News


Alternative Photography Workshops

Chemigram, Chemi Lumen + Plant Developers – Saturdays 23 Nov. or 14 Dec.
With Sayako Sugawara

About the Workshop: A day of experimentation and learning as an introduction to a more sustainable approach to photographic image making in a small group setting. In addition to the Chemigram process using plant developers, in this whole day session you will get to experiment with the Chemi/Cyanolumen and Phytogram process.

Chemigram Process: The Chemigram process occupies a space somewhere between painting and photography. Discover how to work with chance and observation to create unexpected and magical images using everyday household materials such as honey, butter or oil in combination with light sensitive photographic paper. The approach to image making can be as minimal or as intricate as you like.

Plant Developers: In this workshop we will be using plant developers which is less toxic and more sustainable than ordinary photographic developers. You will be introduced to the thinking behind this approach and how to make the plant developers from everyday plant material..

Workshop Structure: The first part of the workshop will introduce you to each technique with examples of artists’ works. The second part of the session you can spend time working with the process or processes of your choice in your chosen speed. Group and individual support is given throughout the workshop.

10:30 – 1:00 Introduction to the day. Starting with history and artists’ examples on Chemigram and other hybrid processes and Plant developers . This is followed by demonstrations and participants’ practical activity.

1:00 – 1:30 Lunch

1:35 – Recap and review from the morning session.

1:45pm – 4pm Participants’ practical activity.

4:00 – 4:30 Group Review

All materials including seasonal garden plants, photographic paper and chemistry is provided. However, feel free to bring your own materials such as plants, textured materials and exposed/expired photographic paper.

If you prefer to wear an apron please bring one along with you.

To book:
Saturday 23 November
Saturday 14 December

About: Sayako Sugawara is a London based Japanese artist working with a variety of photographic processes, moving image and installations. Please visit the artist’s website to learn more.

From The Ground Up

From The Ground Up | Critical Edge Collective

For their third, upcoming show at Lewisham Art House, Critical Edge Collective perceives trust in information systems as eroded to the point that everything that we think we know must be set aside and new foundations for knowledge put in place.

Within this concept, the collective sets about building a new ‘library’ from the ground up, each artist bringing with them a small collection of research materials to share with the group that will act as the raw materials from which another artist will respond.

With the hope of encouraging collaboration and discussion with other artists and members of the public, the collective also encourages visitors to the show to make work in response, with resulting artworks being added to the show for some of its duration.

By making new works in response to the research of their peers, the collective undermines the individualism of the current art market and places its emphasis on trust, sharing, learning and enquiry. Through questioning their own working methods and challenging the rigidity of the group show hang, the collective demonstrates its commitment to remaining curious, critical and playful in the face of increasing polarisation and division in the post-truth era.

PV Thursday 10 October 2024. 18.00-21.00 hrs
Show opening times:
Tues-Sun 11th-20th October 11-00-17.00 hrs
Saturday 12 October 13.00-17.00 hrs

London Open House


London Open House – 21st Sept.

We are participating in London Open House Festival again this year, giving guided tours of our beautiful Arthouse on Saturday 21st September.

We’ll focus on the history and architecture of the building, the former Deptford Central Library, which has a particular significance as one of the first purpose-built open access libraries. We will be giving tours from 10am to 6pm. We will also display archive material in our Workshop Space. Looking forward to seeing you!

Artist Crit – HOME STUDIO


Home Studio x CRIT

Come join a group of great artist interested in developing their practice collectively! For Queer and Trans Global Majority artist only!

Tuesday the 17th of September with 135homestudio at the Arthouse! 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Tickets here.

Home Studio x CRIT

For Queer and Trans Global Majority artist only!

Come join us at Lewisham Arthouse for a creative collaboration like no other! Home Studio x CRIT is where artists, designers, and makers come together to share ideas, get feedback, and inspire each other.

Depending on numbers we aim to allow each person 20 mins to share their work and receive feedback. We welcome all mediums including unfinished works or concepts that your are considering. Please think about what kind of feeback you are looking for – our aim for this is to create a safer environment to share and grow together – as it helps the audience contribute in a helpful way.

If you are unable to present this time you will automatically receive priority in our next session in October.

If you would like to share work ahead of time or have any accessibility needs please send an email to 135homestudio@gmail.com. I will have my laptop with me and can present it on my screen but it is a small screen so if you are able to bring a physical version that is great.

This is an experimental session and we are extremely open to feedback. We would love to hear your ideas on what would help you most as an artist as we continue to grow and develop.

Touch Glass

Touch Glass | Group Exhibition

Opening this September at Lewisham Arthouse, Touch Glass presents recent work and new commissions by Josh Wirz, Gabriela Avila Yiptong and Taro Qureshi in an exhibition organised and curated by Cameron McClellan.

Touch Glass’s title plays with the phrase “Touch Grass”, recently popularised as a playful insult online to encourage the target to go outside and regain touch with the natural world and their “common-sense” following too much time on social media. The exhibition instead encourages audiences to “lock in” with work exploring how technology mediates how we see the world and reflect on our place within it. Across the medium of photography, painting, performance and site-specific installation, the show addresses the “new normal” of the 2020s through a direct interrogation of ongoing crises around housing, artificial intelligence and social media content.

On the 24th of September, there will be a private view opening, open to all, with refreshments and a live activation of Josh Wirz’s “I’m Here, Soft & Haptic”, a new commission for the exhibition with Wirz appearing as a ghostly presence behind a two way mirror challenging audiences to look back. Vita Lerche will also present a live performance of “Scanner Backpack”, a project developed through her recent residency at Far Out East Gallery, documenting the world and visitors to the exhibition through the glass of the body-mounted scanner.

On Saturday the 5th of October, to mark the exhibition’s closing, R&DShow&Tell will invite artists and audience members alike to share the screen of their personal device and demonstrate how they conduct research and “waste time on the internet” in a guided question and answer session. There will also be a performance of “Filibuster” by Josh Wirz with the performer as a buttoned-up spokesperson reading from an autocue built on an endless automatically generated supply of corporate copywriting.

In addition, at 3pm on Sundays (29/9, 6/10), there will be a drop in guided tour of the exhibition and discussion led by the curator. Additional questions should be made to camcclellan8142@gmail.com

Graduate Award Scheme 2025


Deadline: Sunday 22nd September 2024.

The Deadline for this has been pushed back to the 22nd September 2024

The Lewisham Arthouse Graduate Award is an exciting opportunity providing recent graduates (between 2021-2024) with free studio space, mentorship and production support for 12 months. We provide a £500 studio stipend, £1000 for mentors, and £1000 for your final project.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and SEAL, as well as the volunteer work of Lewisham Arthouse Members.
The deadline for applications is the 22nd of September 2024.

Please see our Application Sheet before applying for details about the award. For more information about the Arthouse and the expectations from the graduate, please read our information pack. We have a few information videos about the award released through the Lewisham Arthouse Instagram page.
If you have any questions about the award or this form, please read our FAQs sheet. If your question is not answered, you can email us via graduateaward@lewishamarthouse.org.uk
We kindly ask you to complete and Equal Opportunities form with your application, the link is included at the end of this document. All information is kept anonymous.

We wish you the best of luck, and look forwards to seeing your applications!

>Click here for the Google Application Form<.

Monya Riachi – Graduate Award Scheme winner

30th January

Monya Riachi is an interdisciplinary artist. Her practice is material driven and research-led and centers matter as a site of meaning, narrative and archive. She works across a range of
mediums including sculpture, installation, moving image, sound and writing. Born and raisedlain Lebanon before moving to the United Kingdom in 2013, her practice explores themes
around loss, ecological transformation, the governance of time and the politics of land. Drawn to materials that are at risk or under threat, she works in attunement with matter’s agency and temporality, guided by Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism – where matter is generative in bringing forth [new matter and] new worlds.

Monya is based London and works between the United Kingdom and Lebanon. She holds an MFA with distinction from Glasgow School of Art and has a prior background in architecture. Her work has been exhibited in Glasgow, Beirut and London. She was awarded a Material Futures residency at Cove Park in 2023 and completed a residency with Ashkal Alwan Beirut in 2022. She is the 2024 recipient of the Lewisham Arthouse Graduate Award.


2 Studios Available

Studios Available at The Lewisham Arthouse

Studio Details:
Studio One

Permanent space- 110 sq ft at £73.40 per month available from the 1st November
This is space is shared with another member on the ground floor with natural light and a door

Studio 2

12 month sublet- 170 sq ft at £109 per month available from the 1st November
This studio is on the first floor, has a natural light and a door

Application deadline 27th September by 6pm.
Shortlisted Applicants will be contacted for an interview shortly after this date.
Interviews will be held in the week commencing the 2nd October 2023 from 6.30pm onwards via Zoom.

Lewisham Arthouse is pleased to announce that we have a new permanent studio and a 12 month studio sublet available from the start of November. We are an artist run cooperative based in the old Deptford library on Lewisham Way. Studio rent includes electricity, water, building insurance and service charges. Access to WiFi and an outdoor working area is also available.

Besides paying rent studio members are required to contribute at least 5 work hours per month in support of Lewisham Arthouse. These work hours provide staffing for our Learning, Exhibition and Events programmes as well as the running of the building and keep both the studio rents and facilities affordable. Roles are hands-on and include; working on the rolling program of exhibitions and events, fundraising, implementing education programmes, PR, health and safety and building maintenance. It’s a great way to gain professional skills and valuable experience of working within an active and friendly community organisation. Studio membership is allocated according to artistic consistency, the qualities a candidate can offer the working cooperative, a positive attitude and a commitment to be present in Lewisham Arthouse for a minimum amount of time each month. We are an equal opportunities group and will endeavour to meet each individual’s needs as much as possible.

If you are interested in joining The Lewisham Arthouse Studio Cooperative please do send an application in. Below is the information that we require in the application. Please apply either over email to studios@lewishamarthouse.org.uk or by post to:
The Lewisham Arthouse
FAO Allocations
140 Lewisham Way
London
SE14 6PD

Application procedure:
* A statement (no more than 200 words) outlining your practice and areas of interest and an indication of how you wish to use this opportunity
*A statement (no more than 150 words) highlighting what you could contribute and how the cooperative would work for you.
* Artists CV (no more than 2 sides of A4)
* Equal Opportunities Form 2022

* CD or files with up to ten images or for time-based work DVD (pieces or excerpts should be no longer than 5 minutes). If you are sending over email where possible please keep the files to a reasonable size. We will accept whatever format is easiest for you to render the work in. If We transfer can be avoided that would be great as it sets a limit on the duration of time the images can be viewed.
* Corresponding list of titles, media and dimensions should be included.
* Two details of references academic or personal who we can contact if your application is successful

Please note that due to the high number of applications we receive we will not be contacting those who are not shortlisted and will be unable to offer feedback. For the same reason we are also unable to organise viewings prior to the interview.

If you have any queries regarding your application please contact us at studios@lewishamarthouse.org.uk and we will respond as soon possible