Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Stephen Bushnell to Oxmarket for a 2 week exhibition. Stephen was born & grew up in London and worked for Local Government until moving to West Sussex in 1997.

Stephen has always owned a camera and was excited to make the move from 35mm film to his first digital camera in 2004.

Having completed a photography course in 2016 Stephen decided to work towards making photography a key part of his life. In 2019 he started work on his first major photography project, which as a priority in his life, shaped what has now become his Alphabet Collections.

The work he has produced on this, his inaugural project, was intended to explore as many different ideas and genre as possible and by using the alphabet, he has been able to focus on 26 different themes.

The main focus of his work is around trying to be creative in what he sees and captures with his camera, although that is only part of the process. Having a creative idea upfront will sometimes drive the places and subjects that he chooses to go to and photograph but there are also times when the creative idea comes after a photo shoot, when Stephen is looking at the images he has captured. 

A key driver for Stephen has been to try and produce a collection of works that offers something a little bit different.

The majority of his work is printed using a range of different types of Giclee archival grade, acid free paper at 230gsm or 320gsm. A small number of Gloss prints are offered printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper and all prints measure 15 X 10 inches with a surrounding white mount. In some cases canvas prints are available printed on a premium quality 420g polycotton canvas, coated with a UV protection varnish.

At the very least, Stephen hopes visitors to his exhibition will leave knowing that they have seen something a bit different, not just a collection of printed photographs but also a number of creative ideas or a group of photographs that seen together, tell a story.  He hopes it might influence some visitors to pause and think more about pictures they may take in the future or perhaps research some of the subject areas, places or charities that he has presented to them through his work.

Finally, Stephen would encourage visitors to look for pictures (single or collectively) that might provoke memories or their imagination, to perhaps think beyond the image they see.  He has taken many photographs as part of this project without fully understanding the true history or background behind them, only to be uplifted when through research, he has fully appreciated the true meaning of a place, subject or sculpture afterwards.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back The Borderlands Artists who are a long-established group of professional contemporary artists who live on the borders of Surrey, Hampshire, and Sussex. The members include painters, printers, sculptors, ceramists, and photographers. They exhibit individually and collectively throughout the south of England. In addition, they meet regularly to draw, critique, and support each other.

Most of the members of Borderlands have a degree in fine art and have worked in a variety of occupations from graphic design to teaching students in secondary school, and tutoring life drawing, watercolour and other media to adults. Some have exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and have work exhibited in the USA, Europe and even Africa!

The exhibition will showcase each artist’s work and is an eclectic mixture of large and small works from large vibrant abstracts to smaller floral watercolours, large theatrical and miniature still life oil paintings, small oil and watercolour landscapes, contemplative acrylics, collage and print, textile wall hangings, and even featuring the birds of Chichester Harbour. Such is the range of artworks that there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back 3 members of The Focus Group for an exhibition in our Wilson Gallery. Iain McGowan, Nigel Chapman and Bill McKnight are all members of the Focus Group who have exhibited at Oxmarket on several occasions.

Their work is often different, Iain likes to make collages of images, Nigel is well known for photographing plants and flowers while Bill concentrates on landscapes. They bring together their collective styles for a 2 week exhibition of recent work.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome the art group Where The Art Is in our Wilson Gallery. The artists are part of a larger weekly art group who come from very different working backgrounds and are a diverse but collaborative group. The group is guided by two highly experienced, talented teachers who nurture their creativity.

Where The Art Is collective art is characterised by the use of different materials and media, including gyotaku (printing with fish scales) linocut, collagraph, clay, pastel, ink, watercolour and acrylic. Their ethos is that there is no right or wrong, no failure, only experimentation.

Where The Art Is would love their art to convey the delight and playful engagement they experience together in their group and the satisfaction gained by expressing themselves through art. The artists all use a huge variety of different materials and techniques, depending on the project they are exploring, and are constantly developing an array of skills demonstrated by their teachers.

The artists from the group exhibiting at the gallery are David Aplin, Sybille Bulloch, Trisha Burgess, Barbara Graham, Tanya Hatton, Peter Watts.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Robyn Jacobs - ‘Expedition’ to the John Rank gallery for a 2 week exhibition. Robyn was born in New Zealand and moved to the UK in 1990, she lives and works in Hampshire and London. Completing her BA at UCA (Farnham) in 2013 was integral to establishing herself as an artist and gave her the platform to begin to build a body of work. Robyn experiments in a conceptual manner and has developed an art practice that seeks to learn through making. Robyn went on to further her education in 2022 by completing an MA. Her training has been central to developing an interest in site-responsive works and her focus on place recurs repeatedly in her practice. Part of Robyn’s motivation is to create meaning in the context of her adopted home whilst acknowledging the distance of time and location of the country she left behind.

Robyn has a multi-disciplined practice in mediums such as drawing, painting, film and 3D. Her work concerns itself with physical and psychological interpretation of place and engages with materiality and process within the context of site and/or activity. Accumulation and rhythm, layering and building are some of the techniques used in order for the work to take form. Robyn’s New Zealand background and local history inform her ideas and are embedded in the outcomes.

Robyn would like her work to generate curiosity and intrigue in the viewer while remaining rigorous to process and material. It is her aim to continue to explore methods in her practice that ask questions and experiment through gathering knowledge in the process of making. The investigative nature of the work explores the space between the familiar and the unfamiliar. This is an ongoing concern and challenge but one she continues to pursue and would like her art to communicate.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back Chichester Open Studies (COS) for their 25th anniversary with a ‘Snap-Shot’ Exhibition in our John Rank and Wilson Galleries. This exhibition promises an intriguing preview of the artistic diversity and creativity that will be on display during the Art Trail.

COS Art Trail 2026 – A Celebration of Creativity Across the District - Snapshot Exhibition 14th – 26th April

The highly anticipated Chichester Open Studios Art Trail returns this spring, promising two inspiring weekends filled with creativity, discovery, and community. Running across 116 venues, this year’s Trail features an impressive 164 artists, making it one of the most significant events in the Chichester area’s art calendar.

Experience art up close by stepping into working studios and distinctive venues. Meet renowned artists alongside fresh emerging talent and enjoy a rare chance to connect with the people and processes behind the work. The Trail includes a diverse range of creatives - painters, sculptors, ceramicists, textile artists, metal workers, leatherworks, handmade instruments and many more all ready to share their inspiration, processes, and passion.

Oxmarket are proud to honour our long-standing relationship with Chichester Open Studios, and are looking forward to hosting their ‘Snapshot’ exhibition which we have been doing since its inception and who this year celebrate an impressive 25 years of creativity in Chichester.

This milestone year also offers a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the dedication of the many volunteers whose passion and commitment have enabled both Chichester Open Studios and Oxmarket Contemporary to flourish and continue to grow.

Together, we mark our shared milestones, and the artists who have helped shape Chichester Open Studios Art Trail. The ‘Snapshot’ Exhibition brings together one work from each artist and provides visitors with a glimpse of the breadth and vitality of the local creative community before the art trail in May.

Pick up a free COS26 Art Trail Guide from Oxmarket Contemporary Gallery (off East Street), Pallant House, (North Pallant, off East Street), Artisan Gallery (North Street), Novium Museum (off West Street) and a host of other local outlets to plan your journey.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back Sandra Izard for a solo exhibition in the Wilson Gallery. Sandra moved to Chichester at the age of 4. Now based in the nearby village of Slindon, her work is deeply rooted in the landscape of West Sussex. The South Downs, together with the intimate world of the local pond and her garden, form a continuing presence within her practice. Drawing and painting have long been both instinct and necessity. During walks, she gathers impressions through quick sketches and handwritten notes, later developing these observations into resolved works in the studio. These initial marks capture light, movement and atmosphere, allowing memory and emotion to shape the finished piece as much as direct observation. Largely self-taught, Sandra works across mixed media, allowing each subject to determine its materials and process. Colour plays a central role in her work; layered washes, translucent veils and unexpected tonal contrasts evoke shifting skies, changing seasons and reflected light. Her palette ranges from muted, contemplative hues to moments of heightened intensity, mirroring the rhythms of the natural world. Texture is equally important. Surfaces are built through layering, scraping, and reworking, creating depth and a tactile quality that invites close viewing. Fluid passages of watercolour sit alongside more structured marks, producing a dialogue between spontaneity and control. Influenced by artists such as Ivon Hitchens and Peter Iden, her work reflects a profound sense of place, balancing abstraction and representation. Renowned particularly for her watercolours, she captures fleeting moments in the flora and fauna of the South Downs with sensitivity and vitality. Sandra’s work has been widely exhibited and is held in private collections internationally. Commissions include work for the National Trust and illustration for a children’s book

Oxmarket are thrilled to welcome ART of Living to the John Rank gallery, this exhibition is collaborative and is being kindly supported by The Arts Society and Promedica. ART of Living brings together Stonepillow, the Aldingbourne Trust, the Apuldram Centre and Chichester College to celebrate how art supports personal growth, confidence and wellbeing. Although each organisation works with different communities — including people experiencing homelessness, adults with learning disabilities and young people with special educational needs — they all share a belief that creativity offers a powerful way for individuals to express themselves, build skills, connect with others and shape their own journeys. This exhibition highlights the strength, resilience and individuality of every artist, showing how art helps people discover not only their creativity but the deeper art of living.

Oxmarket are pleased to welcome Tim Oelman to the Wilson Gallery for a 2 week exhibition titled Mali Meets Morocco. Born in Wales, Tim grew up in Sussex and attended London Metropolitan University for an MA in Art, Design and Visual Culture. He went on to study tapestry at Morley College.

Tim is a handwoven tapestry artist whose work is mainly inspired by the visual arts of Mali and Morocco with a particular interest in exploring sign and symbol. His work also includes small-scale basket weaving and Malian mudcloth (bogolan).

Recent work has explored the markings and tones of seashore pebbles.

This exhibition coincides with the twentieth anniversary of his first trip to Mali and to the fabled city of Timbuktu.

Oxmarket are delighted to have an exhibition of work by Catherine Church. Catherine’s studio is based near Twyford, in Hampshire; she takes her inspiration from the flowers, plants and natural forms that she finds in gardens and on walks around this area and beyond. She trained as a theatre maker and is Artistic Director of Platform 4 – a national touring performance company – www.platform4.org

Her flower paintings are in collections all over the world, they are joyful, life-affirming, richly detailed and endlessly fascinating. There is much to discover in the complex layers of pattern, texture and bold colour. She works on canvas with household paint, oil, acrylic, pearlised paint and pencil. In January, she was chosen as one of the 10 artists to watch in 2026 by SheerLuxe magazine.  

Catherine says “I paint because it makes me unbelievably happy, everything makes me happy when I’m painting, I love it. I love how I feel when I paint, how it relaxes me, how I can get into a zone when I am doing it and block everything else out’.

Catherine is influenced by the painter Paul Klee and the Bauhaus Movement in as much as their use of forms and circles fascinate her. Klimt is also an influence for Catherine particularly the gold decorative nature of Klimt’s work and exquisite depictions of nature and flowers.

Catherine hopes that visitors can look within the paintings and appreciate the playful nature of the forms she paints – the colour combinations and the use of texture from scratches, pearlized lines drawn, how the negative space works – whether filled in with another colour or left as the background.

Oxmarket are looking forward to welcoming Phoenix Contemporary Textiles in the John Rank gallery with their exhibition Wild and Wilder! Formed in 1992 Phoenix Contemporary Textiles is a group of artists with established and diverse textile-inspired practices.  They exhibit every two years as this allows the members time to work on their own projects and to explore their themes in depth.

Phoenix hold monthly meetings allowing them to maintain a continual dialogue about their work and so ensure that their exhibitions are cohesive and thought provoking.

With imaginative and innovative exhibitions, they set out to stimulate new ideas and challenge people’s perception of textile art by bringing together a variety of ideas and media to create large and small scale wall-hung and three-dimensional artwork.

Phoenix exhibitions offer different perspectives on a common theme and their artistic responses to WILD and WILDER! range from exploring the natural world via crazy portraits, to extreme architecture. Some of the members of Phoenix will be at the gallery on Saturday 7th March if you would like to come in and meet them. Members of Phoenix Contemporary Textiles taking part in this exhibition are:

Maria-Ghislaine Beauce textiles

Joan Bingley  wirework, mixed media

Lynne Butt     artwork

Hazel Cilia  artwork, textiles

Jo Coombes   textiles, mixed media

Rosaline Darby   textiles, mixed media

Kate Davis     textile

Bobbie Frances  textile

Joan Glasgow      textiles

Robertta McPherson  embroidery

Patti Taylor    mixed media, books

Linda Walsh  mixed media

Joan West      basketry

Octagon is a local collective of creative souls who met while studying art, and continued as a group for support, friendship and critical encouragement. Oxmarket are delighted to welcome the members for their latest exhibition ‘Red and Green, Seldom Seen’.

The artists have given themselves the challenge of a restricted palette in their chosen media. They may only use red and green which are complimentary colours opposite each other on the colour wheel. This creates high contrast, strong impact, and a balance of warm and cool. With the inclusion of black and white, the outcomes are exciting.

Bea Veness has employed solid blocks of colour to produce screenprints inspired by plants.

Maggie Bacon has also used screenprinting to create a series of striking abstracts.

Linda Nevill has worked in mixed media on paper to make her ’dreamscapes’ that include stitching and collage.

Sue England and Carolyn Mackwood have both focused on trees in the landscape, working in oils, playing with tone and scale in small paintings.

Jennifer Smith and Amy Tattersall have also been drawn to nature when creating beautiful small oil paintings, with Jennifer working on board in her hyper-realistic style, and Amy using a variety of grounds for her abstracts.

Sam McCormack has collaborated with the elements to produce images on fabric, incorporating ink, paint and stitch.

Edvard Munch said ‘Colours live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied..’ Visitors to this Octagon exhibition will certainly witness this.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Nina Troitzky and Gaila Clarke Hall for a 2 week exhibition in the Wilson Gallery during February.

Nina Troitzky - Nina is the daughter of a Russian emigré and born in Yugoslavia. She moved to England in 1953 and studied at the Leeds College of Art before going onto icon painting with Ira Kvastowctz undertaking many commissions in the UK and America. After a period of of painting in the Dutch still life manner Nina studied at the Chelsea School of Art with John Watson and Jo McGill. She has shown in many exhibitions.  

Nina’s art practice is based on experimentation investigating the properties of chosen materials – the aim of the work is to address concepts of fragmentation, layering and repetition with the intention of questioning assumed notions of perception. Concepts of her work embrace installation, drawing, printing photography and three dimensional works.

Her most recent work is inspired by ancient art cave discoveries – raising the question whether art is inherent condition of human existence.

Gaila Clarke Hall - Gaila originally studied sculpture at Camberwell Art School, attended the Brera in Milan, did stone carving in Florence and taught sculpture briefly at the Betzalel Art School in Jerusalem.  Latterly she has taken up ceramics, exhibiting in Open Studios, Art trails and Physic Garden exhibitions.  Her ceramics have been shown at Gallery 57 and are currently on show at the Flock Gallery in Kington.

Gaila says ‘Handbuilding ceramics is a slow, calm process rooted in silence.  I’ve no idea what will emerge as I start on the process.  In the hands of the moment, whatever that is, a rhythm develops between intention and chance.  The increasing disconnection from physical reality gives the tangible, three dimensional, language greater meaning.  Making forms out of the mess of clay increases my love of simplicity and prehistoric art.  Hands and tools leave marks that resemble ancient calligraphies which take me back into time, connecting me with the cave paintings and rock art of our beginnings whose art inspires me’. 

Gaila makes simple bowls and taller forms, flat or rotund, which can be used as vases for branches or grasses.  Her pots are unglazed and most are porous.  The open and closed forms create different feelings: a sense of containment or expansiveness, of emptiness or solidity. 

Scott Younger will be exhibiting with Oxmarket for the first time in the John Rank Gallery and his exhibition is an introduction to his work and embraces aspects of our world – people, landscapes, suburbia, iniquity etc - both inner and outer realms. The World is Scott’s oyster. He is an Internationalist having resided for a year or longer in eleven countries.

Scott has worked, taking part in expeditions, exploring, photographing and wandering freely while living and scrutinising at local levels around labyrinthine and hidden corners of the world. Some of Scott’s favourite times have been with people who he cannot speak with owing to language differences. He says ‘We always have a wonderful time and I will always, wonder and wander’.

Scott says ‘The World is a Beautiful place. The vast majority of people are benevolent ... we are all the same the World over. We enjoy/need the same things ... fortunately there are differences in aestheticism, arts, sciences, and lifestyles’. 

Scott enjoys all forms of photography – film, digital, and all older forms of photos. He learnt photography in the film era and develops and prints his own film photos in his silver gelatin darkroom using archival processes. All prints are on Ilford Galerie Paper, Selenium Toned. He also uses digital cameras, editing photos in his digital darkroom and printing on archival digital paper.  Scott has been taking photos for over 40 years, his exhibition shows just a snippet of his catalogue.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back Nicola Rose for an exhibition in the John Rank gallery, after a recent relocation to Shetland. Nicola’s love of wild and dramatic weather and landscapes means that she has this in abundance, Shetland’s wild seas, huge skies and ancient granite cliffs where glaciers once scoured dominate the land. Nicola loves the massive rock stacks which stand tall against the battering of waves and wind in the ever-changing light and feels that the land and sea have an intense physical presence. Nicola says ‘When the wind rests the silence is just as powerful and moon and stars rise into skies free of man-made light. It is beautiful and breathtaking’.

The paintings in this exhibition reflect Nicola’s need for isolated and remote wilderness in which she can immerse herself and explore in her paintings the extremes of weather and light. The process of her paintings continues to develop. The small board paintings are “en plein air”  as direct responses to her surroundings. The larger canvases, evolved from these along with drawings and photographs, are made in the studio. Paint and raw pigments are layered up, volcanic sand becomes part of the surface expressing the elemental contrast of light and shadow and dark. 

It is the ever-changing nature of this place that will continue to inspire Nicola.

Oxmarket are thrilled to welcome back sculptor Steve Bicknell for his third show at Oxmarket Gallery. Steve will be showing a range of ceramic and bronze sculptures in the Wilson Gallery displayed to give a sense of the dramatic! The show will feature several new bronzes and ceramics depicting the element of suffering of humanity.

Steve commented “I let the clay lead the direction of the piece, I like to experiment recognising that there will be many failures, but when a form emerges that shows promise, the sense of joy is fantastic”.

Steve likes the atmosphere at Oxmarket and feels the setting for his pieces work, he is looking forward to meeting old friends and new while stewarding his exhibition.

Oxmarket are excited to welcome Kate Thorpe to the Wilson Gallery who works as a mixed media, contemporary abstract artist while running her design business (Kate Britain) in Bosham, West Sussex.

Kate studied Art & Design at Worthing Art College, before going to London College of Printing (now UAL: University of the Arts London) for Graphic Design & Typography. Kate approaches her artwork in a variety of ways, often creating miniature versions of larger works, her preferred mediums include oil, acrilic, charcoal, pencil, collage and ink.

Kate’s background in graphic design and typography often draws her back to her computer, where she incorporates digital layering techniques. Her mixed media, contemporary abstract works combine materials, parodies of famous works, portraits, satire, quotes, photography, and found objects.

This black and white, new body of work has evolved very recently for Kate. Her pieces would normally have a bright and cheery colour palette. This work brings together the aesthetics of Punk, Street Art and Graffiti but in monochrome. Where once flyers were ripped, newspapers cut, lyrics scrawled and walls sprayed, nothing edited, nothing  approved; now has black bars, crossed-out emails, documents erased and missing footage.

Redaction is the modern language of control, words muted or removed to manage a new narrative.

The work responds by making the edit visible. These works treat censorship like street art but scribbled over, reworked, and exposed. What’s missing is the message beneath. 

The more carefully something is managed, the louder its absence becomes. This work treats redaction as contemporary culture. Black bars function as a new movement.

Kate will be in the Gallery as “Artist in Residence”, and she would be delighted to discuss her work and technique. If you would like to meet Kate she will be at the gallery on the following dates between 10am and 1pm.

 Artist in Residence Dates

20th Tuesday January

21st Wednesday January

22nd Thursday January

23rd Friday January

24th Saturday January

27th Tuesday January

28th Wednesday January

29th Thursday January

30th Friday January

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Sara Hill to the John Rank for her first exhibition in Chichester. Sara’s work is a mixture of oils on canvas and detailed drawings portraying seas and the natural world. 

Sara reflects on the Victorians who had a penchant for using birds and beetles as fashion items, leading some to the brink of extinction. Sara prefers to honor wildlife as subjects to incorporate into her paintings, she feels there is a strength in nature that we can harness to enrich our lives and our creativity. Sara’s intention is to draw the observer in to discover a hidden world that isn’t immediately obvious, taking time to absorb the intricacies in the artworks. 

Sara has had over 100 exhibitions, mostly solo, across the UK and Berlin and sells her paintings worldwide, her work has also appeared many times on TV’s BBC1 and 2, ITV1 and the Disney Channel and Sara has a permanent corporate exhibition in Brighton.

Last year Sara made the reckless decision to have her own personal Bonfire of the Vanities and burned around four dozen paintings. She found the experience cathartic and in doing so has made her current body of work more relevant.

Affordable Art & Own Art — Supporting Local Creativity in Chichester

Chichester is home to a vibrant and growing arts scene where creativity, accessibility, and community connection are at the heart of what we do. Local artists and makers showcase original works in a range of media—from painting, printmaking, sculpture and photography to ceramics, textiles and mixed media.  Affordable Art hopes to encourage everyone to discover, enjoy and collect contemporary work without feeling priced out of the experience.

Local venues such as Oxmarket in Chichester participate in the Own Art scheme. Own Art is a national initiative, supported by the Arts Council England, making it easy and affordable for anyone and everyone to buy contemporary art and craft from one of our exhibitions. The scheme allows you to buy a piece of art with 10 interest free payments spread over 10 months, giving everyone the opportunity to enjoy original artworks while supporting creative talent.

Catherine Barnes starts 2026 with an exhibition of her paintings in the Wilson Gallery at Oxmarket Contemporary. Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Catherine back for her seventh solo exhibition at the gallery since 2014. She is showing a variety of paintings, drawings and prints, mainly developed over the past two years since her 2024 exhibition at Oxmarket Contemporary.

Born in London, Catherine Barnes moved to Chichester in 2008, having exhibited in galleries, art fairs and privately in London, the UK and Europe since the 1980s.  Exhibiting at Oxmarket Contemporary provides a good exhibition space and is free to all visitors. Catherine, during her exhibition, will be in the gallery between 2.00 and 4.00 pm each day.

You will find that the Wilson Gallery will be hung with paintings  of different subject matter. A) Nature, B) The City’s River Lavant, C) Coastal, D) Light and structures, E) Figurative and historical. Some are site-specific but most are conceived as more a poetical interpretation.

As well as her 35 works showing on the walls, Catherine presents a variety of works mounted and packed in the two browsers ready to frame. All work is Catherine’s original paintings, drawings and prints.

www.catherinebarnes.com

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Art Invisible to take over the Wilson Gallery as part of the Gifted Exhibition which runs from 9th - 23rd December. Based in Emsworth and part of The Right to Work CIC, Art Invisible aims to improve the life chances and opportunities for artists with learning disabilities (LD). Art Invisible are dedicated to empowering artists with LD, to have their artwork seen and their voices heard within the contemporary art world.  For their artists, access to conventional art education and employment opportunities have been extremely limited or non existent. Art Invisible aims to create pathways to overcome these barriers, creating opportunities, greater fulfilment and increased self esteem.  

By implementing key resources, support systems, professional development and opportunities, Art Invisible artists should be able to build careers as professional creatives earning both recognition and for some, a meaningful income from their work. Art Invisible works to overcome the under representation of artists with LD working and exhibiting within the mainstream art sector, allowing their wonderful work to be appreciated by many. 

Oxmarket are delighted to celebrate this wonderful time of year with a seasonal exhibition bringing together artists and makers in the lead up to Christmas. All the artworks on show represent the joy and pleasure of this season and celebrating with others through the giving of gifts and the wonder of a winter landscape. We invite our gallery visitors to enjoy browsing in this Winter Wonderland and perhaps find that treasured gift for a loved one from our talented exhibitors. 

The exhibition includes artists, printmakers, glass artists, ceramicists and more...... please join us in ending the year at Oxmarket Contemporary with this warm and inviting exhibition. 

Oxmarket Contemporary are delighted that The Southern Ceramic Group will be with us across both galleries in November.

50 Years Fired Up - the 50th Anniversary of the Southern Ceramic Group

The Southern Ceramic Group was started in 1975 by a small group of enthusiastic potters. Their aim was to enable potters and sculptors normally working alone to meet other like-minded people and share ideas and techniques. The idea worked so well that the Southern Ceramic Group now has over 200 members from Hampshire, West Sussex and the surrounding counties. Our members are potters, sculptors, professional and amateurs, teachers and students, collectors and enthusiasts. The Southern Ceramic Group consists of keen ceramicists who live and work in the South of England and share a passion for creating in clay. The members are as diverse as the objects they create. Some have spent a lifetime perfecting their craft while others have come to it only recently, after careers ranging from engineering to medicine to dance and teaching. What they all share is intense creativity and a love of clay.

The Society of Designer Craftsmen – one of the UK’s largest and most prestigious craft organisations – brings its latest exhibition to Oxmarket Contemporary in Chichester this autumn. 

Supporting its members through major exhibitions, events and creative networks, the Society offers contemporary makers the opportunity to be part of a family that stretches back over 140 years and includes a rollcall of some of the most famous names in craft design and thinking.

Designer Craft – Tales in the Making promises to be more than an exhibition of beautiful craft, it will also be an invitation to peep inside the creative world of the makers themselves. Every work shown will carry a story: a memory, an influence, a spark of inspiration, a material choice or intricacies of the making process. These narrative fragments may intrigue or inform but all will offer fascinating insights into the journey from concept to craft.

Over 40 talented members of the Society will be showcasing work across a wide range of disciplines – ceramics, feltmaking, glassmaking, furniture, mosaics, jewellery, metalwork, printmaking, textiles, paper, weaving and woodcarving & turning. Shown together, these practices illuminate the breadth and vitality of contemporary craft, offering visitors the chance to encounter original works, many being shown for the first time. All works are for sale and the show offers an excellent opportunity for art and craft collectors and well as those seeking to buy unique, hand-crafted pieces destined to be treasured for generations.

To complement the exhibition, artist demonstrations will take place on most days. Visitors will have the opportunity to see craft skills in action – from weaving and embroidery to feltmaking, ceramics, and printmaking – offering a rare chance to meet the makers and watch them at work.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome back Martyn Jones with his exhibition in the Wilson Gallery ‘Aquarelle’.

Martyn Jones is a painter who works from his studio in Cardiff. Jones graduated M.A. Fine Art, Chelsea School of Art and was awarded a Junior Fellowship at Bath Academy of Art. Among his tutors were the British artists Partrick Heron and Adrian Heath. His work is represented by Ffin-y-Parc Gallery, Wales, Gloria Delson Contemporary, Los Angeles, U.S.A., Lambert Fine Art, U.K.

Jones says 'My experiences of the world are the prime material for painting, employing my personal alphabet of shapes and colour. The watercolours included in this exhibition are a response to natural form and the world at large, generally completed on the spot, 'plein air'. My responses are really a stream of consciousness that I hope evokes the way in which I see the world, which to me is always a place of beauty’.

zero3 was formed in 2003 from graduates of the Stitched Textiles course at Windsor College, Berkshire. Oxmarket Contemporary is excited to welcome the group who celebrate twenty-two years of exhibiting together. The collective was founded to give its members a route to exhibiting their work and to benefit from shared expertise and inspiration. The group has never imposed a theme on the work produced, believing that each artist is involved in their studio practice following their own exploration. This is the sixteenth exhibition for zero3. 

One of the founding members is still with the group, Janet Atherton, whilst Janet Twinn joined some two years later. Others have moved on, and new members have been introduced, some of whom have worked with the collective for more than 14 years.

After twenty-two years, the collective still seeks to share the current output of its members. Monthly meetings have been held since the outset to plan an annual and biannual exhibition programme, discuss works in progress, visit contemporary exhibitions together and share skills in workshop settings. Members have taken routes from many starting points, including traditional quilt making, stitched textiles, mixed media and fine art approaches. Moving forward, zero3’s broad-minded definition of a contemporary textile and mixed media studio practice means that they embrace any shifting direction (on or off the wall) that their members wish to pursue. The members taking part in Signature XII at Oxmarket are Janet Atherton, Janine Ayres, Amanda Duke, Bobbie Frances, Alison Garrett, Susie Grace, Rosemary Hufton, Katherine King, Janet McCallum, Janet Twinn and Anna Woodhead.

Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Richard Dunkley to the Wilson Gallery for a 2 week exhibition of his photographs. Richard Dunkley had a 35 year career in fashion and advertising photography during which he worked for Vogue in five countries and many other magazines.  Based in New York for thirteen years he worked for many American and International clients, including book and record covers.  Richard won numerous awards for his advertising photography including The New York One Club Gold for a Mary Quant Cosmetics campaign.

Richard is now based in Chichester and concentrates on his personal work for exhibitions and two book projects, ‘Chair Stories’ now in pre publication and ‘The Written Word’ aimed at publication in 2026. Richard’s exhibition showcases his beautiful photography in black and white and colour.

Oxmarket are looking forward to an exhibition from four artists titled ‘Time…..’ in our John Rank Gallery.

Linda Foskett trained as a Cartographical Draughtsman at the Ordnance Survey and now enjoys the freedom of all forms of artwork. The thrill is when drawing, painting or printing a landscape she can now place a road, tree or a building wherever she wishes! As a multimedia artist Linda loves painting from nature.  Large and small Landscapes or Seascapes of the local Sussex area. Mainly oil paintings often taking these subjects into printmaking where they become more abstract.

Alexandra Beale is a sculptor and painter creating expressive figurative and semi-abstract works for house and garden. Working in bronze, bronze resin, ceramic, and oil, she focuses on capturing presence and movement-whether in a seven-foot figure or an intimate clay portrait. Self-taught and shaped by masterclasses, Alexandra has sculpted for over 30 years and sells and teaches from her home studio in West Sussex.

Sue Green is a painter inspired by the turbulence of the English Channel and the cultural intrigue of Parisian ‘café life’, Sue’s work is exhibited both nationally and internationally, including in ‘The International Contemporary Masters Volume VII’. A perception of movement is a consistent theme throughout Sue’s portfolio, which is achieved through her versatility in brushwork to embrace the subject matter. Renowned for an extensive palette of subtle hues contrasted with vibrant and tenacious colour, Sue’s art indulges in immersive depth and elegantly integrates abstract impressionism with contemporary vigour.

Frances Knight is a contemporary landscape artist working mainly in oils. She paints outside on location directly from nature, and then works on larger paintings from these studies once back in the studio. Interested in the interplay between abstraction and representation, she seeks to express an inner dialogue between subjective experience and objective reality. Her paintings are a joyful expression of light, colour and atmosphere.

Oxmarket are looking forward to being one of the touring venues for Chichester Festival Theatre’s new exhibition - New Ventures. Discover the fringe venues that inspired the opening of The Nest.

This intriguing new exhibition, will now tour local partner venues, to celebrate the unique history of temporary theatre spaces at CFT – all the way back to New Ventures and The Tent, exploring the roots of the CFT Studio Company and Theatre on the Fly, and never forgetting Theatre in the Park and The Spiegeltent! 

The fourteen artists of Artel are delighted to be returning to Oxmarket Contemporary for their annual collective exhibition - ‘The Space Between’. This band of local creatives came together in 1997 to inspire, generate and incubate work through the sharing of ideas and experiences. Each year, collective thinking arrives at a conceptual theme for this show, and the artists forensically examine and respond to the subject in their individual ways. This year’s choice ‘The Space Between’ will be no exception.

Painting in oils, Sue England explores the separation, reflection and illusion created by windows; Ceramics artist Maureen Brigden’s intriguing sculptures consider how division creates misunderstanding and confusion; Also working in clay, Liz Hanan presents bookends and books that sit between them, each with their unique story, and oversized keys that symbolize home and security; Sculptor Helen Solly reflects on physical and emotional space between people when creating figurative sculptures in metal; Jackie Knee’s charcoal drawings express imagined spaces, suggesting a sense of dwelling, connection and belonging. Linda Nevill, mixed media artist, shows colourful dreamscapes that describe the space between waking and sleeping; Martin Smith’s abstract oil paintings demonstrate space between colour, wavelength and tonal values; Deborah Richards observed the silvery Solent from many viewpoints, and her monotypes depict this ever-changing watery space between mainland and the Isle of Wight; The intensely stitched pieces made by Carol Naylor are inspired by the spaces between sky, land and clouds; Bosham harbour is the inspiration for Isabel Dodson’s seascape collages, which explore the relationship between the manmade and nature; Working in watercolour, Bridget Woods hopes to promote an awareness of interconnecting energy fields; Deborah Mitchelson reflects on her emotions when walking in the landscape, and challenges the viewer’s spatial awareness by encouraging the consideration of the space between her painting and ceramic work; abstract painter Lorraine Molins shows a very large triptych directly inspired by trees and the spaces between the branches; Tiffany Robinson presents burnished wooden panels depicting portals, challenging perception.

Artel would like visitors to spend time and consider their thought-provoking work. A member of the group will always be in attendance to discuss and answer questions. It will be a stimulating, worthwhile visit.