Secret Gardens of Hove - Art on a Screen

As part of Artists Open Windows Brighton 2020

Artist's Statement

 

I've been inspired by and slowly painting my garden and those of my neighbours from my cat's eye view conservatory since I moved here to Hove. I had hoped to exhibit this series in the annual Artists Open Houses of Brighton & Hove, which takes place every year in May. 2020 has bowled us all over with the Corona Virus Pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

 

I have exhibited all over the world in many strange settings and scenarios but creating a physical and virtual show from my own front window during a global pandemic certainly tops my list of highly unusual exhibitions.

 

As I walk the streets of Hove during my daily allowance of exercise outdoors, I can't help but look in people's windows. Some display beautiful children's artwork but often I see people slouched in front of ever larger screens.

 

I've recreated one of these screens on a found object, but inside the screen there is plant life, beauty, art. My dream would be to walk the streets and see everybody's amazing creations in their windows because we are all artists at heart.

 

Whether you are my neighbour, and you can physically enjoy the art or my far away friend, I hope this lockdown exhibition brings you some lightness of heart and inspiration. If anything, it's a different screen to look at.

In unity, in oneness, in art

 

Elise Garnaut

 

Hove 2020

 

The Secret Garden was the first proper book I ever read. It evoked an enchanted English garden. When I moved here to Hove, I discovered the secret garden in real life in my own garden, which also overlooks the gardens of my neighbours. A magical world of majestic trees and nature behind Victorian brick facades.

Japanese Autumn in Hove

 

This painting is inspired by Japanese colours and motifs of autumn here in Hove.

 

This is the first tree I see when I awake and the last as I go to sleep. Sometimes I sit and just stare at it, mesmerized. As we see shapes in the clouds, in the tree's trunk I see a shape of two forest figures, fairies, Pixies, shape-shifters, sisters. They remind me of my childhood bond with my sister, Pixie. So I have named the tree and this piece after my dear sister, Pixie.