lottery ticket at point of sale when purchasing from our shop.*
• 10% off to anyone who shows a National Lottery ticket at point of sale from our Café Bar (10am – 4.30pm only)
• 15 month Membership for the price of 12 months (£40) for anyone who shows their Lottery ticket at point of sale (in person or on the phone only). 
• £5 off balcony seats for BBC Big Band on 21 December on anyone who shows their Lottery ticket at point of sale (tickets will be £20). Bookings in person or on the phone only
• A free  Building Heritage Tour with  Volunteer tour guide on Tuesday 4 December at 2pm.

For phone bookings and information please call Box Office on 01424 229111

Thank you!

T&Cs
Please see DLWP’s terms and conditions here
Please show your National Lottery ticket at point of sale for all offers.
These offers are not available online.

*5% off  DLWP Limited Editions

 

 

 

 

West Dean College of Arts and Conservation announces Renee So as Artist-in-Residence in 2019. The three-week residency in May 2019 will support a solo exhibition of So’s work at the De La Warr Pavilion in Autumn 2019.

This collaboration between West Dean College of Arts and Conservation and the De La Warr Pavilion marks the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus. From its avant-garde, arts and crafts beginnings to its radical approach to uniting art, technology and everyday life, the Bauhaus remains one of the most important, influential art schools of the twentieth century. It produced radical new experiments in pedagogy, performance, film, photography, architecture and design.

Renee So comments that: “I am so happy and excited to be the artist in residence at West Dean, as it provides the chance to further my knowledge of textiles in the tapestry studio. My exhibition will bring together my non-hierarchical approach towards art and craft in recognition of the women of the Bauhaus.”

The three-week residency will provide So with the time, space and facilities for making new work, with access to a variety of resources and facilities, including the historic West Dean House and the College’s collections and archives.

So was chosen from a recent Open Call for artists that attracted entries nationally and internationally.

Alison Baxter, Head of School at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation says: ‘we are very pleased to announce Renee So for this 2019 Artist-in-Residence and look forward to supporting her as she develops new work for an exciting new exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion. Renee was selected for her critical engagement with the values of the Bauhaus and astute approach to this burgeoning project.’

So will utilise the ceramics and tapestry studios of the College to produce a new series of sculptural lamp bases and fabric shades using these applied arts. This work will mark the starting point for a solo exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Autumn 2019,

The lamps will be grouped alongside other large-scale bespoke furnishings in an interpretation of the Bauhaus core belief of gesamtkunstwerk or a ‘total work of art’, uniting art, craft and design within the modernist architecture of the De La Warr Pavilion. The exhibition will focus on the historical undertones of applied arts as ’women’s work’ in recognition of the many women whose contributions to the Bauhaus were previously overlooked, redressing the gender imbalance of the time. The exhibition will demonstrate that the interdisciplinary innovation of the Bauhaus remains as relevant today as it did 100 years ago.

Head of Exhibitions at the De La Warr Pavilion, Rosie Cooper comments: ‘Renee’s application stood out for the quality of her work, and for the way she has incorporated lesser-known histories of the Bauhaus into her proposal. We are very much looking forward to staging her exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion, and to working with West Dean College again to support an exceptional artist to produce new work.’

The College’s Artist-in-residence programme organised by the School of Arts provides artists with the opportunity to research, reflect and experiment in order to develop the possibilities of their own practice. It enriches the learning environment for the College’s arts and conservation students.

Renee So’s exhibition is kindly support by the Golsonscott Foundation.

Illustrator and student, Eleanor Finlay-Christensen shares her experience of taking part in Shopkeepers of the World, a project celebrating and highlighting the role of charity shops in people’s lives. Taking place across St Leonards on Sea and Bexhill, the project features four unique art installations as part of Coastal Currents until 30^th September 2018.

I really enjoyed being involved in the project because I had the chance to watch it progress from an idea into reality over the last six months.

Initially, I heard about the Shopkeepers of the World project in April 2018, when Esther gave a talk at my university about the project. Having worked in a charity shop in Brighton a few years ago, I was very interested in getting involved with the project. After the talk I spoke to Esther about getting involved.

At the donation days I helped Esther to interview members of the public, talking to them about the history of their donated items. The first donation day was at the Jerwood Gallery, followed by a second event at the De La Warr Pavilion. Lots of people came to donate something or tell us about an item they had previously donated. I found it fascinating to see how one item could evoke such strong memories about their past. Each item represented a little piece of local history which was then documented, photographed and the interview recorded for the project.

My favourite part of the whole project was the creation of the zine, a leaflet designed to go alongside each installation in the four charity shops. I was given the opportunity to illustrate some of the donations, painting a series of watercolour illustrations that would be printed alongside the corresponding interviews. I was thrilled with how the finished zine looked when it was printed.

Recently I took part in a tour of the finished art installations in charity shops, documenting the day for the Quiet Down There social media accounts. The art installations were created by four different artists in response to donated items collected through the project and in collaboration with staff and volunteers at each partner charity shop. The artist showed us around their installation and talked about the process of creating it.

The first stop was Hastings and St Leonards Mencap to see filmmaker Albert Potrony’s ‘A Gift’.  As soon as you enter the shop you hear speakers playing, as you move around the store there are various screens and TVs tucked away, allowing shoppers to gradually discover the different parts of the installation. The screens play different interviews, some with members of staff from the shop and a Clairvoyant reading the past lives behind donated items.

The next shop was Shelter in St Leonards to see Alinah Azadeh’s installation ‘Magic Is Here’. Standing outside the shop is a textile banner spanning the shop window, stitched on are various quotes about the shop, with ‘Magic is Here’ at the bottom in large letters. Inside the shop are two more banners. Each banner is centred around the shop and the staff.

After leaving Shelter we got on a train to Bexhill. Our first stop was to see ‘The Fabric of Work’ by Noëmi Lakmaier at Hastings Furniture Service. This is a living installation, with Noëmi sewing onto old donated workwear clothing as she interviews people about their experiences, stitching these onto the fabric. Her sewing machine is connected to dozens of brightly coloured spools of thread attached to the wall stretching up towards the ceiling.

Our final shop to visit was St Michael’s Hospice to see Hermione Allsopp’s installation ‘Melt Down’. Part of her installation is about the huge amount of glassware that goes back and forth between the shop and the warehouse. I found it interesting to see the final outcome of her piece having visited the warehouse myself and seeing the large quantities of glassware, some of which became her installation.

I really enjoyed my involvement in the project and learnt a lot about the local area in the process.

For more information on the project visit: http://www.quietdownthere.co.uk/shopkeepers/

Written by Eleanor Finlay-Christensen

Approximately 5000 people came to Dubs at DLWP at the De La Warr Pavilion last Saturday. The sun was shining and almost 180 colourful classic VW campervans and cars from UK and Europe  lined up to take part in the Show ‘n’ Shine, a public vote for the Best Car, Best Campervan and Best in Show.

Vehicles included Eddie Izzard’s 1965 Beetle, a classic 1953 Flying Cloud American AirStream, a Wedding Camper and one of the best replicas of  “Herbie” (The Love Bug)  in the UK  whilst the Best Campervan and Best  in Show was won by Darren Bliss ‘s  tomato red 1965 splitscreen VW bus called Candy.

Summer soul tunes were spun by Wendy May’s Locomotion and we were treated to the funky sounds of Bobby Fuego’s Fat Fingers of Funk on the West Lawn. Families waiting for the  film to start joined in with making their own “Herbie” before wrapping up warm and watching Disney’s 1968 film The Love Bug on the outside wall at Sunset

With thanks to our generous sponsors rocksalt-on-sea, Seaspray Rooms, Combe Valley Campers and McPhersons Chartered Accountants (for Sunset Screenings).  Dubs was also supported by the amazing Bexhill Lions, Rother District Council (for use of the car park) ,  graphics by Craig from ThirtyOneTen, Camper Marmalade, Thomas Design and Graphics, Rother Print, WardPics Photography and Heritage Parts Centre.

See the official images by WardPics Photography here

Next Saturday : Reggae  from Kioko and Greg Phizacklea (DJ) followed by Family-friendly activities and Sunset Screening of Back To The Future (1985) PG.

Tara Neville and Grace Clements selected Lizzie Wells’ 90 Degrees of Uncertainty as the winner of the De La Warr Pavilion prize at the annual Battle and District Arts Group show earlier this month. Lizzie’s work stood out as colourful and intricate and we were delighted to present her with a goody bag including a year’s DLWP membership (worth £40) and other DLWP items.

lizziewellsart.com