When Serena Masand and Anish Kotecha wake up in Europe, one of them will venture out alone to get coffee and croissants for breakfast. For Masand and Kotecha, it's the perfect way to start their day of travels — individually.
04.10.2023 - 12:21 / theguardian.com / Grayson Perry / Art
I’m on a bus, hurtling over the hills at exhilarating speed. An oxbow lake flashes into view: while geography was never a passion, the sharp curves of the meandering river as it reaches the sea at Cuckmere Haven demand my full attention. The arresting view has featured in paintings by Eric Ravilious as well as a Hollywood film or two.
Stunning scenery and its artistic representation are one of the draws of the Sussex Art Shuttle – the bus’s official title – a new service that transports visitors between Eastbourne’s Towner Gallery, the Seven Sisters Visitor Centre just outside Seaford, the picturesque villages of Alfriston and Litlington, Charleston (former home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant), and the new Charleston gallery in Lewes.
The initiative, launched by the business consortium Sussex Modern last weekend and running until 17 December, ties in with the Turner prize, which opens on 28 September at the Towner, the centrepiece of the gallery’s centenary year. “Visitors who come by train into Eastbourne want to see the countryside as well,” says Towner’s CEO, Joe Hill who, along with Charleston’s director, Nathaniel Hepburn, is riding the route with me. “The Sussex Downs is one of England’s most beautiful landscapes and newest national parks. This service connects it with our cultural heritage.”
At £2.50 for a hop-on, hop-off ticket, the 16-seater minibus offers good value, running four times a day in each direction from Friday to Sunday. “More than 98% of our visitors come to Charleston by car at the moment,” adds Hepburn. “So, it’s been a key aspiration for us to lower this figure.” Admirably, it’s also run by volunteer drivers from a local organisation called Cuckmere Buses.
Before we depart, Hill whisks me past the Towner’s hushed galleries, currently closed in advance of the Turner prize, whose four shortlisted artists – Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker – work in media ranging from film and drawing to performance and sculpture. After gawping at the gallery’s dazzling geometric exterior, designed by Lothar Götz, we hop on the similarly colourful minibus. As we climb high into the national park, Hill and Hepburn enthuse about how the region has long attracted artists, from the Bloomsbury group to Peggy Angus and Grayson Perry. But the area’s ecology is also fascinating. “This chalk grassland has as much diverse life in it as the rainforest,” says Hill.
Medieval Alfriston is our first stop, where we alight at the market cross, one of only two remaining in Sussex. We tumble into the Much Ado bookshop, which has two floors and a “book bower” in the back garden full of bargain volumes. Its owners, Nash Robbins and Cate Olsen, who moved from Massachusetts 20
When Serena Masand and Anish Kotecha wake up in Europe, one of them will venture out alone to get coffee and croissants for breakfast. For Masand and Kotecha, it's the perfect way to start their day of travels — individually.
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