The High Weald has been the inspiration for several artists, each drawing on different facets of the area. Between 1810 and 1818 Joseph Mallord William Turner captured the soft folds of the High Weald landscape around Jack Fuller’s Rosehill estate, near Dallington. In the 1850s the painter F.D.Hardy ‘discovered’ Cranbrook and for a few years a small group of artists – the ‘Cranbrook’ Colony’ – used the town as the setting for meticulously studied paintings. At the same time William Holman Hunt, one of the leading Pre-Raphelits painters, worked occasionally at Winchelsea and Fairlight, capturing the colours of the coast.

Our artist interviews provide an insight into how the landscape inspires them and the techniques that they use to capture its special qualities.

Michael Hart Michael Hart has been running his own blacksmith business since he left Plumpton Agricultural College and finds inspiration for his ironwork from wood and the behaviour of plants found in the High Wea... Read more	James Barrett James is a professional photographer based in Mid Sussex specialising in landscape and nature photography and has a particular interest in Ashdown Forest Read more
Carolyn Genders Carolyn is a ceramist working in white earthenware clay. She is a handbuilder, known for her coiled vessels and sculptural forms and painterly surfaces. Read more	Mark Fisher Mark Fisher lives in Sedlescombe. His pictures are inspired by the diverse local landscape he sees everyday. Read more
Tim Pryke Tim Pryke studied at Brighton Polytechnic and returned to Sussex after travelling through Asia and Australia. He draws his inspiration from the High Weald landscape, especially through the change of s... Read more	Graham Sendall Graham Sendall has lived in Sussex for most of his life and has gathered his inspiration from many of the views in the High Weald. He focuses on the architecture of local buildings, with their weather... Read more
Debbie Siniska Debbie is a rag rug maker, and uses recycled textiles and traditional hand tools to make hooky and proddy rag rugs, banners and cushions Read more	Annie Soudain Annie Soudain trained at Canterbury College of Art. Her main craft has always been lino-printing, in which she employs four different techniques; her second craft is wax-resist painting on silk, usi... Read more
Will Taylor Will Taylor is a fine artist and printmaker. He favours traditional line techniques in etching, pen, charcoal and silverpoint, and his work always contains a strong element of drawing. Read more	Anna Wilson-Patterson Anna Wilson-Patterson lives in Herstmonceux - an area which enjoys views of the medieval landscape of the High Weald to the north and the more open, chalky landscape of the Downs to the South. ... Read more