will kill a long-established tradition of selling their work from their homes.

They are circulating a petition that says the new Plan "unfairly penalises'' them by preventing their home sales directly to the public.

But the artists, who are represented in their fight by the Bermuda Society of the Arts, also say the plan targets all others who work out of their homes.

"Anyone who works out of their homes will have to apply to the Planning Department, not just artists,'' Society president Mrs. Maria Smith said yesterday.

"It's really quite awesome,'' she added. "It's unnecessary state intervention. It makes no sense.

"I don't think they should be bothering with the seamstress who takes in sewing on the weekends, or the gardener who wants to sell his extra carrots.'' Mrs. Smith said the Plan would create a bureaucratic nightmare.

"They'll be getting so many applications from people who do things out of their homes they'll never be able to process them all,'' she said.

The Society petition pinpoints two clauses in the Plan that will alter the way local artists have always conducted their business.

The Planning statement allows for homes to be used for an occupation as long as it does not involve "direct sales of goods or produce from the premises to the public...'' In addition, the Plan states that "home occupation'' status will not be extended to a "studio of persons engaged in home crafts such as an artist, dressmaker, music teacher or writer.'' The Society's petition argues that artists have traditionally invited the public to their studios to sell their work.

"In Bermuda, this enhances the character of our Island in the tourist experience ... The number of artists is unlikely to be extensive, nor is the volume of traffic high.

"Enacting this provision restricts artists to only sell their work in a commercial gallery.

"This adds unnecessary costs and loss of freedom to those individuals who might wish to continue in the tradition of a personal home gallery.'' The petition urges Government to specifically exclude artists' studios from the Planning provisions or at least to revise them "to allow this valuable tradition to continue for artists and craftspeople.'' The Society has 300 members.

Yesterday, Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto said the petition would receive careful study by her Planning officials.

"If it has merit in terms of excluding artists studios of a very modest scale, or any other modest home occupation, then that's possible -- as has been done in the past,'' she said.

"This (petition) is all part of the process,'' the Minister said. The Planning Statement, which is to guide development in Bermuda for the next 10 years, was tabled in Parliament in early July.

It allows for a two-month period of objection after which objections will be considered before the final plan is produced.

Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto said the provisions governing home occupations were designed to reduce impact on neighbourhood life.

"Neighbours get upset about traffic passing through their neighbourhood to what has in effect been commercial premises next door,'' she said.

"This the sort of thing -- the impact on the neighbourhood -- that has been looked at in the past to decide what is a reasonable home occupation.''