Summer Open 2025, ArtHouse, EastBank Street, Southport, 8th – 26th July 2025
A sure sign that Summer has arrived is when Southport Contemporary Art’s gallery in Eastbank Street – the ArtHouse – throws open its doors to welcome visitors to its much-anticipated Summer Open Exhibition.
SCA has established a reputation for bringing together a range of high quality contemporary art and craft from both emerging and established artists throughout the year and this year’s Summer Open will unmistakeably demonstrate the scope of creativity and artistic talent across the region.
Co-Director of SCA, Norrie Beswick-Calvert explains this year’s theme: “The 2025 Summer Open will celebrate the joyful feeling and colours of Summer and the diversity of activities that the Summer season allows us to get involved with whether that’s music festivals, beach picnics or tea and cake in the garden. As always with our Open Exhibitions we’re excited to be hosting work from the wider community and reviewing the submissions for our Summer Open 2025 looks like being a really interesting and uplifting show”.
Norrie sets the tone of this year’s show with her own ambitious entry, “Ocean Flora”: “Summer intensifies the colour around us and this holds true for the amazing underwater flora that I glimpse and explore on my summer beach walks”.
Open to Artists and Makers living in the Liverpool City Region or Lancashire, there will be plenty to attract even the most discerning connoisseur at this year’s wide-ranging show.
Originally born and brought up in Liverpool, Ainsdale artist Anthony Coulthurst moved to London to complete a Fine Art degree before returning to his roots 30 years later in 2019: “I have worked in many different media over the years including printmaking, pastel, watercolour and acrylic. For the last few years I have worked exclusively in collage after seeing some collages by American artist, Romare Bearden, which encouraged me to look into the medium and was impressed by the expressive possibilities”.
An obsessive ‘drawer’ even before he started primary school, Anthony’s 2025 collage, “Fallen Tree, Petts Wood”, is a riot of texture and tumbling pattern: “I lived in Petts Wood for twelve years and have produced several works on the subject of fallen trees in the South East London area. I am attracted to the resilience/persistence of nature and how fallen trees grow back stronger. The improvisational quality of collage makes it particularly suited to representing these transient effects. I see these pictures as being optimistic”.
Equally well versed at recycling the ephemera of everyday life, local mixed-media artist, Suzanna Gregg’s cutting-edge collages are sensitive ‘cut-and-paste’ asse
Memories of holidaying in Cornwall became the muse for two of her current images on display: “A single surfer alone on Fistral Beach early one morning was the inspiration for a mixed media piece. She looked so tiny on the wide expanse of sand with the waves rushing in”. Equally arresting is Suzanna’s abstract collage – “Elements of Summer” – that creatively “evokes the atmosphere of hot summer days along the beautiful coast of Cornwall”.
Textile artist and designer, Jo Landy from Formby, who has many years experience teaching in further and higher education and working as a freelance designer at international level, is also seduced by the serendipity of working in collage: “I love experimenting with layering and collage, using my garden and local environment as starting points”.
“Alliums and Cow Parsley” sympathetically mixes batik, inks and stitch and has direct links to the ornamentation of flowers in her own garden: “I am passionate about using recycled or found materials that are hand dyed or painted. Natural dyes are of particular interest to me”.
Based on Jo’s continued investigation into documenting the beauty of trees throughout the seasons, another entry – “Abundance” – skilfully incorporates print, stitch and collage to creatively articulate her vision.
In a change from her usual tactile approach, Janet Hatch from Maghull recently decided to test the artistic waters by working with oils: “I had never used the medium before but decided to give it a good go. It’s now my favourite, especially when used with cold wax. I love the way it moves. Gradually I’m getting more confident in this medium and hopefully won’t get bored for a long time”.
Her experimental sequential quadtych – “Summer Evenings” – on show at this year’s Summer Open is her personal interpretation of the Sefton coastline, skilfully using atmospheric Impressionistic gestures to evoke the mood of the tranquil landscape.
This year’s Summer Open will kick-start with a special Preview Evening (6-8pm) on Tuesday 8th July and remain on show until 26th July at ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Southport PR8 1EJ. Opening times: Tuesday – Friday: 10am-3pm & Saturday: 11am-4pm.
