WELCOME to THE DOG HOUSE. In the following pages you'll find the fourteen artists and makers we hosted in May 2011. If you had the opportunity to visit us, many thanks. If not, we look forward to inviting you to our show in May 2013, when we'll be exhibiting another eclectic range of work, chosen for its originality and excellence.

Our emphasis is very much on enjoyment: yours and ours. The line up for our shows grows organically. We aim to give visitors a fresh experience every show by inviting in new artists and makers. In 2011 we welcomed, among others, Tom Pockley, highly-skilled woodturner, Kate Strachan, printmaker and artisan of emminently cheerful textiles, Paul Grant, photographer of extra-ordinary sky-and-seascapes. We also welcomed back our core of Dog House veterans to show their new ideas: milliner Joanna Zara's 'Open House Specials', a new batch of Anne French's Graphic Art furniture, and Melissa Simpson's new range of entirely seductive handcrafted leather handbags.

We like to combine the functional, the decorative and the expressive. In 2011 Sue Barnes showed her most recent paintings, intimate renderings of innocence meeting threat. In the spirit of experimentation and innovation I mounted a large and highly personal photographic installation using the raw material of my father's lifetime-photographs, with interactive elements: the Memory Wall.

THE DOG HOUSE opens as part of Brighton's unique festival of Artists' Open Houses: art shown in domestic spaces. We opened up our house to the public for the first time in May 1999, showing the work of nine other artists and makers along with my own as part of Brighton's extraordinary grass-roots festival. Since then we have opened almost continuously. We're part of the DYKE ROAD ARTS trail.

Please browse our showcase of the artists and makers who made our 2011 show such a success, and pick up details of when, where and how to find us.

As of this year, we're becoming a bi-annual venue. From early in 2013 you'll be able to find details of our new line up.

We very much look forward to seeing you.

Karen Barratt