Visual Arts News

New Gallery for Great Yarmouth

A new art gallery, showing local and international art, opened on the Norfolk Coast in May. The Yare Gallery is located on South Quay in Great Yarmouth. The building, previously the Nelson Museum, is owned by Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, and has now been repurposed as a new, free to enter art gallery for the town. The Yare Gallery’s opening exhibition, WEATHERING: NEW ART FROM EAST ANGLIA, features the work of the Yarmouth 5, artists Katarzyna Coleman, Bridget Heriz, John Kiki, Emrys Parry and Brüer Tidman, in addition to other artists from across the region including Esmond Bingham, Anna Brass, Mark Cator, Ali Hewson, James Metsoja and Molly Thomson. The exhibition, running until July 10th, will showcase the work of over 20 artists and feature paintings, sculptures, textiles and ceramics. yare.org.uk Make Your Mark for Curwen

The Curwen Print Study Centre in Linton, Cambridgeshire is renowned as the home of Fine Art Printmaking in the region. It offers adult courses and also runs a highly successful education programme involving school students across East Anglia. But now it needs your help! The expiry of the Study Centre’s current lease in 2024 has opened up an exciting opportunity for expansion. Potential new premises at Great Thurlow, Suffolk offers the chance to greatly expand what Curwen could offer artists of all abilities with two studios, a gallery space and room to display and allow access to the renowned Curwen Archive of prints and documents. The Archive includes prints by leading 20th century artists such as Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink, Paula Rego, Patrick Heron and Prunella Clough. They have raised £85,000 of the £145,000 needed to move in 2022. Their Make Your Mark campaign offers ways to help both financially but also with your time. Help secure the future of Fine Art Printmaking in our region. curwenprintstudy.co.uk

Leiko Ikemura comes to the Sainsbury Centre

Japanese-Swiss artist, Leiko Ikemura, presents a selection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and photography in her first exhibition in the UK, Leiko Ikemura: Usagi in Wonderland. Running from July 18th to December 12th at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich, Ikemura has chosen 50 works that span three decades of her career. The exhibition’s dominant theme is the connectivity of all aspects of nature, be it human, animal, plant or mineral, in an eternal circle of life. Through her fantastical figures and primeval landscapes, Ikemura explores fragility, transience and slow evolutionary change – choosing to address environmental issues from an empathetic, global perspective. ‘My message is a visual and sensual one, so the viewer could feel it’s very open to interpretation,’ says Leiko Ikemura. ‘The exhibition is not just about the works but making space so people can breathe and be with the works.’ sainsburycentre.ac.uk

Premier art group launch online exhibition

An exhibition organised by one of Norfolk’s most established art groups is now live. The online exhibition by the renowned Norfolk and Norwich Art Circle will replace the group’s show at the Forum, traditionally held every May. It includes a variety of art forms represented in various mediums and subject matter, with all proceeds going straight to the artists. Hazel Pidsley, Chairman of Norfolk and Norwich Art Circle, says, ’All works will be for sale and, as an extra bonus, Norfolk and Norwich Art Circle will not be charging a commission on sales. We feel strongly that artists have had their livelihood disrupted so severely due to the pandemic, that this is a way to support the creative arts and our valued members. I do hope that people who love art will look at our website.’ Later in the summer, the group will travel to the Munnings Museum in Dedham, Essex in an ongoing collaboration with the museum to mark the strong links of the Norfolk and Norwich Art Circle to its former member Sir Alfred Munnings. The exhibition will take place between July 28th and and August 1st. www.nnartcircle.com In Memory of Leon Bunnewell

The much-loved Norfolk painter Leon Bunnewell died earlier this year, leaving a legacy of wonderful paintings filled with skill and vitality. Now The Gallery Norfolk in Cromer, who represented Leon for the last nine years, is proud to be showing a collection of his work from August 7th to 21st. An enthusiastic ‘Plein Air’ painter, Leon was a well-known figure on the beaches of North Norfolk and the streets of Norwich and all over Norfolk and Suffolk where he loved to paint. Largely self-taught, Leon nearly always worked outdoors, on the spot, throughout the year and in all weathers. Leon once said; ‘I paint quite quickly, in a single session, working loosely and often vigorously and aiming for spontaneity and freshness. My wish is to create a painting with character, personality and feeling; evoking how the subject behaves and feels – and the sensations it creates in me – rather than just capturing how it looks.’ www.thegallerynorfolk.co.uk

Aldeburgh hosts leading female Scottish artists

From July 10th, Thompson’s Gallery, Aldeburgh are hosting an exhibition of two of Scotland’s leading women artists - Judith Bridgland and Jenny Matthews. Their contrasting style and medium compliment each other beautifully and will show an abundance of atmospheric Scottish landscapes and flora. Judith’s heavy use of oil with almost carved and bold brushstrokes is directly contrasting to Jenny’s gentle watercolours where you can see the evidence of her time being taught by Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. Judith works using rich, vibrant colours to depict the feeling and energy of the landscape to convey description and emotion while Jenny offers a more specific view, carefully and skilfully executed with a strong emphasis on botanical perfection yet also captures the Scottish landscape. www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk