Swindon Open Studios: From Industrial Heritage to Avant-Garde?

31st July 2025, Swindon – Swindon's annual free community art event offers a behind-the-scenes view as artists open their studios and workshops to welcome visitors. The fantastic variety this year is illustrated by Ken White and Carmen B Norris. Ken is a Swindon-born and bred artist from humble beginnings, who spent four years at Swindon's College of Art and Design. Carmen has a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from New Jersey City University, USA. That's the beauty of Swindon Open Studios (SOS) – people who love all things colourful and creative can connect with artists and craftspeople from all walks of life, who have followed very different paths. Like musicians, while some are qualified others are completely self-taught, but all create beautiful work.

Ken White, photograph by David Chalk

83-year-old Ken White has participated in every Swindon Open Studios since 2004. Famous for designing the Scarlet Lady emblem for Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airlines, in the 1970's he painted many murals around Swindon and in 100 Virgin airport lounges worldwide. His large "men in caps" oil paintings reflect the four years he worked at Great Western Railways as a “rivet hotter”. Like many Swindonians, he followed in his grandfather's and father's footsteps. Unlike them, he committed his keen observations to canvas. His paintings evoke an industrial heritage long since lost, but if you lived in Swindon before the "Railway Works" shut in 1986, his atmospheric pictures call to mind the famous hooter which blasted out as shifts began and ended, with thousands of men pouring into the streets on pushbikes and on foot. Is this Swindon’s answer to L.S. Lowry?!

Ken white, photograph by David Chalk

Ken's studio is everything you would expect a traditional artist's studio to be with paintings hanging all over the walls, stacked in rows and remnants of 65 years of oil paints dripping over an old cabinet. He tells fascinating stories and according to Rhona Jack, who writes for SOS, "For years I was in awe and wanted to meet this famous man who is like “art royalty” to me. I was really nervous, but found Ken to be warm, welcoming and very easy to talk to. Visitors will love meeting the man behind the murals and spending time with him!"While Ken's larger oil paintings sell for £Thousands in London, he is offering Swindonians special rates. Affordable hand-tinted giclée fine art prints are also available so people can enjoy a little piece of Swindon history forever!

Carmen B Norris, photograph by David Chalk

In contrast, Carmen B Norris is an abstract, mixed-media artist whose vibrant, colourful artworks will brighten the rooms of any home. As often happens with artists, her creative flair began as a child who loved making clothes for her Barbie dolls and borrowed “How to Draw” books from the library. Fascinated with shiny coloured papers, she began creating abstract collages. The influence of her second degree in Textile Surface Design (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York), is very evident in the unique pieces she creates today. 

Artwork by Carmen B Norris, photograph by David Chalk

Swindon Open Studios has grown again! This year, over 140 artists in 57 venues are taking part during the last two weekends of September. Ken’s studio is in Old Town and Carmen is at The Hub in The Parade, central Swindon.

See https://www.swindonopenstudios.org/sign-up for a chance to win a £50 voucher to buy artworks. See www.swindodonopenstudios.org to plan your visits, or pick up an A5 brochure or the new A3 guide available in libraries, cafés and pubs from early August.