• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Waveney & Blyth Arts

Creatively connecting people with place along the Norfolk/Suffolk border

Accessibility Tools

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Constitution & Policies
    • Membership
    • Resources
    • Opportunities
    • Archive
  • Events
    • Two Rivers Book Fest
      • Christopher Lloyd’s Top 20 Paintings
      • Grace Adam’s top three to see in London
      • Independent & Second-hand Bookshops, and Libraries
  • Competitions
  • Blog
  • Members
    • My account
    • Sculpture in the Valley Artists
    • Creative Members Directory & Member Events
    • Newsletter Form
  • Join us
  • Shop
    • Basket
    • Checkout
You are here: Home / Archives for Blog

Blog

Sculpture in the Valley 2022

25th July 2022 By Jade Nice

A view from behind the scenes

Nick Ball sculptureThis was Waveney and Blyth Arts’ second residency at Potton Hall. Thirty-eight artists submitted work for the trail on the theme of Between Two Worlds. It was pleasing to note that nearly a quarter of the exhibitors were first timers with Waveney and Blyth Arts. The result was an eclectic mix of approaches, materials and interpretations. It was lovely to hear animated discussions about the trail as people passed through our reception marquee, and this was also reflected in the highly appreciative comments which were made both verbally and in our visitors book.

school visit to Sculpture in the ValleyThis year we were approached for the first time by two local schools – Somerleyton Primary and Bramfield House – asking if they might visit as an enhancement for their arts curriculum programme. The children really enjoyed the experience. Somerleyton pupils did some quick sketching facilitated by Grace Adam and the older students from Bramfield House engaged animatedly with their teachers and Cindy over their interactions with many of the works on display.

The end of trail ceilidh with Syzewell Gap and Jon Hooton was a lovely way to bring SitV to a close. Everyone enjoyed the music, dancing and chat and Simon anounced the winner of the public’s vote for most popular artwork – Standing for Something in a Changing World by Tobias Ford. He also announced the names of those who received in excess of 100 votes for their work – Meg Amsden, Mike Challis, Harry Chrystall, Cindy Lee Wright and Nick Ball. What is particularly pleasing is the fact that everyone received several votes and that all of the arts genres and aesthetics were well represented in terms of public support.

Sculpture in the Valley depends on a huge amount of individual effort and energy. First and foremost by the exhibiting artists whose work we display and without whom there would be no trail. Also for their preparedness to give us at least a day of their time on reception – as did a number of non-artist WBA volunteers. Then, behind the scenes to a large extent, the SitV team of Netta Swallow (volunteers rota organiser), Ann Follows (health & safety and general admin), Cindy Lee Wright (sales and other documentation as well as curation), Grace Adam (lead curator and guided walks) and Simon Raven (site manager and curation). Netta, Ann, Cindy and Simon also took on supervisory duties at reception.

Special thanks also to Brian Guthrie and Spadge Hopkins for stepping into the breach on more than one occasion when we were short on reception staffing and to Jade Nice (our website and marketing manager). And finally, our thanks to John and Priscilla Westgarth for hosting us once again in the beautiful setting of Potton Hall.

(Images – from top – Nick Ball’s Black Cube, children from Somerleyton Primary School enjoying Grace Adam’s workshop and Tobias Ford’s Standing for Something in a Changing World).

 

Filed Under: Blog

Remembering Mel Horwood

13th June 2022 By Jade Nice

by Mary Anne Woolf

Silk textile with figures dancing situated at Potton Hall

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.

Filed Under: Blog

Installation Days at Potton Hall

25th May 2022 By Jade Nice

Sculpture in the Valley 2022

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.

Sculpture in the Valley

Sculpture in the Valley

Filed Under: Blog

Update from the EGM

29th March 2022 By Jade Nice

Waveney and Blyth Arts Logo

Waveney and Blyth Arts Logo

Our extraordinary general meeting on 5 March was a very positive affair. Fifteen members turned up, and we met in the basement studio at The Cut.

Our Chair, Spadge Hopkins, set out the advantages of becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO); no financial risk to members, better able to raise funds, answerable only to the Charity Commission. When the details are sorted, we will have the first annual general meeting of the new CIO, so members can agree the whole thing formally, including its new constitution, and confirm the trustees. All this was agreed unanimously.

It was emphasised that the intention is to involve the membership as closely as ever, if not more so. Simon Raven reported on good progress with Sculpture in the Valley 2022 (Potton Hall, 27 May-26 June) with over 40 sculptors already signed up.

Filed Under: Blog

Notification of the 2021 Annual General Meeting

11th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

This is a crucial meeting where the future of W&BA will be considered.

Thank you to those who responded to my recent appeal for help. All 20 of the members who replied spoke warmly of what W&BA has done over the years. And there were some generous offers and good ideas for future events. However, W&BA’s capacity to organise and manage these is still missing. Nobody has been able to step up to plug the crucial gaps of website management, administration of membership, accountancy and two area representatives.

So we regret to say that the recommendation from the management committee is to dissolve Waveney & Blyth Arts. You will appreciate how painful this is for us, what a difficult decision it was to have to make. We’re certainly proud of what we have achieved over the years and grateful for the hundreds of people who have been members and participants.

You will see in the AGM 2021 AGENDA and below that we have made formal proposals arising from our recommendation to dissolve. As a membership organisation we are relying on you at this point. The W&BA Constitution spells out in section 8 what has to happen in order for us to close. We need 10% of the membership to attend the agm and of these, three-quarters or more to vote in favour of our proposal in order for it to be agreed.

If our proposal is accepted, we will then need to decide what to do to disburse the funds we have in our reserves and how to deal with all the associated closure requirements. The constitution gives us a starting point for this process, and we will be consulting the membership about the details.

If our proposal fails, then we hope those present at the agm will make an alternative proposal, which would need to be agreed, possibly by the full membership.

You will appreciate that it is more than usually important for you to attend if you can.

We hope that as many of you as possible will come to the agm, not only because of the decisions that we have to make but also because it may well be the last chance for us to come together as a creative and networking community. We will be displaying our archive of publicity brochures, CDs, postcards, etc as a reminder of the many enjoyable events which we have organised across our 11 years of being W&BA.

Thank you

Ann Follows, Chair

 

AGENDA

Annual general meeting 2021

1 Minutes of 2020 AGM AGM 2020 MINUTES

2 Financial statements and Chair’s report 2020/21 W&BA Financial Statements 2020-21

For approval

3 Report from the Recovery sub-committee

4 The future of W&BA

Proposals from the management committee:

 1 That W&BA is wound up and its assets after settling outstanding liabilities, dispersed as set out in the  W&BA Constitution

2 That the membership be consulted about the dispersal of any remaining assets

3 That the processes required to wind up W&BA be handled by a small group comprising Ann Follows, Brian Guthrie and Jade Nice

5 Any other business

Ann Follows

11 November 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog

Wild About Bungay, 2021

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

This wonderful publication has been produced to acknowledge and celebrate Bungay’s wildlife and the life and love of Jasmine, sister and wild-life enthusiast who sadly died in 2012. Jasmine’s brothers Chris and Terry Reeve, both residents of Bungay, led the nature walk for around Bungay’s local footpaths and countryside. Keen to show us the natural environment as if through the eyes of their sister.

First stop at Bungay castle where a small wild flower garden has been planted in memory of Jasmine. In this mid-September morning, no flowers were in bloom, but the plant list showed it would be full of colour and insect life in early summer. Chris read the poem The Song of the White Jasmine Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker.

In the heat of summer days

With sunshine all ablaze,

Here, here are cool green bowers,

Starry with Jasmine flowers;

Sweet-scented, like a dream

Of Fairyland they seem.

 

And when the long hot day

At length has worn away,

And twilight deepens, till

The darkness comes – then, still,

The glimmering Jasmine white

Gives fragrance to the night.

Our group of 20 walked through the water meadows on a footpath along the side of the river Waveney between Bungay and Earsham. We stopped frequently on the way to examine points of interest in nature that Jasmine had enjoyed in her lifetime: willow trees grown for making cricket bats; common alder trees that like their roots in water; common fleabane in flower; playing grandmother jump-out-of-bed by pinching the base of flowering convolvulus with its brilliant white, trumpet shaped flower.

 

 

 

As we approached Earsham besides a field, a herd of huge beautiful cows began to walk besides us, as if accompanying us. We learned from their owner, farmer and photographer Frances Crickmore, that this herd had been imported from France when they decided to diversify their farming products to include cheese. This particular breed is known for their rich milk, and from it the Crickmore’s developed the now famous Bigot Brie cheese. The cows followed us along the footpath until we crossed over the river via a wooden bridge. Here we were joined by Frances Crickmore who introduced herself, told us about the farm and the land around us. She told us we could purchase the cheese in its signature circular wood box from a vending machine by the farm.

 

At the end of the walk we thanked Chris and Terry for an interesting and enjoyable afternoon. We had all learned about their sister and shared her love of this area.

Ann Follows

September 2021

Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

Two Rivers Book Festival at Cupiss Letterpress, Diss

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

To say that Cupiss Letterpress is a hidden treasure of Diss is a bit of a cliche but true nonetheless, and all the more so because it’s closing down after nine years shy of two centuries in business.

As part of our Two Rivers Book festival, we were offered free guided tours for the day. John Harding, who’s worked there since leaving school and 55 years later about to retire, was our host. The imposing mechanical printing machines contrasted with dusty Victorian decor and piles of print paraphernalia, an historic assemblage of past logs and equipment most of which with unrecognisable functions.

 

Inside the workshop, sited at the top of a track in the middle of Diss, John welcomed us and explained that the original business, established in 1830, wasn’t printing but for mixing and distributing a home-made medicinal horse “digestive”. The original recipe, in popular demand throughout the 20th century, was invented by the first Mr Cupiss. He needed to print labels for the dispensing bottles, and rather than find a supplier, he purchased his own printing press. As the demand for his horse digestive declined, so the print works grew and became a locally significant printing business.

 

 

This bell jar trophy, is a stone passed by a horse in the early 1900s having successfully been treated with
Mr Cupiss’s horse medicine. Next to it a complete set of the Suffolk horse society’s stud books dating back to 1885, each one hand wrapped and ready. As with the demand for the horse medicine, the stud logs have also declined as machinery replaced working horses. And today the digital revolution has replaced the need for the mechanical print business.

 

 

 

For me the overwhelming sense of a living history and indeed my learning on the day, was in the huge array of fonts and lettering. Tray upon tray, both beautiful and functional, the variety of fonts made from wood and lead were immaculately if chaotically stored. The wood ones hand carved, some acting as 3D ‘shadow’ had a fascinating appearance. The ‘upper case’ trays being capitals and the ‘lower case’ trays being, well, lower case. Another commonly used term originating in the printing business is ‘form’ which is the frame that holds individual letters in place ready for print.

 

John gave me the opportunity to run a pre-set form through the 19th century printing press, which involved inking up and rolling under the press using nothing but cogs and levers.

The first electrical press, purchased in 1950, stood next in line to the 1830s mechanical press. Behind these, in a rough back extension, were a couple of computer screens and digital printer which have replaced the entire works. Cupiss of Diss is both a working museum and modern print shop. The old printing presses are used by artists and for specialist print work. Now it is on the market for sale, it will be interesting to see whether it remains in Diss or is split up and re-located to new owners elsewhere. I left the hour-long guided tour feeling I’d just been part of something really unique and unlikely ever to be repeated; an unexpected delight of W&BA’s 2021 Two Rivers book festival.

Ann Follows

October 2021


Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

Looking Out, November

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

The night before November strong winds and heavy rain blew remnants of summer away.  Cherries and maple were late turning colour but now their leaves have been whisked away, pirouetting across the garden. Oaks and elms stoically remain green-leaved but almost all our ash trees dropped their leaves in one day.   November is a month of winds and rain, or fogs and frosts, ushered in by the festival of Samhain. But we can no longer be sure of our seasons as the warming globe creates more unstable weather patterns.

 

November usually marks a turning in, preparing for hard times ahead, a time of harvesting, storing. Everything seems to be busy – the squirrel running down the path towards me, sugar beet clamped in its jaws; the screech of the jays as they raid the oak tree; blackbirds stripping fruits from rowan and rose; the rat invading the compost bin; the last butterfly, a Red Admiral, sipping sugar from a patch of blackberries and hedgehogs pulling leaves and grass into a safe winter house.

 

Other wildlife is on the move. Young foxes turned from their earths to find their own territories; tawny owl young dispersing, and the barn owl hunting along farm ditches at dusk. Once the winds turn north-easterly the winter migrants begin to arrive. Scandinavian thrushes, late this year; geese flying in to coastal marshes; starlings gathering with resident birds in nightly murmurations.

 

November’s full moon, the woodcock moon, brings these strange long nosed, woodland waders across the North Sea from Siberia. According to fable the goldcrests arrive too, the woodcock’s pilot. It is a time for gathering and for contemplation. But this year, it is hard not to think more globally as the COP 26 conference  starts in Glasgow. We think about the changing world and our part in it. Do arts and culture have a role. Can we do more with our creativity?

 

As November inches into winter, the conference brings a call for action to reduce global warming. The website for the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021 supports the need for cultural and community action.

 

Culture — from arts to heritage — can help catalyse a step-change in the global ambition for climate resilience.  Rooting resilience measures in existing community action, culture, heritage and knowledge …. helps assure more effective and durable outcomes.

Several organisations are promoting the involvement of artists: see climateheritage.org and cultureatcop.com. You can raise your voice above the wind and sing with a global song – Enough is enough – see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz8ex7Mnjb4

As wind whipped the trees here into a frenzy, I thought back to the 2007 storm – our national outpouring of grief  at the loss of so many trees. Several friends had young children at the time. They remember listening to the wind as they gave a night feed, or slept blissfully through it as a child spent its first night sleeping. Those children are getting married this year. A reminder of how cycles and seasons turn. We look back and remember the noise, the fear, the sadness and the rush to clear up. 15 million trees lost in one night of destruction.

Since then, we have let trees disappear, slowly, one by one, making way for railways, roads, houses.  Perhaps as leaves fall we should celebrate the trees, draw their profiles, photograph them, weave words round them. The night before November strong winds and heavy rain blew remnants of summer away.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

Walking Right up your Street with Dean Parkin

11th October 2021 By Jo Leverett

Our walking group met Dean by Lowestoft old Town Hall in the pouring rain. One or two were dressed for the weather in sou‘westers and wellies!

Dean began by setting the context: here on the site where we stood, the old Town Hall no longer used, is covered in large colourful words created by local children, inspired by Dean in workshops he’d led at their school. Dean recently wrote and produced a play Pearls from The Grit and a published the book The Grit – the story of Lowestoft’s Beach Village, these both tell all about the area we were setting out to explore.

[Read more…] about Walking Right up your Street with Dean Parkin

Filed Under: Blog

Mill Street Studios 2021, so far

11th October 2021 By Jo Leverett

Mill Street Studios held two print workshops in the Summer and Autumn of 2021, which were run by Fine Artist and Printmaker, Catherine Greenwood who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in printmaking and was an inspiration to all in her printmaking. We were able to learn and gain printmaking skills throughout the two-day workshop in hard and soft ground etching and collagraphy.

The second workshop was an Aquatint course lead by Fine Artist and Printmaker, David Stubbs, and was an introduction to aquatints over two days.  This was truly inspirational and has given us more possibilities of what can be achieved with aquatint in several ways with our newly purchased aquatint box.

Filed Under: Blog

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Join Us

Waveney & Blyth Arts relies on membership to fund its programme. We welcome new members from any individual or organisation that supports our aims. Become a member today to join our likeminded community of creative individuals and organisations.

Join Us

Events Calendar

December

January 2023

February
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
SU
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
Events for January

1st

No Events
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Events for January

2nd

No Events
Events for January

3rd

No Events
Events for January

4th

No Events
Events for January

5th

No Events
Events for January

6th

No Events
Events for January

7th

No Events
Events for January

8th

No Events
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Events for January

9th

No Events
Events for January

10th

No Events
Events for January

11th

No Events
Events for January

12th

No Events
Events for January

13th

No Events
Events for January

14th

No Events
Events for January

15th

No Events
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Events for January

16th

No Events
Events for January

17th

No Events
Events for January

18th

No Events
Events for January

19th

No Events
Events for January

20th

No Events
Events for January

21st

No Events
Events for January

22nd

No Events
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Events for January

23rd

No Events
Events for January

24th

No Events
Events for January

25th

No Events
Events for January

26th

No Events
Events for January

27th

No Events
Events for January

28th

No Events
Events for January

29th

No Events
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
Events for January

30th

No Events
Events for January

31st

No Events

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by @waveneyblyth

Promote your events

Remember, if you’re a member of W&BA as an artist or arts organisation, you can promote your events, exhibitions, talks and shows through our monthly newsletter, website and social media.

Submit Your Event

Footer

Contact Us

Waveney & Blyth Arts
W&BA Secretary postal address: Field House, Thrandeston, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 4BU

Get in contact via email
info@waveneyandblytharts.com
general enquires about W&BA

newsletter@waveneyandblytharts.com
newsletter and marketing, bookings, membership and payments

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Local Co-Ordinators

Learn more about us Here

 

 

Newsletter Sign-Up

To promote your activities on this website and get all the other benefits you need to become a member – see Join Us – but if you just want to be kept informed about Waveney & Blyth Arts activities join our free mailing list below:







    Site Map / Privacy Policy / Terms & Conditions
    Copyright © 2023 · Site by Mustard

    MENU
    • Home
    • About Us
      • Constitution & Policies
      • Membership
      • Resources
      • Opportunities
      • Archive
    • Events
      • Two Rivers Book Fest
        • Christopher Lloyd’s Top 20 Paintings
        • Grace Adam’s top three to see in London
        • Independent & Second-hand Bookshops, and Libraries
    • Competitions
    • Blog
    • Members
      • My account
      • Sculpture in the Valley Artists
      • Creative Members Directory & Member Events
      • Newsletter Form
    • Join us
    • Shop
      • Basket
      • Checkout