Natural Response art exhibition
5th to 13th September 2026
Open every day 10am to 4pm
Four artists reflect and respond to the natural world. From the intricate geometry of printed flora (Melissa Birch), to the primal flames of a raku firing (Polly Whyte), the eternal rhythm of tidal flow (David Wise) to the undulating strata of the South Downs (Chris Sedgwick). Each discipline draws attention to and raises questions about our relationship with the natural landscape:
- Chris Sedgwick – Giclee Prints
– Facebook: Christopher Sedgwick - Melissa Birch – lino print artist
– Melissa Birch website - David Wise – painter, photographer and occasional film maker
– David Wise website - Polly Whyte: ceramic artist
– Instagram: Polly Whyte ceramics
Take some time out to look, pause and reflect.
All artwork for sale.
Free entrance and parking.
Disabled visitor friendly.
About the artists
Chris Sedgwick
My work is inspired by the Weald and Downland; an area I have lived in since the age of six.
I am as interested in the archaeology and geology of the area as I am in the visible landscape.
My work uses drawing, collage and a lot of work with a scalpel. This ‘original’ then gets Giclee Printed creating small batches of prints which I sign and edition.
Melissa Birch
I’m a lino print artist inspired by the local flora and wildlife of the South Downs. My work celebrates all that is wild and thriving in the natural world. Each print begins its journey as a drawing, intently focussed on line and shape, is then carved in lino and printed using a carefully selected colour palette.
Having trained as a Fine Artist during the 1990s at the Ruskin School, Oxford and Chelsea College of Art in London, I later decided to specialise in lino printing after falling in love with the process of printing with a hand-held baren. She now produces all of her work by hand, in small editions, from her home studio, using professional inks and Japanese papers.
All artworks are available to purchase and I also runs a range of lino printing courses and workshops locally, teaching beginners as well as experienced printmakers wishing to develop their practice.
David Wise
Time and Space Conceptual Constructs.
I am a painter, photographer and occasional film maker.
The work in this exhibition reflects my interest with intangible concepts of time, space and the sequencing of natural events. For example, the transitional movement of the sea or the trajectory of the moon through a lunar phase.
I explore how we experience things in different ways despite sharing a common understanding of their meaning and significance.
The underlying structure of the work is created using precise, predicted data. This generates a grid like framework, which is freely overlaid with a variety of colours,
oils and graphite laminates. The resulting works are two-dimensional drawings and paintings, making the intangible, tangible.
The limited-edition prints on show are taken from the original art works.
Polly Whyte
I am a ceramic artist based in Sussex, trained under the contemporary ceramicist Tamar Rose at Old Timbers studio, Steyning.
My practice emerges from a deep appreciation of form; the material informs her process, allowing the clay itself to guide her in an instinctive way — balance and harmony in her pieces are arrived at in an organic manner, which is primarily felt, not rationalised.
The work has influence from various Asian and African traditions, where I have spent time living, but is beholden to neither, always crafting something fresh and personal; oftentimes inspired to make things that will bring joy and utility to the people in her life.
The work on display is a mixture of red earthenware clay fired at different temperatures. Some in both a traditional electric kiln and some a Raku kiln.
