As Kemptown Arts Association excitedly prepares for its biggest exhibition of the season, we invite you to join us.

 

An unpredictable April blazes to a sunny end, there’s the sound of drilling, hammering and excited chattering, and a 200-year-old Kemp Town hostelry undergoes a complete reincarnation. It’s where Kemptown Arts Association (KTAA) members have been working together all weekend-long to hang a new group show. Opening next Saturday (3 May), Kemp Town’s Rock Inn (pictured) is one of the new venues to be part of the Artists Open Houses (AOH) season, and a space exclusively displaying work by twenty KTAA members.

Running virtually all-month, from 3 to 26 May, it’s the first time KTAA has exhibited at this  local landmark, which has changed ownership and undergone a major rethink and refit. Restored, renewed, and generously sharing its May relaunch with KTAA, visitors will find its ground and first-floor walls peppered with our artworks. A wide variety of disciplines are represented. These include watercolour, acrylic and oil painting, print making such as riso, air brushing, collage, digital art, mixed media works, and some sumptuous fine art photography.

The month-long exhibition is a chance for the public to experience a substantial quantity of work by KTAA’s creative collective, juxtaposed side-by-side. It’s also an opportunity to purchase some of these exciting works. These range from prints to large-scale paintings with prices starting at £20 and going up  to around £1000; many pieces being within the £50 to £75 bracket. The month-long exhibition will be open during pub hours, which should bring good visitor numbers and allow the work a reach an even wider demographic, such as local pub-goers, tourists and families that may not typically visit art exhibitions.

Stand-out pieces

Among the many stand-out art works on display, don’t miss Barbara E. Alcock’s dynamic and highly stylised oil painting Eye to Eye (£600), which depicts a hound just aching to snatch someone’s fish dinner; Diya Wen’s Brighton Impression – a mesmerising semi-abstract cityscape (pictured. acrylic on canvas, £980), and Christina Perry’s exquisite oil pastel and acrylic study of Feet (£120). Perry, incidentally, is sending all proceeds from her works to support humanitarian aid in Gaza.

‘We have an eclectic mix of mediums on display that truly reflects the incredible breadth of work our members create,’ says Camilla Ellingsen Webster, KTAA Chair. ‘Twenty of 64 members have opted to be in the show, so it’s a wonderfully exciting time for us as a group.’

A warm welcome

All KTAA members, friends and family are invited to patronise The Rock Inn, now an independent free-house is poised to become a much-needed sanctuary for creative souls. Thanks to its friendly new team of owners, inside the transformation extends to beautiful wooden floors, three distinct bar areas, an event room upstairs, and a sun-trap terrace garden. Elsewhere, we also peeped inside a cavernous basement with a mysterious and dizzyingly deep well. Don’t worry it’s covered with a sturdy metal grill. We understand the room once served as a subterranean disco, but perhaps you know the Rock Inn from previous incarnations as The Curzon or The Mad Hatter Inn.

‘…it’s a wonderfully exciting time for us as a group,’ says Ellingsen Webster

‘We love everything about the Rock Inn and are very grateful for the warm welcome to Kemp Town,’ the owners posted on social media. ‘We’ve been overwhelmed and encouraged by the kindness of people we’ve met or who’ve stopped by to wish us well and seem excited to have a pub at this end of the village.’ …We’re restoring and reclaiming where possible, not ripping everything out,’ the owners have said. The results are impressive, but hopefully you’ll see for yourselves when you visit the exhibition or join us celebrating at the Private View on Saturday 3 May, 7-11pm.

‘To anyone reading this,’ adds Ellingsen Webster, ‘  KTAA is always looking for more artists to join us, so do get in touch. I’ve got to say a huge thank-you to the members that helped us hang and curate the show,’ she adds, ‘as well as the new owners of the pub who have been such supporters of the KTAA and Kemp Town community. We’re thrilled the pub is open again,’ she says, ‘and hope this is the start of a continued relationship with them.’

Representing KTAA at The Rock Inn you can expect to encounter works by:

Aengus Rathbone Mixed media
Aga Biel Photography
Amanda Denton-Knowles Print making
Barbara Alcock Painting
Benjamin Verran Photography
Camilla Ellingsen Webster Photography
Christina Perry Mixed media
David G. Taylor Mixed media
Diya Wen Painting
Helen Nestor Painting
Jared Orlin Print making
Jeff Lyons Painting
Ken Webster Print making
Lucy Myers Painting
Lyn Rohde Painting
Maggie Philo Painting
Nick Philo Painting
Sarah Agnew Photography
Serena Sussex Painting
Sophie Hewett Photography

 

• Visit KTAA’s Artists Open Houses exhibition, 3-26 May at The Rock Inn, 7 Rock Street, Kemp Town, Brighton & Hove, BN2 1NF. https://www.rockinnkemptown.co.uk

For full details of Brighton’s AOH season, including photos and individual artist’s information,
go to https://aoh.org.uk

Text by David G Taylor written on Sunday 27 April 2025. Image of The Rock Inn exterior by Camilla Ellingsen Webster. Image of Diya Wen by David G Taylor.