Maggi Hambling: Exhibition opens at Suffolk birthplace

Artist Maggi Hambling is exhibiting her work in Sudbury, Suffolk, where she was born

Maggi Hambling, described as one of Britain's greatest living artists, said having an exhibition in her birthplace was "pretty terrific".

The display of the 77-year-old's work at Gainsborough's House in Sudbury, Suffolk, runs until 29 October.

It features paintings, many not seen before, with connections to Suffolk's landscape and people.

Hambling said she was "nervous about exhibitions because one is naked around these walls".

Gainsborough's House reopened last year following a £10m redevelopment, which includes an extension.

The museum is in Thomas Gainsborough's Grade I listed childhood home in Sudbury and is dedicated to world-renowned 18th Century artist.

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Hambling said having her exhibition in the museum was "pretty terrific because of this wonderful new building".

She said: "When I was eight or nine, my mother brought me to Gainsborough's House and that's where I saw real painting for the first time.

"It's just cows and trees, but it transported me into somewhere else, somewhere I wanted to be."

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The 30 works on display feature portraits of mentors and friends, as well as paintings based on the artist's experiences of watching heavy surf break against the seawall in Southwold.

Hambling said her home county was important to her and her work, adding: "I think it's to do with time and the whole sense of the day when I'm in Suffolk.

"The mud feels right. The fog feels right. The mist feels right. It just feels right."

The work features paintings which have not been seen before

She said now the exhibition was open it was "up to people" what they made of her artwork.

"People ask me what I think of the exhibition where it's my work [but] you have to ask other people what they think about you," she said.

Some of Hambling's public artworks, such as her Scallop sculpture in Aldeburgh and statue of Mary Wollstonecraft in Newington Green, have attracted controversy.

But she said: "I don't set out to be controversial, it just seems to happen."

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