Art - Ice Fair

I get a phone call from one of the two women who are running the Lewes Art Fair this weekend at the Old Market Lane Garage. Without any warning, she hands the phone over to someone else.
“It’s Lez,” says the voice.
“Lez who?”
“Just Lez. I’ve got a great exhibit. Three dimensional. Very large. It’s pop art. You’ve got to come and see it.” Then she’s gone.
This weekend the old garage, which a couple of months ago became a temporary theatre for a performance of The Caretaker, is being turned into a winter art and craft fair, dubbed ‘the Ice Fair’. A number of artists are exhibiting, including Liz Jamieson, Jacqueline Bisset, Annie McManus, Tania Corbett and Lisa Bagot. Plus the splendidly named Grant Dejonge. And Sue Milnthorpe and Jo Rendle, who collectively exhibit large paintings under the name Sujoremi. And Lez (see right)

Thursday is crafts night. The band Tragic Roundabout will be playing from 6-9pm. I’ve heard them, and they’re brilliant, a Brighton group who wear silly hats and play a high-tempo blend of klezmer, punk and ska. There will be food from Bill’s, and various Xmas-present-sized items will be on sale in stalls between the artworks, such as silk scarves, cufflinks, necklaces, handmade soaps and stained glass panels. Pop art? Punk-tinged klezmer? Stained-glass panels? Sounds mad. Sounds unmissable. That old garage isn’t what it used to be. AL