Artists at Home 2022 | Celebrating West London Creatives

The Artists at Home 2022 open studio event takes place this weekend, one of the most wonderful local events to take place each year and a real celebration of West London creatives, an event Horton and Garton are extremely proud to sponsor.

Run by volunteers, Artists at Home began 40 years ago with just a few artists participating, in 2022 an incredible 83 West London painters, glassmakers, ceramicists, printmakers, sculptors, photographers, and jewellers will fling open their studio doors from June 17-19.

You can find a full list of participants and plan a route around the ones that interest you at the Artists at Home website, which have an excellent interactive map to help you find those you’d like to visit, there might even be one or two closer to your home than you realised!

In our recently released Our Patch magazine we spoke with several of the artists who are taking part in the open studio event this year across Chiswick, Hammersmith, and Shepherd’s Bush. Here we share the interview with Martina Rohr included in the magazine and highlight yet more of the talented locals taking part.

Artists in Chiswick

Chiswick is one of London’s largest postcode areas, and this year there are creatives opening their doors from across all of the W4 area; from unique kimono creator Clare Johnston (Studio 17) and abstract oil painter Kathryn Davey (Studio 12) to Laura Gompertz whose work is inspired by pattern and colour in the natural world (Studio 25).

Martina Rohr

One of the artists in Chiswick whom we talked to was Martina Rohr, an abstract artist who is featuring for her second time this year after a successful debut in September last year when the fine weather meant she could open her patio doors to visitors.

Her studio in St Alban’s Avenue, Chiswick (marked Studio 6 on the map) is filled with large-scale colourful oil paintings their surfaces scratched, cut and layered to produce dramatic effects.

She sold several at the last event. “I’m not a figurative painter; I paint according to my feelings, experiences and what I see, and I like to try to involve my viewer in creating their own interpretations of the paintings in their own mind; going into the painting to discover something new,” she explained.

Interestingly, the picture titles are an important part of each of Martina’s works. Sea of Lights, Wings of Fire, Light Unleashed all enrich the viewer’s experience. “I take a lot of titles from literature and music,” she added, admitting that she prefers to paint to a background soundtrack of either jazz or classical.

One large work (it’s one metre square) is called The Time is out of Joint – a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Another is Gone is the Gold of Day, a translation of a line from Georg Trakl’s Rondel poem, which has influenced several of Martina’s oils.

“The picture comes first, then the title,” she said. “Sometimes the title evolves while I’m painting, and sometimes I look at the [finished] painting, and try to interpret a title myself.”

Martina’s wonderful abstract paintings will be showcased at her studio this weekend.

Mary West

Also in Chiswick is talented artist Mary West whose work is full of colour and vitality.

Speaking of her work on her profile page on the Artists at Home website she says, “My paintings are rooted in landscape, but as I paint, they take on a life of their own.” Explaining how each piece develops as she paints; “I never know how the finished painting will look and this excites me.”

Mary’s work is shown in multiple locations across the world by New Blood Art, Rise Art and is in private collections in the UK, Denmark, Australia, Hong Kong and USA. Her most recent exhibitions include A Room of Her Own at Irving Contemporary in Oxford and Works on Paper 4 at Blue Shop Cottage in London.

On Sutton Court Road in Grove Park, Mary’s home studio is number 20 on the map.

Artists and craft makers in Shepherds Bush

There are many exciting and beautiful studios to visit in Shepherd’s Bush including mixed media artist Sonja Kennedy (Studio 56), abstract artist Salome Gallan (Studio 39), celebrated creative Rennie Pilgrem (Studio 48), and household surrealist Helga Stentzel (Studio 53).

Carol Greenaway

Stoneware and porcelain clays, making domestic and decorative wares thrown on a wheel or hand built. On her Artists at Home profile, Carol says her inspiration comes from many sources from Japan to Italian majolica.

The beauty of Carol’s work is that whilst many items are decorative, they are also useable. If your walls are already full of art but you’d like to add something else to your home, something locally made, Carol’s studio is number 49 on the map.

Creatives in Hammersmith

From studios on the river such as the Ben Johnson’s on Chiswick Mall whose fine work can be viewed at Studio 34, and those in the heart of Brackenbury Village such as Anouk Mariacci’s. Anouk is at Studio 58 on the map and creates some eye-catching art from portrait collages using acrylic, charcoal and gold leaf to vibrant landscapes.

Lydia Loukeli

A passion realised in a period of reflection during the pandemic, Lydia now creates Ceramics, mixed media, and sculpture from her studio on Macbeth Street in Hammersmith.

In her bio on the Artists at Home website, it says of Lydia; “All her work is very organic as she sees perfection in every ‘imperfection’ which she tries to highlight, thus many of her pieces have ripped or rough edges and unglazed areas.”

The result is really very special, with each item unique and different.

Lydia’s studio is number 62 on the map.

Isobel Johnstone

Talented local artist, Isobel Johnstone, will be sharing a collection of her wonderful work over the weekend including paintings, drawings, pastels, and prints, framed and unframed.

From oil paintings of Hammersmith Bridge on canvas to linocut animals and etchings of flowers, her work is varied and captivating.

Isobel is on Hammersmith Grove – Studio 61 on the map.