Oxmarket are delighted to showcase work from the Sussex County Arts Club - ‘Volunteers and Prize Winners Show’ which is based in central Brighton and is open to both amateur and professional artists.  The Club was formed in 1944 by a group of disaffected artists from The Brighton Arts Club who were unhappy about their policy of not allowing female members. The premises are still where they are today, in Bond Street Cottages, a building currently with five studios that had previously been the Green Room Club, a late-night watering hole for the clientele of the Theatre Royal.

From 1944 the club thrived with large exhibitions in various locations including Brighton Museum and the Hove Library gallery. By the mid 1960’s the club had 300 members, with several branches in other parts of the county. There is a varied programme alongside the drawing and painting sessions that includes lectures and in the summer months outside sketching and weekend schools with tutors.

Sussex County Arts Club are a non-profit making organisation run by volunteers but they do pay for bookkeeping/accounts, a cleaner and of course their models! Their aim is to provide the community with cheap and affordable art sessions for all.

The art work coming to the John Rank gallery will be a mixture of painting, drawing and sculpture. One of the members will be at Oxmarket giving a talk on anatomy during their 2 week exhibition.