Posts by Paul Vater

Norfolk-based portrait artist Rosie Phillips was invited back to feature on a recent episode of Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2024.

Artist Peter Wylie, who has shown his meticulous paintings and prints of the Suffolk coast and of modernist architecture in C&C exhibitions over the past few years, has researched, written and published a new book about a little-known fishing and fashion sub-culture titled The Dockside Dandies.

I attended the public launch of the Roger Ackling exhibition Sunlight, at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery on Friday. Ackling is known among artists as 'the guy who burnt stuff' using the power of the sun. This glib description underserves his rich and complex lexicon of mark making developed during a fifty-year career. Ackling's work is at once all encompassing in its harnessing of an element, and led by that process, as well as beautifully detailed and humane in its conceptual approach.

The exhibition has been long in the planning and includes in excess of 150 individual works by 'the artist's artist', poet and teacher, long-term resident of North Norfolk, Roger Ackling (1947 – 2014).

The exhibition Double Take has now closed at The Crypt Gallery, but for those who missed it, you can see our record of the exhibition using the QR code.

Double Take opened on Friday 10 May and we have already welcomed over 400 visitors to view work by James Evans, Susan Gunn and Tassie Russell.

Our exhibition Double Take opens on Friday 10  May at The Crypt Gallery, Norwich. It includes work by three artists with strong bonds to Suffolk and Norfolk, including sculptor, James Evans; painter, Susan Gunn; and painter, printmaker, and photographer Tassie Russell. The quality of their work draws the viewer in, encouraging us to look closer and overturn our assumptions, exploring the familiar as locations for ambiguity.

Rosie Phillips began her residency at Norwich School on January 10th. She has welcomed pupils, teachers, school staff, caretakers to the studio and during this last week from February (5th to the 7th), Rosie has welcomed forty visitors, from the school's student groups like a creative writing class (Writer's Bloc), to visiting Norwich-based artists and collectors at a series of open days. She has talked about her work, what inspires her, how she selects her sitters, her interest in their background stories, and she has answered their questions to the best of her ability.

Rosie Phillips' residency at Norwich School comes to its fruition next week. Having been in situ at The Crypt Gallery since January 10th, Rosie is now completing a number of preliminary working drawings to add to her impressive collection of recent paintings, that will be shown during her exhibition Close, opening on Saturday 10th February and running for just five days until Thursday 15th.

To kick off our activities for 2024 we're delighted to announce a new Norwich-based artist residency at Norwich School. We have been working in collaboration with Andy Campbell at Norwich School and to initiate the residency at the Crypt Gallery for portrait artist Rosie Phillips.

On the first frosty day this autumn we visited The Wanderer, a group exhibition inspired by the Anglo-Saxon elegy of the same name at The Gallery, @butleymillsstudios, before it closes on the 6th December.

For C&C’s winter collection 2023 we have put together a seasonal selection of contemporary art and handmade craft made by the East Anglia’s finest artists and makers. Selected with your needs in mind in the quest to source a matchless gift for someone special.

We are delighted to have welcomed visitors to see the work of artists from Norfolk and Suffolk at the Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn. Having opened on September 9 we have averaged just short of 70 visitors a day.

More than forty pupils from King’s Oak Primary School, King's Lynn came to visit our current exhibition Heads & Tails with their teachers.

Rosie Phillips is a self-taught painter. Creativity was always a part of her childhood, but it wasn’t until she completed A-Levels in 2019 that she began practicing art professionally, taking on commissioned work and exhibiting locally.

Roger Hardy is a sculptor based in Suffolk. His sculpture is figurative, made from reclaimed wood, metal and with pigment additions, configured to create the human form.

A FREE TOUR WITH AN EXHIBITION ATTACHED!

Join King’s Lynn Town Guides to discover hidden courtyards and alleyways and hear about the fascinating 900-year history of what was once one of England’s wealthiest towns. Then come and meet ome of the artists in our exhibition "Heads & Tails"

PLACES ARE LIMITED TO BOOK YOUR PLACE ASAP

C&C's latest exhibition Heads and Tails is now open in the Shakespeare Barn and Fermoy Gallery, King's Lynn. It brings together a group of 10 artists who have been working with the many narratives that explore the interspecies bonds formed between people and animals.

 

Heads and Tails is a group exhibition of ten artists exploring the interspecies bonds formed between people and animals and how they look within the home, the workplace or in the wild. The artists propose various disciplines that engage with human as well as animal behaviour and how that is represented in art now. Heads and Tails opens Saturday 9 September, and runs until Saturday 28th October 2023. It will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm. ENTRY IS FREE at the Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn, St. George's Guildhall, 29 King Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1HA.

Our exhibition "East to East" is open every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday until October 1. We recently had an article published in KL Magazine which had a focus on on those artists and makers based in the Fenlands of East Anglia.

Drawing upon the unique landscape of Stiffkey Salt Marshes; this collection of works reflect on a sense of this special place through memories of coastal walks and observations of the landscape shifting and changing through seasons.

We set off this past Thursday for the launch of the first part of an exhibition of street art organised by West Suffolk cultural organisations, who have joined forces to host Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour.

And we're off...

We have begun installation in the Stables at Houghton Hall. Here are a few glimpses of the inspiring new work included in the exhibition East to East, opening on Sunday 23 April.

Nessie Stonebridge's paintings depict the explosive energy of rural Norfolk's avian splendor, where her studio is based. A flash of light, feathers, beaks; a vortex of vitality, blood, life and death!

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

Ella Porter has a multidisciplinary practice, which explores interchangeable material languages and processes between ceramics print and painting.

We have witnessed fantastic night skies like this recently - this one painted by Norfolk-based artist, Claire Cansick. Work like this reminds us of the natural beauty surrounding us but also represents the opportunity to lift our gaze to see beyond the everyday. Can we really live the dream?

Compendia is a new, comprehensive guide to independent businesses and organisations,that make Norwich and Norfolk so unique and such a great location to live. It includes Contemporary and Country. The guide features the best places to find culture, art, eat, drink, go shopping, for sleep and healing in Norwich and Norfolk.

Our winter 2022-23 programme begins with a selection of handmade pieces made by makers that complement each other and have been designed specifically for a domestic setting. All items are  original works, by well-established makers and available for sale. Perfect timing for those looking for a one-of-kind Christmas gift.

For C&C's summer exhibition Avant Gardeners, we have produced our first limited edition art posters of original paintings by Kate Giles and Linda Jamieson that celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Houghton Hall Estate. We're raising funds for two extremely worthwhile projects that encompass art and the national pastime, gardening.

We are counting down the final days of the River's Edge exhibition before we move on, and we still have wonderfully conceived prints of East Anglian landscapes, framed and mounted in preparation for framing.

This is week two of C&C's current exhibition River's Edge at BallroomArts, (Formerly known as The Peter Pears Gallery) - at 152A High Street Aldeburgh. Situated just back from the beach and off the main high street.

A huge thank you to Ben of Fishers Gin and his team at @fishersgin and Claire and her team at Aldeburgh Outside Catering who made our private view @ballroomartsaldeburgh last night go so well, providing refreshing smoked gin cocktails and delicious canapés. Our River's Edge pop-up exhibition runs for the first two weeks of the Aldeburgh Festival @brittenpearsarts in Snape and throughout the Suffolk coast. The Courtyard Gallery at BallroomArts contains art and handmade items by artists and makers from across East Anglia, all have a connection to the East Anglian landscape.

Making a day out rediscovering the wonders of the main house after being closed for two years due to COVID restrictions gives visitors an opportunity to fall in love with the art inside the house and outside in the gardens and parkland again.

A big thank you to the team at KL Magazine for their article covering the special 300th anniversary year at Houghton Hall. This coincided with the May 1st opening of our exhibition in the stables,"Avant Gardeners" as well as our collaboration with Jarrold Norwich, setting up The Granary Gallery, Pop-Up exhibition on the second floor at The Granary in Bedford Street, Norwich.

Coinciding with the first two weeks of Aldeburgh Festival this year, is an exhibition of new paintings by Kate Giles, with sculpture by Jack Wheeler, Beth Groom and the late Emily Mayer. They are joined by artists and makers who have a strong connection to East Anglia and its coastal landscape.
 
BallroomArts; The Ballroom / Courtyard Gallery, Aldeburgh, Suffolk: 7 to 19 June 2022

We are looking forward to welcoming you to C&C's Open Weekend of our pop-up event on the second floor Granary Gallery, The Granary, Bedford Street, Norwich this weekend, from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 April (10.30am to 4.30pm). The artists and makers in our spring installation "It's All Happening Here" have been selected for a capsule collection:

Norwich-based artist Polly Cruse's work encompasses photography and sculpture within the tradition of Still Life. She focusses on the relationships between the intangible and the material aspects of the everyday. We are showing her work in several of our pop-up exhibitions this year, including at The Granary Gallery from April 1

We are delighted to be establishing a new space for showing art and the handmade at The Granary Gallery, Bedford Street, Norwich on 1 April.  The new pop-up art gallery has been established in partnership with Jarrold, Norwich's flagship department store.

We visited Carolyn Brookes-Davies recently in her studio in North Norfolk. Carolyn combines recycled paper, seashell, wood and metal to explore and create sculptural constructions of manipulated natural forms, constructing three dimensional objects by conscious sourcing, gathering, collecting and assembling her material.

Our next exhibition Avant Gardeners will be in the Stables at Houghton Hall, from 1 May until 25 September 2022. It will celebrate the horticultural and cultivated landscape behind and beyond the garden wall.

Great Yarmouth artists John Kiki, Katarzyna Coleman, Brüer Tidman and sculptor Bridget Heritz have featured in several exibitions by Contemporary and Country during the last couple of years. This year we will include several paintings of tropical landscapes by painter Peter Rudolfo for the first time.

Stephen Murfitt has compiled a new publication on the Japanese ceramic firing technique - Raku.

'The opportunity to put together this book for the Crowood Press became a welcome project and a creative focus away from the relentless depressing news on Covid during the lockdowns.'

C&C will be including Cambridgeshire-based Stephen Murfitt's recent Raku fired pots in our pop-up exhibitions for the first time this year.

Art can be defined as a“diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artefacts, expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.” With this in mind, why is photography still not seen as art by some?

We recently attended the opening of an exhibition featuring more than fifty paintings of John Kiki's series of Infanta Paintings. The installation confirms Kiki's status as one of the country's great colourists. The brilliant natural light of the new Yare Gallery show this dazzling variety of canvases based on a common theme to their best advantage. Contemporary and Country are exhibiting a number of John Kiki's small-scale paintings consigned from a private collection in our pop-up exhibition in the Stables Houghton Hall until September 26. The Yare Gallery exhibition is on until November 5.

Autumn is upon us and I am listening to Marianne Faithfull and Warren Ellis' new album of orchestrated spoken poetry called "She Walks in Beauty" with sleeve and promo imagery provided by Norwich-based pop artist Colin Self. We are currently showing Colin's series of limited edition prints including some that feature on the album in our current pop-up exhibition at Houghton Hall.

Suffolk-based sculptor Esmond Bingham works across a variety of media both 2D and 3D and on scales ranging from the environmental to the miniature. Although essentially non-representational his work is concerned with the physical, emotional and psychological language and the creative potential of everyday preocupations and materials.

We are currently showing a cleverly conceived series etchings of British native trees by Suffolk-based printmakers Buckmaster and French - all are printed on paper made from the leaves of the trees that they depict. Delicate and ethereal using natural materials, these beautifully framed works present the print between two panes of glass so the intricacy of the paper sheet can be appreciated. They are for sale in our pop-up in the Stables at Houghton Hall until 26 September.

Bringing pop artist Colin Self's collaboration with Marianne Faithfull who used his watercolours of local Norfolk landscapes around Brundell on the album cover for her new release "She Walks in Beauty"

We are showing a capsule collection of Joni Smith's impressive paper cut artworks in our latest pop-up Rock Paper Scissors #rockpaperscissors at ther Stables Houghton Hall. Joni builds fictitious worlds using everyday printed material like maps and charts. Since the advent of digital GPS devices printed maps are seen as redundant, however not by Joni. She sees this devalued material as a rich source for inspiration, and uses maps and atlases cutting into them, reordering them creating new configurations, making landscape more fluid in its interpretation.

We made a much anticipated journey to Great Yarmouth yesterday to see the inaugural show in the new YARE GALLERY situated on the South Quay. Titled WEATHERING: NEW ART FROM EAST ANGLIA, it features  the work of the "Yarmouth 5", artists Katarzyna Coleman, Bridget Heriz, John Kiki, Emrys Parry and Brüer Tidman plus works by other artists from this side of the county of Norfolk. Including Molly Thomson, Esmond Bingham and others. We are currently showcasing the work of several of these artists in our pop-up exhibition Rock Paper Scissors at the Stables at Houghton Hall.

We will be open this coming Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. Be sure to come and say hello when visiting the Tony Cragg sculpture exhibition, as well as the permanent collection, walled garden and the popular Houghton Horse Trials.

We're opening the doors to our latest pop-up exhibition encompassing art and handmade objects fashioned with the process of their making in mind. We are welcoming visitors from Wednesday19th May, until September 26. Come and discover beautiful, dynamic and thought provoking works from more than 40 exhibitors.

Visit the website for opening times and ticket prices to enter the Houghton Hall estate and to gain entry to the Tony Cragg sculpture exhibition:Houghton Hall Book Tickets

Contemporary and Country’s exhibition Rock, Paper, Scissors encompasses art and handmade objects fashioned with the process of their making in mind. It will run alongside the exhibition by Tony Cragg, opening at Houghton Hall, Norfolk on 19 May and closing 26 September, 2021. Tickets to enter the Houghton Hall Estate are on sale from 19 April (entrance to the Stables will be part of the entrance fee)

We are pleased to present three new paintings by Linda Jamieson from her popular Seahenge Series. Based in North Norfolk this well established artist continues to produce the most beautiful paintings continuing her desire to capture and represent glimpses of the Norfolk coastal landscape in all its colour, light and shade.

The hand-drawn lines on Katharina Klug's ceramics 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.

We are delighted to continue to work with a selection of established and new artists and makers in 2021. We are also working hard in reaching out to new creative talent from our area, east of England. Some are struggling to keep up their practice under the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions but many are working on creative expressions of hope.

Many thanks to all the artists and makers we have worked with over the past year. We also send our best wishes for a creative year ahead with all the challenges we face together. Happy New Year to our supporters for a prosperous and healthy 2021.

Having supported East Anglia's Children's Hospices for a number of years for the Nook Campaign, through to on-site fundraising during our 2018 season at Houghton Hall, we are delighted now to have been able to help source artworks from artists' C&C work with to donate towards their next fundraising auction to be held in February / March 2021. More details will follow early 2021.

Very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all our friends, customers and those artists we've met and worked with over this past year. Join our mailing list and be the first to hear about our 2021 events or add something unique to your home from our Anglian Collection.

We are delighted to be able to offer a small number of Maria Pavledis' "Owl Sanctuary" prints this year - from a limited edition of 100, all signed by the artist. The print is taken from one of her smoke drawings created by the transfer of carbon from the burning flame of a candle held close to the surface of the paper.

Pick up this limited edition set of laser cut decorations depicting the 12 Days of Christmas by Norwich based artist Ruth Howes. Ruth studied Fine Art, specialising in sculpture and over the years has shifted to painting and illustration in her work. All her work has the paper cutting process at its heart.

As Suffolk-based sculptor Roger Hardy says "As individuals we have a great desire to project our own humanity and emotions onto the most primitive human form". This is certainly true of Roger's many sculptures now available as part of our Anglian Collection.

Revisit our pop-up via our walk-through tour or view our "Anglian Collection" via our website - see link in bio. Pick up something to grace your home or delight a loved one this Christmas.

Colin Self has been a long standing friend of Marianne Faithfull since they first met in the 1960s. Colin has provided some of his wonderfully lyrical and dreamlike landscapes to illustrate the cover and booklet accompanying Marianne's next CD when she will be narrating verse by England's greatest poets.

We are delighted to see this new series of work by Norfolk-based photographer, Debby Besford. Brought up in Great Yarmouth, Debby herself was a junior champion of roller skating as a teenager and knows all too well about the community of competitors seeking to excel at this sport.

We are delighted to present more new work in our pop up at Houghton Hall. From beautiful design for the home with Katharina Klug's ceramic creations; to amazing handmade paper cut works by Ruth Howes; to breathtaking large photographic art by Gareth Hacon and new painted landscapes from Kate Giles. We are also pleased to have installed new sculptures by Jonathan Clarke.

Peter Wylie, currently included in our pop-up exhibition at Houghton Hall Stables, has had a painting selected by artist Jane and Louise Wilson, for their Curated Room at this year's Royal Academy Summer Show - October 2020.

We are delighted that Keron Beattie, currently showing in our pop up in the stables at Houghton Hall, has been nominated for the Sir John Hurt and Sworders Art Prize, Holt Festival this year. Keron  gained a First Class BA (Hons) in Contemporary Art and Design (2016) and a MA Fine Art with Distinction (2018) from NUA. His work for A Fine Balance is concerned with the natural world under pressure including disconnection with nature and natural cycles.

As we expand our work with artists and makers from East Anglia we are entering the second half of our pop up event alongside Anish Kapoor at Houghton Hall, Norfolk - open until November 1.  At the time of writing there have been over 50,000 visitors on site and we have secured over 300 sales for local artists and makers. As works are purchased and taken away we are able to fill gaps to keep our exhibition fresh - making sure that any return visit will not disappoint!

The painters we are showing in A Fine Balance at Houghton Hall Stables, capture the splendor of the natural landscape; depict the beauty of coastal reaches; open fields, fens and woodland. Some work in an abstract style while others are more figurative in representing the landscapes they see and wish to convey.

Springs Fireplace Road is the title of the group of etchings by Colin Self and printed by master printer Maurice Payne at Editions Alecto between 1968 and 1971. We are showing this incredible print edition at A Fine Balance, in the stables at Houghton Hall. Payne has printed for Hockney for over 40 years and it was at a chance meeting with Self in the 1990s at a David Hockney private view, that reconnected them.

We would love to see you in person to show you the works by local artists in A FINE BALANCE - running alongside the Anish Kapoor exhibition at Houghton Hall this summer. You can visit us online too… take a virtual tour of our exhibition with hot spots that link through to each artist on our online shop, so you can see each work that interests you in detail.

We are delighted to announce that our pop up event A FINE BALANCE will open 12 July in the stables at Houghton Hall alongside Anish Kapoor's much anticipated exhibition. Please see the main Houghton Hall site to see opening times and ticket prices. All tickets need to be purchased in advance of your arrival under COVID-19 guidance. Social distancing measures will be in operation.

There has been an unprecedented amount of interest generated by the decision to hold a major exhibition of sculpture by Anish Kapoor at Houghton Hall. Many media outlets ran broadcast reports on the evening of 9 July - read on to view just two of them, with more promised...

Just as we are contemplating the last lentil at the back of the store cupboard, today is World Environment Day – (see links for more information at the end of this newsletter).  For many this concern stretches way beyond a single day of course, but it does give us pause to consider this incredibly important challenge we will all share in the months ahead, as life opens up again.

Thanks to Dominic Castle, Editor of Norfolk magazine. It's June edition, just published, features Contemporary and Country on pp52 and 53 - take a look when you get your copy of the magazine this month. We hope you enjoy the range of work we are able to show online. There are some extremely talented, creative people in this part of the country. If there is an artist's work you are particularly interested in, let us know and we will put a collection of their work together for you to view on screen that only you will have access to, in the comfort of your own home.

Each of the painters featured in our latest newsletter capture the splendor of the sea and landscapes of our region, depicting the beauty of coastal reaches, open fields, fens and woodland. All examine aspects of familiar places now distant and yearned for as we observe lock-down conditions. Read on to discover more about Kate Giles, Will Cutts, Natalie Odile Lang and Pandora Mond

Zarya Austin-Fell is a multi-media artist whose work explores the relationship between everyday life and the objects that accompany it. Like many of us and from an artist's persepctiveexperiencing this unusual period, Zarya is looking at life from the inside out.

Springs Fireplace Road is the title of the group of etchings by Colin Self and printed by master printer Maurice Payne at Editions Alecto between 1968 and 1971. We are delighted to be offering this immaculate limited print edition consisting of six individual images created by Self. They are presented here in beautiful painted wooded frame and protective UV glass.