Galleries - June 2012

Focus on the SOUTH EAST 24. GALLERIES JUNE 12 Kent & East Sussex When it was decided to add an art gallery at Mascalls , a comprehensive school at Paddock Wood, it was envisaged that it would serve as more than a facility for the students. After a succession of exhibitions of veterans such as Moore, Sutherland and Piper, they are now giving a rightly applauded airing to the work of 93 year old Roland Collins whose colourful gouaches continue the romantic topographic tradition of much 20th century British art. Another Kent Gallery, Pratt Contemporary, presents two shows of Ana Maria Pacheco’s work for the Salisbury Festival – sculpture in the cathedral and prints in the Salisbury & South Wilts Museum. To see her figures pieces, especially, in this numinous medieval setting is required viewing. Along the south coast meanwhile much is afoot, helped by the influx of artists shifting south from an over-crowded metropolis. St Leonards and Hastings, Folkestone and Margate have long been destinations if not of choice then of pocket. The subject of Turner Contemporary's summer exhibition, Tracey Emin, shouldn't put one off: the gallery has generated £13.8m for the local economy. It's just such a boost that the Hastings Arts Forum hopes to provide, a community-based organisation dedicated to developing the town as a major centre for the arts. This positive approach seems to be endemic to the area: eminent printmaker Brenda Hartill has long fostered awareness of the skills that underlie her work and at her Open Studio this month visitors can enjoy the variety of her output. Brenda Hartill was brought up in New Zealand: abstract artist David Armitage , now based in East Hoathly, spent much of his life there. Is there something about the place which engenders a particular sensitivity for texture, colour and space? Returning to the printmaking theme, down in Eastbourne Emma Mason specialises in contemporary British prints and assists young artists with projects, such as the Portcullis House series commissioned by the House of Commons, available this month. If you're in Eastbourne but can't get to Paddock Wood, Roland Collins is also featured in an exhibition about the Sussex coastline at the Towner Gallery, 'A Point of Departure'. SD A drian Berg ‘Second lake, Sheffield Park’ at Pallant House. Brenda Hartill ‘Rainbow Memory VI’, at Brenda Hartill &RUQILHOG7HUDFH (DVWERXUQH (6XVH[ %1 11 ZZZ HPPDPDVRQFRXN HPPDPDVRQ *$//(5< 6SHFLDOLVWVLQRULJLQDO %ULWLVK3ULQWV