Free to the public, the festival offers the chance to buy art directly from the artists and makers themselves in their own homes or places of work. A diverse selection of artworks are on show, from original paintings, prints, graffiti arts, ceramics and textiles to photography, sculpture, crafts, jewellery and much more.
Unsurprisingly given who lives there, the houses that take part in the festival are usually oozing character and atmosphere, with fishermen’s houses, cottages and urban warehouse spaces all featuring.
Last year over 200,000 people visited the festival and the 2016 edition promises to be the biggest and best yet.
German-born Marion Brandis, whose work spans from public art commissions to tableware and decorative items for the home, has been announced as this year’s brochure cover artist, beating more than 180 other contenders to the title. During the festival she’ll be showcasing her smaller works of art, including a range of quirky animal sculptures.
Another notable name set to appear is 2015’s winner of Best Open House, Dion Salvador Lloyd. A home-grown artist, his oil paintings explore the connection between earth and sky and this year he’ll be presenting a new series of works that will include contemporary landscape paintings as well as watercolour studies on old ephemera.
That is just a taster of why this festival is such a fantastic platform for artists and makers and a testament to why so many of them want to be involved each year.
Artists Open Houses Festival 2016 will run every weekend from April 30th to May 29th.