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.

Recent Works by Denzil Everett

Centre Administrator on April 2, 2025

April at the Bonnington Centre welcomes quirky artist Denzil Everett

“Friend of the Square since 1984. Blood group: O RhD positive. Allergies: twaddle about art works.”

Twaddle: his lively paintings are a treat to behold, whether you are feasting on Art or the splendid food at the BC Cafe.

Denzil’s Art Workshop in the cafe Friday 18th April 1pm – 4pm.

For details of events linked to Denzil’s Art Show, contact denzil107@hotmail.com

Metamorphosis

Centre Administrator on March 3, 2025

Stella Chapman: “Metamorphosis” Exhibition at the Bonnington Cafe
The Bonnington Cafe is pleased to announce a captivating new exhibition by artist Stella Chapman, showcasing a series of innovative prints. On view throughout March 2025, Stella’s exhibition explores the theme of metamorphosis, inviting viewers into a dreamlike world of creatures caught between forms.
Stella uses her craft to transform spontaneous, observational drawings and collages into highly considered works of art. Through her unique process, Chapman turns quick, playful creations into pieces that reflect both the transitory and the deliberate, offering a balance of whimsy and formality.
This series is inspired by two literary works that deeply resonated with the artist: Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season. Both works depict beings undergoing transformation, in states of flux that echo the fluidity and instability of existence itself. Stella’s prints capture this sense of transience and metamorphosis, drawing on her fascination with the creatures from these texts—beings that exist more in the realm of imagination than in reality.
The process behind these pieces is intentionally intuitive, almost accidental, reflecting the artist’s playful approach to art-making. By combining collage and print techniques, Stella manipulates and experiments with fragments of animals to create uncanny, fragmented forms that mirror the disjointed nature of the imagined creatures. Unlike mythological hybrids such as mermaids or centaurs, the beings depicted here are amorphous, undefined, and existing entirely in the realms of art and fiction.
Stella’s work also brings a fascinating juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary methods. By appropriating imagery from archival sources, editing and hybridising them, she revives these fragments through the timeless medium of print. This collision between the old and the new mirrors the tension present in the literary works that inspired the exhibition—the push and pull between the familiar and the surreal.
The opening night will be held on Monday, March 3rd from 6-9 PM, providing an opportunity to meet the artist and explore this stunning new body of work. The exhibition is free to the public and will be on display throughout the month of March when the cafe is open. Stella is kindly donating 20% of all sale to the Bonnington Community Centre and Cafe
For more information, please contact: Stella Chapman

Bunny Love Deer, creator of art, lover of life, nature and words!

Centre Administrator on January 29, 2025

Private View / Opening Event this Sunday 2nd Feb 6-9pm (or later).
All Welcome! Bring along a musical instrument for a live jam session throughout the evening…

 

Wildlife is flourishing in the Bonnington Centre this month as “Bunny Love Deer, creator of art, lover of life, nature and words,” an advocate for animal rights, is our superb February artist.

Her quirky approach, expressed predominantly in fine pen and ink dot  work, in A Cathartic Journey, Drawing Inner Peace from the Outer Chaos, revels in the beauty of nature; at the same time, it portrays her angst at the savage destruction to wildlife and its habitats wrought by careless or uncaring human beings.
Bunny Love Deer, “a hopeless romantic of Mexican heritage”, warmly invites you to explore her creations and “the knowledge she seeks and shares.”
A percentage from all sales of artwork will go to wildlife charities and the Bonnington Centre Community Association.

MYSTERIOUS Music theatre artists in residence at The Bonnington Centre 26th to 31st Jan!

Centre Administrator on January 20, 2025

Composer Colum Findlay and writer/director Sarah Chew will be in residence at the Centre to write their new musical, Mysterious, a fantasy adventure about those who don’t fit in, those who can’t fit in, and those who choose to stand with them. During the week there will be a couple of pop up performances, and two workshops, which are free for Bonnington residents to attend. Sarah and Colum will also be offering open studio sessions where you can pop in to talk about their work, your work, or anything else you’d like a chat about!

If you would like to know more about open studios, please email sarahvchew@hotmail.com

Sunday 26th January, Workshops will take place at the Bonnington Centre :

2:15pm-5pm Fantasy character drawing session in the Top Room
Ever wanted to have a go at fantasy illustration? Ever wanted to explore how drawing can help with unlocking other creative activities? Join us – writer Sarah Chew and composer Colum Findlay – for a fun, creative session where we work from a clothed human model to create drawings of superhuman and magical characters, and look at how making drawings can help us make stories. We both use drawing in our creative practice, to unlock our ideas about characters and worldbuilding, and we are excited to share our ideas with you. You don’t need any existing drawing skills or experience to participate – just enthusiasm, and willingness to participate in some fun drawing exercises and games! We welcome all ages, but please ask that children attend with an adult. 
Paper, pencils and a limited number of other drawing materials will be provided. If possible please bring a drawing board, clipboard, a hardback book – anything you can lean on as you draw – as we can only provide a limited number of these. If you have art materials you enjoy using, feel free to bring them!
Entry is free, you can reserve your place here https://www.outsavvy.com/event/24498/fantasy-character-drawing-session-bonnington-centre-vauxhall or turn up on the day. If you would like to make a donation, all proceeds will be gratefully split between the creative team and the Bonnington Centre – however, donations are anonymous and entirely optional!
Please note: our apologies, this event is upstairs, there is no step free access. Please message us directly if you would like Zoom access to the session.
 6pm-9pm Pop up choir in the Cafe
Ever wanted to be the first to sing material from a newly-written musical?
Writer Sarah Chew and composer Colum Findlay are artists in residence for a week at the Bonnington Centre, where they will be creating Mysterious, a new fantasy musical about those who don’t fit in, those who can’t fit in, and those who chose to stand with them. 
Join them for a fun, free session singing some brand new songs from the show. You do not need to have any experience of singing in a choir, and you don’t need to be able to read music – just turn up and have fun!
You are also welcome to turn up just to listen. It may be possible to accommodate instrumentalists – please get in touch if you want to play an instrument and we can discuss.
Entry is free, you can reserve your place here https://www.outsavvy.com/event/24497/pop-up-choir-bonnington-cafe-vauxhall or turn up on the day. If you would like to make a donation, all proceeds will be gratefully split between the creative team and the Bonnington Centre – however, donations are anonymous and entirely optional! 
This event has step free access. Please message directly if you have other access requirements, we will do our best to meet access needs. This event is for ages 14 and over. 
These events are kindly supported by Arts Council England 

The Blue Horizon

Centre Administrator on January 20, 2025

Come along and see these stunning paintings until the 30th of January when the Bonnington Cafe is open.
Magdalena Del Mar, a London resident for the last 19 years, was born in Poland, where she first gained both experience and education in the practice of Art.
She exhibits regularly, her work being allied to her passionate interest in Art Therapy.
This she achieves through paintings that echo water-based scenery, in shades of green and blue: the softness of the varying hues and the depth of layers brings a serenity that joins sensory processing with Art.
Magdalena’s work is concerned with mindfulness and the positive impact of art on mental health.
Her other interests include Spanish culture and astrology.