This coming weekend brings with it a great opportunity to see Isle of Wight artists showcase their work in the city of Portsmouth.
24th to 26th October sees artists open their doors for Portsmouth Open Studios Event (POSE) 2025 – the city’s open studios weekend.
Island artists
Those from the Island taking part include Steve Baxter and Jeff Dyson, who will be exhibiting at Storehouse 9, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on Saturday and Sunday.
Sadie Tierney and David Leefe Kendon will be joining Jane Shepherd at 109 Methuen Road, Southsea, PO4 9HQ from Friday to Sunday.
Isle of Wight artist and producer, Rachel Clare’s organisation, Crying Out Loud, who are based in Portsmouth have, alongside 432 Nomads, commissioned A Sea of Words for Portsmouth – a large-scale immersive experience by acclaimed Hong Kong artists Kingsley Ng and Stephanie Cheung. Showing right now and daily until 26th October, this spectacular event is well worth a visit (book in advance) at Boathouse 5, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Showcase at Storehouse 9
Steve Baxter (aka DuverBoy) will be showing a mix of older work and fresh ideas in progress. He says,
My sculptural practice focuses on transformation—taking everyday interior materials like carpet, wallpaper, cable, and furniture and turning them into forms that feel both familiar and strangely unfamiliar. These materials, often linked to comfort and domestic routine, become unsettling when altered.
“I like to use this shift to explore tensions between surface and depth, stability and collapse, humour and discomfort. There’s often a quiet, sometimes dark humour in the work that invites people to look twice.
“Much of my recent work responds to the shifting environment of the Isle of Wight, drawing on its eroding coastlines, fragile ecosystems, and personal memory.
“These sculptures reflect on cycles of growth, decay, and disappearance—not just in nature, but in our own lives and built environments. My practice sits at the edge of sculpture and installation, inviting viewers to engage physically and emotionally, to pause, and to look twice.”
Dyson: There is always a line, an edge which is constantly changing
Jeff will also be showing a mix of older and new works.
He says,
“Over the last two years my work has evolved a way I had not foreseen. Elements of natural phenomena, specifically those linked to water, have constantly informed my works. Waves, wakes, tides and currents, whether gentle or turbulent, all leave their marks. However fleeting.
“There is always a line, an edge which is constantly changing. These are the lines and marks that I have been chasing. More recently, the subject of the drawings has moved from being purely a representation of these phenomena and natural events, to becoming images of moments and events of their own making.”
Where and when
Jeff Dyson and Steve Baxter will be at Storehouse 9, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard PO1 3LJ on 25th and 26th October as part of Portsmouth Open Studios.
Open 10.30–5pm each day. Free entry.
Sadie Tierney and David Leefe Kendon will be exhibiting with Jane Shepherd at 109 Methuen Road, Southsea, PO4 9HQ from Friday to Sunday.
A Sea of Words for Portsmouth takes place at Boathouse 5, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, showing daily until 26th October (book in advance).
Find out more about the POSE 25 events by visiting the linktree.
