Rushlake Green Art Show and Flower Show  – 1950 to 2024  One Family’s Involvement

Sent in by Shirley Austin

Ivon Austin moved to Hunton’s Farm in 1945 after the war and married Margaret Curtis in 1950.

Margaret was an accomplished artist who could also turn her hand to wood carving. Ivon made model boats and wagons, and enjoyed carving and sketching.
They belonged to the Sussex Guild of Craftsmen and exhibited around the county.

Their son Jonathan Austin was born in 1951. Jonathan married Shirley in 1971. They have 3 sons. Mark, Paul and Peter.

Margaret attended the art class run by Miss Florence Armstrong in Rushlake Green village hall. In the 70s Ivon and Margaret helped Florence with an Art Exhibition in the Dunn Village Hall on Flower Show Day. Florence died in 1979 but the show went on until Margaret died in 1989.

Ivon also built some of the display screens used in the Little Arts Exhibition at Rushlake Green

In May 1989 a Village Fair was held with an Arts and Crafts Show in the Dunn Village Hall.

Sadly this was Margaret’s last show. She had an attack of angina that Saturday and died 3 weeks later. It was to be the 21st century before Art on the Green was revived by Chris Liddiard. It expanded, leading to the first Little Arts Exhibition in the summer of 2016 followed by the second Little Arts Festival this August 2024.

Their Grandson Mark’s artistic journey was inspired by Margaret and Ivon, He spent a lot of time at the farm where they lived as a child.

Mark has been involved in organising the Little Arts Festival in Rushlake Green  and leading 3 Walk and Sketch sessions which would have given Margaret and Ivon great joy. Mark’s work has been displayed on the screens his grandpa made.

Mark’s dad, Jonathan has been involved over the years storing, transporting and setting up the art screens.

This is What Mark writes about his artistic practice.

This is what my practice is about #walkandsketchwithlex
Immersive wellbeing
My work is rooted in the world around me capturing the essence of my view combing my passions of art, walking and nature.
Over the last three years my art practice has evolved to provide a body of work around topics that I come across in my everyday walking and sketching.
Minimilist in style black and white lines and lines created from 000’s of sketches and pebbles to get the final compositions. This is represented in my two main focus areas of drawing and sculpture.
Drawing – Simple sophisticated line drawings that capture the very essence of the views on Triptych or polytitch putting together 3 or 4 works that could be a work in there own right or as a body of work.
– Cuckmere
– Seven Sisters
– Windswept Trees
– Tide
Sculpture – series of sculptures on simple forms and colours exploring a topic. It’s a nod to Barbaba Hepworth and the pebble work. Current bodies of work are based on pebbles I find on my walks
– Flow
– Flint
– Chalk
Buy my work – Be inspired every day
Circular economy in action
My work embraces the circular economy principle from to using reclaimed timber for my sculptures and using the offcuts in a firepit making my own charcoal from my own willow tree. My small sculptures hearts and trees are sold and for every one a tree is planted in the Amazon.
Community matters
As an extrovert I need the energy from a shared experience to reenergise and fuel my creativity and soul. It has always been a part of me and as the Visual Arts lead and committee member of The Little Arts festival 2024 enables me to bring the community together through the arts and leave a lasting legacy. Through Past | Present | Future lens enables to think about the wider impact artists work has in a functionality society.
Get involved –
I’m taking my walk and sketch to a wider audience to help others enjoy a shared experience
Take part – Join me on walk and sketch for share your journey and be part of mine

LITTLE ARTS FESTIVAL

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