Digswell Arts

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We provide support for emerging artists including studio space and support education and training in and appreciation of the arts.

Community Arts Projects are designed and funding obtained when available to bring arts to the community. We have studios in Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage and about 40 artists currently occupy our premises.

06/10/2026

Congratulations to Digswell Arts Print Member and former Fellow Caryl Beach, whose photograph Blazing Trees has been selected for the Hertford Calendar. 📷

Caryl’s image was chosen to represent September as part of Hertford Town Council’s annual photography competition.

It’s always a pleasure to celebrate the work and achievements of artists within the Digswell Arts community.

Discover more of Caryl’s work:
https://carylbeach.art

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/carylbeachart/

Read more on the Digswell Arts website:
https://digswellarts.org/caryl-beach-hertford-calendar/

02/10/2026

Make space for your print practice at Digswell Arts.

Our Print Membership is for artists who want a regular place to work, develop ideas and stay connected to a creative community.

If printmaking is an important part of your practice and you’re looking for a supportive studio environment, Digswell Arts offers space, equipment and the chance to be part of a wider artistic community.

Find out more about Print Membership via our website.

25/09/2026

Art Anniversaries: Mark Rothko and the emotional power of colour

Born on 25 September 1903, Mark Rothko became one of the most recognisable figures associated with Abstract Expressionism and colour field painting.

His mature paintings often appear simple at first: large, hovering fields of colour, softly edged and quietly intense. But they are not decorative exercises. Rothko wanted colour, scale and atmosphere to create an emotional encounter — something felt in the body as much as understood by the mind.

His work asks us to slow down. To stand still. To let colour become space, silence and feeling.

For artists today, Rothko is a reminder that abstraction does not need to explain everything. Sometimes the most powerful work creates room for viewers to bring their own emotional response.

18/09/2026

Moments That Changed Art: Courbet creates his own platform

In 1855, Gustave Courbet made a bold decision. After The Painter’s Studio was refused from the official exhibition because of its size, he organised and financed his own independent show: Le Pavillon du Réalisme.

It was more than an exhibition. It was a statement of artistic independence.

Courbet challenged the expectations of the Salon and insisted that ordinary people, contemporary life and direct observation were worthy subjects for serious art. His decision helped establish Realism as one of the defining movements of the nineteenth century.

For artist-led communities today, this moment still resonates. Sometimes artists do not simply wait to be accepted into existing spaces — they build new spaces, new audiences and new ways of being seen.

15/09/2026

Try collagraph printmaking with artist Sue Jarman at Digswell Arts.

This one-day workshop is a great introduction to collagraph for beginners, while also offering plenty to explore for those with some previous experience.

Using textured materials, mark-making and layered surfaces, you’ll create your own collagraph plate and discover how different textures and inking techniques can produce rich, expressive prints.

Collagraph Course
📅 Saturday 17 October 2026
🕙 10.00am–4.00pm
💷 £85, including materials
📍 The Forge, Digswell

The workshop takes place in the Digswell Arts print studio and is designed to be practical, creative and supportive, with guidance from Sue throughout the day.

Places are limited.

Book your place:
https://digswellarts.org/print-workshops/

11/09/2026

Meet the Artist: Jane Glynn

Jane Glynn is a Digswell Arts alumna, and her work takes the form of drawings, paintings, books and animations, exploring stories, memories and the passage of time.

She also creates diary- and calendar-based work using the ephemera of everyday life to build visual records of lived experience. Recurring themes and characters from traditional fairy and folk tales are an important part of her practice, particularly the ways these stories enter our subconscious and influence the narratives we create around our own lives.

You can explore Jane’s profile and learn more about her work here:
🔗 https://digswellarts.org/jane-glynn/

Come and discover Jane’s work as part of Digswell Arts Open Studios at The Forge.

10/09/2026

Meet the Artist: Jane Bottery

Jane Bottery is a Digswell Arts alumna whose practice explores light, materiality and transformation through quietly considered, minimal processes.

Her more recent work uses folded and coloured tracing paper, creating drawings with a three-dimensional quality that are influenced by the natural world. Through slow processes of folding, layering, colouring and constructing, Jane explores how materials interact with light and how subtle physical changes can create depth, luminosity and a meditative visual experience.

The works featured in this post reflect an earlier period of Jane’s practice and give a flavour of the work she was making during her time at Digswell Arts, while her current practice continues to develop these interests in light, surface and transformation.

You can explore Jane’s profile and learn more about her work here:
🔗 https://digswellarts.org/jane-bottery/

Jane’s work will be represented as part of Digswell Arts Open Studios at The Forge.

09/09/2026

Meet the Artist: Heather Ellis

Heather Ellis’s work explores landscape through layered mark-making, movement and rhythm, bringing together drawing, printmaking and painting in evocative and atmospheric compositions.

Her practice reflects a deep engagement with place, surface and the changing qualities of light, often creating works that feel both observed and imagined.

You can view more of Heather’s work on her Digswell Arts profile here: https://digswellarts.org/heather-ellis/

Come and discover Heather’s work as part of Digswell Arts Open Studios at The Forge.

08/09/2026

Collage Demonstration with Katy Cook

Join us at Digswell Arts Open Studios to see Katy Cook demonstrating collage at The Forge on 12 September.

A chance to see how materials, texture and composition come together in practice, and to enjoy a closer look at one of the many creative approaches taking place across Open Studios.

Come along, explore the studios, and discover the work of the artists exhibiting this year.

07/09/2026

Meet the Artist: Jonathan Emmerson

Jonathan Emmerson is a Digswell Arts alumnus, illustrator and printmaker. His work whilst at Digswell was rooted in relief printmaking, particularly lino and woodcut.

Jonathan’s work is full of life and movement with strong characterisation and a sense of fun.

At Digswell Jonathan illustrated a linocut non-fiction natural history book called ‘Above, Below and Long Ago’ (published by Wayland and produced with the Natural History Museum).

Jonathan is currently working on a series of children’s picture books and his first author/illustrated picture book is to be published by Postwave in 2027. (Jonathan is represented by Amy Fitzgerald at The Bright Agency)

You can explore more of Jonathan’s work here:
https://www.instagram.com/jonathanemmerson/
https://thebrightagency.com/uk/childrens-illustration/artists/jonathan-emmerson

Come and discover Jonathan’s work as part of Digswell Arts Open Studios at The Forge.

Address

Hertford Road Digswell
Welwyn Garden City
AL60BU

Telephone

+441438717765

Website

https://digswellarts.org/

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