FULL OF BEANS Jo Gibbs March 2026

Centre Administrator on March 2, 2026

Jo Gibbs returns to Bonnington Café with Full of Beans, a month-long exhibition rooted in reuse, reflection and a little mischief.

The first “Critter” was made for Bonnington in 2023. Its popularity sparked an ongoing series — sculptural characters formed from food and garden waste. Alongside these are “Tin Tings” made from sardine cans and found materials, and limited-edition “Can-Cans” celebrating remarkable women in art and culture, including local figures.

The exhibition also includes a small group of seascapes — from a luminous egg tempera painting set in a found frame to reworked street-found canvases incorporating repurposed materials. Moving between calm and slightly dystopian waters, these works offer a counterpoint to the sculptural pieces.

Working with discarded domestic objects, mirrors and everyday packaging, Gibbs explores value — what we throw away, what we preserve, and who gets remembered.

Sunday 22 March – Beans, Beer & Backgammon
Join us from 4pm for an informal gathering to celebrate Full of Beans.
All welcome.

Free beer kindly supported by Brixton Brewery (while it lasts).
Drinks, conversation and Backgammon at Bonnington Café.

Sunday 29 March – Full of Beans Poetry: Women’s Voices
Curated by Claire Whitfield as part of International Women’s Month.

Café open from 4pm.
Poetry event 6–8pm.

Open mic sign-up on the night.
Two poems per person (maximum 3 minutes each).

jo.gibbs.jo@gmail.com

Wiktoria Figurska; From My Heart

Centre Administrator on January 30, 2026

“From My Heart” reflects how these works are made lovingly, from a place beyond thinking, grounded in presence and feeling.
I create to process, to connect and to offer something honest.
When abstract painting, I don’t plan ahead. Instead, I surrender to my
subconscious, bodily sensations and my intuition, allowing them to guide each paint stroke. This becomes my outlet for exploring and translating my energy into movement and colour. I enter a trance-like, meditative state that is deeply healing for me and I hope to bring others that same feeling.
The end result on the canvas is to be felt, not analysed.
Works within this series are rotatable; a single piece holds multiple compositions within it. When turned, the painting reveals new energies. One artwork becomes many, offering you the freedom to choose the way which resonates most with your current state.
Through exhibitions, live painting performances and sharing my process online, I aim to show that the beauty of art lies not just in the finished piece, but in the act of creating itself.

Rowan Vuglar 2026

Centre Administrator on January 16, 2026

January Exhibition 2026 | Bonnington Café

We’re pleased to open our first exhibition of 2026 with work by Rowan Vuglar, a New Zealand–born artist who has lived in the UK since 1986 and has been part of the Bonnington Square community for decades.

A veteran of many exhibitions, Rowan has previously shown work at the café, and this exhibition brings together new paintings alongside works made 20–30 years ago, offering a rare chance to see the evolution of a long and committed practice in one place.

Alongside Rowan’s work, the exhibition will include a painting by Kevin Jacobs, a much-loved local artist and Bonnington Square resident who sadly passed away in 2025. The painting has been generously donated on long-term loan. After the exhibition, it will be permanently housed at the Bonnington Centre, remaining part of the community Kevin called home.

This exhibition is both a celebration of artistic continuity and a quiet act of remembrance — rooted in place, friendship, and shared history.

Exhibition dates: Tuesday 6 – Friday 29 January 2026
Opening celebration: Sunday 11 January, 5.30–7.30pm
Venue: Bonnington Cafe

Further information:
Instagram: @rowanvuglar
Website: rowanvuglar.art

All welcome.

Bringers of the Dawn

Centre Administrator on December 1, 2025

Exhibition of work by Dan y Coed

1st _ 31st December

Join us for drinks with the artist Sunday 14th December @ 6pm

Bringers of the Dawn calls you to remember what has always lived within you – the light of your ancestors and the code of the stars. Through masks, faces, and sculptural forms, this exhibition unveils humanity’s twin lineage: born of Earth, yet seeded by the cosmos. Each creation is both relic and revelation – a vessel for transformation and a shimmer of awakening. Here, art becomes transmission; matter reveals its hidden light. Step across the threshold, and remember: The ancestors live within you – they are within you. You are the dawn arising – the living continuation of their song.

Artist Bio: Dan y Coed, meaning “Beneath the Trees,” is an artist living on a hilltop farm in Wales with the founders of the first One Planet Development. Guided by intuition and spirit, Dan allows creativity to flow through him as a sacred act of remembering and connection.

Deeply inspired by the land, he works exclusively with reclaimed and found materials – rusted metal, driftwood, wood offcuts, and feathers. His background in carpentry and restoration informs both his craftsmanship and his commitment to renewal. Each handmade frame is designed to harmonize with the artwork, becoming part of the piece itself. Sustainability, spirituality, and a reverence for nature are woven through all of Dan’s   creations, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and remember what it means to be beneath the trees.

 

Follow Dan on Instagram @DANYCOEDART

Ruth Morgan:  Whoosh…. Works from 2018 to 2025

Centre Administrator on November 3, 2025

4th World Arts Network and Bonnington Cafe present Ruth Morgan: Whoosh.

3rd November to 30th November 2025.

A collection of works completed in the last few years; including fabric works from lockdown, sketches around West Dean in Sussex, tetra pak prints and collage made on residency in Cyprus.

“I enjoy the sense of movement which can be captured by quick  observational sketching,  and the outcomes of the certainty and unexpectedness of print”.

You are invited to my Private View Sunday 16th November 4pm – 7pm,

There will be a free Flora and Fauna Seasonal card making workshop on Saturday November 22nd from 1pm – 4pm  

Lost Sisters

Centre Administrator on October 3, 2025

BCCA and 4th World Arts are delighted to present the art of Alison Ramm, a member of the extraordinary community of artists living and working here in the 1980s.
The exhibition, which runs throughout October, is a welcome return. Opening hours, as usual, are when the Bonnington Cafe is open (https://bonnington.cafe) so come, feast your eyes on the delicate beauty of her art in the quirky ambiance of the Bonnington Centre.
Also everyone is invited to MEET THE ARTIST 5th Oct 2025 6-8pm 
Alison grew up in London; she studied painting and printmaking at the University of Reading, settling here in 1980.
In the early 1990s, she moved to a rural community in Scotland, and has been based in Scotland mostly ever since.
“Working on the paintings, I used watercolour and drawing materials to help me explore the deep connection I feel with the rural landscape that surrounds my home in the East of Scotland.”
“Watery paint dropped onto wet paper follows its own impulses, running together to find its own shape and colour, suggesting stories and otherworldly beings.”

London Looks

Centre Administrator on September 1, 2025

Grace Frogley

Portraiture Drawings and Paintings.

Opening Show 1st September 6 – 8pm.

London lives on every face, in busy streets and quiet space, in cafés, parks and underground, a thousand stories can be found.

Grace Frogley will offer two art workshops during her show:  Community Natural Dye Workshops on Saturday 13th and 27th September from 12 ’til 2pm in the cafe.

BONNINGTON CAFE, SW8. 1st – 28th SEPTEMBER 2025

Children’s Art Exhibition

Centre Administrator on July 30, 2025

Tomorrow’s Art Today

The 4th World Arts of the Bonnington Centre proudly present a glorious August exhibition of children’s art.

Join us and celebrate the lively creativity of our new young artists.

Saturday 2nd August: free family art workshop 10am to midday.

Saturday 2nd August: exhibition opening event 1 – 3pm All Welcome.

All children must be accompanied by their parent/carer/guardian.

If youre not around on that day, the exhibition is open throughout August duringcafe opening times

Bonnington Cafe, 11 Vauxhall Grove SW8 1TD

New Landscapes

Centre Administrator on May 28, 2025

4th World Arts welcomes Rowan Vuglar.

Private View Sunday 8th June 6.30 – 9pm rsvp. to rjvuglar@hotmail.co.uk

Art and Poetry Sunday 22nd June 6.30 – 9.30pm

Meet the artist and enjoy a summer evening in a unique venue.

Rowan Vuglar is a New Zealand Artist who started painting in 1980 in West Australia.

He took up residence in Bonnington Square in the early eighties and became an active part of the local community, exhibiting at the street festivals and starting a pocket library.

This new body of work, New Landscapes, initially arose from a series of pastels from 2024.

The basis is the black ground which becomes as much part of the finished work as the painting itself. “My work often takes a tangent: I work in patterns, usually set by subject matter or particular style and then something kicks in to spark a new adventure.

I am never content with the known, much preferring experimentation. I have found, in the last year or so, my initial drawing is very important as a signifier of the true intent and I try to adhere to it as much as possible.”

Luminescence

Centre Administrator on May 2, 2025

Fourth World Arts and the Bonnington Square Cafe are delighted to announce an exhibition of magical and mysterious landscapes, buildings and animals by the artist. Liza Brett.

The exhibition runs from the 2nd to the 30th May 2025.

Liza’s artwork uses heightened colour and uncannily placed buildings, people and animals to create a feeling of vivid dream and possibilities. The drawings and paintings often have an escape route, a portal to run through to a bright otherworldly future. Houses and huts could be small tardises, hermits’ caves, hideouts and half visible imaginary places-open fields for open minds and animals leading you somewhere. But where?  Employing luminous pencil, oil bar and paint, Liza uses her own reference material to create memories of living beings, happenings, imaginary spaces and place.

 PRIVATE VIEW with the artist.

All Welcome – Sunday 18th May, from 5-9pm: You are invited to come and meet up with the artist and explore her new work.  The exhibition is open to the public and on display throughout May whenever the Bonnington Cafe is open (see BCCA website for details).

SALES: The artist traditionally donates 20% of all sales to support the Community Centre and Cafe.

For more information, please visit Liza’ instagram account: liza_brett_and frankstergram//or call/text 07940449198 for sales.