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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm

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ROSA Magazine, Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes (2025)

03/10/2025

📚 This 1st edition of William Nicholson’s ‘An Alphabet’ caught our eye among the lots at Gorringe’s forthcoming book sale.

Nicholson’s vivid woodcut characters come alive over the 26 coloured lithograph plates that personify each letter of the alphabet. They span eras and classes to encompass a lively cross-section of British society: from a beggar to an Earl, a lady to a villain, an artist to a zoologist.

He made the prints in 1897, at the age of 25, and the book, published by Heinemann in 1898, established his reputation as an artist. ('A was an Artist' is a self-portrait.) After 1900, he concentrated on painting the stunning portraits, landscapes and still lifes that he’s still revered for.

This book (Lot 1273) will be auctioned, among many other fascinating titles, on Monday October 6 at 9.30am.

There are viewings on:
Friday 3rd October: 8.30am-5pm
Saturday 4th September: 9am-1pm
Monday 6th September: 8am-9.30am

More info:

23/09/2025

Charleston buys back a rare painting at Lewes auction house, Gorringe’s! 💐

A rare collaborative work by Duncan Grant (1885-1978) and his lover, the Russian-American artist George Bergen (1903-84), has sold at auction to Charleston, the East Sussex farmhouse where the painting was created.

Estimated at £4,000-6,000, it sold for £32,000!

Charleston bought the work as part of a campaign to restore the artist’s studio a century after it was built. It is aiming to raise £250,000 for repairs and upgrades to bring the studio back to life ahead of the collection forming the centrepiece of a major Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant exhibition at Tate Britain in November 2026 - April 2027.

Only 10 higher prices for a Grant still life are recorded on Artprice.com. Part of the reason for the high sum was the fact that it was one of only a very few known works in which Grant created the painting collaboratively with another artist.

You can read all about the painting in the current issue of ROSA Magazine via link in bio ⬆️

“For 18 months or so, as Grant’s biographer Frances Spalding wrote, ‘Duncan’s emotional life hinged on this man’s existence’. The relationship was an acute source of anxiety for Bell, and ruffled feathers within the Bloomsbury inner circle, with Virginia Woolf describing Bergen as ‘sheep headed, bird witted, and not nice…” read more online

11/09/2025

Last few tickets left for the opening of ‘Berneray’ tonight with a special chamber performance of ‘The Eagle Concerto’ by Piers Adams.

A new collection of paintings by Susie Monnington inspired by her Hebridean beach wanderings is showing at Mulberries.

To celebrate the private view of the exhibition, on Thursday 11, there will be a performance of the Eagle Concerto and other pieces composed by Howard Moody, performed by Piers Adams, and inspired by the same landscape.

Private View drinks at 5.30pm

Performance 6-6.45pm
Email [email protected] for tickets (cost £20)

‘Berneray’ is open:
Fri 12, Sat 13, Sun 14
Fri 19, Sat 20, Sun 21
11am-5pm
Mulberries, Cuilfail, Lewes, BN7 2BE. By foot only. Please park in town and walk up Cuilfail. First house on left. Weekday viewings with parking by appointment. Artwave Venue 116

10/09/2025

The Autumn issue of ROSA out now! 🍂This season the magazine looks through all things lens-based, with a film+photography theme

🎬 Cult film director Ben Wheatley (High Rise, A Field in England, Bulk) talks storyboarding
📸 Top photographer Simon Roberts tries capturing the uncapturable
🎶 Hugh Philpott listens to Sussex movie soundtracks
📷 We look at the celebrity portraits of Observer legend Jane Bown at Newlands House Gallery, curated by Dr Loucia Manopolou
✈️ See Sussex from the sky through the lens of John Holloway
🎥 Discover the illusory world of pioneer filmmaker George Albert Smith
🎨 Artist, collector, photographer and original YBA Henry Bond tells us about his Sussex

There’s also an exclusive interview with painter, writer and Bloomsbury scion, Julian Bell 🎨 Plus, Lulah Ellender visits Goodwood Art Foundation and chats to garden designer Dan Pearson about his new landscaping project at the renowned sculpture park 🌿 Dominic Buckwell looks at how climate change is affecting wine 🍷 our secret collector gives us the heads up on collecting photography, and we explore what to do and where to go in Shoreham 👣

Plus lots more, including poetry, reviews, cartoons, studio visits and columns.

📷 Buy your copy from one of our stockists: https://rosamagazine.co.uk/stockists/ or better still take out a membership for all the extra benefits too: https://rosamagazine.co.uk/subscribe/ ⬆️

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04/08/2025

It was an emotional opening of ‘Greenpeace International in Lewes' on Friday night.

The exhibition, at Star Brewery Gallery, celebrates the work and archive of John May, former director of Greenpeace Books.

Lewes was the HQ of Greenpeace International from 1982 to 1989, and there were many veterans of Greenpeace’s Lewes era there to raise a glass to John, who gave a moving speech.

The archive material tells the fascinating story of Greenpeace through campaign literature, photos, press cuttings, books, poster art, merchandise… and Paula the polar bear!

It’s open until August 10. More info

29/07/2025

It was a day packed with art last Friday. After visiting Henry Bond (see previous post) we headed to the ubiquitous Norman Road (with a stop for an excellent lunch: modern European, local produce) for the opening of ‘Tandem: Maria Glyka – Vassilis Vlastaras’ at Project 78.

Greek artists Glyka and Vlastaras are partners. This exhibition is a reflection of how they live and work, together and separately.

“They don’t aim to merge into one voice. Rather, their practices run parallel – sometimes close, sometimes apart – but always aware of each other.”

“Their work is shaped by life, by the blur between the studio and the kitchen table,” offering playful nods to geometric abstraction, colourful observations of the mundane, and a Gustonesque wit.

We enjoyed working out which painting was by which artist, and which were collaborations.

The show is on until Aug 23, Weds-Sat 11am-5pm

10/07/2025

Love bagging a gorgeous bargain at the auctions?

The next Gorringes ‘Jewellery, Silver & Watches’ sale has some beautiful and rare pieces.

Some of the things that caught our eye were an unusual Victorian ‘Mr Punch’ silver mustard pot, a couple of mid-century Danish enamel beakers, and a stunning turn-of-the-century green nephrite and seed pearl bracelet.

But there’s lots, lots more…

The auction takes place on July 15 at 10am, and there are viewings on:

Friday 11 July: 8.30am-5pm
Saturday 12 July: 9am-1pm
Monday 14 July: 8am-5pm
Tuesday 15 July: 8am-10am

Go to the link in our bio for the online catalogue ⬆️

More info

Go to the link in our bio for the online catalogue.

More info

18/06/2025

Yesterday we went to see Rye’s own Edward Burra at Tate Britain. The Roaring Twenties clattered and sparkled across navy blue walls and it was a thrill to see all that dancing and boozing and flirting up close in such colourful detail: bosoms, bums and more bums, bruise-y eye make-up, sharp crimson lips, and all those teeth! 👄🫦👀

We were less familiar with his war works that filled the second part of the show. Here, Burra’s earlier experiments with surrealism guve him a route in to explore the depraved depths of the human psyche. He shows us blasted masonry housing a chaos of body parts and haunted by mythological creatures – the underlying erotic charge is a powerful recognition of the force of human desire.

Other rooms are devoted to his inventive stage and costume designs, and to his post-war landscapes, where a changing England is mourned while commerce and motorways are carving up the old world.

🎟 A ticket for the Burra show also gets you into the Ithell Colquhoun exhibition next door. You may remember the article on her painting in the spring issue of ROSA. It’s the first major show of the visionary artist and really worth seeing.

Tate describes her as: “One of the most radical artists of her generation, [she] was an important figure in British Surrealism during the 1930s and 1940s. An innovative writer and practicing occultist, Colquhoun charted her own course, investigating surrealist methods of unconscious picture-making and fearlessly delving into the realms of myth and magic.”

This is your chance to study writings, drawings and paintings that have never been seen before.

🏭 We finished our day at the private view of the Richard Rogers exhibition at the Soane Museum, with a talk by Rogers’ son. Recommended for fans of architecture, it gives a fascinating overview of his career, with highlights being the original model for the Pompidou Centre and the model for his groundbreaking Zip-Up House from the 1960s.

❗️NB: You can always see Burra works and read all about his sketchbooks in ROSA online (link in bio ⬆️)

17/06/2025

Have you always wanted to try screenprinting? Or maybe you’re an artist who needs access to a print studio? Then Process Club is for you!

🟣 ⚫️ 🔴

We were delighted to collaborate with Clare Somerville-Perkins on the certificates for the Sussex Craft Awards winners

Clare is a graphic artist living in Eastbourne and she creates her work at Process Club her printmaking studio in Hastings.

Process Club is a letterpress and screenprinting studio that offers open access for other artisits to create their work. She also offers one-day courses introducing these processes to people who want to brush up their printmaking skills, or who have never stepped foot in a printmaking studio before.

For more information on studio access and workshops just visit her website processclub.co.uk or follow her at

17/06/2025

Have you always wanted to try screenprinting? Or maybe you’re an artist who needs access to a print studio? Then Process Club is for you!

🟣 ⚫️ 🔴

We were delighted to collaborate with Clare Somerville-Perkins on the certificates for the Sussex Craft Awards winners

Clare is a graphic artist living in Eastbourne and she creates her work at Process Club, her printmaking studio in Hastings.

Process Club is a letterpress and screenprinting studio that offers open access for other artisits to create their work. She also offers one-day courses introducing these processes to people who want to brush up their printmaking skills, or who have never stepped foot in a printmaking studio before.

For more information on studio access and workshops just visit her website processclub.co.uk or follow her at

08/06/2025

📣 Announcing the finalists for the Sussex Craft Awards 2025!

The 12 finalists represent a range of crafts, including furniture, ceramics, jewellery, stone carving, wood carving, textiles and basketry. Over the next few days we are announcing them one by one, in no particular order.

📣 Our twelfth finalist is: Fergus Davidson

Fergus Davidson has been designing and lettercutting in stone for over ten years, progressing from a hobby to full-time work in 2019. He studied first under Helen Mary Skelton, then under master lettercarver Chris Elsey. He now works in Wivelsfield, alongside Thomas Sargeant, designing and carving memorials and other commissions in stone and wood. He has exhibited his own nature-inspired pieces at The Secret Garden Kemptown and with the Lettering Arts Trust. On the work titled Connected Habitat he explains:

‘It is a fragment of a much longer list of woodland, hedgerow and field plant species native to the UK that create vital areas of connected habitat, and which help to sustain UK wildlife populations as they allow freer, wider movement for hunting, genetic diversity and seed dispersal. As we humans spread out, our housing, transport links and farmed land interrupt the corridors that connect patches of habitat.’ .davidson

The finalists will be exhibited .house.gallery during 14-22 June, 11am-4pm. FREE entrance

Three prizes will be announced at the private view:
🏆 Sussex Craft Award 2025
🏅 Highweald Wine Heritage Craft Award
🎖 ROSA Award

The finalists were selected from the public nominations by our panel of judges: Tim Bolton, Head of Art Dr Loucia Manopoulou, Gallery Director .house.gallery Jon Tutton, CEO Corina Fletcher, Director

Sussex Craft Week is in partnership with West Dean College. The Sussex Craft Awards are Sponsored by Newlands House Gallery, and The Makers Directory

04/06/2025

📣 Announcing the finalists for the Sussex Craft Awards 2025!

The 12 finalists represent a range of crafts, including furniture, ceramics, jewellery, stone carving, wood carving, textiles and basketry. Over the next few days we are announcing them one by one, in no particular order.

📣 Our eleventh finalist is: Jason Mosseri

Jason Mosseri makes contemporary Windsor chairs and furniture under the name Hopespringschairs. His emphasis is on finely balanced sculptural form and a strong silhouette grounded in the aesthetic of historic chair making. Mosseri has always been a visual artist/maker, working in the decorative arts, and, for many years, as a successful tattoo artist. In 2012, having become interested in Windsor chairs and the bodger tradition, he started making pieces for private commissions. In 2016, as a QEST Scholar, he went to Tennessee to study under master chair maker Curtis Buchanan. His ‘log to chair’ courses take place at his woodland workshop, and in 2021 won a Sussex Countryside Award. Mosseri's work was featured in Craft Britain: Why Making Matters (2022), and his book, The Art of Chairmaking, will be published later this year.

“I enjoy the discipline of working within an established form, that is defined by its practicality and comfort. The challenge is to find ways to express creativity and vision, in ways that enhance the tradition.”

The finalists will be exhibited .house.gallery during 14-22 June, 11am-4pm. FREE entrance

Three prizes will be announced at the private view:
🏆 Sussex Craft Award 2025
🏅 Highweald Wine Heritage Craft Award
🎖 ROSA Award

The finalists were selected from the public nominations by our panel of judges: Tim Bolton, Head of Art Dr Loucia Manopoulou, Gallery Director .house.gallery Jon Tutton, CEO Corina Fletcher, Director

Sussex Craft Week is in partnership with West Dean College. The Sussex Craft Awards are Sponsored by Newlands House Gallery, and The Makers Directory

Photo by Alun Callender

ROSA Magazine

03/10/2025

23/09/2025

11/09/2025

10/09/2025

04/08/2025

29/07/2025

10/07/2025

18/06/2025

17/06/2025

17/06/2025

08/06/2025

04/06/2025

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