Viva Lewes Issue #114 March 2016

in town this month: art
coming a Bloomsbury household, and is using the
money to fund a massive refurbishment, building a
new gallery, as well as a new car park, and various
other facilities.
The building work won’t be completed until summer
2017; in the meantime Charleston’s curator Darren
Clarke has organised an exhibition, at Pelham House
in Lewes, featuring the work of their artist-in-residence,
the photographer Axel Hesslenberg.
Darren has given us a preview of the photos that
will be on show: the exhibition will be, in effect,
a celebration of what goes on at Charleston today.
And so images of the farmhouse interiors will sit
alongside pictures of the artworks on the walls, of
various cultural celebrities at their two literary festivals
(Grayson Perry and Tom Stoppard, above, for
example), of Charleston’s employees and volunteers
at work, and of the rebuilding process in progress.
It’s a taster, in effect, for what to expect Charleston
Farmhouse to look like next year, when all the refurbishments
are complete, and when the gallery is
up and running. A show which will be able to cast
yet more light on the design and artwork that was
created in this remarkable rural retreat, and on its
influence and influences. Alex Leith
Charleston Centenary Project - Securing a unique
inheritance. Photographs by Axel Hesslenberg. Pelham
House, March 4th to April 14th, free entry
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