CHRIS ROWE
Jazz and blues on canvas. Four days at Kemaelli’s, the café that becomes the festival gallery. Free entry, no ticket needed, 9am to 5pm daily, Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 November.
PAINTING THE SOUND
Chris Rowe is a Petersfield artist whose subject is the music this festival is built on: the players, the rooms, the light on a horn at the end of a set. For the 2026 festival he turns Kemaelli’s café into the Festival Gallery, hanging a selection of his jazz and blues work for the four days of the weekend.
In Chris’ own words…
“I have been drawing for as long as I can remember and it has always been people and usually people in some form of action. I wanted to go to art college, but my parents decided I had to get a “proper job”, so I wound up working for a bank, all over the Far and Middle East. In some of the places I served, there was no television or English language films and the only decent radio was a very crackly BBC short-wave. So drawing kept me sane. For many years I just did cartoons from work and the various clubs I belonged to, but then I switched to painting. Again, it was people and dramatic lighting, so what better than Jazz and Rock musicians?”
Ask in the gallery for prices. Sold pieces stay on the wall until the gallery closes on Sunday.
VISITING AND BUYING
Kemaelli’s is a family-run Mediterranean café at 16 North Street, Midhurst GU29 9DJ, halfway between the two main festival rooms. Brunch runs all day, so the gallery is the natural stop between the church and the college.
To buy a piece, ask the staff at Kemaelli’s or speak to Chris, who will be in the gallery [DAYS AND TIMES TO CONFIRM]. Collection is on Sunday after 5pm, or by arrangement. Can’t get to Midhurst? Email info@midhurstjazzandblues.com with the title and we will put you in touch.
Also at Kemaelli’s this weekend: Martin McNeill, slide guitar and bottleneck blues, Saturday 21 November, 2pm to 3.30pm. Free, booking essential.
