Herts Open Studios 2025

Three Artist showcase

Carla Valente

Carla Valente is a talented artist based in the picturesque town of Hemel Hempstead. Since her childhood, Carla has been fascinated by the creative arts, particularly fashion and design. Her love for these disciplines motivated her to pursue a Diploma in Fashion, which helped hone her skills as a fashion designer.

Over the years, Carla has evolved her artistic style, moving away from fashion design to focus on creating unique, imaginative artwork. She uses her artistic flair to create stunning illustrations, crafts, and artworks, each of which showcases her innate talent and creativity.

In recent years, Carla has dedicated herself to exploring different mediums and techniques to add depth, texture, and vibrancy to her work and to take her art to new heights. From acrylics to watercolour, resin, etc. Her art is considered mixed media art, consisting of ever-evolving forms and expressions.

Kate Dean

Kate Dean was born in London and trained at Hornsey and Liverpool Schools of Art. Following graduation she worked in a family textile design studio in Paris. The emphasis on drawing was upmost and Kate attended Life Classes at La Grande Chaumiere whilst living there. Her use of colour, in illustrative landscape designs, caught the eye of Mary Quant, where she became a designer of fabrics for Japanese and US clients. Her work was sold across Europe when she established a freelance clientele from her studio in Shoreditch.

A Textile Study tour of Indonesia researching woven Ikats and Batiks led to a life long fascination and inspiration from fabrics and patterns from many cultures. Her teaching work fed off these influences notably creating Indonesian Shadow Puppet performances in schools.

Kate has exhibited her work in Herts Open Studios since 2015 Some years at Apsley Trail in group shows and with her Winkwell Artist Group in Bucks Art Week in 2017. Her sold work now hangs in Canada, France, Italy,Australia and Ireland.

Pete Greening - Geometric Abstract painter

After discovering the mid to late ‘60s works of Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely in 1970, Pete was inspired to start painting geometric abstract paintings. As the ‘A’ Level course he was in the first year of wouldn’t let him focus on that style of art, he left, and found himself starting work in late 1971 as a civil servant, while continuing to paint as a hobby.

His first exhibition was at The Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead in March 1980.

Since then he has had many solo exhibitions and has exhibited in many group shows, including at London’s Brick Lane Gallery and the Royal Academy Summer Show. He has also exhibited in Belgium at The Nicholson Art Gallery in Brussels and Gallery X in Dublin and has buyers of his work in Ireland, France, the United States, Canada and New Zealand as well as the UK.

His paintings explore the optical effects of linear distortion and arithmetical progression. The patterns and colours used are carefully selected to create either an optical illusion of movement, or to create a feeling of tension on the surface of the painting.

Some of Pete’s paintings have been used as covers for some vinyl LPs and other music releases.