ContemporaryCountry

12/01/2023

Photos from ContemporaryCountry's post

09/01/2023

From Essex to Norfolk - https://mailchi.mp/38071314bac5/art-fair-east-16743713 As the new year begins we are pleased to confirm some of the artists we will be adding to our rota and are pleased to introduce you to Cecilia Willis as well as new works by Essex based painter Simon Carter.

Read more about these artists below and view a capsule collection for each of them - any purchases made will be delivered within 10 working days of your order.

03/01/2023

Victoria Fenn is an artist exploring memories and landscape motivated by her personal connection to the Cambridgeshire Fens and now resident in North Norfolk. Coming from a farming family has given her a unique insight into agriculture, not only the machinery and hand tools used and adapted over the centuries but also the lives of the people relying on this land to survive and prosper.

The simple forms of her work reflect the language of the landscape, the parallel lines of field structures, d***s, drains, hedges and tyre tracks. The form is derived from necessity rather than decoration. Often it pegs and slots together celebrating an honesty in the materials and holding tension within the piece.

Victoria's practice involves materials such as brass, copper and gilding metal juxtaposed against the dark hues of Fenland bog oak which dates from 3000BC. Sometimes she will bury her work in soil from her fathers land to achieve a patination on the metal.
See more about Simon and his drawings in our online gallery.

See more of her sculptural forms on our website - see link in bio

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27/12/2022

Like many of us at this time of year Simon Carter loves to take a walk to refresh and take in the beauty of our region. His routes ofter take him to the marshes of his native Essex. Unlike many of us however, he makes this pilgrimage all year round and always with a sketch book in hand.

There are several regular routes Simon walks, usually along the seawalls. He always carries an A4 sketch pad and a small tin of graphite sticks and crayons. We are now selling some of these initial sketches linked directly to the paintings he goes on to produce. This sketch was done in preparation for the painting shown: "Below Quay House, 2019"

See more about Simon and his drawings in our online gallery.

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21/12/2022

Looking forward to Spring 2023with a set of new works from the wonderfully talented Jane Hindmarch, a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Lincolnshire. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art and specialises in painting, drawing and metal sculpture inspired by the natural world. Jane's work explores mood and emotion evoked and informed by observations of natural phenomena.

In the natural world Jane finds a haven to reflect on existence, soaking up the weather, light, colours and sounds. She sees lifecycles taking place throughout the year in times of new growth, blossom, and decay. There are times of dynamic energy and times of quiet dormancy, inevitable decay and vibrant celebrations. The paintings and sculptures she makes express my own inner landscape as much as that which she experiences around her.

See more of her work in our online showroom. Orders taken now will be delivered in January

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16/12/2022

We visited Kirkeby's studio in 2009 on his beautiful island off the Danish coast - Laeso along with our friend Charles Darwent, art critic of the Independent at the time.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/this-desert-island-is-a-danish-artist-s-muse-1722143.html?amp

PER KIRKEBY

15/12/2022

These beautiful botanical works by North Norfolk based artist Carol Lake reflect her life long passion for all thinks floral. Following many years designing for national and international brands Carol now combines her painting with embroidery to create a new body of work documenting the walled garden and the many plants that thrive there. All sale proceeds are donated to the Woodland Trust.

See more of Carol's work online

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12/12/2022

Photos from ContemporaryCountry's post

09/12/2022

Get your 15% discount on all purchases - https://mailchi.mp/eb9e071f64dc/art-fair-east-16743601 Thank you for continuing to support the work of the artists and makers we have championed this year. We hope you enjoy a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

If you are looking for last minute gifts to give and receive (yes, you can make your very own Christmas wish list!), we do still have plenty of lovely things available. Our discount is available until 30th December! (use WINTER 2022/23 when checking out)

06/12/2022

We are going to be working with Suffolk based artist Tassie Russell in 2023. See examples (including details) of her work here...

Reflecting her interest in painters who move back and forth between the figurative and the non figurative, like Richard Diebenkorn, Russell searches constantly for compelling compositions of architectural space. The inspiration may be a building or a landscape, but the solution is always achieved by a lengthy reworking in the studio. These are hard-won images from a mature and subtle artist.

Russell does not limit herself to one medium and tackles each new process with precision, always open to improvise and adapt. In her printmaking, she uses etching, carborundum and chine colle to create dramatic pieces that combine free brush strokes with structured drawings. As a photographer, Russell often still uses a medium format film camera together with a selection of specially constructed pinhole cameras to photograph forgotten domestic interiors and abstracted elements in the landscape.

Join our mailing list to be the first to hear more about the works by Tassie Russell that will be available to view and purchase in the New Year.

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03/12/2022

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.

Liz describes her process as follows: "I work in conversation with the Norfolk landscape, exploring the meeting points between inner and outer landscapes. My inspirations are the detail, pattern and processes – reed, mud, wind, wave, erosion, tideline – that combine to form a particular environment."

See more of Liz's works in our online store - see links via our biog for "Environmental". You can also DM for more details and pricing

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02/12/2022

We are thrilled to present a capsule collection by way of introducing the work of Norfolk based ceramic artist Cecilia Willis, with whom we will be working with in 2023.

Twenty years living and working in Asia has given Cecilia a profound appreciation of the aesthetic and influenced all her creative work. 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 when she set up her studio.

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.

See more of her work online - click on her name under "ARTISTS"

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01/12/2022

Kinetic sculptures tor sale for that extra special Christmas or new year gift ideas.

As a boy, Andrew Jones had several notable outings with a kite, but had no idea that a kite would become central to his adult working life. That happened later, while studying art and design at Newcastle in 1972. There was no specific design intent, but this led, almost by accident, to a new sort of kite that he subsequently patented.

As Jones says himself: "Because the wind cannot be seen, it is often ignored unless it is doing something useful or destructive. But it is endlessly fascinating in its own right: the way it reveals itself, animating objects in its path. Some of my work is decorative or figurative, but the pieces with more linear elements are concerned with shifting geometries, with possibility and probability, with chaos, ambiguity, order and recognition. In light winds, the movement can be quite gentle and the juxtapositions slow to change. In stronger wind, some pieces get frantic and confusing".

See more of Andrew's as well as other sculptural work available online

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30/11/2022

The North Sea Study paintings are about a journey Peter Wylie makes several times a year. He often returns to themes that make the most of his Suffolk connections. The Studies are a response to a walk that he frequently makes along the beach from his hometown Lowestoft to Southwold. Born within earshot of the sound of breaking waves, and a son of fisherman, himself a son of a fisherman, from a lineage that looks out to sea, he finds himself gazing out, mesmerised by that constantly changing light and movement. Where once he looked out to the horizon and imagined his father somewhere catching fish, he now looks out and imagines that across the sea, almost empty of boats and ships, at the waters end another land begins, and on that shore the waves will be breaking under ever changing skies just as they do here. Also featured are a series of beautiful prints recording the Suffolk Bunkers dotted along the coastal landscape - set alongside poetry from local wordsmith Stephen Devereux.

See more about Peter's work online in both our "Paintings" and "Works on Paper" collections.

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30/11/2022

We are celebrating the handmade for the home in presenting our gift ideas for Christmas this year. Steve Gore-Rowe's sculptural vessels are made from locally sourced hardwoods. The profiles of his "Self-Settling Ash and Oak" vessels have been designed to interact with the movement in the wood, creating a silent conversion between the maker and material until an agreement has been met. Density of the material, volume of moisture, centre of gravity and proportions all have a part to play in the conversation until the piece is fully dry. His most recent designs have incorporated pedestals.
Steve considers the shapes and textures found in the natural world to be strong influences as well as the effect of the passing of time on objects left in the environment.

See more of Steve and other makers' work via the link in our bio for "Makers' Mark".
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art

29/11/2022

James was introduced to stitch work by his Romany grandmother and has developed his skills as a self taught artist working in North Norfolk. James lives as part of th Barrington Farm Centre. A portion of all sales of James' work completed via our showroom is donated towards this fantastic charity. James creates embroideries depicting images from his dreams, memories and personal visions of the world around him.

View more of James' work in our online showroom along with other the textile artists. Click on 'textile art' on our website - link in our bio

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28/11/2022

We love these charming paintings of sail boats and figures placed at the seaside as well as in ornamental gardens - all part of Ann's life in Norfolk. Painting has been a life-long passion for Ann Payne. She enrolled in the 1950s at the then independent art school Byam Shaw Art School, London. The school was small, well-resourced, and based in Campden Hill London and had an academic approach to drawing and painting. It was considered an alternative to Slade School of Fine Art and Royal Academy. It was absorbed into Central Saint Martins twenty years ago.

The 60s opened a narrow c***k for woman artists into an art world dominated by male artists that simply had not been available to them Ann married and moved to rural Norfolk, to Barton Broad to raise a family. She continued to paint. Life in Norfolk lead to a new set of artistic influences much closer to home like Norfolk based Alfred Cohen, Brüer Tidman and Gwyneth Johnstone. Key figures like the landscape painter Edward Seago where part of her social circle.

See more of her work in our online showroom - order this coming week to get your paintings delivered for Christmas.
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27/11/2022

Linda Jamieson is an artist living and working on the North Norfolk coast. She studied at Central Saint Martins and worked for some years as a textile designer before returning to painting.
She is in using the genre of landscape painting as a recognisable portal into a space for exploring technical and emotional issues arising from the practice itself. She works with a variety of media including oil and acrylic.

As she says herself: "I use landscape as a stage set with it’s props of plant life, water, weather and topical features as a portal into a space where I can explore technical problems within the limits of two dimensional space. There is no fixed point of departure and I remain open to sudden changes of direction. I aim to create emotionally charged places that have fragments of memory embedded in them. These ‘memories’ may not be personal but borrowed."

See more of Linda's work in our "Paintings" collection - see links in bio

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26/11/2022

You will find a number of beautiful and unique mouth blown glass vessels by Cambridgeshire based glass artist Stewart Hearn in our seasonal showcase "Makers' Mark". Using traditional skills Stewart interprets his contemporary visions and exhibits in many contexts and countries internationally. From beautifully "encalmo" and "zest" bowls skillfully bringing two coloured glass strands together to create these striking vessels. More playful jugs are also included, from charming owls to the 'spotty' jugs in a selection of colours.

View more and purchase these wonderful gifts ranging in price from £75 to £325. See via the link for "Makers' Mark" in our bio

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art

25/11/2022

Photos from ContemporaryCountry's post

23/11/2022

Katharina Klug ceramic vessels form a central part of our Christmas offer this year. Take a look at the range of stylish works available to add something beautiful to your home in time for the year ahead.

Here hand-drawn lines make the work lively, rough, immediate and unique and preserve the moment of mark-making. Inspiration comes from little snippets of observation in her environment. Lines are jumping out at her in almost anything – stripes on cloth, wires and cables, plants and grasses, architecture and streets to name a few. The other integral part of Katharina's work is colour. Marked by strong opposites, not only between shape and pattern but also between the inside and the outside of her pots. Using her own glazes based on recipes which she has developed and refined over the years, she creates high contrast pieces. Black versus white, monochrome versus colourful, and glossy versus matt.

See more of Katharina's collection as well as the other makers and artists we are showcasing this year.

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22/11/2022

Mary Blue captures the impermanence of the tidal landscape in the East Anglian coastline where she lives. She depicts her environment with assured familiarity. The coastal landscape is an ever-changing environment and for Mary, painting it is an important part of an act of faith in the future as our impact on fragile ecosystems becomes ever more apparent.

Mary Blue imagines human activity in the scenarios she depicts. Farmers and fisherman are never shown on the shoreline in her compositions, but they are represented in her handwritten thoughts written in blue pen buried within the painted folds of each brush stroke. Her paint is applied in generous smears, slurps and splashes over expertly drawn, softer veils of underpainting. The clarity of the coastal air, its eddies and squalls feel part of her vision, somehow described in the vigour of her brush strokes.

See more if Mary's work online - see link for "paintings" in linktree bio

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19/11/2022

Presentation is everything ...

and you can't beat the exquisite fine lines of the platters, cutting boards and iPad stands created by Tim Plunkett

Your family and friends will love one of Tim's beautiful and affordable pieces that make idea gifts for Christmas. See more of Tim's work - as well as other makers we showcase – via the link in our bio for "Makers' Mark"

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18/11/2022

Katazyna's paintings and prints explore the impact of monumental structures of the 'unplanned' manmade landscape of former smoke houses and examples of hangar architecture that surround her studio in South Denes, in the harbour area of Great Yarmouth.

'In the most beautifully melancholic way, Katarzyna Coleman approaches the depiction of the industrial buildings and roads of Great Yarmouth with great softness and subtlety. Coleman has chosen to depict the urban environment as a way of exploring its effects on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.' Sarah Bartholomew, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Katarzyna is originally from London and has lived and worked for many years in Great Yarmouth. While in London she studied at Hornsey College of Art 1979-1982, followed by Manchester College of Art (Manchester University) 1982-1983, gaining an MA in Fine Art.

See more of Katarzyna's work online - see link in bio

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16/11/2022

We are pleased to announce that we will be working with Suffolk based artist Victoria Sebag in 2023. Here is a preview of her work. Victoria trained at The Byam Shaw School of Art, and then The Slade in London in the late 1980s and '90s. Her work is included in many collections & homes, both here in the UK and abroad.

Victoria takes her inspiration from the natural environment and particularly the Suffolk coast. Her style is painterly; rich with harmonious colours with an innate sensibility to her surroundings. Victoria highlights the fragile nature of the landscape here and the joy of being within it and in isolation with it.

See more of Victoria's work online

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15/11/2022

Supporting artists and makers from across East Anglia - https://mailchi.mp/129e526fc2a4/art-fair-east-15934081 The new painting above "All our Dreams" by Norfolk based artist Claire Cansick reminds us of both the beauty and the boundless opportunities in life when she painted the star-filled night sky about her Norfolk home.

We are planning a varied and dynamic programme in support of artists and makers this coming year. As one of our regular supporters you will be the first to hear about our 2023 events.

13/11/2022

Lucian Freud: New Perspectives is a must see exhibition that is on view at the National Gallery in London until January 22, 2023

A must see before the end of January 2023.

11/11/2022

New paintings by Claire Cansick have just been added to our collection. These are details from each canvas. Claire is a self taught painter and finds the endless possibilities of oil paint a great challenge which in turn motivates experimentation upon the surface. Nature is the only consistent running theme in Claire's paintings as she works in a non formulaic way generally not repeating images but maybe loosely repeating ideas or colours. The two subjects she has chosen to cover here are the natural power and savage beauty of volcanic activities on earth and the night skies surrounding her.

See more of Claire's work online via the link "Paintings"

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10/11/2022

We have an extensive collection of work by some of East Anglia's finest artists working with photography. Photographers recognise the power of the fleeting moment, the passing of light over a passage of water or documenting a sailboat on the horizon.

View more work by using the link for 'photography' in our bio

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08/11/2022

New in from Norfolk based artist Jack Wheeler - showcased in our current "Makers Mark" promotion. Jack studied fine art sculpture at Norwich Art School. After graduating in 2003 he set up a workshop in rural North Norfolk and has since continued to study and develop a diverse skill set all within the orbit of traditional woodworking.

Having worked on a variety of projects over the years, the focus of his practice has recently moved towards the design and making of wooden tableware and sculpture. Inspired by craft traditions from around the world - Jacks work champions the use of locally grown timber and seeks to give pleasure and meaning through a direct connection with the natural world and the hand of the maker.

See more of Jack's work and his beautiful sculpture online

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07/11/2022

Isabel Vasseur would have been 80 today. We miss her very much but am determined to carry on her legacy in supporting the arts as best we can. Unapologetic yet inclusive with everything we think, say and do. Inspired by timeless echoes of Isabel's sprit. See the VASSEUR BALTIC ARTISTS AWARD at baltic Contemporary as it continues to support International Public Art Commissions. See our just giving page to donate.

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art

07/11/2022

As the landscape disappears beneath the grey skies of winter we look to our memories and the paintings of artists such as Eileen Coxon who capture the beauty and drama of the farmed landscapes that surround us. Eileen's subject matter is her 'experience' of walking and this provides her with material in the form of photos, drawings, collected leaves, twigs etc., but most of all, memory.

Suffolk resident Eileen is not seeking to romanticise the landscape and so her subject matter encompasses both the beauty she finds in the trees, hedgerows, wild flowers and grasses found in field margins and verges as well as in this intensively farmed landscape, huge fields of monoculture and industrial style farm buildings.

When walking Eileen frequently looks up from the detail of the near to a distant horizon across fields marked only by the traces of cultivation and occasionally, of previous use. Frequently this translates to a play with perspective which reflects her subjective experience.

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06/11/2022

Carolyn Brookes Davies is a multi-media artist and maker who lives and works in North Norfolk. She works using repetitive processes, constructing three dimensional objects by conscious sourcing, gathering, collecting and assembling material. Combining recycled paper, shell, wood and metal to explore and create sculptural constructions of manipulated natural forms that reveal the overlooked. Inspired by the encounter between the natural and manmade and those forms and processes that shape her surrounding landscape, she explores ideas through the process of making and the intuitive application of a material's inherent qualities.

View Crolyn's shell work by using the link for 'makers' in our bio

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04/11/2022

We are happy to be included in new Compendia guide to Norfolk and Norwich, featuring over 200 independent places to find the best for culture, art, eats, drinks, shopping, for sleep and healing in Norwich and Norfolk. You will find the entry about us on p366

Big thanks to Sam and his team at Compendia

Featuring over 200 hidden gems, local insider guides and interviews with Norwich & Norfolk's movers and shakers, editorial features, and more. See picture 3 here to use QR code to join the Compendia community
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