The Hayward Studio is a participating venue for Hampshire Open Studios 2025, an annual art trail where art enthusiasts can explore the creative spaces of local artists, free of charge. It's a unique opportunity to connect directly with artists, discover their inspirations and buy original artwork. The Hayward Studio is pleased to be hosting some brilliant local talent whose work will be exhibited throughout the event. Find out more about them below.
Helen Carter
Colour pencil realism specialist
Helen Carter is a colour pencil artist specialising in highly detailed photo-realism of colourful and often complex subjects. Focusing on everyday nature, bright intricate florals are a firm favourite, but her love of light, form and tricky textures can be seen in her backlit portrait of Seren, as well as her quirky still lifes. As a late returnee to art, Helen says she has a lot of catching up to do, and her journey into drawing and creativity extends to many mediums. She is a respected Artist Ambassador for Derwent, producing work in a range of styles to suit their needs, including the new Inktense100 tin. Helen is a full-time artist, based in Winchester.
Jennie Farmer
Celebrate colour and the happiness it brings.
Jennie’s artworks are playful and positive and show influences from nature in amongst multiple layers of vibrant colour and decorative detail. Her signature artworks combine paint, collage, and pattern to create radiant and memorable art works that give a gentle nod to life and gratitude. Jennie’s favourite mediums to use are acrylic paints, spray paints and paint pens. Jennie says ‘You will always find my art desk surrounded with stencils, sponges, and brushes. Bright coloured paints, decorated papers and fine liners are very much part of my go to kit. I love playing with all of these things, layering pattern upon pattern and adding hand drawn imagery and words to create bespoke artwork and murals’. She has also been a secondary school Art and Graphics teacher for the last 20 years and loves her second role which supports pupils well being. Jennie also runs adult and young people’s art workshop at The Hayward Studio. She says, ‘I love that I get to inspire the next generation of budding artists and designers, it's so exciting to me’.
Julie Mcrae
Colourful, moody, atmospheric, acrylic/oil and mixed media art inspired by impressionism, Japanese art and a deep connection with nature.
Originally from Bristol, Julie grew up in the north of England, studying at Manchester University where she attained a B.A. Hons in Textiles. Julie then returned back to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for a post-graduate certificate in Theatre Design and Scenic Art. She followed this with six years employment in the Theatre Industry and six years in interiors, culminating with 25 years in art education. Recent exhibitions include the Hampshire Open Studios, exhibiting with the group ‘Painters on the Green’ and the Titchfield Annual Art and Craft show. Recently retired, Julie is now enjoying exploring and developing her own work, inspired by memories, places, people and nature. In July 2023, she was awarded a ‘longlisted’ certificate by the VAA, an online platform for the VAO . The UK & International Emerging Artists Award.
Janet Hammerton
Paintings of natural landscapes, both real and imagined, with studies of wild and garden flowers.
Janet trained as a mature student in Printed Textile Design at Winchester School of Art, graduating in 1990 and then retrained as a Museum Conservator, specialising in ceramics and glass conservation, graduating from West Dean College in 1996. Working in Museums and Conservation, Janet continued to produce design work for textile design agents and galleries then changed direction and worked for 22 years as an Environmental Educator. This later career teaching children in the outdoor classroom sharpened the artist's interest in nature and changed the direction of the design work. A keen desire to share the love of wild spaces and wild places led most recently to paintings of local landscapes and wild plants. Janet has taught children but also adults as co -tutor on the Art, Sound and Meditation course at the Sustainability Centre. The intention behind her art is to encourage others to value the natural world and find beauty within its bounty by sharing paintings of the images that inspire her.
Rachel Russell
Contemporary glass artist
Rachel is trained in design with a passion for glass. From meadow flowers to the movement in water, she sees creative inspiration everywhere.
Her contemporary work incorporates both stained & fused glass, where she likes to blend the two and enjoys experimenting with glass powders and textures to create delicate and unique pieces. Rachel loves to mix glass with woods and metals and create artwork for both the home and garden. Rachel has been running stained glass workshops throughout Hampshire, and this year she has started running glass classes at The Hayward Studio. More information about Rachel's work and classes can be seen on her website, The Swanwick Studio.
Charlotte Barnden-Skeen
Contemporary Silver Jewellery
Charlotte is a silversmith with a passion for making jewellery that truly glistens. Trained at UCA Rochester, she earned her BA(Hons) in Gold and Silversmithing with Jewellery Design, and her love for all things sparkly has only grown since. Her pieces are known for their hand-hammered surfaces that catch the light beautifully upon their multi-faceted surfaces, adding texture and depth to each design. Whilst on maternity leave with her first child, Charlotte started creating keepsake jewellery to celebrate her daughter’s milestones. What began as a personal project quickly blossomed, as families reached out for their own commemorative pieces, and she continues to create meaningful jewellery for clients who want to treasure their most precious moments in a wearable form. When she's not designing and crafting unique pieces in her studio, Charlotte is a secondary school Art and Design Technology teacher, where she shares her creative skills with the next generation of makers. She also leads workshops locally, guiding beginners and experienced jewellery enthusiasts alike through the process of creating their very own silver pieces. Charlotte’s goal is simple: to help people find the joy in crafting something with their own hands—whether it’s a gift, a keepsake, or just a bit of personal sparkle.
Abi Hudson
Contemporary Artist representing the shape & feel of a place.
Abi Hudson is an Artist searching for connection and dialogue with her subject. Her focus is on evoking the shape and feel of a place. She works to distil down a scene until she can understand the essence of her subject or a moment in time. She is interested in strong compositional elements and finding shapes in the landscape. Her brushstrokes are deliberately loose and spontaneous.
Abi works mainly in oils, en plein air and out of her home studio in Hampshire, on the south coast of England. She grew up in the wilds of West Cork, Ireland and spent most of her adult life working as an Architect in Dublin and later in the UK. In 2021 she returned to her childhood love, painting.
The Makers House
Home of crafting & creativity
The Makers' House is a small creative studio in Fareham which offers a variety of high quality workshops classes in a friendly, relaxed space. Regular evening and weekend classes include glass fusion, silver smithing, silver clay, pyrography, needle felting and so much more, all run by experienced and friendly local tutors. Pottery painting is available everyday, and there is a small gift shop featuring locally handmade items.
