East Sussex exhibition celebrates the beauty of rivers and highlights their importance

The River Show is the show at the Star Brewery Gallery, Star Brewery, Castle Ditch Lane, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YJ from September 3-18. Participating artists are Peter Messer, Tom Benjamin, Andrew Fitchett, Paul Newland, Chris Drury, Graham Sendall, Steve Gallagher, Nichola Campbell, Jason Tremlett, Riga Forbes, Helen Hockin, Rosie Good, Jenny Arran, Rachael Nicholson, Adele Gibson and Vicky Gomez.

The exhibition has been organised by gallery director Neeta Pedersen and journalist John May.

Neeta said: “There is good reason to draw attention to the rivers. As a nation we have neglected our rivers in general. The government recently announced that all rivers in Britain are polluted. Due to a variety of reasons our rivers have also lost a great deal of their biodiversity. The majority of rivers in Britain are now also prone to serious flooding due to climate change.

“Many in the town of Lewes will remember the disastrous floods of 2000 when nearly a month’s rainfall came in one day. As a result more than 400 homes were flooded in Lewes alone. Lewes was the worst hit town in the whole country. Computer projections for 2050 predict that a future flood is likely to wreak even more damage. The various councils and the South Downs National Park Authority as well as landowners and farmers are at last turning towards natural approaches to flood control as are national bodies like the Environment Agency. Efforts are still being made on all fronts to bring Southern Water to court over the continued dumping of human waste into our rivers and oceans. Public pressure is needed if we are to protect our town and others and our valuable natural habitats. We hope our exhibition – which features some of the best artists from Lewes and across the county – will focus our minds not only on the importance of our rivers and our water supplies and their great value to wildlife and our natural environment but also to their great beauty."

Tues-Fri, 11-pm; Sat-Sun, 10-5; closed Monday