Coastal Currents & Full Frontal

Coastal Currents have installed an incredible mural in the town centre as part of this year's September antics.

Spreading from Rye to Eastbourne, this yearly festival has spread its wings to not only now feature heavily in Eastbourne but also with commissions and interventions to run throughout the year. Their recent commitment to supporting artists and musicians during Covid-19 has led to more digital projects and socially isolated installations in the public realm than ever before.

Image credit: Alexander Brattell

The Eastbourne mural is the highlight piece for 2020, created with community in mind. Spelling out the word Eastbourne in 10 2mx2m letters, seven artists from a variety of artistic backgrounds showcased their individual style. Bringing the whole piece together is a beautiful background mural featuring the coastline of the South Downs' chalk cliffs.

Director Tina Morris said "where there are hoardings I see opportunities and at the moment, more than ever before, artists need opportunities. But this mural isn't just bringing colour and public art to Eastbourne town centre, this is also all about local artists creating a sense of community and strengthening identity. Public artworks bring healthier environments for everyone and a greater sense of civic pride. They lessen disorder, give young artists the chance to be inspired and allow for a better sense of diversity and inclusion. We would love to bring art to the public in fun, interesting and engaging ways and hope that Eastbourne, which had a hotbed of exciting creative talent, continues to welcome Coastal Currents in, to do large scale projects such as these."

The artists from left to right:

E - REQ, A - Sinna One, S - ESIK, T - Etienne Le Comte, B - Helen Hiett, O - Drew Copus, U - Lottie Norton, R - ESIK, N - Helen Hiett, E - Etienne Le Comte

Eastbourne Borough Council is a new sponsor of Coastal Currents for 2020 and supported the cost of the installation.

A spokesperson commented, “we are delighted to be part of one of the region’s premier arts festivals and are excited that this work is outside, on a main shopping street, for the public to enjoy. Seen together with a parallel arts project at the former Debenhams store we also supported, we have invested in a better, brighter, more beautiful town centre. In these difficult times, that’s got to be good news.”

Full Frontal

Full Frontal is a project run by the Eastbourne Culture Group, local artists and practitioners who have run a competition for the art works on Debenhams. 

This artwork resulted from Year 6 children at Shinewater Primary School pondering on the many things they weren’t able to see and do during lock-down. After touching on the closure of the Towner Gallery and what they had missed in Spring, we decided to innovate around Hockney’s blossom trees. Year 6 were divided into small ‘Pods’ to enable social distancing, so the staff organised an ‘e-art lesson’ which was streamed live to each pod. Children used the same restricted palette of poster paints and followed the same instructions and yet the unique and wonderful character of each child shines through in their personal take on the trees – despite everything, our Year 6 children have blossomed, just like the trees.  

Walk The Arts Triangle

Join the Beat The Street game this year and take a walk into the town centre to view these marvellous installations. The nearest Beat Boxes are numbered 60, 61, and 78. Build up your points and enjoy the work from these local artists.