The latest issue of Art In Norwich is out . . .
You can download a pdf here.
£1,000 UEA Student Visual Arts Bursary available
A £1,000 bursary is available for a UEA undergraduate, aged between 17 and 25, to pursue a specific project in any general field of the visual arts, including fine art, illustration, photography, video, curation or administration. The award is open to students studying in any school of UEA and in any discipline, and is designed to encourage students who have a personal and practical interest in contemporary visual art that is distinct from their formal academic studies.
Norfolk Contemporary Art Society and Young Norfolk Arts Trust (www.ynaf.org.uk), are jointly making this award in partnership with Norwich University of the Arts (NUA). The bursary can be used flexibly, for example for materials, travel or research. Depending on the nature of the final project, the output from the award may be exhibited in the YNAF exhibition in Norwich in July 2019. The award winner may be required to give a presentation about their work as part of the same event. Tailored mentoring will be available if required from professional staff at NUA. The YNAF communications team of young volunteers/advocates will promote, report on and record activities associated with the project, and will liaise with local media.
Eligible applicants can apply by filling in the attached form and sending it, together with a short recommendation by an academic referee, to:
Keith Roberts, chair of ncas, at keith@keith-roberts.org.uk to arrive no later than Monday 4th March.
New ncas Administrator appointed
Frances Martin has today been appointed as our new administrator. She has for many years been the administrator for the Norwich Twenty Group and we hope that this will further the close links between the two groups. Frances has a degree in fine art and practices as a professional artist, with a studio in St Etheldreda’s Church, on King Street. She also teaches art and runs the Big Draw events at the Forum. We look forward to working with her . . .
Beth Bartlett wins this year's NCAS art prize at NUA
This year's selection process was organised by artist and ncas trustee, Andrew Eden. After a short list of five works were chosen, the final decision rested with those remaining trustees who could attend the final marking on the 18th June. Their decision was that Fine Art graduate Beth Bartlett was the clear winner, and she was subsequently presented with her prize by Andrew. Congratulations, not only to Beth, but to all the students whose work was presented in this year's degree show, and thank you to the committed NUA staff who conducted us helpfully around the show.
Andrew Eden and Beth Bartlett (photo courtesy of NUA)
Her work is described here by NUA:
'Beth Bartlett’s work is heavily inspired by geometrical forms found in the spiritual faith of Tantra. These Tantric inspired diagrams represent the balance of Male and Female energies within a person. Different shapes and colours are used to represent each side of the spectrum: shapes with curves and warm colours represent the Female and straight shapes with cold colours represent the Male. When these elements come together they create a balance. As Bartlett works with two disciplines in conjunction they create layers within the original meaning, abstracting the concept and visual image. Vibrant paintings and large scale constructed sculptures, seen as drawings, create an exciting dynamic that blurs the boundaries between technical drawing/painting with sculpture. The size of the sculptures makes them command a space; this is amplified by the added projection that acts as a light source to focus the eye to the central point, further creating chaotic shadows within the sculptures.'
ncas Policy on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
There is an important new EU legal deadline (GDPR) on the 25th May, when all charities and other organisations have to update the way they handle people’s personal data. NCAS already complies with this legislation. When you join ncas we simply record your name and contact details and keep these on a database. This database is kept solely in order to send you our ncas programme and newsletter, and to email you about strictly ncas-related events. We interpret your decision to join ncas to mean that you want to be sent this material. We neither share your data nor sell your data to others. We are very clear that you always have the right to opt out of receiving our communications at any time by emailing our administrator, who can also remind you of the data that we do hold about you.
Your data is held by our administrator in a password-protected file and is removed if, after reminders, you do not renew your membership, or if you ask for your membership to cease.
ncas awards prize at Schools 6th form open art show
Crypt Gallery, Norwich School, Cathedral Close 16-23 March 2018
Florence Wright's winning painting
Selwyn Taylor at the Response exhibition
Sixth formers were invited to respond to one or other of three recent art exhibitions in Norwich. Entries from five Norfolk Schools were judged by representatives from NUA, Hudson Architects and ncas. From among the works accepted for the subsequent exhibition, called Response, each team chose one work to be awarded a prize of a £25 book token for the Book Hive. Our judges were Selwyn Taylor and Keith Roberts, and they unanimously chose a work by Florence Wright from Wymondham High Academy as the NCAS prize winner. The exhibition was curated by Norwich School's Claudia VanOosterom. The prizes were awarded at the Private View on 15th March in the Crypt Gallery.
Derek Morris work acquired for Sainsbury collection
Derek Morris Yellow Configuration 1994 T material, stoneware glaze. Size 290mm x 260mm x 200mm
It is very appropriate that the Russia Season is currently showing at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. The Radical Russia show includes the work of many of the Russian constructivists, whose legacy is continues within the whole modernist movement in British art and architecture. That tradition lives on in the practice of many contemporary artists, including our NCAS trustee and sculptor, Derek Morris. So it is a great pleasure to announce that the Sainsbury Centre has just acquired one of his key ceramic sculptures for its permanent collection. Derek studied sculpture at Newcastle and then Chelsea before moving to Norwich where for nearly twenty years he was Head of Sculpture at what was then Norwich School of Art, now NUA. He was President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors between 1998 and 2004 and has been a trustee of NCAS since 2005. Congratulations to Derek, and we hope that the work will go on show in the near future.
Tina Hannay wins our annual NUA prize
Each year ncas awards a cash prize of £500 to the artist judged to have produced the best work in the degree show. This year the panel of trustees judging the works on our short list were unanimous in choosing the vast ceramic assemblage by Tina Hannay, called et ceter01100001. Her hundreds of porcelain light switches, some on and some off, cover a whole wall, the whole work gently mottled by subtle colour variations in the different firings. Congratulations to a very worthy winner.
The binary code embodied in the on/off switches contains a hidden message (allegedly reflecting family member's attitudes to leaving house lights on or off!). We were very pleased to learn that Tina also gained a first class degree and that her work also won the vice chancellor's commendation.
Tina is a mature student who did her Foundation course in Art & Design at Central St Martins in 1992-1993, before returning to do her degree in Fine Art at NUA. Her cheque for £500 was presented to her by ncas chair, Brenda Ferris together with the vice-chancellor, John Last.
Become a Trustee
Have you ever considered becoming a trustee of the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society (NCAS) and playing an important role in the arts locally?
Each year at the AGM the Society appoints trustees for a three-year term. The trustees are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and ensuring that it is governed effectively and meets its charitable and legal obligations.
NCAS can appoint up to 16 trustees who meet as a committee around five times a year, usually in Norwich. Trustees are also encouraged to actively contribute to the Events Committee or the Exhibitions Committee, the two committees which deal with our programme. . .
More details can be found here
Contact Keron Beattie if you wish to talk further about the idea.
Sculpture Installation at East Ruston Gardens
Ben Southwell’s ‘A Trouble with Worms’ with Alan Gray on loan to East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden
One of the sculptures in our ncas artworks collection is ‘A Trouble With Worms’ by artist Ben Southwell from N.Norfolk. This had been installed for many years at the old May Gurney site in Trowse, but with its demise, our 1997 work has now been installed in the wonderful gardens of East Ruston Old Vicarage in North Norfolk. This is a happy result of the very generous offer by the joint owners and creators of the gardens, Alan Gray (see above photograph) and Graham Robeson.
Do go along and have a look at this ever-evolving garden extravaganza, and catch A Trouble With Worms at the same time! The garden will open on Sunday 26th March 2017 and close on Saturday 28th October 2017. More details can be found on their website.