Hastings Contemporary — Attraction in Hastings

Having lived in Hastings and St Leonards my whole 48 years, I can confidently say that the Jerwood Gallery is the best thing to have happened to my home town in my lifetime! It is perfectly located, with the brilliant architectural design offering unparalleled views of the beautiful Old Town - including views of the fishing beach that you simply couldn't get before. The Gallery staff are always friendly and welcoming, as are the staff in the excellent Webbe's at the Jerwood café where delicious food and drinks are served. The exceptionally high standard of the exhibition programme wouldn't be out of place in a top London gallery, and I've often had to remind myself that I'm still in Hastings whilst viewing exciting work by the likes of Chantal Joffe, Jake and Dinos Chapman, or Keith Tyson! The curatorial team do an amazing job of combining shows by top contemporary artists, as well as modern British names such as Stanley Spencer, L. S. Lowry, Edward Burra and many others. They also manage to bring us work which we've never seen before - even by those artists that we think we know all about. In short, I'm hugely grateful that the wonderful Jerwood Gallery came to Hastings. It has given me so much pleasure over these first five years, and I'm sure it will continue to do so.

Since I posted this review the Jerwood Gallery has become Hastings Contemporary, but apart from the name change and a different café, nothing has changed in my opinions. The gallery staff continue to be very welcoming and helpful, the art on offer continues to be impressive and eye-opening (perhaps even more so, now that the curators have greater independence and freedom of choice), and I continue to take every opportunity I have to visit. The art "scene" in Hastings is by far the most exciting in the South of England, and Hasings Contemporary is the best art gallery on the...

My first visit since the split with the Jerwood Foundation. Gallery itself still lovely but loss of permanent collection is huge. Struggling to find quality work to fill the space. Why? There are plenty of quality artists who would exhibit. Visit was to see the current exhibition of Sutherland, Spencer and Burra. What a disappointment! It hardly classes as an exhibition. So small and only one Spencer as far as I could see. The exhibition in the righthand space isn't well -presented and just looks a muddle (in contrast, the cards in the shop with one individual piece of her work looked brilliant). There also needs to be awareness of how the sound carries in the galleries as the lefthand space is open to the first floor. The volunteer steward on duty upstairs seemed completely unaware that her endless distracting chatter, however well meant, completely filled the space downstairs as well. Definitely not an enjoyable visit. Even the lovely cafe took ages to produce two cups of coffee on a lovely sunny day. Sorry, but in the past I have loved my visits & found it worth the hour's drive. I hope this is a...

A lovely gallery. We enjoyed the Quentin Blake: We Live in Worrying Times, and the Seaside Modern: Art and Life on the Beach exhibitions. The Blake one was displayed in a wonderfully light and large room, well suited to being able to explore and admire his mural style ‘The Taxi Driver’, a thirty-by-five foot mural, made in a single day at Hastings Contemporary, that pays homage to Picasso’s Guernica.

The Seaside Modern, on the other hand, was in a darker space, less well suited to the promises of sun and sea shown in the beautiful collection of 1920s to 60s Resort/ Travel poster advertisements, which were nevertheless well lit and most enjoyable.

The upstairs cafe at the end of the exhibition, with it’s beautiful views of the working fishing boats and seaside activity, offered refreshing mint tea and coffees, and in the nicely curated collection in the museum shop, we bought a book of poems with illustrations by Blake.

On this rainy day, the Hastings Contemporary offered much more delightful shelter. It’s a must for anyone, especially those who enjoy a well considered exhibition of...