Mayor Cllr Bruce Dowling opens the exhibition with a representative of Hastings Lifeboat on his left and members of Zoom Arts (photo: Robert Maxted).

Zoom Arts exhibition opens at Warrior Square station gallery with mayoral blessing

Zoom Arts is holding an exhibition this week at its gallery in St Leonards Warrior Square station. The beneficiary is the Hastings RNLI lifeboat station. Nick Terdre reports.

The exhibition was opened by the mayor, Cllr Bruce Dowling, on Monday morning. It is open every day from 10.30am to 4pm until Sunday 27 March.

On display are artworks, ceramics, paintings and photographs with a lifeboat or Stade theme donated by Zoom members. Sales proceeds will go to Hastings Lifeboat, the group’s designated charity, to support its life-saving activities. As is well-known, the RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution – is entirely dependent on support from the public.

Zoom is an established and experienced local group which was first set up nine years ago to encourage the production and showing of new work by emerging artists and photographers.”Our aim is to give a platform to local artists in which to showcase their work,” says press officer Jo Kilmartin.

Some of the 25 current members are higher education students at Sussex Coast College while others come from a rich diversity of backgrounds with ages ranging mainly from 25 to 65 years. The members work in a variety of media, including sculpture, textiles, mixed media, ceramics, painting and drawing, printing, sound, film, installation and a range of approaches to photography.

The exhibition space is an unused room in the station which has been made available by Network Rail at least until October. It opens directly onto the parking space in front of the station at the bottom of King’s Road.

On Friday a drawing competition for children will be held outside the gallery. The winners in the three categories will receive Easter eggs and their works, along with the best of the others, will be put on display in the lifeboat station.

In April there will be another exhibition in the station gallery, followed by an exhibition of street photography from India and the UK. In September there will be a further photographic show in the space.

Twice a year Zoom Arts holds exhibitions on behalf of its members in Stade Hall; the next will run from 29 April to 8 May, followed by another from 2 to 11 September.

Last year the group held an exhibition at the Southwater Centre near Warrior Square station which raised £446 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Zoom Arts Facebook page.

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