Chris Hough

10.05.1957 to15.01.2025

Chris Hough, the beloved father of Patrick, and husband of Liz, and the only son of Cyril Hough, died at the scene of a road traffic accident while cycling north on the A26 on Wednesday 15th January 2025. His family and friends are utterly devastated at this sudden and tragic loss, sadly there was no opportunity for them to say goodbye. Also deeply mourning his loss are the members of the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club, where Chris had been an active member for nearly three decades, and the hundreds of students, colleagues and friends, at The City Literary Institute, London WC2, where Chris had taught drawing and painting for thirty years, and was continuing to do so.

Chris said that he 'trained (for want of a better word) at Central St Martins, and the Royal College of Art'. He was awarded the Cheltenham Fellowship and John Minton Travelling Scholarship to Chicago. He did residencies at Cite International des Arts, Paris and at Art Kommunalka, Moscow Region. And says that he 'finally found some kind of teaching fulfilment away from main-stream art school at the Institute of Education (UCL) and the City Lit', where he was course leader of the Fine Art Course. He was ever thankful 'for all the great people along the way who enriched (his) practice and motivation'.

Chris had a compulsion to be drawing and painting every day. He took part in the Lewes Artwave Festival in September 2023. The title of his show was 'Postcards from Peckham'. He first lived in Peckham after leaving the Royal College. This series of watercolours was made in response to return trips on foot and by bicycle, mixing elements of memory and experience from a distance to make images with the sense of detachment that he wanted. He said that he 'spent his life avoiding reality' and that he had 'little taste for depicting it'.

The hundreds of tributes from The City Lit students, colleagues, and friends grieving the loss of Chris and his inspirational teaching, describe him as: generous with his time, reflective, dedicated yet humble and unassuming, teaching with 'so much passion and energy for art and life'. They also credit him with 'integrity, independence of thought, kindness and aesthetic sensibility', that they are 'eternally indebted' to him for the 'enormous difference that he made to (their) lives', and that the world is 'a poorer place without him'. Notably that 'his curiosity and delight in life and his approach to his work were deeply inspiring'. Many said that they had more fun with him than with anyone else they had known, that 'he managed to make light of things even when the stakes were seriously high'. They say he helped them, inspired them, mentored them and say how much he was loved. How he 'shared his knowledge with enthusiasm and earned (their) respect by his honest and kind assessment of (their) work', how he 'guided constructively and with great empathy'. For many he was an anchor. They are devastated that he is 'gone too early'. His students 'loved that he continued to teach and chose to never go into management'. He was an extraordinary teacher, an inspirational colleague, and someone who would laugh his way out of any corporate conundrum. At the City Lit, Chris made trailblazing progress through teaching, learning, and towards the creation of sublimely beautiful images.

Please click the link here to view some (anonymous) tributes from students, colleagues and friends at the City Literary Institute, London.

Chris had an equal passion for cycling. As a student he joined the VC Londres CC at the Herne Hill velodrome. Here he found a community of misfits who not only taught him the traditions and etiquette of bicycle racing but amongst whom he found others, embracing the oddity of what being a cyclist was in the 70s/80s. Indeed, many younger riders refer to Chris as 'the essence' for his uncompromising belief that a life on two wheels should be conscious of its social. even counter-cultural, roots. Chris joined the Artist's Cycling Club in London, membership of which reflected his view of cycling as a social, sporting, and artistic pursuit. He would make many trips to the coast by bicycle through which he found his love of the East Sussex landscape. Moving to Hamsey in 1997, he joined the Lewes Wanderers CC, a club with rich heritage and members sporting a great deal of 'essence' of their own. Decades of friendship at this club took Chris all over Sussex, exploring every tiny back lane, chalk path, and woodland trail. The compendium of knowledge in that club is not sold in bike shops but something he valued above all else and duly added his own volume to. He had a passion for the folklore and natural history of his routes. He also left us several completed tearoom loyalty cards, his modest, self-deprecating nature likely too apologetic to cash them in but too accommodating to not collect a stamp.

We hope that he will continue to inspire others in their art and cycling, to laugh, and ultimately to be creatively free.

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If you would like to come to Chris' memorial in London later this year please contact us at studioofchris@gmail.com for further details. There will also be a publication, in the Autumn, of Chris' work in progress' up to the moment that he stopped.