East Sussex Open at Towner, the contemporary art museum
3 April – 3 May 2010
30 March 2010
Towner is pleased to be able to showcase the wealth of talent from its own region with its latest exhibition, the East Sussex Open. This selected open submission exhibition will run throughout the month of April, alongside Eastbourne Festival.
Hundreds of artists and makers from East Sussex submitted their best work and the panel of selectors, Towner’s Artistic Director Matthew Rowe, Exhibitions Curator Sanna Moore and The Worshipful the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Greg Szanto, picked 31 exceptional applicants to exhibit their work in the large Exhibition Halls of the new Towner.
Towner received an impressive range of submissions including paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations and photographs, from over 270 artists from the area.
The resulting exhibition, which is free to the public, is a chance for emerging and established artists to publicly display their work in an award-winning, state of the art gallery.
As well as being a fantastic platform for the visual arts in East Sussex, the open exhibition is a rare opportunity for artists to exhibit in a vast gallery space and, with a total of 668 square metres dedicated to the exhibition, and a ceiling 4.5m high, there is room for the largest of sculptures as well as the smallest of sketches!
Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet Member for Tourism, Cllr Susan Morris, said, “East Sussex Open is a brilliant idea, and one that has really captured the imaginations of artists and makers in East Sussex. I’m very pleased that the new Towner can provide artists from the region with the display space and platform they deserve.
“It’s wonderful that Towner is dedicated to promoting the wealth and diversity of the talent of our region. I would encourage everyone to get down to Towner throughout April to join us in celebrating the best that East Sussex has to offer!”
The exhibition comes at an exciting time for Towner, as the gallery is currently in the running for the prestigious Art Fund Prize, after storming its way into the top 11 galleries and museums in the UK. To be in with a chance of winning the £100,000 prize, Towner needs your vote – visit the Art Fund Prize website to show your support by voting in the public poll.
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10am – 6pm
Admission: Free
