❤️ life ❤️ art
alej ez Artists Open Houses Cover Artist 2026
Interview with Artists Open Houses Director Judy Stevens. 21 April 2026
What does “artist houses” mean, and why am I excited this year?
Well—Artist Open Houses are a firsthand experience of access to art and artists, right on your doorstep. You can visit, learn about how artworks are made, and engage with the pieces themselves. You also get to talk, discuss art and the creation processes with the artists themselves. Through this, it builds community, creates connections, and contributes to a richer way of living.
It’s real and tangible in a world that is becoming increasingly detached from vital human sensory and emotional experiences—touch, hearing, feeling, connectivity, empathy—everything that shapes and creates human experience.
Tell us about your relationship with Artist Open Houses. When did you start exhibiting?
I often say that something that happens once is an event, but the second time it becomes a tradition—a form of cultural continuity, often involving rituals and practices that hold special significance.
I started in 2007. I was living on St Nicholas Road, opposite the burial grounds of St Nicholas Church. At that time, I already had my prints and artworks, and it felt really special—especially being young, with a modest income, but still able to take part in an art festival, open my door, and welcome people in. Many of those visitors later became friends.
Since then, I’ve continued year after year, taking part in the festival across different venues, and being involved in various collectives and art cooperatives. Over time, this has created a strong community around me in Brighton—made up of artists and art lovers. It’s absolutely wonderful.
I think it’s really important to provide this kind of access, especially for young people. Being able to engage with art, to learn to express yourself, to share that with others helps build a better city and a stronger community. The connections formed through art can become very meaningful later in life.
Tell us about your Bath Cover and the inspiration behind it.
Well, that’s a tricky question. It really comes down to what life is for an artist—and, in my case, previously as an architect. I worked as an architect for many years, and that way of thinking still informs what I do.
I would describe the inspiration through four main strands.
First, there are personal experiences—your own life, your memories, and the things you live through.
Second, there is curiosity and study: a deep interest in past forms of expression—art history, but also music, dance, food, and culture more broadly. All of this becomes a kind of mental concoction, a parallel world that sits alongside personal experience, but is just as important.
Third, there is the need to communicate. As an artist, there is a desire to express, to record something of the present for the future—something that feels lasting, something that deserves to be held onto.
And finally, there is the development of craft: both a mental and physical capacity—your language, your skills, your way of making.
With all of this in mind, Modern Bathers Brighton Cover— in a nutshell—is an expression of my interest in contemporary bathing rituals, combined with my love of architecture. It also pays homage to earlier artistic traditions, from British art to figures like Picasso, and to the wider history of art held in major museums around the world.
At the same time, it reflects my need to communicate—to form a visual language that brings these influences together. I work through a combination of analogue ink drawing and digital processes for colour.
The result is part of an ongoing body of work. It’s not a single, isolated piece, but a continuation of many drawings, prints, and ideas that have come before—and, hopefully, many more that will follow.
