Green Pebble -- Art News in East Anglia

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Winter 2009/2010 issue
On Tour With The Pitmen Painters

The scenario could have come straight from Calendar Girls or The Full Monty. One day Robert Lyon, an enthusiastic master of paintings at King’s College, is invited to teach an art appreciation class to a group of Workers Education Association (WEA) participants in Ashington, 16 miles north of Newcastle in Northumberland.

It is the early 1930s and Northumberland is coal mining country.

Not surprisingly, the 13 men who assemble in the room to hear Lyon’s lectures consist largely of pitmen; ordinary hard-working men. And as much as they try to understand why and how artists paint, it soon becomes apparent that the group cannot quite grasp the message Robert Lyon is trying to convey.

So, after a couple of weeks of lantern slides and lectures on the old Masters, Lyon changes tack. One day he brings in an armful of art materials and instructs the group to start painting. From now on, he announces, the class will focus on the paintings they themselves have produced at home during the week; on what they discover about the ‘method and process’ of painting, through entering the mind of an artist.

Fast forward a few years and The Ashington Group, as they have become known, have produced hundreds of ‘homeworks’. Many have also been recycled or destroyed – they have served their purpose – but Lyon recognises the pitmen’s progress and puts on a show of their most significant works in the fine art department at King’s College. Remarkably, this leads to an introduction to collector and heiress Helen Sutherland, who ensures the pitmen are welcomed into the British Museum and the Tate. Eventually the paintings even go on tour.

And thus, by the late 1930s, these men with their ‘unprofessional’ paintings of the mines, allotments, kitchens and social clubs, have become minor celebrities.

Fast forward yet again to a winter’s night in 1971 when artist and art critic William Feaver travels over to Ashington to meet a small group of 5 or 6 elderly men; all who are left of the Ashington Group.

‘I had met them at the opening of an exhibition of works made by Helen Sutherland, who had patronized the group in the 1930s,’ William explains. ‘I was writing a book about art in Newcastle at the time, and although I knew their story, I had never met them.’

Once in the old army hut in which the group had stored their work, William admits to being ‘completely overwhelmed by the quality and intensity of their work’. To start with, he recalls, the paintings were stored away. ‘So, they came out, one by one, and it was like Christmas morning for a child. There were these extraordinary, detailed paintings. As an art critic I am always asked to go and see people’s work and usually it’s a terrible disappointment. You just have to be very tactful. The work just doesn’t spark.’

In the case of the Ashington Group’s work, however, ‘it was just unpretentious, honest, inventive; and it was very varied, from straight naïve and charming, to sophisticated.’

The men were all talking at the same time, William remembers, ‘and I was equally impressed by their incredible camaraderie and humour and intensity, and by their grasp of not just what they’d been doing but of other art as well. It was a very good feeling, to see that these people didn’t feel inhibited at all; didn’t feel they were the ‘amateurs’ or ‘dabblers’, but that they were just as serious as everybody else. They were just different from other artists as a result of their circumstances.’

William went on to write a book about the pitmen’s tale – Pitmen Painters – and helped to form a trust to ensure the paintings were properly preserved. They are now permanently housed in the Woodhorn Colliery Museum in Ashington.

Some years later, long after William’s book had gone out of print, playwright Lee Hall picked up a copy of Pitmen Painters from a secondhand bookshop on Charing Cross Road. Celebrated for his musical Billy Elliott, Lee Hall instantly saw the potential for a stage play inspired by the pitmen’s story and in late 2007 his play The Pitmen Painters opened in Newcastle’s Live Theatre before transferring to London’s National Theatre.

‘It’s a funny, intelligent play,’ William Feaver says. ‘It’s the only play I know of that deals with art in a real way. The reason why people love the play so much is because here, at last, is a play that doesn’t treat people like idiots or as people to be teased with intellectual conceits. It’s a very straight play. You should go and see it.’

The Pitmen Painters showed at the Theatre Royal in Norwich, Norfolk, in November. It is next showing in Theatre Royal Bath (www.theatreroyal.org.uk) from 17 - 21 November, and Theatre Royal Plymouth (theatreroyal.com) from 24 - 28 November.

East Anglian potter lives and breathes Japanese wood firing

the 16th C Anagama kiln The porttery, after firing

In the heart of the Aichi Prefecture in Japan, Norfolk potter Pat Southwood shovels wood into a giant kiln. She and nine other potters are taking it in turns to bring the Anagama kiln to temperature and are working in 8-hour shifts over a period of four days.

Over the past month there have been two earthquakes, a partial eclipse and a hurricane, and today it is 45°C with a humidity level of 92%.

‘And the mosquitoes are having a field day,’ Pat says good-naturedly. ‘I’ve got the scars to prove it.’

The truth is, Pat would not exchange this experience for anything the world. Having been awarded an International Workshop of Ceramic Art in Tokoname (IWCAT) Residency, she and the others are at the end of a 5-week programme which has not only introduced them to the culturally-significant and ancient techniques of Japanese wood-firing, but more significantly, to a large slice of Japanese culture.

‘The people of Tokoname are kindness itself,’ says Pat. ‘Initially it felt as if the residency was going to be about making work in Japan, and firing in Japan, and exhibiting in Japan, but it is about so much more than that. Because it is a home stay, we are having to fit into our host’s lives and are very fortunate to be able to peek under the surface of everyday Japan.’

And that culture, she says, is humbling. ‘Respect for others is paramount; bowing, incredible politeness, and the fact that nothing is too much trouble, ever. It reminds me of what I was told England was like in the 1950s; a tremendous spirit of humankind, kindness and honesty.’

A graduate of Anglia Ruskin University at Lowestoft College where she completed a BA (Hons) in Ceramic Design in 1999, Pat is no stranger to Japan. Over the years she has already been on three study trips to the country, and has visited with two exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka in 2008, but this is her first to the ceramics town of Tokoname, famous for centuries of ceramic production, including more recently the production of high-fired industrial stoneware such as acid canisters, sewerage pipes, electrical cable pipes and toilets.

‘It’s where the clay is,’ Pat explains, before adding that on the other side of town, amongst the hilly streets, live some 50 potters; artisans who make both domestic and decorative ware from the same clay. Their workshops and homes go back to the Edo period and form what is known as the Sakae-Machi or ‘Pottery Footpath’.

It is here that Pat’s education started five weeks ago. Her host is potter and gallery owner Tomoko Okuda, an IWCAT committee member who lives at the top of a steep hill. ‘A very steep hill,’ stresses Pat. ‘Especially for someone from Norfolk.’

All of the ten participants have been given a bicycle for transportation. Pat has never been so fit.
For five weeks Pat and the other nine participants have been taken to numerous demonstrations, firings, ikibana (flower arranging) demonstrations, museums, galleries and workshops. In their workshop time they have had to familiarize themselves with the local clay and Japanese-style wheels, producing pieces that are getting fired in one – ‘Yes, just one,’ Pat confirms – firing before their exhibition.

Why such pressure?

‘Because that way you learn.’

The group has built their own small kiln according to traditional methods, plus they have the use of a large kiln provided by a master potter. They have spent three days packing the kilns with some 500 pieces and they know that much can go wrong. Because the fire is constantly being stoked, pieces of wood can accidentally carry through into the fire chamber and break some – if not many – of the pieces. The glaze created by the wood ash can weld pieces together, rendering them unusable. Or the potter may have simply misjudged the clay’s properties, leading to collapses, cracks and breakages. Only when the kilns cool will they discover whether they have made the right decisions for this type of clay, and this style of firing.

This firing costs about £400 in wood. They use a mix of pine and other soft woods.

When the kiln is finally unpacked, Pat is pleased. She had deliberately created pieces she would not have made at home – ‘What is the sense of coming to the other side of the world to experience many new things and then make what I could do in England?’ – and of these, she has only one ‘disaster’. A piece was ‘kissed’ by another. She has a couple of pieces she wishes could have been placed in the firebox where the temperature would have been the highest and thus the natural glaze effect the strongest, but overall she has come away with over 30 viable pieces, of which seven are exhibition standard.

‘If you can get over 50% that is saleable in an Anagama wood firing, then you’ve had a good firing.’

The pieces that worked best, she finds, are those with strong, simple and dynamic forms.
‘In an electric kiln or a gas kiln,’ Pat explains, searching for an analogy, ‘you can put on as much make-up as you like. You can play with fancy glazes and you can make a fairly indifferent pot look really good. With wood firing it’s a bit like going out without your make-up on, what you see is what you get and it has to have an integrity of itself. There’s no hiding behind anything. With wood firing, it’s in the lap of the Kiln Gods.’

Work made during the residency was exhibited at the Tokoname international ceramic exhibition and at the Inax museum.

Pat Southwood’s work can be viewed on her website or she can be contacted on email.

For more about the International Workshop of Ceramic Art in Tokoname (IWCAT) Residency, visit IWCAT

October 2009 issue
What do Rodin, Moore and Frink have in Common? Harlow, of course
By Michael Paraskos

It used to be called Harlow New Town, then it became just Harlow. Now Harlow in Essex has a new name: Harlow Sculpture Town. This new name, which will soon appear on road signs and publicity brochures, was approved by an overwhelming majority at a meeting of Harlow Council in April. In fact, so strong was support for the proposal that after the vote the council chamber erupted into spontaneous applause, something the town clerks say has never happened before.

The reason for the new name might come as a surprise to people who do not know Harlow. Built in an uncompromising modern style after the Second World War, Harlow was created to house the victims of Nazi bombing in east London. Under the leadership of the architect Frederick Gibberd, the town was an experiment in a new way of living, and comprises a series of village communities linked together by the central hub of the town centre. Each ‘village’ was given its own parade of shops, community and health centres and schools. In Gibberd’s vision, however, each area was also given its own public sculptures, reflecting Gibberd’s belief that art is for everyone.

The result is that Harlow now has the highest number of public sculptures per head of population in the country. There are over 100 in total. Many are owned by the Harlow Art Trust, which was set up by Gibberd in 1953. Amongst the big names in the Trust’s collection are Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Lynn Chadwick and Elizabeth Frink, each of whom is represented by major works. Although most of the Trust’s collection is scattered across Harlow, there is a concentration in the town centre, including the Rodin, Moore and Frink. There is also a collection of sculptures owned by the Gibberd Garden Trust, located in the pretty house and garden built by Frederick Gibberd. And there is a new collection of works lining the River Stort footpath, running three miles from the gallery and artists’ studios at Parndon Mill to the Gibberd Garden.

But the name Harlow Sculpture Town is not simply a celebration of the existing sculptures of Harlow. It is intended to encourage new art activity in the town. Next spring a new sculpture by the German artist Ekkehard Altenburger will be unveiled in the award winning Newhall housing development, and an annual sculpture festival is planned. Perhaps the most exciting idea of all is the proposal to set up a new sculpture college in Harlow, allowing young artists to respond to the existing collection.

Borneo challenge provides new focus for Suffolk artist

Chance, friendship and an insatiable curiosity recently took Suffolk artist Annie Owen to the island of Borneo where, during her travels, she discovered a cause she has brought back to Suffolk: the plight of the Orang-utans.

As part of her trip, Annie visited the Semenggoh Forest Reserve, a rehabilitation centre for captured or orphaned Orang-utans.

The reserve is set in a 650 hectare area of jungle and it was there that she met Ritchie, a 27 year old Orang-utan, of whom she wrote in her journal: ‘Ritchie leaned casually against the sturdy post bearing the welcome sign and looked me up and down. ‘He was tall, strong and lean with bright red hair; not a conventionally handsome individual, but what really caught my attention and held me rapt was the intelligent twinkle in his deep brown eyes. We continued to gaze at each other for a while, then Ritchie sloped away for his breakfast, leaving me mesmerised by this silent but intimate exchange.’
He and the other semi-wild Orang-utans are encouraged to roam and are free to go further afield, but as Annie discovered during her travels, there is trouble in paradise. Vast areas of virgin rainforest have been replaced with palm oil plantations, and this is threatening a species with whom mankind shares 96.4% of its genetic make-up.

‘The plantations are being planted so quickly and relentlessly that, shockingly, some UN scientists believe that these plantations could lead to the extinction of Orang Utans by the year 2012,’ says Annie, pointing out that this is the same year we will be celebrating the Olympic Games in the UK.
‘Friends of the Earth give it a little longer by estimating 2019. Either way, it is imminent.’
Determined to help raise awareness, Annie has decided to hold an exhibition based on her impressions of her journey at the Fisher Theatre in Bungay, Suffolk, in October.

‘I loved Borneo immedi-ately. I am hoping that the powerful impact that Borneo and its inhabitants had on me is conveyed or, at least, hinted at in my work and that the images are all strong enough to interest visitors to the exhibition, be they pure photography, digitally manipulated images, monoprints or etchings. Borneo made a lasting impact on me. I can only hope that some of this passion is visible in my work.’

New Art Group for Cambridge

Cambridge has a new art group. Called the Cambridge Arts Movement, or CAM, this group of some 30 artists is based at Williams Art in Gwydir Street, where they show a fortnightly-changing selection of their work.

By the time Green Pebble hits the streets, CAM’s first group show, CAMaraderie, will be underway. On from 18 – 30 September, it features a collection of self portraits executed as paintings, sculptures, photographs and montages, and all within the confines of a specially-made A3 panel.

CAMaraderie is an exciting collection of self-portraits created specially for this show by all 30 current members of the movement. Expect the unexpected from this diverse collection of artists - paintings, sculptures, photographs, montages and more. But all within the confines of a specially-made A3 panel.

The show will run at Gwydir Street until the end of September then selected works will move to their corridor gallery space in Addenbrooke's Treatment Centre from 6 - 30 October.

To learn more, or to join CAM, visit Cambridge Art Movement

Brian Whelan rocks with the Irish...and The Popes
Norfolk artist Brian Whelan is celebrating two launches this autumn; that of his book london irish painting, and of a CD cover commissioned by rock band The Popes.

In October the Irish World newspaper and The Irish Embassy in London will be launching Brian’s book, london irish painting, which features a selection of work by five London Irish painters who have been exhibiting in several countries as part of an exhibition curated by the artist.

Born in England to Irish parents, Brian conceived of the exhibition some five years ago and has curated it as it has travelled through the UK, Spain and lastly, into the USA.

‘The paintings examine the experience of Irish people who left Ireland for Britain in the 20th Century,’ writes Irish World, ‘and are as full of humour as they are pain.’

Meanwhile, Irish rockers Shane Macgowan and The Popes have just released their latest CD, Outlaw Heaven. The Popes commissioned Brian Whelan to provide all the artwork for the CD cover and 8-page booklet after one of the band members saw his work at a London exhibition.

October 2009 issue

Goalkeeper Hands It to Artist

Ipswich Town Football Club Goalkeeper Richard Wright has taken part in a new show by Beccles artist and lifecaster, Michelle Payne. His cast is a bronze-effect sculpture of his hands saving a football and will be auctioned for the charity East Anglian Children’s Hospice during the Ipswich art festival, Ip-Art, which opens at The Frame Workshop and Gallery in Ipswich, Suffolk, on 1 July.

Michelle is also currently working on a new project over two years involving an auction and Icons for the 21st Century, with new cast of Sarah Burge (the living Barbie Doll) coming to Beccles soon.

Norwich Art School Scores highly

Norwich University College of the Arts named top ranking institution in latest university league tables

Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA) is celebrating being named as a top ranking education institution, having been listed for the first time in the latest university league tables published by The Independent.

University Colleges and specialist higher education colleges are excluded from the main university league tables, compiled by The Complete University Guide in association with The Independent. But, having been granted University College status last year, NUCA became eligible to be included in The Independent’s own subject league tables, and was positioned 27th out of 75 in the Art and Design subject tables and 3rd in the specialist institutions section.

This listing coincides with recent figures from the University College, which illustrate an increase in the number of student applications received across all NUCA courses over the last year, showing a rise of 4.6%.

NUCA Principal, Professor John Last commented: “ We are delighted to be featured in The Independent’s league table as a leading art and design institution. Our ranking reaffirms our position as a provider of high quality teaching in the fields of art and design.

“And as our rising application figures would suggest, more and more students are recognising NUCA as one the best places to study their chosen discipline. We continue to attract strong applications regionally, nationally and internationally with applicants from India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Lithuania and Bulgaria to name but a few.

“Our strengths lie in the diverse range of courses we offer at Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral level, and our commitment to enhancing these programmes year on year. In 2009 we are continuing this trend by adding to our undergraduate portfolio with the introduction of Year 0 for both the BA Fine Art and BA Graphic Design courses.

“Last year we achieved national recognition for our ‘world class’ research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in their 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with 85% of our research being classified as internationally recognised.”

Ceramicist Off to Japan

On 14 July Norfolk potter Pat Southwood leaves Norwich for six weeks as an artist in residence in Tokoname, Japan. Pat was selected as one of 10 ceramic artists worldwide to participate in the IWCAT 2009 workshop. This event is now in its 25th year, in a town famous for ceramics. A host family will look after Pat whilst she is in Tokoname and a bicycle will be her trusty steed about town. The six-week workshop will include lectures on Japanese culture along with demonstrations of local techniques and visits to the many local potters. Along with the cultural exchanges, she will be expected to make numerous pots in order to fill a kiln in a marathon firing session in one of the town’s historic kilns.

June 2009 issue

Images published with permission

'Detective Work' Identifies Constable Paintings

Co-curators of Constable Portraits: The Painter and His Circle at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 March - 14 June 2009 have made important discoveries concerning two portraits belonging to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service.

Anne Lyles, Tate curator and leading authority on the work of John Constable, and Martin Gayford, writer and critic, have confirmed that a portrait of Ann Constable, John Constable’s mother, is by the artist. They have also provisionally re-identified a portrait of Constable’s father, Golding Constable, that was previously thought to be a portrait of his school master. These two portraits, now thought to make a pair, have been in the collection at Colchester and Ipswich Museum service since 1926. The discoveries were made by Lyles and Gayford while conducting research for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which includes the portrait of Golding Constable.

Painted around 1805, the recently authenticated portrait of Ann Constable is 36 x 28” or “Kit-Cat” size, a format favoured by the artist for portraits early in his career, until 1814. The sitter is pictured facing left with a spaniel in her lap. This portrait was painted on canvas supplied by T Brown of Holborn, an artist’s merchant known to have been used by Constable.

The recent authentication of this picture has thrown light on the likely identity of the sitter shown in a male portrait also belonging to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service. The sitter in this portrait, also “Kit-Cat” size, was previously identified as Constable’s schoolmaster from Dedham, Dr Thomas Lechmere Grimwood based on its description in a 1926 Sotheby’s sale catalogue as a ‘Portrait of the artist’s schoolmaster’.

There are several strands of evidence to support this new assertion of the sitter’s identity as Constable’s father, Golding. The sitter has a strong resemblance, with the same jowls and brown curled wig as a later portrait of Golding Constable, circa 1815, which belongs to Tate. The book held by the male sitter looks remarkably like the Constable family Bible, which is still in existence.

Crucially, these portraits of both Ann and Golding Constable, belonging to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service, have shared the same provenance for many years, descending through the same branch of the Constable family. Both portraits are “Kit-Cat” size and facing complementary directions which suggest they are a pair and it therefore seems likely that they are portraits of the artist’s mother and father rather than his mother and schoolmaster. Hugh Golding Constable sold both portraits at Sotheby’s in consecutive lots in December 1926 and both were donated to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service by the buyer PG Laver in the same year.

Lyles and Gayford now believe these paintings to be earlier versions of the portraits of Constable’s parents belonging to Tate (circa 1815). The evidence for this was recently unearthed by Lyles examining correspondence from the artist. A relation of Constable, Harriet Savile, requested portraits of his mother and father in 1815 after Ann Constable’s death. Constable replied that he would paint them ‘from those we have here’, now believed to refer to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service portraits.

The portraits of Golding Constable from Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service and Tate will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 March - 14 June 2009 as part of Constable Portraits: The Painter and His Circle, sponsored by British Land PLC. John Constable (1776-1837) is recognised as a landscape painter of profound originality and popularity and yet his portraits are often overlooked. This will be the first exhibition to explore John Constable’s life and art through his portraits and will include nearly 50 works including oil portraits, watercolours and sketches.

Exhibited works will be on loan from institutions including Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, V & A, Royal Academy and Yale Center for British Art, alongside works from private collections, many of which have not been on public display for many years. Remarkably, considering Constable’s reputation and output of approximately 100 portraits, this body of work is not well-known. Constable Portraits will offer the opportunity to re-evaluate and rediscover this previously marginalised aspect of the artist’s work.

The portrait of Ann Constable is now on display in the Wolsey Art Gallery in Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE. Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm (Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm) Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm (Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm) Nearest Underground: Leicester Square/Charing Cross Recorded information: 020 7312 2463 General information: 020 7306 0055

National Portrait Museum Website

June 2009 issue
Poetry and Nature Captured in Sandstone
Effigy Beeline
Every so often the members of the Royal British Society of Sculptors are invited to take part in exhibitions around the country and this year Suffolk sculptor Mary Anstee-Parry (Green Pebble, Winter 08 issue) has been invited to take part in A celebration of British Sculpture at the Richard Attenborough Gardens of Leicester University.

Her sculptures - An Arundel Tomb and Beeline (as in making a….) – are both carved in sandstone.

‘Beeline was inspired by a bee-keeping friend coming into the garden one hot summer afternoon, where my husband was taking a break from mowing the lawn, cigarette in hand,’ Mary says. ‘This friend asked if he could have some of the tobacco as he wanted to burn it underneath the hives, hopefully thereby eradicating whatever disease the bees had developed.’

Remembering this incident some years later, Mary carved her sculpture which looks like a large rolled-up cigarette with bees swarming up its side.

The second piece, Effigy, was inspired in part by a poem. ‘Although I had already begun to carve the piece,’ explains Mary, ‘one of my students showed me the poem, An Arundel Tomb, by Philip Larkin, and I was struck by some of the lines:

One sees, with a sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.
They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy.'

Effigy is Mary’s ‘take’ on these lines.

A Celebration of British Sculpture, 27 June - 27 September, Leicester University, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH.

April 2009 issue
What Price a Chagall Print?

Would you know the value of a lithograph? One signed by Marc Chagall, no less?

During the London Art Fair in January, visitors to the AXA Art and Brownhill Insurance Group’s stand were invited to guess the value of a damaged original lithograph by Charles Sorlier, after Marc Chagall, entitled The Tribe of Zebulon, from the series Jerusalem Windows.

The work had been so badly damaged in transit that its insurer, AXA Art, had had to write it off. The competition challenged collectors and art lovers to guess its insured value before damage, with the closest guess winning Lemon & Birds by Cragie Aitchison CBE RA RSA, especially commissioned by AXA Art and worth around £1000.

There were 789 entries in total, with estimates ranging from 25 pence to £150,000,000. The actual value of the lithograph was £6797.17, with the winner guessing £6800.00.

‘Although 90% of guesses were quite rightly under £100,000, 65% of entrants over-valued the Chagall,’ states an AXA Art/Brownhill spokesperson. ‘That said, more people under-valued the piece to be between £1000 - £2000 than within any other thousand pound round up. Only seven people actually guessed within £100 of the insured value.’

Whichever way you look at it, they add, ‘the competition showed how very necessary it is to have one’s own collection, however modest, professionally valued – to make sure that one is neither under- nor over- insured, and then to have it sufficiently covered.’

Chagall met Sorlier in Morlot's studio (one of the most celebrated printers in Paris at the time) after he returned to Paris after a period in the United States during WWII. Sorlier became the head of the Lithography Department at Morlot's and printed works on behalf of Miro, Leger, Picasso and Matisse, as well as Chagall.

Sorlier and Chagall became close friends and worked closely together. Chagall was so pleased with Sorlier's work that he added his signature to the lithograph. The work on display at the Art Fair was numbered from an edition of 150. It was part of a series based on the twelve stained glass windows Marc Chagall designed for the synagogue in the Hadassah University Medical Centre in Jerusalem.

Sadly the lithograph was damaged in transit and there is now a 15.5 cm tear running across the image. At the areas of impact there has also been pigment and paint loss. Although this work could be restored, states AXA ART, the damage would still be visible.

The competition was part of the launch of AXA Art and Brownhill Insurance Group’s new product, ARTNOW. For an annual premium of as little as £250, ARTNOW is specifically aimed at helping new collectors develop their collection without the need to notify their insurance company every time they buy a new piece.

April 2009 issue
New NUCA Head: The Creative Arts Need ‘Progress’ In Order to Thrive

The new man at the helm of Norwich University College of the Arts looks to build on the excellent work of his predecessor, Susan Tuckett. After only 4 weeks in the job, Professor John Last admits that the current climate is a very different operating environment to that foreseen a year ago, however NUCA’s position as a specialist institution with growing student applications (8% up on last year) opens up exciting opportunities for NUCA to play a full role in the community’s future.

John Last, a student of English, Philosophy and Film Theory, sees NUCA increasing its work with Alumni and support of local creative industries. Already a number of facilities and courses have been made available to the community, enabling local creative industries to continue their professional development whilst utilising some of the University’s space and technical facilities.
From his vantage point of working on national committees, John is painfully aware of the phenomenon of declining interest in some of the traditional 3D subjects such as ceramics and silver smithing. However, there are no embryonic plans as yet to introduce such courses, although, for NUCA, he expresses a firm commitment to core skills such as drawing, and will introduce a new fashion course.

There is no doubt that despite only being in the job for a few weeks, his eye is already on the University College Gallery. Clearly he wants to see the gallery be a window into the university college, showing good contemporary practice, but he warns ‘it must be fit for purpose’ and getting that right needs careful consideration. NUCA has a proud tradition but the creative arts thrive on progress and should not become bogged down in a reification of the past, he says.For futher information about the opportunities NUCA can offer local creative industries, call 01603 610561.

April 2009 issue
Plan to Keep Waveney High Streets Dynamic and Bright
The Arts & Heritage department of the Waveney District Council in Suffolk has launched an appeal to owners of retail outlets to allow artists to display their work in their otherwise unused shop windows.

It's time to preserve and protect our town centres,’ states Arts & Heritage Service Manager, Andrew Kitchen. ‘There is not a High Street nor other town shopping road in the district which is not already blighted by empty shop premises. And they are growing in quantity rapidly as the credit crunch takes its toll.’

Kitchen believes that local arts and heritage practitioners are well placed to immediately and cheaply contribute to the local community very publicly, by using windows which would ordinarily be boarded up, for bright and exciting displays of their work.

‘What I propose will not fill the empty shops - that will take time and significant change. But this idea will improve the street scenery and make places feel better and more positive. And staying positive is the only way out of difficulties. If shop windows look full, bright and interesting, places will look more dynamic, encouraging people to be bolder and more adventurous in planning for the longer, better times.’

He adds that a similar scheme, 'Arts on the Streets', was a success across Cornwall during the previous recession. ‘Not only did it cheer up town centres for locals and essential tourists alike, but it also helped promote artists - who equally struggle in hard times.’ Further Information

Winter 2008 issue
Suffolk Artist Publishes Illustrated Book

King Edmund

In October Suffolk artist Brian Whelan published ‘King Edmund - Casket of Wonders’, a book written by Tim Holt Wilson and illustrated by Brian. The story traces the closely-woven threads of fact and fable around Edmund's life and martyrdom, and the fascinating religious cult which once made him the patron saint of England. Visit Brian Whelan's Website for a closer look.

'This painting is alive with the brilliance of faith.
We know that fallen acorns will grow into new trees;
this death cannot be an ending.'
Sister Wendy Beckett, on Whelan's 'Martyrdom of St. Edmund'

October 2008
Jerwood Drawing Prize Winner

The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2008 prizewinners have been announced. They are:

First Prize (£6,000)
Warren Baldwin
Study for Portrait
Pencil and Charcoal on Paper
2008
130 x 91 cm (pictured)

Second Prize (£3,000)
Lia Anna Hennig
When I’m Sea Queen surely I will need a Sea King
Ink on Paper

Student Prize (£1,000)
Tobias Teschner
Nurembergspot
Pencil

Student Prize (£1,000)
Aline von der Assen
Collaborative drawings (Big Worm)

2,537 entries were submitted for consideration by the selection panel of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2008 by artists resident or domiciled in the UK. The shortlist of 63 drawings includes work by 54 highly regarded, established artists as well as relative newcomers and students fresh from art school.

The exhibition will be touring to galleries in Cheltenham, Winchester and Bury St Edmunds.

Winter 2008 issue
The Best of British Watercolour Painting

Jennifer McRae has become the 21st person to win the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, with her watercolour 'David by the Window, Spencer’s Belle Vue' (pictured).

Cameron Galt took the second prize of £7,000 for his watercolour 'Late Saturday Morning'. The winner of this year’s new prize, Penguin Classics Prize for Cover Art, £1,500 goes to David Firmstone for his watercolour 'The Persistence of Memory', and the £1,500 Young Artist award goes to Peter Haslam Fox for 'Self portrait with tower'.

This year there are four highly commended artists who have been selected due to the very high standard of their work. The four selected artists are: June Berry 'Night Walker', Mick Davies ‘Man U’ Fans celebrate ‘The Treble’, Michael Williams 'Island and Waterhole' and Brian Woods 'Maelstrom'.

RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is one of the longest running open art competitions in the UK today, and remains the largest art prize dedicated to the medium of watercolour. For twenty-one years, this exhibition has provided a forum for exemplary painters to demonstrate their skills in the technically challenging field of watercolour. Whether abstract, figurative, or landscape, each year the exhibition demonstrates the strength of contemporary watercolour.

This year’s panel of six judges included Richard Sorrell, President of the RWS and Penny Johnson, Director of the Government Art Collection. Over 1,200 entries were received from artists across the UK.

Autumn 2008 issue
Suffolk Students Shine

Mark Bingham Janet Piehl

Congratulations to Lowestoft College BA textile design students who competed yet again with students from other larger universities such as the Royal College and Central St Martins and won many of the prizes and commendations at the prestigious Bradford Textile Society Student Awards.
Louisa James received 2nd prize and Katy Hunt 3rd prize for Knitted Fabrics for Fashion and there were commendations for Katy Hunt, Louisa James, Jenny Ferns and Danielle Wade in other categories.

In the meantime last year’s student, Danielle Spellman, successfully sold her collection of ceramics to fashion designer Paul Smith to be sold in his shops in London.
Clearly, Head of Course, Liz Clerk is doing something very right.

Janet Piehl says, ‘I particularly enjoy using the traditional skill of wood turning to produce work with a contemporary feel. My work is turned in modular pieces that have been laminated and I use a variety of finishes to exploit the inherent properties of the material, including burnishing, scorching and wire brushing.’

Chrissy Harrington, Associate Dean of Art at University Campus Suffolk, has kicked off her first year in office with a stunning display of the students’ work at Ipswich. Works exhibited were from the BA (Hons) degree courses in Fine Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Model Design and Computer Games Design, the aim being to create employable, capable and creative individuals able to respond to the challenge of the work place with imagination and integrity.

Mark Bingham says, ‘My design [above] is of an integral exhibition stand and bar for a major furniture company’. Mark graduated with First Class Honours.

Autumn 2008 issue
Sweet Success
Mike Todd and Suzanne Frank

In a further story, two second year BA (Hons) Graphic Design students from University Campus Suffolk have gained recognition for their work in the Institute of Packaging’s Student Starpack Awards.

Mike Todd won a bronze award for his entry for the competition’s ‘Easter egg packaging’ brief; and Suzanne Frank won a commendation for her design for the ‘Haute Chocolat’ packaging brief.

A requirement of the Easter egg package was to reduce packaging waste, and Mike accordingly did a Constructivist-inspired design which allowed the egg to be seen fully, from all sides, whilst protecting it more than adequately.

Suzanne also set out to appeal to fine art afficionados, with a highly inventive design inspired by the painter Piet Mondrian.

Competition was fierce for these awards, with many of the entrants being students on full-time packaging courses. University Campus Suffolk’s students do just one seven day project devoted entirely to packaging.

Summer 2008 issue
Dancing Sails Liven Up Supermarket

Wander over to the new Tesco Express store in West Mersea near Colchester and you will find a 2.75 metre high aluminium set of ‘Dancing Sails’. The driving force behind this new sculpture, which was erected in the spring, was local West Mersea artist Lesley Carruthers, who produces abstract sculptures, mostly in aluminium, in a studio behind her house on the outskirts of the village.

Commemorating the maritime history of West Mersea, this project came with its own particular set of challenges. Because the finished height of the sculpture, plinth design and budget were already fixed, Lesley was more constrained than usual.

‘In designing the sculpture, my aim was to create an impression of the movement of sails in the wind. I started experimenting with a single simple sail shape, and finally settled on three linked sail-type forms which appear to interact or ‘dance’ around each other,’ she explains.

Once she settled on the shape, the next challenge was to resolve several complex practical issues: The stresses of the structure, weight, aerodynamics, health and safety aspects, and whether it could be produced within the constraints of the budget. The latter was resolved by having sheet aluminium rolled on huge factory rollers, rather than using her traditional method of casting in a foundry from a polystyrene original.

The various administrative hurdles were also systematically overcome – the Tesco board approved the design, and the local planning department not only approved it, but asked that it be 30cm bigger than their original stipulation, meaning that all the practical issues had to be revisited and re-assessed.

Specific problems included finding someone capable of welding together the thick 3m high, curved sheets of aluminium, and handling and manoeuvring the work in progress, since each unit weighed 90kg and needed three people to move it.

The finishing processes of grinding, sanding and waxing were further complicated by the mid-winter temperatures, but finally, with the help of an engineering firm, all difficulties were eventually overcome and the sculpture was successfully installed in time for the opening of the new store.
Although the sculpture is large – 3.85 metres from pavement to tip of sails, and 4.5 metres along each arm of the plinth, Lesley feels it quietly fills its allocated space without dominating or overwhelming its immediate surroundings.

Summer 2008 issue
All That Jazz

Will Teather

Following the feature about Will Teather in the Winter issue of Green Pebble, the artist has been invited to exhibit his series, ‘Jazz Masters’, at one of the world's finest jazz festivals. Each year 180,000 people travel to the small French town of Marciac for ‘Jazz in Marciac’.

The venue: gallery 'No 9' in Marciac.

The exhibition takes place during the Jazz Festival which is from 1st - 14th August '08.

Eight painters will be in the show, with each artist having an individual room to exhibit in. The exhibition includes British and European painters, including Jayne Ivemy, Ursula Leach, Ben Brotherton, Erica Hart, Ryoko Ottignon and two final year students from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux.

Contact Will Teather