Saturday 5th December 2020, Steyning Centre 10am to 4pm

Good news!  Lockdown has ended just in time, and the new Tier 2 rules give us the leeway we need. So the Steyning Arts Xmas Gift Fair on December 5th is going ahead!

And this year there’s an added attraction:  a Pop-up Art Exhibition happening in parallel.

Are you dreading the prospect of heading into town to join the Yuletide shopping scrum? Why not make this a Covid-safe first stop in your festive foraging this year.  No crushing crowds jostling for identical mass-produced, forgettable items.  No frustrating delayed deliveries to be missed because you dared pop out for five minutes.

Instead, come and enjoy a much more festive and relaxed ‘shop local’ alternative.  You’ll be supporting local artists rather than boosting the profits of Amazon and the High Street chains.

It’s at the Steyning Centre on Saturday 5th December, between 10.00am and 4.00pm.

You’ll find twenty local artists offering a huge variety of gorgeous original gifts at reasonable prices.  Amongst the treasures on sale will be unique hand-crafted jewellery, tactile turned wood pieces, stunning ceramics including bowls, mugs and pots as well as colourful Christmas decorations. And as if that’s not enough, there will be delicate paper-cuts and lampshades, photographic works, textile garments and art, a variety of original mini assemblages and sculptures …and so much more.

The Pop-up Art Exhibition is happening next door in the Saxon Room. Come along to see how local artists have been directing their talents and creativity during lockdown.

The whole event is being designed to be Covid-safe, with plenty of room to circulate and a limit of 30 on the number of visitors allowed entry at any one time.

Visitors will be asked to wear masks and everyone involved will be going the extra mile to make this a safe and pleasurable shopping experience for everyone.

Entrance if free, and everyone is welcome!

For more information, and a link to our new online shop (which is ready for launch in the next few days), see the Steyning Arts website:  www.steyningarts.co.uk

Hope to see you on the 5th!

Portrait:  a Personal Interpretation – 13th/14th/15th November:

Whilst the rules we live by alter by the week, creativity and innovation live on!  Building on the success of the online Summer Exhibition, we’ve come up with a new idea for showcasing our members’ talents this autumn. We had originally planned to hold a portrait competition as a physical event at St. Andrews Church in October, in collaboration with the Steyning Grammar Art Department.  Given the circumstances, that idea has morphed into an online exhibition.  It’s being masterminded by one of our newer members, Jamie Ampleford, who has offered to put this exhibition together, with help from Sharon Norman.

Entries will be displayed online using Facebook, Instagram and the Steyning Arts website. We learned a lot during the online Summer Exhibition and have done well in building up our online audience.  The Portrait Exhibition will allow us to take it to a new level.

The deadline for submission has passed and the organisers now preparing the online Exhibition. So make a note in your diary and look out for more information on social media and our website.

Super excited to announce that Steyning’s very own Jamie Ampleford is in Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year 2020!! The series starts tomorrow 8pm, and Jamie will feature on Wednesday 21st so get watching! You can also now watch it for free on Freeview Chanel 11. Good luck with the competition Jamie – we’ll be rooting for you!

August 29^th, 30^th and 31^st and through September

We are excited to announce that 35 talented local artists will be taking part in our “Live & Online” Summer Exhibition. This is a new venture for Steyning Arts.  We’re trying out some creative ways of engaging online while also embracing generous offers from a number of local businesses to show work in shops and eateries all along the High Street.

We’ve teamed up with Steyning and District Business Chamber to organise the exhibition.   It’s timed to coincide with the annual Steyning and District Food and Drink Festival.  Our aim is to share some fresh new creative work with the community and beyond, while helping draw visitors to High Street to support our fantastic local businesses!

At the time of going to press we have artists exhibiting in:

Raft, Sakala 50 and Sakala Home, Foundry Cast Iron, Model Bakery, Vintage & Home, Springwells, Raft, St Barnabas, Old Timbers, Steyning Osteopathic Centre, and Basement 93

Do come along and take a peek at the live exhibits.  Bring your masks.  If you time it right, you might get to meet the artists too.

The online exhibition will unfold as a synchronised series of posts over the Bank Holiday weekend and will carry on throughout September. You can find it on Facebook or Instagram by searching for @steyningarts.  And please help boost our online reach by sharing, liking and commenting on your favourite images.

We look forward to seeing you around the town.

Amanda and Jenny
Co-Chairs, Steyning Arts

Sharing your #LockdownStories through art

As part of its new Vision 2030 Project, Greening Steyning is encouraging people to share their personal experiences of lockdown and their hopes for the future.

They’ve put out a special invitation to Steyning Artists to tell their #LockdownStories through their art.

It could be a painting, a sketch, a photograph, a piece of performance art in your back garden – anything you like!

A time for reflection, a time for change

Alongside the difficulties and suffering people have experienced during this time, there have been many positives too. What have we learned and how can we use this to create a more positive future for ourselves, our community and the environment?

Have you reassessed your priorities in life?  What would you like to change?

Whatever your experiences, Greening Steyning would love you to share them. By sharing we can develop our vision for a healthier, brighter future for everyone.

There’s two ways you can do this:

• By submitting photos, videos, poems and other contributions via this special Lockdown Stories page on the Greening Steyning website.
• Using Instagram, with the hashtags #steyning2030, #bramber2030 or#upperbeeding2030

Have you taken the 2030 Vision Survey?

Have you got 15 minutes to share your thoughts on what future you’d like to see for Steyning, Bramber and Beeding?

The 2030 Vision Survey is an online survey designed to bring together everyone’s ideas so we can create a shared vision for what we want our community to be like in future.

To take part in the survey, click this link https://bit.ly/2030VisionSurvey

To find out more about the survey and the 2030 Project if forms part of, visit Greening Steyning’s new website – www.greeningsteyning.org