BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:11963@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260707T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260815T000000 DTSTAMP:20260515T142159Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/summer-open-2026-southport-land- sand-sand/ SUMMARY:ArtHouse Gallery: Summer Open 2026: Southport: Land\, Sand & Sand DESCRIPTION:ArtHouse\, EastBank Street\, Southport\n\n7th July – 15th A ugust 2026\n\n \;\n\nWith all eyes turned towards Southport this summe r as the Golf comes to town\, Southport Contemporary Art’s gallery in E astbank Street - the ArtHouse – is also rolling out the red carpet with its theme of “Southport: Land\, Sand &\; Sea” for this year’s much-anticipated Summer Open Art Exhibition.  As co-Director of SCA\, Nor rie Beswick-Calvert\, explains: “Our Summer Open is all set to show off the unique qualities of Southport to all of the visitors we will have in town for the Golf Championships. Many of the visitors won't have visited Southport before and we'll be bringing a taste of all that they might en joy to their doorstep with a show that explores and celebrates Southport' s Land\, Sand &\; Sea.”\n\n \;\n\nSCA has established a reputatio n for bringing together a range of high quality contemporary art and craft from both emerging and established artists throughout the year and this y ear’s Summer Open will unmistakeably demonstrate the scope of creativity and artistic talent across the region.  Open to artists and makers livin g in the Liverpool City Region or Lancashire\, there will be plenty to att ract even the most discerning connoisseur at this year’s wide-ranging sh ow: “This fabulous showcase of work that celebrates our town and it's f abulous buildings as well as our open spaces including of course our famou s golf courses\, beachfront\, bird reserves\, parks\, vast sandscape and big skies\, will appeal to golfers\, followers and families alike”.\n\n& nbsp\;\n\nOriginally from Liverpool but now living and working in Burscoug h\, mixed-media artist\, Amanda Clark-Price has always been keen to pass her skills onto others at her popular SCA classes and at the Ainsdale Disc overy Centre as part of their ‘Back From the Brink - Gems in the Dunes ’ project.  After many years developing artwork in others\, Amanda is now really enjoying having the space to focus on producing her own distinc tive artwork.  In 2021 she had her first solo show at The ArtHouse and f or this year’s Summer Open Amanda’s watercolour\, soft pastel and colo ured pencil study ‘Salt Marsh Skies’ was inspired by one of her expl orative investigations out into the unique environment around Southport:  “It's one of a series I did from some photographs I took one Sunday morn ing looking over the salt marsh out to sea near Marshside - one of those b right but stormy looking mornings. I wanted to capture the drama and exagg erate the colours and contrasts”.\n\n \;\n\nAlso from Burscough\, Be cky Atherton’s regal ‘The Protection of Salus’ painting draws atte ntion to the imposing sculpted face of the ancient Roman goddess carved hi gh above the central 3rd storey window of an iconic Grade II-listed Victo rian building on Lord Street: “While being part of the SCA Heritage Gro up\, we explored number 479-481 in Lord Street\, a beautiful blue tiled\, Victorian eclectic building. During the making part of the project my inte rest was sparked by the female head situated at the top of the building of ten surrounded by pigeons! The groups researched and found and named her a s Salus the Roman Goddess of safety\, welfare\, health and prosperity. I w onder is Salus still protecting the people of Southport today and in turn are the pigeons protecting her?”\n\n \;\n\nAlthough professional ph otographer\, Guy Keen\, originally studied photography at Southport Colleg e of Art back in the days of shooting 35mm film using medium format camera s and developing his own prints in a darkroom\, he went on to have a succ essful career in the Fire Service for 30 years but never lost his lifelong passion for photography:\n\n \;\n\n“I was an early adopter of digit al and the bulk of my development was self-taught with the assistance of Y ou Tube and lots of experimentation. I started my own photography business in 2013\, and last year I rebranded and opened ‘House of Monochrome’ specialising in bespoke fine art monochrome work\, incorporating landscape \, documentary and portraiture work”. \n\n \;\n\nBlack and White ph otography has always been his preferred metier: “Since my teens when I first discovered the magic of a monochrome image appearing before my eyes in a home made darkroom and seeing the incredible work of photography mast ers such as Ansel Adams\, I’ve been hooked on black and white photograph y. My main camera is Leica M10 monochrome\, a modern reincarnation of a fi lm camera first made in the 1950’s. The camera has a monochrome sensor\, incapable of recording colour\, but captures exceptional quality black an d white images. For the majority of my work I use a small number of niche lenses\, carefully chosen for their unique ability to render images that c ombine optical excellence with vintage character”.\n\n \;\n\nGuy wil l be featuring his evocative image of Ainsdale’s iconic pine woodlands\,  “Cloistered Glade”\, in the Summer Open.\n\n \;\n\nLiverpool bo rn artist\, Anthony Coulthurst\, returned to the North West in 2019 having lived in London for over 30 years following the completion of a Fine Art degree. Having previously enjoyed working across a variety of different me dia including printmaking\, pastel\, watercolour and acrylic\, for the las t few years Anthony has worked almost exclusively in collage: “The impr ovisational quality of collage makes it particularly suited to representin g transient effects - the assembling then re-assembling of disparate items in tune with the ever changing environment”.\n\n \;\n\nIn his colou rful mixed media submission\, ‘Picnic’\, Anthony “wanted to create something with a sense of excitement and fun. I have therefore made all o bjects as simple as possible and concentrated on the mood. The exact locat ion in Southport is ambiguous but somewhere near the sea as indicated by t he inclusion of a beach ball and a Herring Gull”.\n\n \;\n\nAlso fr om Liverpool\, Alice Lenkiewicz\, who enjoyed a solo exhibition at The Ar tHouse in 2020\, enjoys working with acrylic and oil on canvas because of their “immediacy\, varied drying times and vibrant colours”. She wil l be exhibiting two paintings\, “View of Hesketh Park” which was act ually painted out on location at the park and the mysterious ‘Woman at a Window’ which was prompted by an Art Nouveau styled stained-glass win dow in Wayfarers Arcade originally designed by prominent local architect\, George E. Bolshaw in the 1890’s: “’Woman at a Window’ was inspir ed by the Renaissance tradition of profile portraiture\, particularly the Florentine Quattrocento portraits that idealised beauty\, virtue and statu s within calm interior settings. I painted the lady from imagination\, all owing the imagery to unfold naturally\, but I wanted to place her within a distinctive interior space and began searching for a suitable window desi gn. Climbing the staircase inside Wayfarers Arcade I discovered a beautifu l stained-glass window with flowing floral forms and soft colours intended to maximise light beneath the arcade’s glass roof. I was captivated by their beauty and wanted to pay tribute to them within my painting”.\n\n& nbsp\;\n\nMulti-talented\, local textile creative\, Barbara Richardson\,  certainly has more than one string to her bow with her artistic output emb racing mixed media\, felt making\, botanical dying\, batik work and curren tly print making. A graduate of Roehampton Institute in Education and Art in London\, specialising in textiles\, Barbara has always been passionate about passing on the diverse skills of her craft to others: “I have tau ght secondary Art in Croydon\, Liverpool and Hampshire but have spent the past 20 years sharing the love of my subject with primary age pupils\, whi le continuing to develop my own work.”\n\n \;\n\nA longstanding conv ert to beachcombing\, Barbara is often found discovering the treasures was hed up on the Southport seafront: “I take inspiration from our coastlin e and the natural materials found along the shore. I develop my finished p ieces from photographs and sketchbook studies incorporating sea-washed sto ne\, wood\, glass and botanicals to reflect the changing light and colour palette that defines the shifting boundaries between land and sea.”\n\n& nbsp\;\n\nOn display is Barbara’s contemporary screen print of the inimi table historic architecture of Southport that was created from detailed co llages constructed from self-generated photographs\, sketchbook studies an d recycled magazine print type: “My collaged image of Southport celeb rates Lord Street\, Southport's famous boulevard lined with ornate Victori an shop fronts and decorative brickwork”.\n\n \;\n\nThis year’s c elebratory Summer Open will kick-start with a special Preview Evening (6-8 pm) on the 7th July at ArtHouse\, 65 Eastbank Street\, Southport PR8 1EJ .  The exhibition will continue until 15th August (Tuesday – Friday 10 am-3pm &\; 11am-4pm on Saturdays). ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2026/05/AmandaClarkPrice-SaltMarshSkies.png CATEGORIES:Exhibitions LOCATION:ArtHouse Gallery\, 65 Eastbank Street\, Southport\, Sefton\, PR81E J\, Southport\, United Kingdom GEO:53.645169;-3.004323 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=65 Eastbank Street\, Southp ort\, Sefton\, PR81EJ\, Southport\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TI TLE=ArtHouse Gallery:geo:53.645169,-3.004323 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR