The 2025 Arts Open by Guernsey Arts has proven its place in the creative community – with more than 130 pieces of art exhibited.
Growing in popularity year-on-year, a private preview event a week ago today saw a queue of invited artists and guests stretching from the George Crossan Gallery doors, down the stairs, through the Market Buildings.
The exhibit is a local favourite, giving Guernsey’s artists and creatives the chance to publicly display their pieces in the heart of St Peter Port.
You can find a gallery giving a taster of what’s on offer at the bottom of this article.
You can also see the variety of offerings at 2024’s exhibition HERE.
With more than 130 people taking part in this year’s event, there is everything from oils and acrylics, to embroidery and crochet on display at the George Crossan Gallery in the Market Buildings.
Louise Le Pelley, the Partnerships Development Executive at Guernsey Arts, said it is a real mix.
“It is the biggest annual showcase for Community Arts in Guernsey, and our aim as a charity is to make the arts as accessible to everyone and to inspire potential for everyone.
“It’s not judged on who you are. There’s no fancy submission process, and that you don’t have to give your artistic statement. It is literally submit what you like!
“You’ve got some professional artists here, you’ve got people who are exhibiting for the first time. You’ve got people who haven’t exhibited for maybe 20 years, and when we had the private view on Friday, it wa a really special experience.”
Ms Le Pelley continued: “Art’s quite a solitary practice, and just having everyone in the room being able to interact with each other complement each other’s work is…”, she trailed off, quite literally lost for words.
“We work really, really hard on the show. Jared (Fox) on the curation, and for us to just sort of sit back on that night and watch everyone come together is really, really inspiring,” Ms Le Pelley said.
Jared Fox, the Visual Design and Communications Coordinator for Guernsey Arts, said he is likewise impressed with the exhibits and the Private View last week was an exciting experience to be a part of.
“Given the amount of artists that were involved, we were expecting quite high numbers, but I’ve never had to be on the door for an exhibition. It was really exciting and refreshing to see how many people were wanting to come and see their artwork.
“The amount of people that whilst they were waiting to get in the exhibition, were asking me questions about the curation, ‘oh, is this the most you’ve ever had?’, and I think I even had someone say, ‘Oh, you’re going to sleep well tonight after all this’.
“It’s just great, because a lot of these people I had only met for the first time when they dropped their artwork off, so for me, it really shows how tight knit everyone is and just how excited everyone gets by seeing their artwork on the wall and supporting each other, and, showing a bit of confidence and pride in their work.”
Mr Fox continued: “The standard, it’s always at a high level, this year especially, it’s really highlighted how strong and versatile and experienced some of the people over here really are.
“When it came down to the judging, we judged separately our regular entries and student ones, and we’ve had to actually point out which pieces are student ones, because they just all seamlessly blend together.
“It really highlights that not only are our artists out there making a name for themselves, but also how their standard is just getting higher and improving.”
Ms Le Pelley added: “Arts are growing and we need to establish that funding for the arts is disproportionate compared to other jurisdictions. What we’re seeking to achieve with the Guernsey Arts Commission is calculating the return on investment from the Arts, which isn’t purely just economic, but it’s also an emotional return on investment as well, which has ripples throughout the community.”
“It really highlights that not only are our artists out there making a name for themselves, but also how their standard is just getting higher and improving.”
Louise le pelley
The 2025 Guernsey Arts Open completes the first full year of exhibiting art locally for the Guernsey Arts Commission, within a space made possible thanks to a charitable trust investment.
The George Crossan Gallery was brought under the Commission’s stewardship in September last year, with promises that the space would be a “permanent vibrant venue”.
That’s proved to be the case with back to back exhibitions for the entirety of 2025, and the delivering of that promise was clearly a point of pride for those working at Guernsey Arts.
Ms Le Pelley said: “We received some funding from the Swallow Charitable Trust, which has enabled us to take over the lease of this gallery full time. 2025 marked the full year of this space being full of art, not just Guernsey Arts exhibitions, but exhibitions that we’ve helped to support. for example, the Bailiwick Social Prescribing Exhibition, or the St Peter Port Sketch Club.
“We have got a lease for another four years, so we’re looking ahead to see what else we can do within the community. The 2027 year of the Normans is coming up. So we’re looking to see what we can do across the arts there.”
She continued: “When I say across the arts, Guernsey Arts is visual exhibitions, and that’s important, but we’re also supporting across music, theatre, performance, so many creative disciplines, and Guernsey people do exceptionally well in the arts.
“You look to the West End, there are people from Guernsey on the stage! Our aim as a charity is ‘okay, how do we support more people to be able to envision themselves in those positions?’.”
GALLERY:
The 2025 Guernsey Arts Open is displaying at the George Crossan Gallery until the end of the year. It’s free to enter, and open to all.