Art and Culture: Towner Eastbourne's new Spring exhibitions focus on three creative British Artists

After the resounding success of hosting the 2023 Turner Prize, Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne is gearing up to unveil its latest Spring exhibitions, featuring the works of three talented British artists starting this May.

Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne launches "Melting Ice / Rising Tide"
featuring Emma Stibbon's extensive exploration of polar ice melt.  The exhibition, running from May 9 to September 15, 2024,aims to bridge the perceived gap between remote polar extremes and our immediate local environment. 
Photo by Lucia Carpio

Towner Eastbourne

Making her debut with a large-scale showcase at a prestigious UK institution is Emma Stibbon. Her exhibition, titled "Melting Ice / Rising Tides," delves into the profound beauty and vulnerability of our planet, specifically focusing on the warming polar regions and its repercussions on the UK coastline.  Stibbon's extensive exploration of polar ice melt, culminating in her exhibition running from May 9 to September 15, 2024, aims to bridge the perceived gap between remote polar extremes and our immediate local environment.

Emma Stibbon's Dark Horizon, 2023

At the heart of the exhibition lies "Cliff Fall, 2024" a monumental wall drawing and installation portraying the increasing occurrence of rock falls that are an increasingly common occurrence on the UK coastline.  The breathtaking installation—an 8-meter-wide lifelike drawing of a Sussex cliff face - is accompanied by a reconstruction depicting the gradual erosion and cascading chalk rocks into the gallery space, it confronts viewers with the visceral impact of coastal degradation.

Emma Stibbon's Cliff Fall, 2024, installation at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne.
Photo by Lucia Carpio

Emma Stibbon standing amidst her Cliff Fall, 2004 installation at Towner Art Gallery.
Photo by Lucia Carpio

Accompanying this centerpiece are Stibbon’s evocative large-scale drawings and prints, depicting vast ice fields and towering bergs, inspired by her recent expeditions to Svalbard and the Weddell Sea, Antarctica.  Facing the Cliff Fall installation is Breaker, Stibbon's 2023 work using ink, sea salt and Eastbourne sea water on paper.

Emma Stibbon with her painting Breaker, 2023, in ink, sea salt and Eastbourne sea water on paper.
Photo by Lucia Carpio

Through a narrative of coastal dynamics and transformation, the exhibition offers a visceral reminder of the interconnectedness between global climate shifts and our familiar landscapes.

The exhibition’s narrative around coastal movement, change and erosion, will be completed with a range of new drawings of the sea and coastline of Sussex.

For a number of years Stibbon has been observing and recording the precariousness of the polar ice sheets and glaciers and the profound effect that ice melt is having on global sea level rise.  Melting Ice/Rising Tides, running from May 9 to September 15 2024,  will be a culmination of this work, making important connections between the apparent remote extremes of our planet and our local environment. 

The show will create an immersive experience for the viewer, aiming to act as a stark reminder that the seemingly remote events of polar ice sheet melt is directly connected with the changes that we are witnessing in our local, more familiar UK landscape.  The theme of "Melting Ice / Rising Tides," strikes a poignant chord given Eastbourne's coastal setting, nestled amidst the Beachy Head and South Downs National Park, where parts of its coastline is experiencing gradual erosion into the English Channel.

The work of another artist, Maria Amidu, featured from May 4 to September 8 2024, under "Future Collect Commission in the perpetual back and forth," explores the intricate interplay between paper and text. Her installation, "26,778,780 minutes," comprising laser-etched handmade abaca fibre paper, prompts contemplation on the concept of 'desire lines.' Audience participation becomes integral to the artwork's experience, as viewers are invited to interact with the prints, reflecting on fragility and collective care within a public gallery setting.  Future Collect is a three-year programme designed to create a dynamic new model to transform the culture of commissioning and collecting within museums.

Maria Amidu

Finally, Florence Peake presents "Factual Actual: Ensemble," a groundbreaking interdisciplinary installation showcased from May 9 to June 16, 2024, accompanied by performances on June 1st and 2nd. Known for her innovative fusion of choreography and visual art, Peake challenges traditional notions of painting and gallery space. Through a series of performances, Peake animates her towering canvases, creating a dynamic dialogue between movement, sound, and materiality. The monumental floor-to-ceiling painting, "Ensemble," serves as a testament to Peake's collaborative ethos, crafted in partnership with various community groups, embodying a rich tapestry of collective expression.

Florence Peake

Re-interpreting and expanding on a performance at the National Gallery in London in 2021, FACTUAL ACTUAL presents seven towering paintings on unstretched canvases that levitate above a reflective dance floor. The canvases will be draped like carcasses, waiting to be animated. Five dancers using a rig and pulley system will hoist, lower, collapse, fold and drag the paintings throughout the performances. Shifting between flat and sculptural forms, the paintings create a cacophony of sound, a sea-like sonic soundscape live in the gallery.  A 45m long, floor-to-ceiling frieze-style painting, Ensemble, envelops the gallery’s walls and the viewer at Towner Eastbourne. Respected for her unusual approach and non hierarchical process, Peake often works with a multitude of collaborators. This new painting was created through a series of workshops held at Southwark Park Galleries, London, in November 2022. Working with some of Southwark Park Galleries’ regular community groups – over 55s, young people and families – participants were invited to mark the canvas with Peake through their collective movements, which Peake then further developed in her studio over a period of three months. 

Images courtesy of Towner Eastbourne.

Art and Gallery News: Sharon Stone's paintings delve into "the Power of Confronting Vulnerability" now on show in San Francisco

Renowned Hollywood star Sharon Stone unveils a new exhibition of her paintings in San Francisco, delving into the theme of "The Power of Confronting Vulnerability."  

The Bay by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, diptych 48" x 96"

Taking place at Gallery 181, of 181 Fremont Residences, the show, entitled: "My Eternal Failure" running from April 11 until August 31 2024,  presents a collection of 18 never-before-seen paintings curated by Stone herself.   This exhibition serves as a poignant reflection on the artist's transformative experiences during her six-year tenure in San Francisco, a period marked by profound vulnerability. Through this collection, Stone pays homage to the city where she discovered the resilience to overcome life's most daunting challenges.  Each painting serves as a testament to her resilience in overcoming life's most daunting obstacles.

Following the resounding success of her previous exhibitions in Los Angeles, Greenwich, and Berlin (now running until May 18 2024), this marks Stone's fourth solo exhibition within a year, attesting to her enduring creative prowess and profound impact on the art world.

Jester by Sharon Stone (2023).
Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 18"

Located at an altitude of 700 feet in the sky, the Gallery 181 serves as the crown of this majestic tower developed by Jay Paul Company (JPC).  The visually dramatic space on the 69th floor is the “highest art gallery in the world,” offers unparalleled views of the Pacific Ocean, the Bay Bridge, and San Francisco's iconic landmarks.

Stone's near-death experience in San Francisco in 2001 profoundly influenced her artistic vision, enabling her to perceive colours in a newfound light. This creative breakthrough birthed her journey into painting, a transformative process she continues to explore today.

“We are thrilled to bring the powerful art of Sharon Stone for the first time to San Francisco. As a former resident of the City, she is integral to our cultural fabric and we are honoured to welcome her back with this new gallery show," says Matt Lituchy, the Chief Investment Officer of JPC. “181 Fremont is committed to celebrating the intersection of art and our community with provocative and intriguing programs like this one.”     

Portrait of Sharon Stone, by Eric Michael Roy

The near death experience of Sharon Stone’s 2001 brain injury in San Francisco profoundly impacted her creativity, allowing her to see colours in a whole new way.  The trauma, which almost ended her life, forever changed her relationship to colour ‒ expanding her ability to see more colours around her than ever before. 

“This creative breakthrough happened to me in San Francisco, eventually leading me to a whole new world of creativity where I’m at today, through painting,” says Sharon Stone.

The Bridge by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"

The sense of place of this exhibition reinforces “in situ” references – works of art that are made for a specific place, or that reference the site in which they are to be shown.

Works that reflect their surroundings or the architecture framing them, revealing the complex relationship people have to a place.     Stone captured inspiration for several of the new works from the landscapes and diversity of people in San Francisco, yet she also wanted to paint the story of her time in the early 2000s when she lived in this place.

The exhibition centers on healing by confronting the vulnerabilities she experienced.

“I want this art exhibition to serve as a vehicle for self-forgiveness, and I hope it can help others do the same by letting go of societal stigmas and imposed perceptions,” says Stone.

“In this way, failures become sources of strength, and to face them is to keep growing. The exhibition’s title My Eternal Failure is freeing for me,” says Stone.    Stone admits it’s not easy returning to the places where she’s been hurt, but she is doing it. Returning to the scene where it happened and releasing it.

“Perhaps the softer way would have been to just ignore and avoid it, but I’m choosing to learn from it. This new series of paintings required me to look into the darkest corners of my life, and it was liberating,” says Stone.

“There was the bad space, but there is also the good space of making it through to the other side” adds Stone.    

Bonne Nuit by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"

Stone also has a gallery show currently in Europe at Galerie Deschler Berlin (on view now until May 18 2024). More than 14,000 people have visited Stone's Berlin exhibition since it opened on Feb. 7. Her Berlin show will be featured during the upcoming Gallery Weekend Berlin (April 26-28), one of the leading contemporary art events in Europe attracting more than 30,000 visitors from around the world.

Stone's exhibitions in both Berlin and San Francisco underscore her enduring impact on the global art scene, earning accolades from esteemed critics like Jerry Saltz (the Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism) and art historian Martin Oskar Kramer.  

“In a sort of mystic unraveling, I see someone living a life in art. Being a freedom machine. She more than survives. Sharon Stone walked through the valley of death and into an art supply store,” says Jerry Saltz in his extensive artist interview with Stone on vuture.com

The art historian Martin Oskar Kramer (Ph.D., Princeton University), says: “Stone’s paintings exude a raw and spontaneously expressive quality, resulting from a shifting alchemy of chaos and structure. An expression of the feminine that is deeply in touch with natural forces, fundamentally untamable. The recurring elements and symbols in her paintings signify change, flow and metamorphosis.” 

Artist: New York gallery showcases paintings by Hollywood actress Sharon Stone

The C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, has launched the East Coast premiere of Sharon Stone’s paintings with the new exhibition Sharon Stone: Welcome To My Garden, on view now through December 3.

Sharon Stone with some of her paintings.

The gallery show features 19 paintings by Stone, and is the first time her artworks are exhibited outside of Los Angeles. 

Stone's art is praised by collectors and art world luminaries, including Jerry Saltz (the Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism). 

Protection, Peace, and Power, by Sharon Stone (acrylic on canvas). 

“I created these works to understand the essence of pure creativity that comes from heartfelt truth, to let go of the noise, the judgements, and the pollution of our societal pulls,” says Sharon Stone in a press release.

A State of Affairs, by Sharon Stone (acrylic on canvas). 

Her connection to nature is always visually present. “Colour becomes a wavelength for me,” says Stone. “Being a colourist moves the directions of my paintings. Colour speaks to me.”

The show was curated by Tiffany Benincasa, the owner/curator of C. Parker Gallery.

Exhibition: Towner Eastbourne hosts landmark Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life - May 27 - September 3

by Lucia Carpio and Alan Tyler, Content Editors

Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life* - a landmark retrospective exhibition of the iconic British artist's work - is launched at Towner Eastbourne Saturday May 27, running to September 3 2023.  This is one of the major events to mark the gallery's centenary celebrations this year.

The exterior walls of Towner Eastbourne featuring a large-scale colourful geometric artwork is entitled Dance Diagonal (2019) by UK-based German artist Lothar Götz.  The artwork was commissioned to mark the 10th anniversary of the gallery's move from its originalhome in Eastbourne’s Old Town.  Götz was chosen from 60 artists and designers.  The award-winning building was designed by Rick Mather Architects.
Photo by Alan Tyler

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, particularly within the realm of sculpture, Barbara Hepworth's innovative approach to form, her exploration of abstraction, and her ability to merge organic and geometric elements in her works were ground-breaking and had a significant impact on the development of modern sculpture.

Barbara Hepworth's sculptures often conveyed a sense of transcendence and spirituality, through the interplay of positive and negative spaces, the use of light and shadow, and the incorporation of voids. 
Above, in the space for Metal and Movement are three sculptures.  From left to right, Forms in Movement (Galliard), 1956, Copper; Curved Form (Trevalgan), 1956, Bronze; and Sea Form (Porthmeor), 1958, Bronze.
Photo by Alan Tyler

Hepworth's wide-ranging interests in music, dance, theatre, politics, and literature also informed her artistic practice. These influences shaped her approach to form, space, rhythm, and materials, leading to the creation of sculptures that embodied a harmonious relationship between nature, the arts, and society. 

Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1903, Hepworth was trained in sculpture at Leeds School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art where she was exposed to various artistic disciplines, including theatre and stage design.

Barbara Hepworth's Totem, 1961-62.  Marble.
© Bowness. Wakefield Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield)
Photograph on mural shows the artist in her Cornwall studio, the Palais de Danse in St. Ives.
Photo by Lucia Carpio

The exhibition opens with a introduction to the artist's work.  Visitors are greeted with Totem, a white marble sculpture created in 1961-62.  And this space is enhanced by a mural depicting an enlarged photograph that transport visitors to Hepworth's world.  Taken in 1961, the photo shows Hepworth in her studio Palais de Danse, in St Ives, Cornwall, with a series of her sculptures.

Elsewhere in a space for Metal and Movement are three imposing sculptural forms that the artist returned to repeatedly throughout her career using a variety of different materials.  Created in 1956, after a period of 30 years, Hepworth returned to making sculptures in bronze and also copper.  

Photo by Lucia Carpio

The sculptures showcase her interest in exploring the relationship between positive and negative space.  

One may look at these sculptures individually, but also observe and contemplate them collectively while sitting on a bench in front, admiring the sculptures from a seated perspective.

Through abstract forms, Hepworth reveals her enduring ability to express essential human experiences, from interpersonal relationships to our connection to the world around us. 

A detailed look at Hepworth's childhood in Yorkshire through archive material and photographs include some of the artist's earliest known paintings, carvings and life drawings as she began to explore movement and the human form.  

Barbara Hepworth's Pierced Hemisphere, 1937. White marble.
Hepworth was interested in how sculptures interacted with light, shadow,
and the viewer's perspective, aiming to evoke a sense of performance and engage the audience.  
The Hepworth Wakefield (Wakefield art Collection)
Photo by Alan Tyler

After settling in Cornwall in 1939, Hepworth was inspired and influenced by the region's unique landscape. The natural forms, textures, and contours of the Cornish coastline and countryside found expression in her sculptures. She often incorporated the idea of landscape into her works, creating abstracted forms that evoked a sense of place and the organic shapes of nature.

The theatrical world influenced her approach to the presentation and staging of her sculptures. She often considered the spatial relationship between sculptures and their surroundings, carefully positioning them in specific contexts to create a dramatic effect. Visitors to the exhibition are given space to admire Hepworth's work from different angles around the displays, experiencing Hepworth's sense of space while engaging with the pieces.

Barbara Hepworth at work on the plaster prototype for the United Nations Single Form at the Morris Singer foundry, London, May 1963.
Image by Morgan-Walls, courtesy of Towner Eastbourne

Another of Hepworth's most famous work is "Single Form" (1961-1964): Created as a memorial to the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, this monumental bronze sculpture stands at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The abstract form, with a hollow centre and pierced surfaces, symbolizes the human figure and embodies the themes of spirituality and transcendence.  At the exhibition, mounted on a large photograph of the unveiling ceremony at the UN headquarters plays a closed loop of a video depicting Hepworth's speech at the ceremony.

Barbara Hepworth's Kneeling Figure, 1932. Rosewood.
Photo by Alan Tyler

Hepworth was politically engaged, particularly during the post-World War II period. Her belief in social progress and the role of art in society influenced her work. She aimed to create sculptures that were accessible to the public and fostered a sense of community. Hepworth's interest in the politics of the time informed her exploration of themes such as unity, interconnectedness, and the human form's relationship to society.

One may recall Hepworth's "Winged Figure" (1963-1964), a monumental bronze sculpture situated outside the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, London, a prominent public artwork. It depicts a standing figure with outstretched wings, symbolizing the triumph of the human spirit. The sculpture's dynamic and graceful lines capture a sense of movement and energy.

In the foreground, Baarbara Hepworth's Bicentric Form, 1949. Limestone.
A fusion of two figures into one sculptural entity, explained Hepworth, thus expressing her interest in individual and social relationships and perhaps reference to Cornwall's ancient standing stones.
In the background is Cone and Sphere, 1973. White marble. In her last years,
she returned to working in marble in earnest.
At the back is a series of Hepworth's lithographs, created in the 1970s in reference to Man's first Moon Landing.  Hepworth embraced the impact of scientific advances with a sense of spirituality.
Photo by Alan Tyler

Hepworth had a keen interest in poetry and literature, often drawing inspiration from literary works, and found connections between the written word and the visual arts, seeking to express poetic ideas and evoke emotional responses through her sculptures. Hepworth's engagement with literature influenced her exploration of themes such as spirituality, identity, and the human condition.

Hepworth had a deep appreciation for music and dance, which found resonance in her sculptures. She often described her sculptures in musical terms, relating their rhythms, harmonies, and melodies to the movement and flow of her artworks. 

A section at the exhibition looks at Hepworth's interest in science and technology, from the bold geometric abstsact drawings and sculptures made in the 1930s and her friendship with physicist J D Bernal, through to her iconic Hospital Drawings of the 1940s, and her fascination with the Space Race in the 1960s. 

Barbara Hepworth, Tibia Graft 1949, was one of her Hospital Drawings.
Image courtesy of Towner Eastbourne

In the series of Hospital Drawings, Hepworth created immense intimacy within the operating theatre. She drew focus to the surgeons' hands, but it was in their eyes, in a face covered in surgical mask that Hepworth was able to capture the intensity of their important work.

Barbara Hepworth's Curved Form (Wave II), 1959 Bronze with steel rods
Hepworth was interested in the harmony between organic and geometric shapes,
 seeking to create a visual language that bridged the natural and the technological.
Photo by Alan Tyler

Hepworth's interest in science and technology is evident in her sculptural practice, seeking to integrate elements of scientific abstraction and mathematical principles into her work. Her sculptures often feature precise, geometric forms that reflect her engagement with scientific ideas.  She was influenced by the progressive intellectual climate of her time and the influence of movements like Constructivism. Her engagement with scientific principles and the integration of technology in her work allowed her to explore new possibilities in sculpture and reflect the changing world around her.

One example was Curved Form (Wave II) she did in 1959, which was a variation of a sculpture that Hepworth had made in 1943-44.  According to description accompanying the piece, she later wrote about creating these encircling and open shapes: "I had a studio room looking straight towards the horizon of the sea and enfolded (but with always the escape for the eye straight out to the Atlantic) by the arms of the land to the left and the right of me."   

Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life received rave reviews when previously shown at Hepworth's home town in St. Ives, then in Wakefield and Edinburgh.  Now in the Towner Eastbourne it is an opportunity to explore the iconic artist's (1903 - 1975) work in a town nestled between the south English coast and the South Downs overlooking the English Channel, an idyllic spot where the land and the sea meet, important for an artist who juxtaposed land and sea; solid and fluid.

*Barbara Hepworth Art & Life is organised by The Hepworth Wakefield in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland (Edinburgh), Tate St Ives and Towner Eastbourne.