A NEW ART CENTRE IS COMING TO LOWESTOFT
Opening in mid 2026 Messums East reimagines Lowestoft’s historic Old Post Office as a space for arts and community.
Led by its location and its legacy as a place of information exchange, the Old Post Office will be a hub for creativity within a community, introducing and sharing ideas from around the world and sending back out creativity inspired by the local area.
Messums Creative at Messums East is a charity specialising in engagement with creativity and imagination in the arts through the making process. With workshops, performances, talks, outreach and education programmes, we offer free and affordable opportunities for people of all ages to learn, create, and connect.
Messums is committed to fostering creativity and environmental awareness through accessible, engaging programmes. We provide opportunities for learning and making that inspire connection and thoughtful exploration of both art and the environment.
our story so far
-
Artist Residency: Sammy Hawker
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2025
Australian photographer Sammy Hawker will stay in Lowestoft looking at land change and community in the area. She will explore near and long term changes to landscape and the environment, anthropocentric living and migration choices and the resonances of the past creating a publicaton and filmed to be stored in Lowestoft.
-
Sculpture on the Sands: Laurence Edwards 'Shimmer'
JUNE 2025
Continuing his ongoing relationship with the Lowestoft community, Suffolk-based sculptor Laurence Edwards contributed ‘Shimmer’ and ‘Borrowed Breath’.
Part of Messums East inaugural Sculpture on the Sand.
-
Ephemeral Beauty on the Beach
JUNE 2025
Ephermal Beauty is the result of an open call for sculpture made from non-hydrocarbon-based materials. Selected artist Zena Holloway created an ephemeral piece using a textile made from guided grass roots. Every part of Ephemeral Beauty will eventually decay and return to the earth.
A collaboration with Messums East and Messums Creative.
-
Community Workshops
JUNE 2025
Messums East and Messums Creative presented a programme of art and activities in their marquee on the beach. Artist Zena Holloway explored working with grass and organic material. There was a range of activities organised based around art and the environment.
-
TALK: Oliver Steeds
JUNE 2025
In partnership with Messums East and Ocean Rising – connecting culture with the Ocean.
Explorer, broadcaster, submersible pilot and Director of the Ocean Census, Oliver Steeds, dived into our aquatic evolutionary heritage to share stories about the extraordinary life in our ocean – the life that makes all life on Earth possible.
-
TALK: Lisa Blair
JUNE 2025
Messums proud supporters of Lisa Blair at FLF 2025.
Lisa Blair, sailor and climate activist, became the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica, overcoming major challenges with resilience and determination. Her commitment to gathering ocean data and raising awareness reflects the same spirit of creative problem-solving and purposeful action that inspires Messums drive and focus on art and the environment.
-
Watercolour Workshop with Francesco Poiana
MAY 2025, LOWESTOFT
An en plein air watercolour workshop exploring the expressive and fluid qualities of watercolour while capturing the movement, light, and atmosphere of the sea.
Set in a stunning coastal location, this immersive workshop encouraged participants to observe and interpret the natural surroundings, painting directly from life.
-
Clay-Making Workshop with Mirka Golden Hann
APRIL 2025, SEAGULL THEATRE
Free one-day clay-making workshop led by celebrated ceramic artist Mirka Golden-Hann. Participants worked with white clay to hand-build and model a flat-back ornament featuring seated figures, inspired by the 18th-century "Pew Group" ceramic tradition.
-
Watercolour Landscapes Workshop with Francesco Poiana
DECEMBER 2024, BATTERY OF IDEAS, LOWESTOFT
Led by acclaimed artist Francesco Pioana, participants were shown how to make paints from natural materials and supported to use them in a watercolour landscape.
The workshop was free and open to all skill levels and abilities and includes a complimentary lunch.
-
Julia Lohmann Seaweed Workshops
JULY 2024, SOUTH BEACH, LOWESTOFT
In the Planet Positive tent at First Light Festival, Messums Creative & artist Julia Lohmann offered free drop-in workshops where they shared their passion for making, science, algae and the environment, demonstrating the materials and techniques for her seaweed sculptures.
-
Laurence Edwards 'Walking Men'
JUNE - AUGUST 2024, SOUTH BEACH, LOWESTOFT
Laurence Edwards’s five 8ft Walking Men were installed on South beach, Lowestoft ahead of the First Light Festival and for the duration of summer 2024. The Walking Men sculpture had travelled throughout the UK, including a stay at Messums West and Blenheim Palace and were previously on display in Australia.
-
Laurence Edwards 'Chthonic Head'
JUNE - AUGUST 2023, SOUTH BEACH, LOWESTOFT
For the duration of the First Light Festival 2023 and throughout the summer, Laurence Edwards’s six-foot bronze ‘Chthonic Head’ resided on South Beach, Lowestoft. The sculpture was bedded into the sand on the tideline, exposed at low tide and submerged under the waves when the water was high.