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

Talk by Mali Morris: Painting Colour and All that Jazz

Event date: 15 May 2024
Review by Carl Rowe

Mali Morris and Carl Rowe

The first slide lit up the screen with squares of vibrant pinks, reds and blues, all circulating around the centre of a colourful grid. A warm ripple of pleasure spread through the seated audience. Mali’s gentle voice accompanied the image of her painting, and then she steamed into an hour of vivid recollections and tantalising explanations. Just like the jazz drummer John Stevens of whom Mali talked so warmly, she revealed through her talk the improvisations, risks, tricks and freedom with which she makes paintings. The results are points at which a process of excavation have been halted. Paintings run into trouble, don’t work, but then through an enjoyable process of determination, come to a point of conclusion.

Mali Morris studied Fine Art at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, graduating in 1968, and two years later received a Master of Fine Art from the University of Reading. Her early career combined studio practice with teaching, visiting art schools around the country forming impromptu associations with fellow artists as they too travelled back and forth to teach and earn their studio rent. There is a powerful sense of community and sociability running through her practice. Mali is a founding member of A.P.T Studios and Gallery (Art in Perpetuity Trust) in Deptford, an organisation that offers crucial support to emerging artists. Mali is now established as one of the country’s most influential painters with artworks in internationally important collections and exhibitions.

Painting in this century has been haunted by Robert Morris’s notion of its historically weighed down and ‘antique mode’. But Mali’s paintings fit into a new modality, one that acknowledges the past and rebirths it with a contemporary vigour. Her spirited approach to colour and formalism offers much to inspire a new generation of artists. It is quite revelaing to compare Mali’s paintings with her Instagram feed, where in the latter we find impetus, social concerns, and humanism. She showed some incidental photographs in her talk, fragments, and insights into a thought process, but this is just the surface. Mali is driven by memories of family, of nurturing, of friends, of partners, of classical painting, of music. This comes through her use of colour and form. But there is always obfuscation, be it a sideways glance at a shape that might be something, or a wiping away of something to reveal something else, or a system imposed upon a freedom or vice versa. There is generosity, but also something held back.

Mali talked carefully and meaningfully for just over an hour, and then answered questions for another thirty minutes. I think she could have continued had we not run out of time. The eagerness with which members of the audience took the opportunity to continue conversations at the conclusion of the talk demonstrated Mali’s appeal. The eagerness with which Mali happily engaged with everyone mirrored the energy and convivial nature of her paintings.

Review by former ncas trustee Carl Rowe

Talk by Cornelia Parker CBE, RA

Event date: 23 April 2024

Cold Dark Matter, Cornelia Parker

““Art allows me to explore my imagination””

— Cornelia Parker

Welcomed by Professor Richard Sawdon Smith, Head of Fine Art, NUA and Dr Rosie Gray, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Norwich Castle & Art Gallery, Cornelia Parker wowed a sell-out audience at the NUA Lecture Theatre with a witty, richly illustrated and insightful talk on her practice and the wider world.

From humble beginnings as a child in rural Cheshire helping her father on their small holding, Cornelia saw escape and play as something rare and secretive and rapidly developed an ability to “play in her imagination”. Her search for escapism might account for her early love of Tom and Jerry cartoons and Charlie Chaplin films. These influences, combined with her natural curiosity (she was known as “nosey Parker” at school), subversive mischief-making and sense of justice, have underpinned her practice ever since.

“I’m not going to show you my art. I’m going to share it with you”

— Cornelia Parker

Parker was lucky to have two sympathetic art teachers at school, but a school visit to London art galleries as a 15 year old had a hugely profound effect on her. Perhaps tellingly, she admits she was drawn to the works of Salvador Dali and Richard Dadd. She recalls “the whole world of art opened up: I'd never even been to a museum before. Having spent my childhood working hard, the idea that I might spend my adulthood playing began to seem quite attractive." From there, she chose to pursue the creative arts as a career - much to the consternation of her parents.

From her earliest days as an artist, Parker has used visual metaphors and storytelling to investigate the nature of many things. She says “I’m not going to show you my art. I’m going to share it with you”. She is naturally drawn to “things with a past” and their secret histories, even their “subconscious” undersides. Enter her chief protagonists, the many, often banal, “found objects” such as sheds, brass band instruments, teapots - even dust.

One can argue that Parker’s need to alter, manipulate, crush or explode these objects is a subconscious kick against her repressive upbringing. Their magical transformation into exquisitely re-created artworks such as Cold Dark Matter: An exploded view or Thirty Pieces of Silver offer a fairy-tale happy ending. Often suspended, the recreated works have a sense of delicate gravity which pulls them safely back to earth. Her witty artwork titles are arguably as thought-provoking as the work itself.

Landscape with Gun and Tree, Cornelia Parker

“I like it very much when worlds collide”

— Cornelia Parker

Her exploration of more controversial subjects such as guns in Embryo Firearms and Landscape with Gun and Tree (after Gainsborough’s Mr and Mrs Parker) or pornography Pornographic Drawings, using ink solvent used to dissolve pornographic video tape, are designed to “test prejudice”.

In the same vein, Mass (Colder Dark Matter) suspending the charred remains of a church that had been struck by lightning in Texas and companion piece Anti Mass, using charcoal from a black congregation church in Kentucky destroyed by arson, court controversy but also send a powerful message of metamorphosis and resurrection.

She says “I like it very much when worlds collide”. In Parker’s case of course, this is often literally true.

Mass Colder, Darker Matter, Cornelia Parker

While Parker is highly collaborative in the realisation of her artworks, she generally prefers to work on her own without assistants. She acknowledges her “grasshopper” enquiring mind which can turn in many directions requiring an almost forensic ability to acquire new techniques (and specialist experts) to help her realise her work. It is apparent that she relishes the meticulous planning and realisation. For Parker, the process and the materials are as important as the finished object.

A perfect example of this is her work Magna Carta (An Embroidery) where Parker created a hand-embroidered version of the Wikipedia article Magna Carta, as it appeared on 15 June 2014, to celebrate its 800th anniversary. Embroiderers included members of the Embroiderers Guild, HM prisoners, Peers, MPs, judges, human rights lawyers, a US ambassador and his staff, and various public figures including Julian Assange, Jarvis Cocker and Doreen Lawrence.

Parker is unashamedly political. She has said “There’s such a freedom about being an artist.. You’re not accountable – you’re this renegade thing”. It affords her her the privilege, almost responsibility, to amplify voices that are often overlooked. She is passionate about the future, particularly global environmental challenges and issues of social justice and has joined the recently formed creatives’ think tank, Hard Act, spearheaded by Brian Eno.

Still from THE FUTURE (Sixes and Sevens) video, Cornelia Parker

Her recent work, a short film The Future (Sixes and Sevens) is a funny yet poignant examination of the future through the eyes of British primary school children. In an interview with the FT about the work, she says “I’m hoping people watching will realise that we are the adults. We can do something. The children can’t. We can’t wait for them to grow up. We have to act in every way we can”.

Going forward, Parker promises to “keep pushing the envelope”. No surprise from an artist who, according to Bloomberg, has established a reputation as “one of the most inventive and quietly provocative artist of her generation.

Our thanks go to NUA for kindly hosting this talk which is part of ncas’ ongoing talks programme.

Will Teather: Seeing the World Differently

Event date: 7 March 2024

Will Teather in his studio

“Art should offer us extraordinary spectacles; art should be alchemy; art should make us see the world differently; art should open conversations.”

Will Teather, Manifesto (excerpt)

Artist, magician, showman, musician. It’s hard to define an artist such as Will Teather, whose intriguing manifesto is a must-read for anyone interested in the creative process.

In a hugely entertaining, whistle stop tour of his career to date, Teather described his early days of art taught at Reepham School to the somewhat unstructured but formative years at Central St Martins and Chelsea College of Art & Design, after which he fully embraced his fascination for magical realism or “ontological ambiguity”, where it is not immediately obvious what is real or unreal.

Teather’s inspiration is firmly anchored in Norfolk’s tradition of carnival, performance and artistic illusion, and its ability to joyfully subvert authority. He combines this with traditional historical subjects and painting techniques, often using motifs from historical sources.

Perspective is key and used as a narrative tool. He says “A lot of my work deals with the carnival-esque and a sense of the uncanny. It’s about creating extraordinary visual spectacles through painting”. The resulting body of work is solely figurative - “I don’t do landscapes” - where Teather uses models often from a performance art background, with whom he builds the pictoral narrative. Here, Paula Rego and Lucien Freud have been sources of inspiration.

“I’ve always enjoyed visual games with artworks, plays upon form, repetition and pattern that are very hard to write about. But they are easy to enjoy”.

Will Teather in his studio

Teather has recently opened a studio in the heart of Tombland which is open to the public each Saturday in March and by appointment after that.

For further information visit www.willteather.com

ncas are grateful to The Norwich School for kindly hosting this event as part of ncas’ talks programme at their excellent Blake Studio.

Bridget Bailey: Art in the Making

Event date: 31 January 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm

Bridget Bailey. Image courtesy of bridgetbailey.co.uk

‘‘I’d love to be thought of as a sort of textile Darwin, exploring nature and recording and translating what I learn into materials and making”

Bridget Bailey

“Wow” is a very small word to sum up the enthusiastic reaction to Bridget Bailey’s talk, organised jointly by ncas and the Norwich School, to a full house at the Blake Studio.

Brought up in North Yorkshire with an inherent passion for the natural landscape, Bridget’s career has evolved from textiles, through millinery, and into artworks over the 40 years she has been “making”. 

Her fragile artworks and sculptures combine intense observation and intricate making, with the down-to-earth approach to life and death of an allotment gardener.

From the fragile rolled edge of a tiny pea pod to the sleek plumpness of the humble worm, Bridget creates work of breathtaking delicacy and beauty.

ncas are grateful to The Norwich School for kindly hosting this event as part of ncas’ talks programme at their excellent Blake Studio.

Visit to Brüer Tidman’s Studio Gallery and the Hippodrome Circus, Great Yarmouth

Event date: 19 December 2023
Review by Danusia Wurm

The mid December drizzly gloom disappeared on entering Brüer Tidman’s vibrant gallery, situated in an old fishing warehouse in the industrial heartland of Great Yarmouth.

Superbly curated by Brüer, ncas members were treated to an extraordinary selection of paintings, prints and sketchbooks dating back to the 80s, when Brüer turned to art full-time. His works, using a range of oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels, wax mixed with pigments and even builders’ sand - ‘beach sand is too salty for the canvas’ -glowed with luminosity and colour. In contrast to his semi abstract work, a series of striking black and is white head portraits gazed directly from the walls.

One floor up, we were also welcomed to Mark Cator’s elegant studio which hosts regular Utter Nonsense exhibitions, music recitals and collaborative workshops.

Located across the road, Brüer’s studio sits above a precariously steep flight of steps. Brüer explained that the large, light room, full of music - the Rolling Stones - and his latest work, was originally used for mending nets as evidenced by small holes in the walls used to stretch the mending lines.

Among the artwork and sketchbooks on show were numerous works inspired by the iconic Hippodrome Circus where Brüer was artist in residence for some years. It was a wonderful curtain raiser for the Hippodrome’s Christmas Spectacular. Featuring a range of acts from around the world and the superb water spectacular, the performance also included young dancers from the local Estelle Dance School based at the Hippodrome.

Post performance, members were also able to visit the Back Stage Circus Museum, an astonishing collection of eclectic circus and music memorabilia curated by Hippodrome owner, Peter Jay. The wonderful retro circus-themed Cafe 1903 also proved popular with the group.

In all, it was a fascinating, memorable and engaging visit.

Our thanks go to Brüer for his time and generosity in welcoming the Group and talking about his work; the hugely helpful Hippodrome Circus Management Team and Selwyn and Janey for organising.

Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm