A Festive Hullabaloo

A FeSTiVe HuLLABALoo!

Christmas 2020 Exhibition The CUCKMERE & FLiNT Rooms, Crypt Gallery, Church Street, Seaford. open daily Mon – Sat 10am – 4pm, Sun 12pm – 3pm from Sat 28th Nov until Sun 20th dec

After a very tough year for the visual arts Phil Duncan of the Sussex Arts Collective is delighted to be able to stage this group’s 2020 Christmas show HULLABALOO! at the Crypt Gallery from Saturday 28th November. Offering a diverse range of quality yet affordable fine art and craft work you will undoubtedly discover a wealth of a unique range of one-off, the original ArtKlock Sussex landscape themed designs

of thoughtful and highly unique gifts and treats for the contemporary marquetry art

festive season direct from local artists and makers.

HULLABALOO! will be Phil Duncan’s eleventh Christmas show but sadly his last. Increased costs and greater restrictions have made it untenable for him to stick to his guiding principles. So the Sussex Arts Collective will be taking a break and will return in the future when things are more favourable.

This month’s featured member, Stefan Mucha epitomises what the Sussex Arts Collective is all about: an artist using traditional skills but applied in a contemporary way.

CoLLECTioNS 2020 SPoTLiGHT

Stefan Mucha

Stefan trained in marketing communications and design-for-print at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art. He was a creative director in marketing and advertising design agencies for more than 30 years, creating award-winning advertising campaigns for several blue-chip multi-national technology leaders. Stefan more pursue other creative endeavours.

Set-up in January 2018, ArtKlocks is an artisan home studio-workshop based in Uckfield specialising in the design and handcrafting wood veneer, and mixed media marquetry art-timepieces. ArtKlock timepieces combine high-tech CNC machining with traditional handcraft marquetry using natural and striking engineered wood veneers together with mixed-media abstracts. Each ArtKlock is designed with a minimalist aesthetic and meticulously finished. Following feedback from exhibition visitors, several of were created as a series of Giclée Fine Art Prints and greetings cards designed with a minimalist aesthetic. Stefan, alongside partner and graphic designer Amanda Lewis-Clements, further created and exhibited a range of artworks inspired by their local Sussex coastline and Downs under the banner of Sussex Art Prints.

Stefan has also been creating recently transitioned out from the advertising world to

pieces using a range of natural, dyed and engineered wood veneers and other substrates. From the textures, colours, and grain patterns in the wood veneers he is inspired to create pareidolic affected pieces. Almost as much as image creation, Stefan enjoys the crafting process of marquetry using the simple tool of a scalpel and a steady hand, aiming for precision in cut and fit to complete the finished piece. In addition to his career in design in 2005 Stefan was a co-founder of award-winning Polish history publisher Aquila Polonica. Stefan was awarded the Gold Medal of the Polish Army on 1st December, 2010, for his work with the team that created the Polish Armed Forces Memorial at the National Arboretum, Staffordshire. In 2011, Stefan was further awarded the Medal Pro Memoria by Minister of War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, Dr Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski of the Government of the Republic of Poland.

Contact him via www.klocks.co.uk, wwwsussexartprints. co.uk, Instagram: @artklocks/sussexartprints.co.uk. Images from top: Bishopstone ArtKlock; Beachy Head; Stefan Mucha.