MORE than 60 artists from across Hertfordshire and beyond have come together for an open exhibition.

The exhibition opened at Letchworth Arts Centre’s Main Gallery yesterday (Wednesday) and will display a wide range of themes and media through to October 25.

From graduates to experienced artists, established talent to beginners, self-taught to art lecturers, the artists form a broad group of talents whose work covers everything from realism to abstract and from the traditional to the experimental.

The project has been open to all with no restrictions imposed on those taking part, and includes work from both arts centre members and non-members alike, students and experienced artists.

All exhibitors have been entered for the James Willis prize and a place on a week’s summer school at the acclaimed Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

James, an acclaimed artist, was a mainstay of Letchworth Arts Centre in its early days when it was known as The Place and is a tutor at The Sir John Soane Museum in London.

The centre’s Foyer Gallery through October features a welcome return by artist Vanessa Stone with A Paper Garden City – a portrait of Letchworth GC in wonderful designs created with paper cuts.

Vanessa said: “I love working in paper. Using the scalpel is so delicious because as I cut away, more and more is revealed. The scalpel lets the image out – lets it exist.

“I suppose it’s like a stripping away to get to the real heart of the matter: pure meaning and form combined.

“That’s what pulls me to cutting again and again – the quest for a perfect balance between design and meaning. The blade is uncompromising, I can’t hide any mistakes or cover them over with layer after layer – I simply have to throw it away and start again.”