Artists in Residence

We have an eclectic mix of resident artists (visual and performing) in Beach Creative. Whether they have studios of their own or they share their rooms, there is plenty of space and time to work. We have monthly meetings where there is a very positive exchange of thoughts and ideas. The chill out room is a often a place where artists meet and chat while making a coffee.

Bayguide - Everything you need to know about Herne Bay

Our new website promoting arts, events and local businesses in Herne Bay was launched by Jason Hollingsworth and Sue Austen in 2012, with a mission to show residents and tourists what a great place this is. We now have an office in Beach House.The website is full of articles about the town’s history, information for visitors about how to get here and what to do when you arrive. It lists places to walk, cycle, eat and stay.One of the key features is an events calendar, which is regularly updated and the site also features a searchable directory of local businesses as part of bayguide’s mission to encourage local shopping and create jobs here. For more information see www.bayguide.co.uk.

Bright Shadow

Bright Shadow is a community performance company whose mission is to strengthen, value and celebrate the lives, stories and character of communities and individuals and to enable those individuals to be active members of their community. We provide performance workshops, long-term projects and produce high quality site-specific performances that are captivating, accessible and participatory. Bright Shadow’s work is always inspired by and created for the community, sharing the brightness found in the shadows. Bright Shadow is run by Katy Hirst and Rhiannon Lane. Please visit our website www.brightshadow.org.uk to find out more about us and to get in touch.

Terry Sole

Terry Sole's lively paintings mostly in acrylic begin life as sketch book drawings and watercolours. He has produced extensive visual diaries since the 1960’s largely portraying city life in London, Paris and New York. An honorary member of the Blackheath Art Society, he has exhibited and sold widely and has been selected for the Royal Academy summer exhibition 2012.

Helen Wilde

Helen Wilde trained as a printmaker at Cheltenham College and the Royal College of Art. She was the Rome Scholar in Printmaking 1983 to 1985. She has exhibited widely and locally. Her work, which is an on-going diary of her life, has been for the past 10 years largely produced in Herne bay from a studio overlooking the sea. It consists of painting in oil and making constructions with found objects. Helen also has a London printing studio and shares a pottery studio at Crayford with her close friend Hazel Seaton. They shared an exhibition at the Bay Art Gallery in 2006.

Paul Mitchell

I am an artist and illustrator based in Herne Bay, so having workspace at Beach Creative works out perfectly! It’s wonderful to have a large room that is well lit and airy for me to work in. I produce a lot of different kind of visual work, so it’s good to have a versatile space.

Also, it’s great to have the chance to work and socialise with like-minded creative people.

Mandy Broughton

Art has been a passion for me all my life. I come from a creative family that encouraged lateral thinking, observation, and having fun making things.

I grew up in the United States, have lived in Switzerland for two years and have finally decided to call Kent (England) my home. I enjoy water sports, walking my dog, cooking, dancing and beach combing. All these interests strongly influence my artwork.

I exhibit my work in the UK, mostly in Kent, and also in Northern France. My paintings have been sold as far afield as South Africa and the United States.

Henry Cockburn

Rhona Gedge

I recently graduated from Norwich University of the Arts with a BA (hons) Fine Art. I am now living in Kent and I have my studio at Beach Creative which enables me to continue my practice.

I am intrigued by how the eye works, how it records, and breaks down visual information in the brain. Seeing is something we do automatically and subconsciously. Using light, glass, acrylic plastics, photography etc I aim to create an experience that links together science and art with an effect that enables people to explore how incredible our sense of perception is.

For more information see www.rhonagedge.com.

Andrew Tapsell

Andrew Tapsell is an artist based in Kent, United Kingdom. Having studied the visual arts in full time education for five years, his work has developed to become underpinned by drawing and photography, skills which he has used to develop a practice which combines these elements with his interest in responding to current sociological issues.

His contextual research includes looking at the pressures and challenges facing moral decision-making and responsibility in modern Western culture, particularly in relation to youth. Tapsell's work attempts to strip away the complexities of our modern lives and engage us with the core, common elements of the human condition.

The intimacy and immediacy involved in drawing helps his images connect with the fragility of the things which unite us all. The blurring of the known and unknown, the physical and spiritual, the material and emotional; brings matters of morality to mind and a sense of personal being. His current work attempts to unite the superficially small and the incomprehensibly vast in an effort to engage with notions of co-existence, responsibility and action and consequence.

Shelanne Terenghi

I am an Artist (Painter) and Teacher. Art has always been my passion and I'm dedicated to helping people achieve and develop their creative goals. In the 80's I was an art director in advertising and before taking a long break to have a family, completed a BA Fine Art Painting Degree at Central St Martins College of Art, graduating in 1998.

Through placement at UCA as part of my PGCE in 2011/12 I was lucky to meet Gill Wilson (Senior Tutor and Founder!), and am now teaching workshops at Beach Creative. Having a studio here is an extra bonus and means I can really concentrate on my work and enjoy being in a community of like-minded people.

I believe art and creativity should be available to everyone and I seek to encourage all ages and walks of life to explore their creativity and have a go.

Nina Shilling

I have lived in Herne Bay all my life and am really happy to be part of Beach Creative. It is a positive thing for the town and is instrumental in raising its profile.

I am greatly influenced by the coast, the wonderful skies, the changing seasons and local wildlife. My paintings and drawings are a direct response to nature and the living world.

Karen Simpson

I am an Artist/Maker heavily influenced by the constantly changing landscape of the Herne Bay coastline. I see usefulness and beauty in things that other people discard or lose and I enjoy creating things from beach-combed, found, recycled and sustainable materials. I encourage creativity and recycling in others through Workshops and Community Art Projects of Art and Craft made from beach-combed litter, recycled items and found objects.

I have exhibited widely in the Herne Bay and Whitstable area.

Mike Harrison

My work is an interpretation my influences and past and present life experience a developing a set of symbolic devices and underlying semantic model that merges my software engineering background with my painterly or associated creative practices. Not easy, as I quite like to include an element of foolery in this quasi-serious process also.

Rachel McCabe

I'm a vintage inspired fashion designer, creating reproduction garments with a quality production ethos. At Sewn to Last I teach sewing skills to local people. Courses available are; how to make your own 1950's dress and sewing for beginners.

My experience includes a degree in Costume Design for the Stage and Screen and 3 years as a soft furnishings and gifts designer for an interior design company.