Money for Old Rope. Rejacketing the Classics at Penguin Books and Beyond. A talk by David Pearson

Event date: 13 February 2025
Review by Danusia Wurm

Poster featuring David Pearson for Melbourne Writers Festival 2015, David Pearson

In a lively and beautifully illustrated talk, acclaimed book designer David Pearson took us on a fascinating journey focusing on the creation of a book cover from original concept to the final product, with many intriguing diversions along the way.

Graduating from Central St Martins in London in 2002, David cheekily blagged a job at Penguin Books where he worked as a text designer and later, cover designer. His cover design for Penguin’s Great Ideas series in association with fellow designers Phil Baines, Catherine Dixon and Alistair Hall, earned him international recognition, as did his wonderful covers for French publisher Éditions Zulma.

He left Penguin to establish his own studio in 2007 where he has since worked with some of the world’s leading publishers and authors including Margaret Atwood, John le Carré, Cormac McCarthy and George Orwell.

David specialises in print-based design. Like an artist, he works with lettering in an expressive way, seeing letters as “individual characters” on the page. His craft is to “lead the eye around the page” and then - the big leap - from the front cover onto the first page.

Describing the process, once he accepts the brief (note: David never gets to choose his books) his first step is to set certain parameters and limits. “Book design is at its most fun when you’ve got something to kick against”. But the core elements of good design, clear vision, coherence, and an ability to convey a story, always remain.

Perhaps fostered by too much time spent in Penguin’s vast archives in Rugby as a young intern, David positively relishes the meticulous research into suitable period titles, fonts, words and images used to give the cover context, imbuing it with the right look and feel. The cover might be text or illustration led. As illustration isn’t David’s forte, he is in the happy position to employ illustrators that he admires and has always wanted to work with.

The collaborative process with illustrators, fosters innovation and imagination. Creating a different visual language for each book is hugely stimulating. And as someone who enjoys “spinning plates”, David is happy exploring a different approach every time.

Looking to the future, David is optimistic about the world of books be they material or in the ether. To this end, he acknowledges the huge significance of social media. “Tic Toc has made reading cool” he says. Additionally, he cites the growth of Zine culture, which is exciting and accessible, as helping support book sales. Successful “cover reveal” launches on Instagram can hugely influence sales. You heard it here first... authors now care about their book covers!

Right to left: David Pearson with Andy Campbell, Norwich School, Blake Studio

ncas thanks David for his superb insight into the world of book design and Norwich School’s Andy Campbell for his introduction and excellent Q&A.

With typical modesty, David didn’t mention that he has been listed as one of Britain’s Top 50 Designers by The Guardian, is a member of the prestigious international association Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and in 2015, was appointed Royal Designer for Industry, the highest accolade for designers in the UK. He is also founder of The Book Cover Review.

Alan Walters, ncas Patron: Teaching History through Paintings

Event date: 29 January 2025
Review by Janey Bevington

Elements Panel 5. Climate-Society Interactions 1850-2020 by Gennadiy Ivanov

Alan’s beautifully illustrated talk led us through history using artists of the day as a reference at every step.

For many of us it threw light on the meaning of the word ‘Contemporary’ and we came away with the realisation of how art of its time has manipulated our ideas of history as we know it today. Contemporary applies to any piece of art that has been created in its day.

Alan’s carefully chosen illustrations obliged us to reflect on how, before man’s ability to write, his drawings and sketches are all we had to record life. Artists had the power to manipulate our understanding.

This unusual approach to art gave members an enlightened look on many aspects of what art, through the ages, has given to our world.

ncas thank Alan very much for giving up his time to talk to us about what we know is one of his favourite subjects.

Right to left: ncas Patron Alan Walters and ncas Chairman Chris Mardell

A feast for the eyes: films from the Mike Toll Film Archive

Event date: 16 January 2025
Review by Danusia Wurm

Audience at the Mike Toll Film Archive screening, Blake Studio

“What a superb evening we shared last night”

The first of ncas’ 2025 events kicked off with wonderful evening held in association with Norwich 20 Group, screening films on Bernard Reynolds, Kathleen MacFarlane and Brüer Tidman from the Mike Toll Film Archive.

Mike was a practising artist and inspirational teacher who was passionate about furthering the arts in Norfolk. A member of Norwich 20 Group – where he was twice Chairman – he was instrumental in setting up the Contact Gallery in Norwich which provided exhibition space for local artists. On retirement, he threw himself with renewed energy into making films of different local artists’ practice. After his death in 2018, ncas and Norwich 20 Group transferred Mike’s VHS tapes into a more usable digital format. They now form part of the Norwich City Archives.

Although the films were mostly made in the 1980s and 1990s, they remain remarkably fresh reflecting the passion, work ethic and intellect of all three artists. Mike cleverly allowed ample space for them to tell their stories, supporting the narrative with well-researched stills and other film material.

The films were prefaced with superb vignettes of each artist by Keith Roberts former ncas Chairman.

Given the very positive audience reaction to the evening, we hope to screen other films from the Mike Toll Archive later in the year.

Watch this space for details!

Works by Bernard Reynolds

Works by Kathleen MacFarlane

Works by Brüer Tidman

ncas wishes to thank the Norwich School for their continued support and hospitality.

Animation can be everything. Jon Dunleavy and Robin Fuller

Event date: 6 November 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

In a richly illustrated talk, artist and educator Jon Dunleavy discussed the multidisciplinary nature of animation - an artform not a genre – which uses a range of mediums and crafts in order to explore and reflect the world we live in.

Jon is an award-winning film maker and Course Leader for BA Animation and VFX courses at Norwich University of The Arts. His work spans many genres from comedy, to poetry driven films, horror, fantasy, with his latest satirical examination of AI art tools, Two Gracious Uncles Smooched to the Beat, winning a British Animation Award, 2004. The film is a philosophical debate on the legitimacy of art created by A.I. tools, as told through the medium of silliness. It discusses to what extent A.I. can produce new ideas, and if it can capture the genuine inventiveness that we celebrate in man-made artworks.

Robin Fuller is a Senior Lecturer on Animation & Visual Effects at Norwich University of the Arts. He is a multidisciplinary artist specialising in storytelling via moving image, interactive and immersive media.

Robin comes from a background of industry practice, working as a freelance director and animator in the animation and VFX industry before moving into immersive technology as a creative director. Robin is also an advocate of maintaining wellbeing alongside creativity and regularly leads meditation workshops to help others facilitate their own practice.

Left to Right: Jon Dunleavy, Robin Fuller and Chris Mardell (ncas Chair)

Friends and Family. Richard Calvocoressi in conversation with Carl Rowe

Event date: 16 October 2024
Review by Carl Rowe

Richard Calvorcoressi in conversation with Carl Rowe. Background photo by Richard Deakin

The painter Lucian Freud would have been 100 years old in 2022. This occasion was marked by a major exhibition at the National Gallery in London, as well as numerous smaller events exploring aspects of Freud’s work.

Gagosian gallery adopted a different approach, presenting key works of Freud alongside those of fellow painters Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Michael Andrews. Richard Calvocoressi, Senior Curator at Gagosian was inspired by an iconic, albeit technically flawed photograph of the four artists taken by the photographer John Deakin at Wheeler’s Restaurant, Soho, London in 1963.

Calvocoressi chose Friends and Relations as the title for this exhibition, a survey of all four painters explored through their friendships, influences, family, lovers, and London, unified by their shared devotion to painting the human form.

Richard Calvocoressi CBE appears to come from a different era, a time of exquisite manners and elegant intellect. His opening words at the talk Friends and Relations provided a brief overview of his notable contributions to museum and gallery work.

His curatorial work at Gagosian is concerned with historical contexts, but in hisopening dialogue he identified key evolutionary moments in contemporary art, relating the London artworld of the 20th Century with its contemporary direction populated by influential characters, markets and dissemination. He understands the seismology of the art business. And this is important, because his insight into the work of Freud, Auerbach, Bacon and Andrews also extends beyond the artefacts and into relationships, the artworld, and the fabric of urban society.

Through Friends and Relations, Calvocoressi has arranged notable artworks by truly great artists, in such a way as to tell a broader, richer, more intersectional story. A narrative that the works might hint at individually, but not entirely reveal in isolation.

Gagosian has produced a short film, which provides the viewer with a walk through the exhibition. This was projected onto the screen for everyone to see, and Richard paused at points to talk about the works. Through his deceptively conversational narration, he revealed facts, connections, cause and effect. The blurred web of attraction and rejection spun around these four artists was made clearer by him.

Calvocoressi has considered the grainy, blurred photograph that Deakin took at Wheeler’s in 1963, and has sharpened it, coloured it and reprinted it. We all benefitted from this reprint by virtue of his talk.

ncas would like to thank Richard and Carl for a wonderfully informative and entertaining evening.

Talk by glass sculptor David Reekie

Event date: 19 September 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

The Wall Between Us, David Reekie

“Life becomes a spectacle and, if you happen to be an artist, you record the passing show”

— Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn.

David Reekie has always relished recording “the passing show”.

Born and raised in the post WW2 East End of London, Reekie was naturally curious and drawn to art from an early age. He attended Stourbridge College of Art in the late 60s and lectured for 10 years at North Staffordshire Polytechnic before moving to Norfolk where he set up his studio in 1986.

Initially, his artistic work solely centered on glass casting and construction and became very architectural. He first introduced the human figure to his work to give a sense of scale; this later developed into providing a narrative to the pieces. And what a narrative!

A central theme of Reekie’s work is the threat that modern life poses to our individuality and to the natural world. “We live in a world that grows more complex and difficult to comprehend. It has tensions and temptations that pull us in different directions. This creates characters and situations that provide a constant source of material from which I take my ideas”.

The resulting work, brilliantly conveying all aspects of the human condition, is quirky, funny and thought provoking as Reekie works in the tradition of political caricature and satire typified by William Hogarth and Honore Daumier.  Other sources of inspiration include James Gillray, cartoonist for The Independent, David Brown, and the American political cartoonist, Matt Wuerker. Reekie also uses images from newspaper photos. “Why not?  They do the work for you”.

Reekie’s work is technically complex combining glass, wood and clay. Initial detailed drawings are key and inform all his work. “They are the beginning where I have time to think”. His method involves mould and lost wax casting. He has also developed the use of ceramic enamel colours that he uses on glass and mould surface to create effects that mirror his drawings.

As a commentator on the human condition, Reekie’s work unashamedly mines rich seams in the UK and wider world. Take an early example, the Thatcher years, particularly the miners’ strike of 1984 and the consequent societal disruption; also the Blair-Bush relationship. More recently Reekie has turned to the difficult themes of migration, as seen in his works Strangers and Displaced; and climate change The Bigger Picture.

His work The Wall Between Us was on display at the talk.

ncas would like to thank David for his thoughtful and richly illustrated talk and the Norwich School for hosting this event in their Blake Studio.

Different People, David Reekie

Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm

Robert Fox and Leslie Davenport: Post War: People and Places Exhibition

Event date: 28 August to 7 September 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

Madonna and Child, Robert Fox

“A triumph. Wonderfully evocative”

— Exhibition visitor

Described by one visitor as a “visual time capsule” of the post WW2 austerity Britain, this latest ncas exhibition celebrated two outstanding artists. Leslie Davenport and Robert Fox were friends and briefly colleagues at Norwich School of Art, each produced a stunning body of work that carefully observed and documented the everyday, the people and the rapidly changing urban landscape.

“Stunning observational work and drawings very evocative of the era”

— Exhibiton visitor

With previously unseen works on loan from the private collections of Linda McFarlane and the Fox family and Helen Davenport and the Davenport family, the show proved a unique opportunity to observe and marvel at the artists' sharply observed and unflinching canvases. 

Take the bleakness of Fox's Blindman and Children's Bicycles or the jarring, rapidly sketched Child Brides Skipping. Meantime, Davenport's urban landscapes such as Extractor, Jarrolds and Gas Works, Bishop Bridge Road solidly dominated their wall space, seemingly immutable but also vulnerable to inevitable re-development and the elements. 

It was truly a slice of social realism on show, which resonated with so many visitors. 

“We feel so refreshed and uplifted from seeing this magnificent exhibition”

— Exhibition visitor

Beautifully curated by Keith Roberts and Selwyn Taylor, the vaulted ceilings and natural stone of the Crypt Gallery provided a perfect, neutral, back-drop to the work on show. As one visitor put it succinctly, it was "a perfect partnership of colours, intensity, people and places." 

The show also included contemporaneous photographs of Norwich from the George Plunkett Archive which added another visual dimension and reference point. An excellent accompanying catalogue Post-War: People and Place produced by Roberts and Taylor is available here.

Trowse Riverside, Leslie Davenport

ncas are enormously grateful to the Norwich School for their help in staging the exhibition and to all the Volunteers who stewarded at the event which attracted just under 800 visitors.

Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm

Revealing Nature: The art of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines

Event date: 13 August 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

Cafe de la Rotonde, Cedric Morris

“As an artist, you must cultivate a relationship with your work so that it becomes your best friend. You must be able to go to it however you’re feeling - happy, tired, bored, frustrated, randy, whatever - and have a conversation with it”

— Cedric Morris

The recently refurbished Gainsborough's House in Sudbury provided the stunning venue for Revealing Nature, an exhibition that charts the artistic careers of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines who famously first met on Armistice night in 1918 and were partners in love and art for sixty years thereafter.

ncas members were welcomed by Gainsborough's House Director, Calvin Winner, who explained its history and more recent evolution, principally the new extension and galleries designed by architects ZMMA, as well as plans for the future.

The group was then taken on an illuminating and insightful tour of the show by its curator Dr Patricia Hardy. With over eighty loans from Tate and the National Portrait Gallery and private  collectors, the exhibition includes Morris’ early portraits and still lives, flower paintings and landscapes and Lett-Haines’ lesser known works, principally surrealist paintings which were completely new to ncas members. 

Uniquely, the works remained part of Cedric Morris's private collection until his death in 1982. Maggi Hambling, a student and friend of Cedric Morris, has been instrumental in introducing the collection to Gainsborough's House and in selecting the paintings and drawings for this exhibition.

Cedric Morris is most widely celebrated for his paintings of flowers, which are often likened to portraits on account of their capacity to capture not only an accurate likeness but also the individual character of each bloom. In addition to his floral works, the exhibition featured portraits which exhibit his keen eye for conveying mood and emotion whilst his landscapes reveal his deep affiliation with nature. 

The Journey, Arthur Lett-Haines

Considered one of Britain’s first surrealists, Arthur Lett-Haines produced a body of work that is esoteric, abstract and organic. It is also little known and ripe for rediscovery. His fascinating paintings on show evidence the influence of surrealist artists, such as Max Ernst, and demonstrate his fascination with a growing amalgamation of trends emerging in European art.

Working together, Morris and Lett-Haines went on to found the hugely influential East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in 1937 which taught a generation of artists, where the atmosphere was described as 'robust and coarse, exquisite and sensitive all at once, also faintly dangerous'.  In addition to Maggi Hambling, pupils there included Lucian Freud, Lucy Harwood, David Kentish and Joan Warburton. 

Revealing Nature continues until 3 November 2024. 

Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm

German Expressionists and the Third Reich exhibition at the Holt Festival

Event date: 13 - 27 July 2024

Three Young Girls in Profile, Otto Mueller

““A ruthless war of cleansing against the last elements of our cultural decomposition””

— Adolf Hitler, German Art Exhibition, Berlin 1937

ncas members were treated to a fascinating and insightful tour of the German Expressionists and the Third Reich exhibition at the Holt Festival by its curator, James Glennie. 

Narrating the story of Hitler’s purge of modernist art - principally expressionist art - which was deemed degenerate or "entartete kunst", Glennie brought to life the fear and loathing generated by the then ruling government and the fate of many affected artists. 

Between 1937 and 1939, it is thought that about 21,000 objects were removed from German state collections and either sold off in 1939 or disposed of through private dealers. About 5,000 items were secretly burned in Berlin later that year. 

ncas members were able to enjoy Glennie's carefully curated collection of paintings, books and pamphlets from notable artists including Adler, Blumenfield, Ehrlich, Ernst, Mueller, Lieberman and Schwitters close at hand.

For those wishing to explore this period in more detail, a new comprehensive publication German Expressionism – The Leicester Museum and Galleries, is available from the Leicester Museum.  

ncas are extremely grateful to James Glennie for his time and expertise in bringing this troubling but fascinating period to life.

James Glennie

Sir Antony Gormley and Dame Magdalene Odundo at Houghton Hall

Event date: 13 and 17 June 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

Time Horizon, Houghton Hall 2024 (detail) , Anthony Gormley

Expertly hosted by Amanda Geitner and Caroline Fisher, ncas members were given a fascinating insight into Sir Anthony Gormley’s Time Horizon installation and Dame Magdalene Odundo’s anthropomorphic ceramic and glass artwork, set in the Palladian splendour of Houghton Hall and its extensive grounds.

“Time Horizon is not a picture. It is a field and you are in it”

— Sir Antony Gormley

In one of his largest installations, Antony Gormley has literally seeded the Hall and grounds with 100 life sized sculptures each carefully placed within the landscape and to the same datum level.

Gormley says “ My ambition for this show is that people should roam far and wide. Art has recently privileged the object rather than the experience that objects can initiate. Time Horizon is not a picture. It is a field and you are in it”

By contrast, Dame Magdalene Odundo’s work sits quietly within Houghton Hall challenging the lavish, ornamental grandeur of the interior with an exquisite simplicity of form. Odundo says “It’s all about the human form. We have this internal side of us that makes us who we are, and the external bit that is the embellishment of who we are. And humanity comes from the hidden inside you”.

“It’s all about the human form”

— Magdalene Odundo

Her centre piece is a monumental ceramic sculpture, created using Wedgewood moulds, which poignantly addresses the themes of slavery and contemporary activism.

Vessel, Magdalene Odundo

Odundo’s show runs until 29 September and Gormley’s Time Horizon until 31 October 2024.

Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm