ContemporaryCountry

21/09/2023

Our exhibition "Heads & Tails" will remain open until 7pm on Thursday 28 September. This is a special preview for film lovers attending a special screening of "Vermeer - the greatest exhibition" being screened in The Guildhall. We are exhibiting in the two galleries on the same site - The Fermoy and Shakespeare Barn. The film organisers are anticipatinga very high turnout for this film so be sure to book your seat(s) by paying in advance.

To secure your place, please make a direct payment of £5 per ticket to the KLCCC bank account before midday on 27th September:

Bank: NatWest
Account: KINGSLYNN COMMUNITY
Sort Code: 53-61-38
Account No: 66690722
Reference: VERMEER/C&C

Your details will be picked up from our bank account and you will be checked-in on the door in the usual way for this film screening.

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Other artists included in Heads & Tails:


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


20/09/2023

As featured on ArtRabbit - hope to see you in King's Lynn

Diverse art exploring human-animal bonds, mythological creatures, and varied mediums. Plus, it's local talent from East Anglia.

20/09/2023

Keith Roberts, author of "John Kiki: Fifty Years in the Figurative Fold" says of John: "John Kiki is a very unusual artist. Unusual, not for his clear and immediately recognisable way of painting, but because he emerged, painting in his distinctive way, when he left art school fifty years ago."

During the last fifty years John Kiki has developed a rich figurative language that encompasses a fluid abstraction along side a changing caste of characters borrowed from Greek mythology, history genre paintings, and his own observations of how people interact in daily life. However, the “greatest and most lasting influence” is, in his own words, his teacher, Frank Auerbach, who, together with watercolour artist Patrick Procktor, made him “rethink his strategy,” to develop from the tight, measured style of his early work, into the looser, fluid style which currently typifies his work.

John Kiki's long career has included exhibitions in museums and galleries such as the Royal Academy, Tate, Hayward Gallery, Barbican Gallery, and Serpentine Gallery in London; OK Harris Gallery in Soho, New York and Galerie Wahrenberger in Zurich. The influences on his work are many and varied. There are elements of Jackson Po***ck, Francis Bacon, Matisse, Euan Uglow, de Kooning, Baselitz, Picasso, the abstract expressionists.

Heads and Tails opens to the public until Saturday 28th October 2023. We are open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. You will find us at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

John Kiki's catalogue is on sale in our exhibition.

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Portraits by © Pete Huggins Photography

Other artists included in Heads & Tails:








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17/09/2023

You will see Nessie Stonebridge's work both in our exhibitions in Houghton Hall (ends 1 October) and The Shakespeare Barn, King's Lynn )ends 28 October). From drawings, to paintings and sculpture all of Nessie's work resembles some sort of mid-air collision or interstellar explosions, the energy at the centre of them is centrifugal. Often small in scale, they nevertheless reach out beyond their boundaries. Her latest work draws inspiration from the bucolic, if wild and wind-battered Norfolk landscape, close to where her studio is located.

Beyond their avian references, these images are impressive for their counterpoising of formal elements. The gestural brilliance of Nessie's mark-making - her paint is scored and splattered with a palette knife, brush or by hand - is contained within a deliberate and considered structural rigour.

Nessie Stonebridge studied at The City and Guilds of London Art School prior to which she held a five year fellowship at the Digswell Arts Trust in Hertfordshire. She has exhibited extensively both nationally and Internationally including at CARSLAW St. Lukes, London; Torrance Art Museum, California; UNTITLED, Miami, Basel and New York. Most recently she has exhibited in Norfolk at Groundwork Gallery, Kings Lynn (Bird after Bird); Norwich Castle Museum (Inheritance); and The Cut Halesworth (An Appetite for Risk).

Heads and Tails opens to the public until Saturday 28th October 2023. We are open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. You will find us at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

East to East - where more of Nessie's work can be seen is closing October 1 and is located in the stables at Houghton Hall. See houghton hall.com for opening times and ticket prices.
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15/09/2023

Looking for something sculptural for your house or garden?

Artists we work with create sculptural forms using a variety of materials including stone, metal, wood, ceramics, glass, paper, seashell and other natural materials. For display both interior and outdoor spaces.

We are currently showing sculptural works by Vicky Fenn, Andrew Jones, Esmond Bingham, Jack Wheeler, Keron Beattie and Jane Hindmarch in our exhibition East to East in Houghton Hall stables. Just a 20 minutes drive away from Houghton you will also see pieces by Rachel Long, Emily Mayer, Nessie Stonebridge, Louise Richardson and Roger Hardy - each showing in our recently opened exhibition "Heads & Tails" in King's Lynn. Other works are available online such as the striking steel assemblages by Telfer Stokes.

See more of available work in our online sculpture showroom - see the link in our bio

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14/09/2023

Say hello to spot and her human friend Ara who came into the Shakespeare Barn today. They have been on a driving adventure in Northumberland, Scotland and now Norfolk, They are making their way back to London. It is great to see our furry friends at Heads and Tails... seems only right!

Heads and Tails (until 28 October) is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. It takes place at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

Participating artists:










 



Come along and bring your pets with you, all welcome

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13/09/2023

Thank you to ArtsEast for publishing an article about our new exhibition "Heads & Tails: Picturing People and Other Animals" currently open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, The Guildlhall, King Street, King's Lynn until 28 October (11am to 4pm)

13/09/2023

We are delighted to present the work of these 10 talented artists at The Fermoy and Shakespeare Barn until 28 October. Come see for yourself 11am to 4pm Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

09/09/2023

Thank you to everyone who attended our Private View in King's Lynn last night. Many artists in the exhibition joined us in celebrating this milestone and the relaunch of the cultural hub of the town. Including Colin Self seen here in front of his artworks in The Fermoy Gallery. Heads and Tails opens to the public from today Saturday 9 September, until Saturday 28th October 2023. We are open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. We are open tomorrow as well as part of Heritage Open Day

You will find us at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

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07/09/2023

Norfolk Spotlight: Heads & Tails. Picturing People and Other Animals

We are grateful to Vivi and her team at ArtRabbit for this feature on our new exhibition in the heart of King's Lynn, North Norfolk.
Participating artists:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Heads and Tails will open Saturday 9 September, until Saturday 28th October 2023. It will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. It takes place at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

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02/09/2023

Can't believe it's officially Autumn but we seem to be experiencing that "Indian Summer" often talked about. We are enjoying this glorious day at Houghton Hall.current exhibition of 35+ artists and makers called East to East is open this weekend - there are just 4 weekends left to see what we have to offer this year

When coming to see the Sean Scully, you will find us set up in the stable block. Scully's sculpture and paintings "Houghton Hall – Smaller Than The Sky". This encompasses Scully’s outdoor sculptures displayed in the grounds and parkland. Also included will be a selection of recent paintings, works on paper, and a few key works from earlier in his career. These will be displayed in the house, the North Colonnade and in the contemporary gallery. See houghtonhall.com for more details on opening times and ticket prices.
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27/08/2023

We are showing these beautiful Raku fired pot by Cambridgeshire based ceramic artist Stephen Murfitt in our pop up exhibition in the stables at Houghton Hall. Open this bank holiday for visitors. East to East is a exhibition of artists and makers based in East Anglia, who share their appreciation for the aesthetic and techniques originating in Chinese and Japanese art and craft. They explore how a natural colour palette, handcrafted techniques in glass and ceramics, and structured textiles like weaving have struck a chord in the east of England, finding favour with an audience looking for more sustainable, design principles.

Stephen has focused in more recent years on hand-building and Raku firing his forms and vessels. The making process has evolved slowly to allow for the development of new ideas. The work is a visual and tactile response to the natural and built environment.

‘I became addicted to Raku because of the direct involvement with each stage of the process. The pots absorb and often reflect the intense drama of the firing.’

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26/08/2023

Heads and Tails will open Saturday 9 September, until Saturday 28th October 2023. It will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. It takes place at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

Participating artists:

Katayoun Dowlatshahi
Roger Hardy
John Kiki
Rachael Long
Emily Mayer
Jessica Perry
Rosie Phillips
Louise Richardson
Colin Self
Nessie Stonebridge

26/08/2023

East to East is open again in the stables at Houghton Hall this bank holiday weekend. We are now moving into our last weeks so don't miss out! See more about this in our bio

We are also delighted to announce our forthcoming exhibition, Heads and Tails: Picturing People and Other Animals. Showcasing recent work by ten artists from Norfolk and Suffolk in King's Lynn.

Heads and Tails explores the interspecies bonds formed between people and animals and how they may look at home, in the workplace or in the wild. Ten artists reveal something of dynamics of freedom, subjugation, and inclusion, between species with corresponding parallels in our society.

Participating artists:












Heads and Tails will open Saturday 9 September, until Saturday 28th October 2023. It will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm and entry is FREE. It takes place at The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

19/08/2023

We are open this weekend int he stables with our exhibition "East to East - art and craft with an Asian influence". There are 35 artists and makers showcased. Contributing artists and makers trace the most recent stages of the long and winding path between eastern and western art and craft, to the present day. They encompass sculpture and handmade objects, as well as paintings on canvas, wooden panel, paper or fabric, ceramics – with expertise in Japanese and Chinese techniques like raku, porcelain, decorative glaze and lacquer work, folded and cut paper as well as woodblock prints.

Visit us as part of your day out on the estate. The award-winning walled garden is a must see as is the permanent sculpture collection in the parkland including works by Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Rachael Whiteread, Tony Cragg and James Turrell. The main exhibition on site is showcasing sculpture, paintings and drawings by Sean Scully.

Make a whole day of it and visitors 18 and under get in free of charge too.

Visit houghtonhall.com to book for a discounted price or just turn up on the day

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13/08/2023

Liz McGowan works in the environment with natural and found materials, she draws our attention to the processes that underlie the formation of our landscape and we see it and think about it.

These drawings by Liz are currently on display in our exhibition "East to East" in the stables at Houghton Hall. They are are an expression of absence: delicate seaweeds and bryozoa collected from the tideline are laid onto ground chalk pebbles, and then sprinkled with clinker (soot) from her chimney, thus leaving a reverse “shadow”.

The chimney soot represents the human made materials that pose a threat to such ecosystems, and also my personal collusion in this process. The sense of these plants disappearing also chimes with the fact that the chalk reefs like that off the North Norfolk coast, are not visible apart from one or two days in the year due to the murky sea water. Their extent and (approx 20 miles) and extraordinary biodiversity has only been mapped by local divers in the last 15 or so years.

"My personal concerns are about containment and expansion, about cycles of growth, change and decay, and about the shifting relationship between us and the world in which we are immersed."

Come visit us as part of your day out at Houghton Hall. The ward-winning walled-garden is a must see as is the permanent sculpture collection in the parkland including works by Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Rachael Whiteread, Tony Cragg and James Turrell. The main exhibition on site is showcasing sculpture, paintings and drawings by Sean Scully. Make a whole day of it and visitors 18 and under get in free of charge too. All phots of Liz wearing her wonderful capes are by

Visit houghtonhall.com to book for a discounted price or just turn up on the day

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12/08/2023

Cecilia Willis has a background in interior decorating. A move to live in Japan for a number of years proved to be a revelation for Cecilia. Her beautifully balanced ceramics marry the best of both worlds.

Twenty years in Asia has given Cecilia a profound appreciation of a Japanese aesthetic and this together with her decorators eye has influenced her creative work ever since. Cecilia has a need to make; from jewellery she turned to clay and has been throwing at the wheel for 17 years. Returning to England in 2014 she set up her studio in Norfolk.

Cecilia loves the generosity of the bowl form, seeking a simplicity and elegance of shape and striving to create glazes of luminous colour and depth for her pieces. Her bowls and dishes are intended as much for the decoration of a space as for the serving of food. Exploring the moon jar form, looking for the rightness of brush mark decoration and achieving a particular colour of glaze are all part of the excitement as the work evolves. Cecilia uses a fine white stoneware fired in an electric kiln.

Book your tickets to visit not just us but the walled garden, permanent sculpture collection in the parkland including works by Anish Kapoor as well as toy soldier museum and last but not least, the Sean Scully exhibition too - well worth a look. Make a whole day of it and visitors 18 and under get in free of charge too.

Visit houghtonhall.com to book for a discounted price or just turn up on the day

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30/07/2023

Helen Derbyshire’s work is about the textures and mood of the landscape around her – focusing sometimes on the details of vegetation and sometimes on evoking a sense of the season, of space, light and weather.

She draws and uses digital photography, in combination with experimental textile and mixed media approaches, drawing on and referencing domestic sewing skills and traditions. Traditional Japanese brush-painted and woodcut landscapes have always provided an inspiration - in their reverence for nature, their sense of light and space, and their focus on the beauty of simple natural forms.

Helen’s work focuses not on conventional picturesque views of the landscape, but on finding beauty in the ordinary and everyday - the simple bark of a tree or overgrown hedgerow. Helen’s colour palette and heavily worked surfaces - stitched, darned and patched - evoke the passage of time, the cycle of growth and decay, and the beauty to be found in impermanence and imperfection.

See more of Helen's work in our showcase that runs alongside the main exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Sean Scully at Houghton Hall – Smaller Than The Sky. The exhibition encompasses Scully’s outdoor sculptures displayed in the grounds and parkland. Also included are a selection of recent paintings, works on paper, and a few key works from earlier in his career. These will be displayed in the house, the North Colonnade and in the contemporary gallery.

See houghtonhall.com for more details on opening times and ticket prices.

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29/07/2023

Stewart Hearn is an artist working with glass and has established a professional practice as a glass maker and designer of thirty years. His work demands high standards of design and exacting technical knowledge. Using traditional skills he interprets his contemporary visions and exhibits in many contexts and countries.

Hearn’s level of excellence was acknowledged, when he was Winner of The Gold Medal at the third (Hejian) Craft Glass Creation & Design International Competition, in China.

His inspiration comes from the constantly changing hues in the Fenland landscape. This attention to colour, forms an integral part of his work. He demonstrates powerful and nuanced insights in his colour decisions, combined with seemingly understated forms requiring great craftsmanship and risk taking.

His preoccupation with the essential properties of glass; using weight, clarity, surface manipulation and the heat from the furnace, to combine and encourage optical and physical distortion in his forms, exemplify his years of glassmaking and focus. Ultimately it is very important to him that he celebrates the value of traditional glassmaking skills and creates quality glass, knowledge that he readily passes on to his assistants.

See more of Stewart's work in our showcase that runs alongside the main exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Sean Scully at Houghton Hall – Smaller Than The Sky. The exhibition encompasses Scully’s outdoor sculptures displayed in the grounds and parkland. Also included are a selection of recent paintings, works on paper, and a few key works from earlier in his career. These will be displayed in the house, the North Colonnade and in the contemporary gallery.

See houghtonhall.com for more details on opening times and ticket prices.

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27/07/2023

Come rain or shine it's always a beautiful day out and there's certainly a warm welcome awaiting you when visiting "East to East" – our pop up showcasing art and the handmade by 35+ makers and artists taking place in the stables at Houghton Hall, North Norfolk. Check out our website for more information and see works for sale, adding something special to your collection at home.

Our showcase runs alongside the main exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Sean Scully at Houghton Hall – Smaller Than The Sky. The exhibition encompasses Scully’s outdoor sculptures displayed in the grounds and parkland. Also included are a selection of recent paintings, works on paper, and a few key works from earlier in his career. These will be displayed in the house, the North Colonnade and in the contemporary gallery.

See houghtonhall.com for more details on opening times and ticket prices.

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23/07/2023

Suffolk based sculptor Telfer Stokes creates these playful constructions made from industrial components, cleverly re-configured to confound their original purpose that he has been making and exhibiting in recent years. He keeps the original powder coated painted surfaces as intact as the welding process permits, creating a singular wall work, so harmonious that the colour is often the only clue left to trace back what each component used to be.

Telfer explains: "The different bits, which remain identified separately by their different colours, patinas, still combine to constitute a unified whole, because of the way that I approach constructing - constrained to a certain extent by what I find in the search for the material in the scrap yard, but at the same time finding and conceiving a new context for these bits and pieces. On a good day a certain logic connects chosen pieces of metal".

Telfer started to make Sculptural objects in 2008 and exhibited at Kettles Yard Open in Cambridge the same year. He has followed this up with exhibitions at North House Gallery, Manningtree, Essex 2010 & 2013, Austin / Desmond Fine Art London 2015, and The Redfern Gallery, London 2018.

See more of Telfer's work in our online sculpture showroom - see the link in our bio

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22/07/2023

A closer look at the work of Victoria Sebag

Victoria studied painting at The Byam Shaw School of Art, and then The Slade School of Fine Art in London in the late 1980s, early ‘90s. Her work is included in many collections & homes, both here in the UK and abroad. She paints the beauty of the natural world, producing oil paintings saturated in colour and teeming with life. There’s a timelessness and dream-like quality to her landscapes - where the modern world is pushed out entirely and we are allowed to go back to a time where man’s imprint on the world was minimal and nature and wildlife flourishes without constrain.

Her love of the work of both Japanese print artists of the early 19th century and the Abstract Expressionists of the 20th century informs her gestural marks, surfaces, and use of colour. She shines a spotlight onto the delicate balance between man and nature; drawing us into areas of the world that remain wild and whose future remains uncertain.

See Vicoria's work in person and visit our exhibition "East to East" open in the stables at Houghton Hall, North Norfolk. See houghtonhall.com for ticket prices and opening times

East to East runs alongside the main exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Sean Scully at Houghton Hall – Smaller Than The Sky. The exhibition will encompass Scully’s outdoor sculptures displayed in the grounds and parkland. Also included will be a selection of recent paintings, works on paper, and a few key works from earlier in his career. These will be displayed in the house, the North Colonnade and in the contemporary gallery. See houghtonhall.com for more details on opening times and ticket prices.

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15/07/2023

Our exhibition "East to East" is open today and tomorrow - in the stables at Houghton Hall, North Norfolk. We are showing art and the handmade from 35 artists and makers from across the eastern region. Thanks to the KL Magazine team for the three page article in their latest edition - concentrating on those artists and makers based in the Fenlands of east Anglia.

Contemporary and Country (C&C) display work by contemporary artists and makers who explore subject matter that shifts the idea of the rural idyll toward more contemporary interests like sustainable materials, issues around coastal land use, ecological concerns found in the east of England. Many of these issues are shared by creative practitioners working in geographically isolated communities in other parts of the UK. C&C's exhibitions and events provide a forum for these issues, bringing attention to the creative people we work with, facilitating greater understanding of their work and production process.

SHOWN HERE; Tim Plunkett table; Jane Hindmarch garden sculpture "Concentric Circles"; installation of our 2023 exhibition showing "Circularity" by Amanda Edgcombe, Flame sculpture by Jane Hindmarch, Ceramic vases by Laura Huston and ebonised turned bowl by Steve Gore-Rowe; "Field Notes" "Creek" and "A Map of the World" all by Simon Carter; "Dog Rose", "Fenland I" and "Fenland II" by Melanie Goemans". Ceramics by Yve Slater. "absence, Norfolk Chalk Reef" chimney soot drawings by Liz McGowan

Book your tickets to visit on houghtonhall.com - for the walled garden, permanent collection in the parkland as well as toy soldier museum and the Sean Scully exhibition too. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays. See more about East to East online.

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