SE22 May 2022

Dulwich Festival 13-22 May, 2022

Now in its 29th year, the Dulwich Festival welcomes the live return of the Artists’ Open House event this month celebrating the diverse local creative talent in Dulwich and surrounding areas.

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his year a staggering 400 local artists will participate, in 180 venues, many of them opening their homes and studios to the public, providing a personal dialogue and insight into their work, as well as the opportunity to purchase directly from them.

This year’s AOH includes a variety of artforms: from fine art to craft and ceramics; furniture and homewares; photography and prints; sculpture and street art; jewellery and textiles. The event also affords a rare opportunity to explore the diverse range of local artistic spaces; from pop-up galleries at national heritage houses, to studio-lined cobbled Mews and creative enclaves hidden beneath railway arches.

AOH has been held online for the past two years and this year’s event gives a glimpse of brilliant new work from artists and makers emerging from the months of the pandemic.

Former fashion designer turned internationally renowned sculptor, Nicole Farhi, will exhibit her new collection ‘Womankind’, at Dulwich Prep London. The work is a study in the power of touch – the importance of which is now valued all the more – and concentrates on fragments of the female body as if looking through the lens of a camera. The sculptures celebrate the bonds of female friendship, kindness, empathy and love.

Amy Gardner, a multidisciplinary artist in Camberwell, also celebrates womanhood.

Her fine art and prints respectfully nod to the movement and ‘history of effort’ gifted from previous generations of women.

Over in Forest Hill, Painter, Ian Robinson, works with iconic retro objects from UK pop culture, inspired by people’s passions and their collections, whilst Emily Jo Gibbs, creates handstitched Portraits and Still Lifes. Examples of her work are to be found in The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Inspired by her Peckham surroundings, visual artist, Katrina Adams, will present vividly abstract two- and three-dimensional artworks.

Also in Peckham, Mark Pearson, will exhibit figurative paintings of his neighbourhood, many of which were heavily influenced by the newly created pedestrianised spaces during lockdown.

‘Love in the Time of Covid’ is the title given to photographer Patrice d’Hotman de Villier’s playful body of work, created during lockdown and to be displayed at the Old College Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Samer Moukarzel, another photographer, cycled around Dulwich during lockdown capturing portraits of families through their windows and front doors. ‘Portrait at a Distance’ will be exhibited at the Peace and Riot cafe. Sarah Eyton’s ‘Flowers in the Time of Corona’ is a collection of layered, evocative photographic images made in response to the lockdowns and reflecting the challenges of isolation.

Amongst the artists exhibiting at The Paxton in Gipsy Hill is Jodie Glen-Martin, who created a daily butterfly during lockdown using box-fresh acrylic paint and metal leaf in 2D, which she then posted on Instagram. The finished piece, which took a year to make, will

Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House Weekend of 14th & 15th May and 21st & 22nd May 2022 | d