Museum of Norwich, Bridewell Alley, Norwich, NR2 1AQ
A chance to meet the photographer, Khalil Mitchell, Maria Pavledis (Community Librarian) & Hannah Henderson (Curator of Community History) and see the exhibition before it opens to the public.
A new, touring exhibition by local photographer Khalil Mitchell is opening next month, showcasing a series of stunning photographs of the vibrant and diverse community based at The Ihsan Mosque, in Chapelfield, Norwich, home to one of the longest-standing British Muslim communities in the UK.

The exhibition opens to the public at The Museum of Norwich on Monday 11 June 2024, and will then travel around local libraries, popping up in Earlham Library on 2 July, Wymondham Library on 9 September and North Walsham Library on 25 September.
This small, touring exhibition has been developed in a partnership between Khalil Mitchell, Norfolk Library & Information Service (NLIS) and Norfolk Museums Service (NMS) and has been generously funded by the Norwich Freemen’s Charity.

The idea for an exhibition took seed at calligraphy sessions held in Norfolk Libraries in 2019, which inspired cultural conversations around Islam and the lives of Muslims in Norfolk today. These events were attended by members of the local Muslim community, including Khalil Mitchell, who came along to photograph the event. From this, the idea for a photographic exhibition developed.

The COVID 19 pandemic ended plans for a physical exhibition, but Community Librarian Maria Pavledis continued to work with Khalil Mitchell to develop an online photographic exhibition, which was hosted online as part of Black History Month 2020. This attracted a great deal of media interest and was featured by the BBC. Interest in the exhibition caught the public’s imagination and coverage went viral and international: Black History Month 2020: Norwich photographer documents Muslim community - BBC News

During the pandemic, members at the Ihsan Mosque continued their charitable work creating a soup kitchen during Ramadan, delivering to self-isolating households, and supporting small businesses through the establishment of the regular Norwich Free Market, to help people recover from the effects of lockdown. These efforts were commended with a ‘Point of Light Award’ by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Khalil was there to record the life of the community at this time with photographs capturing occasions such as outdoor worship or a socially distanced visit to Mousehold Heath to watch the moonrise.

Since the pandemic, Maria Pavledis, Community Librarian, NLIS, and Hannah Henderson, Curator of Community History at the Museum of Norwich, NMS, have been working together with Khalil to develop a small touring exhibition, comprising of around 30 photographs. It is intended that the exhibition will then become an online archive as part of Picture Norfolk, Norfolk County Council’s online photographic collection, with potential for touring to other venues.

Khalil Mitchell describes his ambition for the project:
“My name is Khalil Mitchell and I became Muslim 22 years ago. Soon after moving to Norwich to be part of the established community here in the city, I embraced my desire to show the world our vibrant and dynamic community through photography.
With every photograph I have taken since, I have always hoped it was going to be the ultimate photograph to show people Muslims and Islam. The aspect of Muslim life that I hope I have encapsulated in my photos is that something bigger exists, that there is a means to connect with that bigger thing. People do not know we are here half of the time. We don’t look like the typical Muslims. With my work, I hope it is possible that people’s hearts can be moved through photography.’
Maria Pavledis and Hannah Henderson say: “The exhibition of these unique photographs has developed from creative conversations with members of the Ihsan Mosque and has evolved organically at a significant moment in time. They capture the spirit and essence of this diverse community in Norfolk during and after the pandemic.”

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the press launch of Antony Gormley's Time Horizon in person today but will get myself there soon and give you my personal opinions, but I always enjoy shows at Houghton - they are usually very well-curated and in such stunning surroundings that they can't fail really. Split and linked between the grounds and the interior of the house (this time Magdalene Odundo's ceramic and glass work will be in the house) it is normally a full day out when you can also visit the gardens, dedicated to, cultivated and loved by Lord Cholmondely's mother Lavinia.  There is the Soldier Museum and acres of parkland including the famous white deer. There is also a collection of outdoor sculptures by a variety of artists such as Rachel Whiteread and James Turrell, with the Cholmondeley's adding new works each year. This year, 100 cast iron versions of Antony Gormley have been installed around the grounds. It has taken months as they have all be placed the same datum line so that their eyes are level on one plane and intended to guide and lead you around the space. The exhibition is a real coup for Houghton as it is a major Gormley show. He lives locally and I am sure he would want to see his work on home turf, especially in a well-respected location such as Houghton, which has built up a reputation with string of big name artists, from Henry Moore to Anish Kapoor, So we have a great opportunity on our doorstep. I will be going as soon as I can,, I hope that you do too

 In the meantime here is the official press release for the show which pens on 21st Apri

Time Horizon, one of Antony Gormley’s most spectacular large-scale installations, will be shown at Houghton Hall in Norfolk from 21 April – 31 October 2024, the first time the work will be staged in the UK.
 
Featuring 100 life-size sculptures, the works are distributed across 300 acres of the park, the furthest away being approximately 1.5 miles on the West Avenue.  The cast-iron sculptures, each weighing 620kg and standing at an average of 191cm, are installed at the same datum level to create a single horizontal plane across the landscape.  Some works are buried, allowing only a part of the head to be visible, while others are buried to the chest or knees according to the topography.  Only occasionally do they stand on the existing surface.  Around a quarter of the works are placed on concrete columns that vary from a few centimetres high to rising four meters off the ground.
 
Antony Gormley is one of the most important artists of his generation and is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space.  His work has been exhibited throughout the UK and internationally.
 
Antony Gormley said: ‘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.  The work puts the experience of the subject/visitor/protagonist on an equal footing with all material presences, organic and inorganic.  The quality of the light, the time of the year, the state of the weather and the condition of your mind, body and soul are all implicated in the field, as is all the evidence within it of human activity already accomplished as well as the plethora of life forms that surround the hall.’
 
Lord Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton Hall, said: ‘It has been an extraordinary experience witnessing the installation of 100 life-size sculptures in the historic landscape surrounding the house. It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to show this large-scale work by Antony Gormley for the first time in the UK.  We hope visitors will enjoy exploring Houghton and the interesting dynamic between Time Horizon and our exhibition of Magdalene Odundo's ceramic and glass work, which will open in May.’
 
Houghton Hall was built by Sir Robert Walpole, Great Britain’s first Prime Minister, in around 1722.  Designed by prominent Georgian architects Colen Campbell and James Gibbs, it is one of the country’s finest examples of Palladian architecture.  Houghton and its estate passed to the Cholmondeley family at the end of the 18th Century and remains a family home.  The house and award-winning gardens have been open to the public since 1976.
 
The Houghton Arts Foundation continues to build a collection of contemporary art at Houghton including a number of site-specific commissions.  With links to colleges and public institutions across the region, the Foundation’s aim is for Houghton to become a focus for those who wish to see great art of our time in a historic setting.  The 2024 exhibitions by Antony Gormley and Magdalene Odundo follow those by James Turrell (2015), Richard Long (2017), Damien Hirst (2018), Henry Moore (2019), Anish Kapoor (2020), Tony Cragg (2021), Chris Levine (2021) and Sean Scully (2023).
 
Antony Gormley Biography 
Antony Gormley is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. His work has developed the potential opened up by sculpture since the 1960s through a critical engagement with both his own body and those of others in a way that confronts fundamental questions of where human beings stand in relation to nature and the cosmos. Gormley continually tries to identify the space of art as a place of becoming in which new behaviours, thoughts and feelings can arise.

Gormley’s work has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and internationally with exhibitions at Musée Rodin, Paris (2023); Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2022); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (2022); National Gallery Singapore, Singapore (2021); Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen (2021); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019); Delos, Greece (2019); Uffizi Gallery, Florence (2019); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (2019); Long Museum, Shanghai (2017); National Portrait Gallery, London (2016); Forte di Belvedere, Florence (2015); Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2014); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia (2012); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012); The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2010); Hayward Gallery, London (2007); Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (1993) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (1989). Permanent public works include the Angel of the North (Gateshead, England), Another Place (Crosby Beach, England), Inside Australia (Lake Ballard, Western Australia), Exposure (Lelystad, the Netherlands), Chord  (MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA) and Alert (Imperial College London, England).

Gormley was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999, the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture in 2007, the Obayashi Prize in 2012 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2013. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) and was made a knight in the New Year’s Honours list in 2014. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an Honorary Doctor of the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge. Gormley has been a Royal Academician since 2003.

Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950.

SUNLIGHT: Roger Ackling
18 May – 22 September 2024
Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery​

SUNLIGHT is the first major survey of British artist Roger Ackling (1947-2014) and the most significant exhibition of his work to date. Reappraising Ackling’s practice 10 years after his death, SUNLIGHT is an unprecedented examination of one of the most quietly influential artists of the late 20th century.
For 50 years, Ackling consistently made objects by burning wood -- focussing sunlight through the lens of a hand-held magnifying glass to scorch repeated patterns of lines on the surface. Collecting driftwood from the beach at Weybourne near his home on the Norfolk coastline, as well as reclaimed broken and discarded materials, Ackling took little from the world to make his work and left nothing beyond a wisp of smoke in the air. His primary tool was the light of the sun – transforming energy in a process that was fundamentally photographic and yet also akin to a cauterising of the surface, much like a tattoo.
Like his contemporaries Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, who also graduated from Saint Martin's School of Art in the late 1960s, Ackling challenged the traditional and accepted methods of making sculpture by taking his art out of the studio and into the landscape environment. This exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery reveals the breadth of his practice, from his earliest experiments with a lens, to his final works. Ackling is best known for his work on found driftwood, but SUNLIGHT expands this reputation to include lesser-known works made using domestic wooden objects, tools, and incorporating ready-made elements such as elastic bands and mapping pins. SUNLIGHT also features works on card and paper that have not been exhibited in the UK.
Ackling’s career is notable for both his unique practice and his long and influential teaching career. SUNLIGHT reveals the artist as a socially engaged, highly networked individual, consistently dedicated to making, exhibiting, and teaching – in equal measure, with each activity influencing the other. Ackling’s works are shown alongside previously unseen and little-known materials from the artist’s extensive archive at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, as well as a film of interviews with fellow artists and students such as Tony Cragg, Maggi Hambling, Dean Hughes and David Nash, examining the impact and legacy of Ackling’s practice.
From the mid-1970s, Ackling exhibited consistently internationally – most frequently in France, Switzerland, the US and Japan – but his work was comparatively less seen at home. He showed his work in lively and playful installations, arriving in a space with a suitcase full of works to install each object by hand. Informed by the Roger Ackling archive, SUNLIGHT references key exhibitions at distinct stages of his career to create installations that capture the grouping and rhythm of work as Ackling intended.
Guest Curator, Amanda Geitner says: Much has been said about the quiet beauty of Roger Ackling’s objects. I was fortunate to work with him on two exhibitions in the 1990s. SUNLIGHT presents the wonder of his works en-masse and the playful brilliance of his installations. An artist’s artist, Ackling had a gift for teaching and for friendship. This exhibition has been swept along by the affection and admiration of so many artists, students and curators – testifying to the enduring significance of his work today.
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Dr Rosy Gray says: Within the parameters of his method, Ackling made a great variety of objects that are beautiful, enigmatic and powerful. They occupy a unique place in contemporary art practice – understood in relationship to Land Art, Minimalist and Conceptual Art practices and yet not defined by any one of these movements. SUNLIGHT testifies to this variety with more than 150 works on display, many of which have not been shown before in the UK.
Cllr Margaret Dewsbury, Cabinet member for Communities, Norfolk County Council, says: Roger Ackling spent significant periods of time living and producing work at Weybourne on the North Norfolk coast, so it feels particularly apt that the first major survey of his work will be shown first at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. In the decades since Ackling began his career, climate change has become an increasingly urgent concern – Ackling’s total absorption in the environment as he made his work and his commitment to using only materials which came to hand now seems only too prescient.
An accompanying hardback publication includes contributions from Sylvia Ackling, Amanda Geitner, Rosy Gray, Dean Hughes, Louis Nixon and Ian Parker, alongside a wealth of illustrations of both works and archival material.
SUNLIGHT will tour to the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds (4 April – 22 June 2025) and will show in a different form at the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney later in 2025.
SUNLIGHT is developed in partnership with the Artist’s Estate, Annely Juda Fine Art, the Henry Moore Institute, and the Pier Arts Centre. The exhibition is realised with the critical support of key funders: Norfolk Museums Service, Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Norwich City Council, Norfolk County Council, East Anglia Art Fund, Henry Moore Foundation, Norwich University of the Arts and Art Fund. 

 -This is a re-post of an email sent by Frances Martin of Norwich 20 Group.

Thanks to many for your email replies to the previous email sent, with a request to sign the petitions - apologies if you have already received this via NCAS. Also to some who have made a banner which is currently displayed outside Wensum Lodge.

As of this morning the Green Party's one is at 3,957 - and needs just over 1,000 more names to have a debate about the issue at a full council meeting - if you can help to get to this number that would be much appreciated! There is also a Labour Party petition so please sign both - see below

If you have already signed, thank you - please can you also share with family and friends and ask them to put their names to it too - anyone with a UK postcode can sign the Green one.

I'm sending this again to ask you to consider the potential closure of Wensum Lodge - which many may know has been a place for art courses for many years, including the venue of our life workshop from 1984-2020, and the loss - most likely for sale for further property development - will be felt deeply by many who teach and take courses there.
Links to both here:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/saving-wensum-lodge-to-be-a-creative-hub?source=direct_link&
https://www.norwichlabour.org.uk/petition-protect-wensum-lodge/

They have been set up by firstly Norwich Green Party and also Norwich Labour Party - please note that you do not need to have any political affiliation to either of these parties to sign the petitions and you can add your name to both.

Unfortunately on on Monday 3 July at the Norfolk County Council Cabinet meeting, cabinet members did vote in favour of the resolution, as copied again here:
To formally declare Wensum Lodge Complex, 169 King Street NR1 1QW (4109/041) surplus to Council requirements and instruct the Director of Property to dispose of the property. In the event of a disposal receipt exceeding delegated limits the Director of Property in consultation with the Director of Strategic Finance and Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Innovation is authorised to accept the most advantageous offer.  

I attended the meeting, along with some students and city councillors, here is a link to the meeting if anyone wishes to see how the process went, at just over an hour in, which is available to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz2cq3Yd2Gk

The plan says that classes can be held online and elsewhere in Norfolk, with some locations like the Norman Centre and the Millennium Library identified.
​
However for most creative art classes these will be unsuitable - here are two images, of the pottery and the silversmithing rooms, with specialised equipment in place.

Anyone who wants to read the full council meeting information, with links to the meeting agenda and reports there (Wensum Lodge from p168): https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/CalendarofMeetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/496/Meeting/2050/Committee/169/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx

Again apologies for a long email but this issue is important to many of us in the arts and I very much hope you can sign and share.

Many thanks
Frances
(writing here also as a tutor and on behalf of many colleagues and students who are, or have created art at Wensum Lodge)

Norwich University of the Arts Graduate Showcase - a virtual exhibition of 2022 graduating students' work.
www.nuagradshowcase.com/

This year’s showcase contains works of remarkable creativity and ingenuity. These students have developed their ideas and given form to their creative vision through the uncertainty of the pandemic. They have risen to the many challenges this environment has presented, and have proven themselves to be both resourceful and resilient -- a truly unique cohort of graduates.

Many of our graduating students are award-winners across national and international competitions and prizes including D&AD New Blood, The Rookies, Dragon Rouge Firestarters and AOP Student Awards.

We hope you enjoy the 2022 Graduate Showcase. Please share the work with your wider networks to help broaden the reach of the Showcase across the creative industries and professions, as our graduates embark on their careers.

https://www.nuagradshowcase.com/

Our Community
With the majority of us now working from home, we believe it is important to keep in touch to continue to feel part of a community. We will send regular newsletters and would like to hear from you if you have something you would like to share with the community and our students. Keeping up morale is key to ensure we all adapt as best we can to this new way of life and any tips and advice would be greatly received.
 
We all have a role to play in keeping ourselves and each other safe and well and we will continue to offer the high-quality teaching, learning and experience for all students and staff albeit through new ways of working.

Image: NUA Campus, St George's Building

Norfolk's Princely Family exhibition opens
The exhibition will be open from 10am-5pm Monday to Friday from 4 July until 29 September at The Archive Centre, Martineau Lane, NR1 2DQ.

A new exhibition is being held at the Norfolk Record Office, exploring the life of Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last emperor of the Punjab, and his family.

Over 150 years ago, the Duleep Singhs purchased the Elevden Estate near Thetford and made East Anglia their new home. For the next century the family continued to live in the region, from Old Buckenham, Hockwold, Blo’ Norton, Breckles, and Walcot.

On 4 July the doors will open to a three month exhibition on the lives of this extraordinary family, with artefacts and objects loaned from the renowned collection of Peter Bance, who has spent 25 years amassing this largely unseen archive, much of which will go on display for the first time.

Cllr Margaret Dewsbury, Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships, said: “We look forward to welcoming people to this new exhibition. Norfolk is a diverse county which is proud of its history.
“This project celebrates the life and work of a very influential family who made a real impact on the county, which one can still see today.”

The Peter Bance Collection is one of the largest associated with the Duleep Singhs, with many items being sourced directly from the family’s friends and associates. Highlights include the Maharajah’s velvet Indian Jacket, his shooting paraphernalia with which he shot game at Norfolk parties with the Prince of Wales, textiles and apparel of the Princesses, the family’s photograph albums, and personal intimate letters.

The family’s legacy is still present today, from the Ancient House Museum, which was donated by Prince Frederick, to the numerous Norfolk churches he saved from closure and restored. He went on to join the Norfolk Yeomanry and later served in the First World War, and even built War Memorials for those who fell.

The Princesses were not only active Suffragists supporting the rights for women to vote but the youngest, Sophia, belonged to the renowned Suffragettes and gave a gift of over 200 portraits to the Town of Thetford from the family collection. The town is home to the Maharajah’s equestrian bronze statue at Butten Island.

The exhibition has been organised by the Anglo Punjab Heritage Foundation, and supported by the Essex Cultural Diversity Project.

At The Halls, Sunday 15 May 2022
The stage is set for Gandini juggling , one of the early events of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival at St Andrew’s Hall. A mixed audience, clearly attracting all ages for this skilful, clever and entertaining juggling act like no other. It’s a return visit to Norwich as they performed Smashed at Norwich Playhouse, with a full range of vintage crockery - which was, well, smashed by the end of the show
This is Smashed 2, the followup, which has toured around the world before landing in Norwich. It is set to be more fruity than Smashed, and I am predicting a bit of a smoothie mashup by the end, if the last show anything to go by.

The scene tonight is set with a stage full of chairs and fruit. Oranges and melons dotted around the floor and 9 chairs give a flavour of what is to come. More accustomed to classical concerts, this 15th century Dominican friary hall is all dressed up with a huge lighting gantry bathing the steps and massive pipe organ in purple light.

As the jugglers came on stage, 7 women, bare limbs and dresses, and 2 men in suits and ties, strut across the stage with suggestive moves, eye contact with the audience as they juggle oranges in sequence, passing the fruit between them, over under and behind their heads and around their bodies in a perfectly synchronised and choreographed visual complexity revealing a combination of extreme dance and juggling skills combined with humour and fun - perfect for a Sunday evening. This is the first of several ‘sketches’ each with a different emphasis. that will make up the hour-long show. The music too, is carefully chosen to complement the largely silent sequences of tightly arranged moves, including a punk anthem and opera as well as popular classics.
There is a fair amount of sexual politics throughout the show from seduction to upskirting, explicit sexuality and sensuous touches though, as the men are outnumbered, they seem to come off worst and the women are triumphant in abusing the men quite severely it seems, without allowing the men much leeway. Throughout, the jugglers, male and female strive to disrupt and distract their fellows who keep going in spite of being man-handled and their routines disturbed. All takes place with good humour between them, as they carry on regardless.
Of course, oranges are easier to juggle than watermelons as you can imagine but a circle of women with the heavy fruit balanced on their bare feet rolled them about, not as niftily as the oranges but still an impressive feat - maybe this was the least successful sequence though as it also was hard for the audience to see.

There was also drama as well as humour. A gunfight uses red silk scarves to cover the stage with ‘bloody’ corpses with even the gun-person succumbing to death by red scarf. And darker still, the last sequence is a dramatic and relentless slow-motion death-scene played to an operatic sound track - the ‘beating up’ of one of the hapless men who finds himself on the floor surrounded by women whilst the remaining male turns up too late to save him from the grinning pack. Pretty violent. And very effective.

And yes, Smashed 2 - inevitably, it all started to break down as the previously organised and tightly sequenced jugglers went feral, squeezing and smashing fruit all over the stage. It started with a thumb inserted in a juicy and messy orange and broke down from there until there were watermelons and oranges musshed all over everything, including another beleagured man who lay spread-eagled and dominated by a melon-bearing megalomaniac torturess who threatened his most precious body parts.

Chaos reigned for the last five minutes until the stage was entirely covered with a sticky mess as predicted until the jugglers stood up together and took a 9-person, synchronised bow. Hoorah!
Looking forward to Smashed 3 already.

East of England’s biggest Art Fair returns for 2021

One of the biggest contemporary art fairs outside of London is set to return for 2021. Art Fair East annually hosts artists, galleries and art dealers from across the world, attracting thousands of visitors to St Andrews Hall in Norwich, Norfolk. The fair, now in its sixth year, will re-emerge to share the buzz of the real-life art world after last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

With around 1,000 artworks on display, a range of contemporary art will be exhibited including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video art, installation, performance and original limited edition prints. This year’s fair will run from Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th December at St Andrews Hall in Norwich.

As the major art fair for the East, the fair was founded in 2015 by leading Norfolk-based artists Will Teather and Brian Korteling, who will both be exhibiting at the event. The pair are passionate about bringing contemporary art to the region, supporting artists and creating excitement around the visual arts.

Mr Teather, who has had his work showcased at New York's Market & Design Fair, said: “We are thrilled to see the fair finally return after an extraordinary year. We can't wait to see the artworld we know and love start to reemerge. “Artworks are objects to be seen and enjoyed in the flesh, rather than online, and there is nothing quite like meeting the artist in person or talking to an expert, as is often possible at art fairs. “We have received a record number of applications to take part in the event and alongside national and international artists being brought by dealers we already have many local talents, including both figurative surrealists like Chedgie and landscape painters like Alice Wilton, on board.”

Mr Korteling added: “It's really great to be able to transform St Andrews Hall into an art space once again. I know for a fact that artists have not been resting on their laurels during lockdown so we can expect to see lots of new, vibrant and inspirational works of art.”

Organisers have also confirmed a new sponsor for this year’s event. East Anglian wealth management firm Chadwicks are supporting Art Fair East alongside longstanding supporters Musker McIntyre Estate Agents.

Mr Teather said: “We are delighted to have Chadwicks joining us alongside our long-term sponsors Musker McIntyre, who have stood by us since the fair was just a pipe-dream. These two outward-looking dynamic companies, that serve the Eastern Region, reflect our ongoing vision for the event to be a major Art Fair for the East of England. Long may it continue."

Director of Chadwicks Richard Ross said: “We are delighted to support this event alongside Musker McIntyre. This year it seems particularly important that the events go ahead. “It has been an extremely difficult year for everyone, particularly the arts, culture and entertainment sectors. Supporting Art Fair East will not only provide a real boost for the sector, but for the local business community too – and give clear signal for better times ahead! “The most important thing we do with our clients is to help them look at things differently so it’s wonderful for us to be able to support such a prestigious art fair.”

Independent estate agents Musker McIntyre have been supporting Art Fair East since the event launched in 2015. Owner of Musker McIntyre Estate Agents & Financial Services Simon McIntyre said: “After a tough 18 months, especially for the arts, I think it's important to have something to celebrate. “I truly believe the arts should be supported - after all where would we be without art?! Art Fair East showcases some of the brightest talent in the region, bringing together artists across all genres under one roof. That's why the team at Musker McIntyre are proud to support the event again this year.”

There is still time for artists, dealers and galleries to apply to exhibit at the event - visit www.artfaireast.com

 20 July 2021 
Appointment of new Director for the Sainsbury Centre: Jago Cooper
UEA and the Board of the Sainsbury Centre have appointed Jago Cooper as the new Director of the Centre and Professor of Art and Archaeology, who starts on Monday 15 November. 

Professor Cooper has spent more than 20 years working on a diverse range of cultural projects around the world, always centred on the study and communication of visual and material culture. 
After ten years as Head of the Americas Section at the British Museum and Director of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research, these collaborations have led to a series of innovative exhibitions, artistic commissions and international exchange programmes that challenge traditional museum practice. 

With a particular interest in using digital technologies to reach new audiences and cut across multiple academic disciplines, his work spans the subjects of art, museology and archaeology. In addition to his books and exhibitions, Jago has also written and presented a series of BBC documentaries based on his research and international collaborations. 

Professor Cooper said: “Since its inspired creation in the 1970s, the Sainsbury Centre has always been a place that breaks the rules in how Art and Culture should be seen and experienced. I am absolutely delighted to be joining such an inspirational institution that brings powerful stories to a global audience through its outstanding collections. 

“I can’t wait to start working with the team to develop further the exciting programme of upcoming exhibitions, acquisitions and collaborative projects inspired by the Sainsbury collection and in many ways also by the world-leading research carried out at UEA.” 

Dominic Christian, Chair of Sainsbury Centre board, said: “It with enormous pleasure and great warmth that we are delighted to welcome Jago as the new Director of the Sainsbury Centre. He is truly an outstanding talent. 

“Thanks to the excellence of both the Executive Director Paul Greenhalgh, and Acting Director Ghislaine Wood, Jago comes to an environment proud of its history, excited at its future and thrilled at the leadership he will bring to it.” 

Professor Sarah Barrow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Arts and Humanities at UEA, said: “The University looks forward to working with Jago and all the team at the Sainsbury Centre to support their work and extend our collaborations in research, learning, engagement and innovation activity. 

“We are proud of our association with such a wonderful beacon for visual arts on our campus and excited about the possibilities of creating new connections amongst faculty as well as with regional and international partners.” 

Notes: 
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is one of the most important public university art galleries in Britain. It was founded in 1973 at the University of East Anglia (UEA) with the support of one of the nation’s great philanthropic families, Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury, who donated their extraordinary art collection which includes works dating from prehistory to the late 20th century from across the globe. A radical new building by Norman Foster was designed to house the collection and was his first public work. 

The Sainsbury Centre holds one of the most impressive art collections outside of the national institutions. It includes a significant number of works by modern masters of European art such as Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Jacob Epstein, Jean Arp, Chaïm Soutine and Amedeo Modigliani. There are major holdings from Oceania, Africa, the Americas, Asia, the ancient Mediterranean cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as Medieval Europe. Alongside these permanent collections, it hosts a range of exhibitions in the largest suite of temporary exhibitions galleries in Eastern England. sainsburycentre.ac.uk 

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a UK Top 25 university and is ranked in the top 50 globally for research citations. Known for its world-leading research and good student experience, it was awarded Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework and is a leading member of Norwich Research Park, one of Europe’s biggest concentrations of researchers in the fields of environment, health and plant science. In 2020/21, UEA celebrated 50 years of Creative Writing education and research. www.uea.ac.uk