STAR BREWERY GALLERY
LEWES
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Touched by Gold
East Sussex College
Tuesday 17th - Sunday 22nd March
Opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–4pm | Sunday: 1pm–4pm
The Star Brewery Gallery is delighted to host Touched by Gold, an inspiring exhibition showcasing the work of twenty-five Art & Design Extended Diploma students from East Sussex College, Lewes. This marks the fifth consecutive year the Gallery has exhibited student work from the college, celebrating a strong and continuing partnership.
The exhibition features work created for the prestigious Royal Ballet & Opera Design Challenge, responding this year to Wagner’s epic opera Das Rheingold. Students present ambitious outcomes across Costume Design, Set Design, Marketing, and Wigs, Hair and Make-up, exploring the opera’s powerful themes of myth, nature, power, greed and corruption. Through imaginative design, material exploration and visual storytelling, the exhibition shows how a 19th-century opera can be reinterpreted through contemporary eyes.
East Sussex College has an outstanding track record in the national competition, with students consistently achieving award-winning success. Last year, the college was proud to receive two of the five national awards. Competing against many colleges nationally, the challenge offers invaluable real-world experience and a platform for emerging creative talent.
Visitors are warmly encouraged to explore the exhibition, support young designers at an early stage in their careers, and vote for their favourite piece. The “Best in Show” winner will be announced on Sunday 22nd March.
Whether you are a lover of theatre, design, or simply curious to see exciting, fresh creative talent, Touched by Gold offers a vibrant and inspiring visit.
Jo Nicholson
Interstices
The spaces between drawing and painting
Saturday 28th March – Sunday 5th April
Open: Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 4pm (closed Mondays)
A collection of new watercolours on paper.
Made using automatic drawing techniques and symbolism. Moths , beetles , dragonflies and scorpions .
"Interstices" is a technical biological term used to describe the connections and spaces between cells . I was drawn to this concept as a means to explain the way my pictures are partly drawn and partly painted. Situated somewhere between the two terms.
Traveller's Joy
New Paintings by Tom Benjamin
Saturday 11th April – Sunday 26th April
Tuesday–Saturday: 11am–4pm
Sunday: 11am–3pm
Closed Mondays
Tom’s latest show explores his longstanding fascination with particular places and subjects—from an ancient Yew Tree in Stanmer Park to wild Hawthorn bushes in blossom, the rugged rocks of Hope Gap, and the fleeting beauty of Traveller’s Joy in autumn. Painting directly from life, he captures how changing light and weather constantly renew the experience, making each encounter with the subject feel like a rediscovery. This process of returning to the same places across seasons and years becomes a kind of inward journey, deepening his connection to the landscape.
Growing up in Plumpton and based in Lewes for over thirty years, Tom’s work is rooted in the Sussex landscape. His plein air paintings, made in all weathers, reflect both the physicality of the environment and the emotional resonance of place. A member of the New English Art Club, he exhibits regularly at the Mall Galleries and has recently shown with the Russell Gallery, Campden Gallery, Chris Beetles Gallery and Alan Kluckow Fine Art
Tezel Bahcheli & Francesca Duffield
Untold Stories
Saturday 13th June - Sunday 21st June
Tuesday–Saturday: 11am–4pm
Sunday: 11am–3pm
Closed Mondays
Untold Stories brings together two artists who arrive at a similar artistic vision from very different starting points. They share a deep interest in hidden narratives within their work.
As a sculptor Tezel interprets the dreams and stories behind the face and the body, in expression and gesture, acknowledging the narrative in mood and myth.
Francesca’s work is a series of tableaux from a dream world, which uses the circus and its environs as a vehicle for symbols and reflections, which become enriched by the viewer’s interpretations.
Both reflect a subtle interpretation of inner and outer worlds, and complement each other in a meditative way.
Sarah Money
An exhibition of Sculpture and painting
Saturday the 27th June - Sunday the 5th July
Tuesday–Saturday: 11am–4pm
Sunday: 11am–4pm
Closed Mondays
Following her successful 2025 exhibition, Sarah Money is delighted to return to the Star Brewery to present a new body of work encompassing both painting and sculpture, created over the past year.
Money’s sculptures are imbued with rhythm and movement, evoking emotion through gesture and body language. Her use of colour reflects a fascination with the aesthetics of antiquity, creating surfaces that feel weathered and timeless, as though the figures have been unearthed or submerged underwater for centuries.
Her paintings possess an equally physical presence. Working with a palette knife and her fingers, Money builds dense layers of paint, repeatedly scraping back and reapplying pigment. This process results in an energetic, vivid impasto that captures movement and sensation. The approach is entirely intuitive. These are not literal still-life flowers, but what Money describes as “the idea of a flower,” conjured from memory and imagination.
STAR BREWERY GALLERY DESIGN SERVICES
Creative design for artists, makers, and professionals. We craft bespoke websites, flyers, posters, PV invitations, and more — all tailored to showcase your work and services at their best.
Alongside hosting exhibitions in our gallery, we design custom online galleries and shops that empower individuals and small businesses to present and sell their work with clarity and impact.
With over 18 years of experience in web and graphic design, Neeta Pedersen understands that great presentation — both physical and digital — is essential for connecting with your audience. We believe in the power of visual communication and collaborate closely with every client to create designs that reflect their unique style, vision, and goals.
For more information contact us:
07932 500 952
POSTER DESIGN
WEB DESIGN
ABOUT THE STAR BREWERY GALLERY
On its journey to become an artistic hub in Lewes, the old brewery building has undergone several transformations over the years. The art gallery was originally known as the Star Gallery, was renamed the Hop Gallery and then became the Star Brewery Art Gallery when it was revitalised under Neeta Pedersen, its current director.
Peter Messer 09/04/20
"Neeta Pedersen worked there for five years as an assistant to Gallery Owner, Curator and Director Angie Osborne under its spell as the Hop Gallery.
"I feel she really understood the Gallery’s ambitious attitude to the arts without losing sight of its place at the heart of the extensive local arts community.
I, and many others, were very heartened to hear that she was taking over after a short period when, under other management, it had diverged from this and had become lost to view for many of us. I feel she has all the right capacities to make the gallery a great success. In addition to her five years practical experience in the space, she is a respected and successful artist in her own right and a well known and popular member of the community."
Neeta, now the gallery’s owner, director and curator, took over in February 2020. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to enrich the town with a unique art space, where both established and emerging artists showcase a vibrant and diverse range of exhibitions.
Under Neeta’s curatorship ,visitors to the gallery have been gifted with an exciting array of work - from traditional and contemporary art, to captivating installations and exquisite craftwork. The gallery is proud to have featured original artworks by some of the most revered artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries including: Matisse, Picasso, Miró, Dali, Klimt, Tracy Emin, Man Ray, Paula Rego, Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, David Hockney and Chagall.
The Star Brewery Gallery also hosts the annual Royal Opera House Design Challenge exhibition, featuring innovative works by students from the Art & Design Extended Diploma at East Sussex College, Lewes.
Our mission is to bring diverse exhibitions to Lewes, offering visitors the chance to experience shows that inspire and engage. We aim to curate a vibrant selection of artwork from an array of talented artists, each showcasing their unique techniques and styles.
We are proud that our exhibitions have received acclaim for showcasing the beauty of the natural world. From the elegance of trees to the captivating essence of water, we celebrate the diversity of living creatures in all their forms.
We believe that art is an important way of increasing awareness of the urgent need to take action to preserve and protect our natural environment in an age of climate change.
Neeta Pedersen
Owner and director of Star Brewery Art Gallery, Lewes
Background of the artist
Neeta Pedersen is a multimedia designer and artist whose distinctive style ranges from the highly decorative and romantic, to the stark and explicit, gaining her an international reputation.
Her painting, illustration, sculpture, digital art, and animation are a rich expression of imaginative vision - a unique perspective which she describes as having been shaped by her diverse heritage, extensive travels and studies.
Born in Mumbai of unknown parents, Neeta was adopted at the age of six months by a Danish couple from Aarhus. She left home at the age of seventeen, travelling first to Israel, then to India and Nepal. Determined to observe and absorb the culture of her origin. Later she travelled extensively around Central Europe. It was during this time that she began to see her path ahead as an artist.
She came to England and settled in Lewes where she studied for a diploma in multimedia in Brighton before attending the Total Immersion Intensive Workshop at the New York Film Academy. She also achieved a BA (Hons) in animation from the London University of Westminster.
CONTACT US
Sign up for our Newsletter: starbrewerygallery@gmail.com
ADDRESS: Star Brewery Gallery, Star Brewery, Castle Ditch Lane, (off Fisher Street) Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YJ
EMAIL: starbrewerygallery@gmail.com
PHONE: 07932 500 952
All submission or gallery hire inquiries must be done by email.
Find Us
There is a direct train from London Victoria to Lewes and bus services from Brighton to Lewes. Catch the bus No 28 or 29 which takes you to Lewes High Street. Get off at the Lewes Crown Court and walk down Fisher Street where you will see the Star Brewery building on your left. There are two different entrances to the gallery.
The Star Brewery Gallery does not have designated parking. There are car parking facilities within the town which allows all-day parking, payment by the meter.