Media Coverage

When Princess Michael of Kent opens a major London art exhibition next week, eight of the paintings she will see are by two members of Ashford Visual Artists, Kaija Bulbrook and Vikky Furse.

The exhibition in the Mall Galleries is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Society of Women Artists, running from June 1-12.

Princess Michael is patron of the society that has had some of the most famous women artists in history as past members.

Mrs Furse from Smarden said: “We both hope to become members in the next couple of years. Kaijas work is very expressive and colourful, usually telling a story to the viewer, mine are quite loose and contemporary in style. I paint portraits for pleasure and to commission.�

June is proving a good month for her as one of her portraits has been highly commended in The Artist Magazine competition that attracted 1,000 entries. “We are always looking for places to exhibit and we would like to show our work in Ashford, but where?

“The Library Gallery is good and they have interesting exhibitions but there is so much pressure to exhibit that even the Ashford Visual Artists can only hope for a couple of weeks every few years.�



Many artists across the borough, including Vikky, will be opening their studios to the public during South East Open Studios between June 10-26.