On 2 & 3 July @millstreetetchingstudio will be running a two-day workshop ‘Return to Etching – The Model and the Landscape’ run by fine artist and printmaker, David Stubbs, who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in printmaking. More details at https://www.millstreetetchingstudio.co.uk/
Remembering Mel Horwood
by Mary Anne Woolf
In 2021 Mel facilitated a life-enhancing dance workshop at an evening session during Waveney and Blyth Arts’ first Sculpture in the Valley residency at Potton Hall near Westleton. We could not know then that it was to be one of her last public acts as an inspired creator and communicator of dance. Barely six months later she died after a short illness.
Mel was a woman of many talents. She recognised the importance of art, in all its forms, as a vital way to express and shape ourselves and our experiences throughout our lives. This understanding was the foundation of much of her formal and informal work.
Early in her life she was a professional ballet dancer but later through her work as a teacher in Suffolk schools and in adult education and her own study at the Laban Centre and Middlesex University, she developed a dance practice working with groups of various ages in a variety of settings. She collaborated with family, friends and communities in Suffolk and Norfolk producing her own work but also encouraging and supporting the development of others’ skills and expression in different art forms.
In addition, she learned the skills to produce, direct and edit films showing people dancing in response to the landscapes and buildings of East Suffolk. She also made a film celebrating the life and work of Scilla Dyke, Made in Suffolk, which was shown at Dance East.
As a person, she was perceptive, humorous and quietly persistent. She approached things imaginatively and was always ready to come up with new perspectives. She was never content with the superficial but wanted to explore ideas in depth. These qualities enabled her to work creatively with people of different ages and in different contexts. They also made her a good friend and I was fortunate to be one of them. Mel and I ran workshops on several occasions looking at the connections between dance and visual art. So she asked me to take photographs of that final workshop as part of last year’s Sculpture in the Valley.
Mel will be much missed not only by her family and friends but by her community, to which she contributed so much. To honour her memory I have had photographic images of that final workshop printed on translucent silk. They are hung looking towards the garden where last year she danced with the group. In that sense I hope that you too will experience the layers of time and memory – time then with time now, the imagined and the real, between two worlds – and thereby pause to reflect on all that she gave us.
Zoe Rubens
Having gained a first class honours degree in Sculpture at Manchester Zoë Rubens is an experienced artist combining the figurative and conceptual.
She uses her distinctive talents and skills working with ferrous and nonferrous metals, both cast and welded and etched, to produce intriguing Sculpture and prints.
Including her unique ceramics she is able to produce visual excitement with many subtle depths of expression and meaning.
Currently working from her studio in East Anglia Zoë challenges many pre-conceptions, experimenting with different techniques and applications and by using her own signature attention to detail within the overall concept makes her work fascinating to revisit.
Craftco June
Craftco exhibition this June…
Beccles Society of Artists
Local portrait artist Peter Weiss will be demonstrating how to draw the head on Wednesday June 1st at the Waveney Centre Beccles, from 7.15 – 9pm.
Come and join us – all welcome. Members free, non-members £3.
https://www.becclesartists.co.uk/
Installation Days at Potton Hall
It’s all coming together at Potton Hall.
Sculpture in the Valley 2022 opens on Friday 27 May – 26 June and everyone is working really hard to get this amazing sculpture trail ready for the opening day.
Can’t wait to see you there!
Here are some of our team working on the final preparations.
Merlina Arts
Exciting new Arts & Crafts venue opening at Earsham Heritage Mill on Friday 27th May, with a unique exhibition of 16 local artist covering a range of arts.
The Gallery has easy access, good parking and facilities around the gallery, including a café and walks around the Marshes.
The village of Bungay is 5 minutes drive away.
A great space to hold meetings, art classes or curate your own show.
For the artist we have LED daylight lighting, STAS hanging system and a range of display plinths, as well as a small shop
Merlina Arts
Exciting new Arts & Crafts venue opening at Earsham Heritage Mill on Friday 27th May, with a unique exhibition of 16 local artist covering a range of arts.
The Gallery has easy access, good parking and facilities around the gallery, including a café and walks around the Marshes.
The village of Bungay is 5 minutes drive away.
A great space to hold meetings, art classes or curate your own show.
For the artist we have LED daylight lighting, STAS hanging system and a range of display plinths, as well as a small shop
Ruth McCabe
From her studio in Wenhaston, Ruth McCabe is part of Suffolk Open Studios June event again this year.
Studio open dates are:
June 2 to 5 inc. covering the 2 new Bank Holidays as well as that weekend.
June 18-19
June 25-26
11 to 4pm each day.
New series of work can always be seen and discussed, and throughout 2022 Ruth is continuing her sale of retrospective work at considerably reduced prices.
In addition the Garden Art Trail will be open, with quizzes for younger visitors.
At 10.30 on any open day, and by prior arrangement, for groups of 3 or 4 people, Ruth is happy to discuss her approaches to making art and any assistance she might offer to others.
rc4619@icloud or 07426 925065 for directions to the studio.
Craftco – May
Craftco Exhibition this May…