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UPDATE 19/03/20   

It is with great regret that we at Waveney and Blyth Arts are postponing all decisions about our Celebrate programme for the next 30 days, in response to Government guidelines and our internal risk assessment. 

As the situation with Covid-19 is changing rapidly, we have decided to postpone all decision-making about our events for at least 30 days. This involves putting production of our brochure on hold, and sadly having to cancel some of our earlier events, including the Gt Yarmouth Photography workshop. We are in contact with our event hosts and volunteers regularly to continue to monitor the situation accordingly. 

After Easter, we will make a decision on whether to continue delivering parts of the programme or not, again in line with Government advice and our risk assessment. Our first priority is and will remain public safety and wellbeing.

We’d like to thank everyone for their support and understanding during this difficult time.

17/03/20   

In light of the recent spread of Covid-19, we wanted to give our members and wider audience an update on how we will be ensuring the safety of visitors coming to our events this year.

At this time we have not made any final decisions on whether our full programme of events will run. As many of our events are run by volunteers, we will of course be assessing the risks with them and everyone else involved, in order to reach conclusions over whether or not to postpone or cancel certain events in the coming weeks. In other cases where we consider the risks to be very low,  we will hold off on cancelling and wait to see how our ticket sales fair.

We will publicise any decisions on delays and cancellations as soon as they are made, so please check this page and our social media pages for updates.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

A talk series from Tanya Harrington

This monthly talk series on the fourth Thursday of each month, continues at cosy Mettingham Village Hall. The theme is ‘The History of Portraiture’ and looks at the Northern Renaissance, when artists strove for naturalism and detail, made achievable with new developments in oil technique – and yet these portraits are infused with a religious and sacred mood which speaks of the past.

Our next session is from 10.30am – 12.45pm on Thursday 27th February

Entry £10 (£5 for carers and under 18’s)

Designed as stand alone talks. All are welcome. Sessions include a 20 minute break for refreshments at the tea rooms just down the road.

Find out more at TanyaHarringtonTalks.co.uk

We’re very excited to announce that next year’s sculpture event, Sculpture in the Valley 2020, will be held from 18th July to 2nd August at Potton Hall, Westleton. The event will be curated by well-known Suffolk based artist and curator, David Baldry.

2020 will be W&BA’s 10th birthday, so we wanted to develop the next annual sculpture event to celebrate our legacy connecting art with landscape and place over the past decade. We have devised the theme ‘Reflections on Landscape’ which asks artists to consider ideas about scale (micro to macro), and perspectives and interaction between wild and cultivated aspects of the landscape. It’s important to note that we are living in the context of climate crisis and this, along with broader perspectives on the landscapes we live in and our relationships with it, could be compelling ideas for artists to explore.

We are thankful to our sub-committee of practising artists – Mike Challis, Meryem Siemmond and Stephen Worrall – who have generously given time to develop the artist brief. Alongside curator David Baldry, the event will be coordinated by our new Chair Genevieve Rudd and the site will be managed by Simon Raven — pictured above: Genevieve, David and Simon.

About this year’s event, our curator David Baldry said: “When invited to curate this year’s Sculpture in the Valley 2020, I was immediately struck by the title Reflections on Landscape. This year we are blessed with a new and extraordinary site close to the East Suffolk coast with its woodland, heath, marsh and of course sky. Art is at its best when pointing to something we don’t always acknowledge or take for granted. This year artists will have every opportunity to think about, engage with and make sculpture in a very special location which embraces both garden and the wild. I hope we can use this to showcase all aspects of contemporary sculpture. The big, the small, the beautiful, the forever, the experimental and the ephemeral. Above all I hope that this exhibition will excite, delight and challenge its audience.”

Artist Call-out

We’re inviting W&BA artist members to submit proposals for Sculpture in the Valley 2020 on the theme ‘Reflections on Landscape’ in the fantastic Potton Hall location. The site includes a wild-flower meadow, vegetable/potager gardens, lawns with formal planted gardens with climbing plant archways, views across to Dunwich heath and woodland, a cascading waterfall feature and sheep grazing fields.

If you’re feeling inspired and looking for a project to ponder over the festive period, take a look at our Sculpture in the Valley 2020 page on our website which outlines details about the venue, theme and the application process. The deadline for applications is Friday 7th February 2020.

Before applying using the online form on our website, make sure you read the artist information document and have current W&BA membership.

We look forward to hearing and seeing how you respond to the brief!

We’re seeking artist-facilitators for our exciting new creative programme ‘This is…’ this summer. We’re looking for W&BA members to facilitate workshops responding to the theme​ ‘Where I Am’, which could explore ideas of the self, a place, a moment or a feeling.

There are 8 artist-facilitator opportunities available to facilitate two Saturday workshops and a half-day collaboratively curated exhibition as part of the programme running on Saturdays 30th May, 6th June and 13th June 2020. We are seeking people will the skills and experience to lead process-led creative workshops in Drawing, Clay, Textile and Mosaic/Glass. There is a fee of £500 per participating artist.

If you’re interested in finding out more, please read the project information: This is… Call to Facilitators document

You must be a current W&BA member to apply for this opportunity. To apply for this role, email ​info@waveneyandblytharts.com​ with the subject ‘Application: This is where I am’. Please provide the following information to support your application:

• Up to date ​CV​ outline relevant experience and links to online profiles/website
• Up to ​400 word statement​ outlining how you will approach the workshops in expressive, process-led approaches and examples of previous experience
• Make clear in your email the ​artistic discipline​ you’re applying to facilitate: Drawing, Clay, Textiles or Glass/Mosaic; and any preference on ​location​ to facilitate: Great Yarmouth or Brockdish

If you are applying as a Drawing or Clay facilitator, you ​must​ be available for 30th May ​and 13th June. If you’re applying as a Textiles or Glass/Mosaic facilitator, you ​must​ be available for 6th June ​and​ 13th June.

The application deadline is Tuesday 11​th​ February 2020.

Dear Member

Membership to Waveney & Blyth Arts

Thank you very much for your support of Waveney & Blyth Arts through your membership subscription. Your membership runs for one year from the date of purchasing. You will receive an email to say that the payment has been received and a second to say that your order has been ‘completed’ by us – this means we have seen and checked your membership, including uploading your artist or organisation profile to our website, if supplied.

Whilst all our activities are open to everyone, our members benefit from discounted prices at all of our events and regular news updates from us. We really value our strong body of members, not only does membership fund our annual programme but it also grows a local network of like-minded people who support our aims to connect people and place through creativity. Please encourage your like-minded friends to join us – members can join at anytime online!

Your order number is your membership number, please keep a note of it as you may be asked for it, for example when submitting an article or creative event to be included in our weekly newsletter.

By joining as a member, you will now receive a weekly Members Newsletter with information about events and activities from W&BA and our members, and a weekly Jobs & Opportunities bulletin – collated by Norfolk County Council’s Arts Forum – which gives information about arts jobs, commissions, training and other professional opportunities. If you have information that you want circulated to W&BA members and supporters about exhibitions, arts projects or performances that you are involved in, please complete the online Newsletter form: www.waveneyandblytharts.com/newsletter.

You are also entitled to an entry in the Creative Members’ Directory on our website with a link to your own website. If you wish to feature in this and did not complete this section when you completed this year’s membership form, please send about 100 words about what you do, website links/contact details and a relevant image (no larger than 500KB size) to newsletter@waveneyandblytharts.com. We will aim to get it uploaded online within 10 days. This can be updated at anytime.

If you use social media, remember to follow and ‘like’ us on Facebook: Waveney & Blyth Arts, Twitter: @waveneyblyth and Instagram: @waveneyandblytharts. If you’ve attended one of our events, please tag us in your posts, we love to see and hear what you think!

W&BA is organised by a management committee representing the 8 areas across the Waveney and Blyth river valleys who develop the annual programme, raise funds, and organise activities. If you would like to get involved or have expertise that you would like to share, please get in touch with me for a chat, email: info@waveneyandblytharts.com. We are always looking for new perspectives on landscape and place, and new ideas and energy to keep the organisation moving forwards.

Yours,

Genevieve Rudd, W&BA Chair

Sunday 17th November, 7:30pm

The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft are hosting their next New Words: Fresh Voices on 17th November, and our Bugs & Blossoms poetry competition winners have been invited to read as part of the evenings performances.

For those of you not familiar with NWFV, it is a relaxed and gently moderated evening of readings and songs which takes place in the Seagull Theatre foyer bar. This is the Seagull’s bi-monthly performance platform for local poets and songwriters. Described as ‘a place of truth-telling which is the basis of all good poetry’, contributors explore what is good, bad and fascinating about being human – all told with refreshing honesty and good humour. If you would like to take part in this event, please contact Ian Fosten (07791 068080) or ian@fosten.com

£4 admission on the door

For more information about the venue, take a look at the Seagull Theatre‘s website.

The sixth annual Sculpture Trail has now closed but we would like to thank everyone – visitors, artists, volunteers and the professional team – for supporting it and making it such a success.

We had around 4500 visitors this year and sold artwork for over half of the artists taking part, but more importantly we have inspired people of all ages and created fresh discourse about contemporary art/sculpture and the environment in a positive way.

We have now finished counting the 3000 votes your submitted and our curator Sarah Cannell has made the difficult decision of the Curator’s Vote winner. Find out more on our Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail page.

Images via Instagram: Above- @thomas.hubbard.148; L-R- @koalascribble, @friendsofkensingtongardens

The Pakefield Postcard Auction has been raising money since 2014 and in 2018 Ferini Art Gallery was presented with ‘The Pride in the Community Award’ by Tom McGarry (EDF Energy) at the 11th Lowestoft & Waveney Chamber of Commerce Awards Ceremony at Ivy House Country Hotel for their commitment to raising money in the local area.  Over the last 5 years, they have raised more £14,000 for local charities thanks to their dedicated team and to all the artists who donate their original artworks.

We, Waveney & Blyth Arts, are this year’s recipients of the auction. Alongside local artists exhibiting within this event, they have had some famous people taking part. Bill Nighy, Warwick Davis, Richard Digance and Sir Peter Blake. This year, they announced that there will be a postcard from Dame Judi Dench. Wow! Now thatʼs good news!

Pakefield Postcard Auction are welcoming pre-bids before the auction day to give buyers a chance to snap up the brilliant artwork on sale. If you’d like to make a pre-bid, you can catch the postcards ‘on tour’ at the exhibition at Ferini Art Gallery, Pakefield from 19th July to 11th August (Friday, Saturday & Sundays, 11am-4pm). You can also preview the artworks on their website.

This year’s auction will be held on Wednesday 14th August, doors open from 6pm, starting at 7pm. The auctioneer will be Nick Rudge of Durrants, Beccles.