Calling all budding artists – East Grinstead Museum needs you!
Message to members from Judith Burns, Museum Manager
East Grinstead Museum is running a competition to find local residents who can create drawings of exhibits from around the museum for our 2026 Calendar.
Would you like to be involved, or do you know anyone who would like to take part? Are you an art teacher who would like your class to be involved? If so, please contact us now!
Each of the artworks, sketches and drawings, will be created in pencil, graphite, crayon, chalks or pastels and drawn in landscape format, with materials provided by East Grinstead Museum.
Sessions will be open to ages from four years old upwards with no upper age limit. Artists can come either with local art teachers, private tutors and groups (such as U3A) or alone, to an art session organised by the museum on certain dates.
We want to encourage as wide a demographic as possible. If an inspiring artist cannot visit the museum due to accessibility reasons, we will send photographs or take objects to them, along with the materials they will need to take part. We will include local care homes in our search for artists to take part and by creating small sessions at the museum we will have the capacity to allow carers, parents and guardians to attend.
Our aim is for East Grinstead residents to sketch, paint or draw objects of interest to them that they find amongst the museum’s displays. This could range from a neolithic arrowhead to a medicine bottle, a tin shop sign or medical instrument. Each artist will be provided with the same materials, crayons, pencils, chalks etc and paper on which to present their work, however if artists want to take their artwork home and use watercolours this will be acceptable, although waivers will need to be signed to ensure that all work is original.
Once the artwork is completed, a panel will be tasked with the exciting decision-making process, judging the artwork on a points system to create a final list of 12 that will create the 2026 East Grinstead Museum Calendar. It will then be printed in time for November, to sell in our shop.
If you would like to lead a session with a group, or you would like to attend one of the museum’s sessions, please email Judith Burns, museum manager, at info@eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk. Dates will be confirmed with tutors or participants from the end of July until the end of September (latest). Materials will be provided.