at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse

17 March – 1 November 2025
Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is delighted to present ‘Through the Microscope: secrets of Norfolk’s changing landscape with Edible East’, a new exhibition which sheds light on microscopic worlds to mark 400 years since the term ‘microscope’ was first coined.

Opening on 17 March when the popular rural museum and farm re-opens for the new season, the exhibition brings together art and cutting-edge science in a fascinating journey of discovery.
​
Artists Jennie Pedley and Tara Sampy and horticulturalist Nik Thomson of Edible East have been exploring how the use of the microscope links us to environmental stories of Norfolk. To create the exhibition, they have drawn on research taking place at the John Innes Centre (JIC) and The Centre for Microbial Interactions, both based at Norwich Research Park, as well as the historic collections of the John Innes Foundation and Gressenhall. The project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The partnership between Edible East and the rural life museum is rooted in a mutual respect for the environment and Norfolk’s landscape. Drawing from insights and images offered by plant scientists, microbiologists and archivists, Edible East invite us to take a close look at how these tiny worlds play a crucial role in shaping our environment. From waterways of the Norfolk Broads to soil health, crops and our own gut microbiome, the artists explore how microscopic ‘landscapes’ affect the delicate balance we all rely on.

Artwork on display includes large-scale drawings, collage, plant prints of crops being bred to cope with climate change and installations inside a model theatre. The exhibition offers a visual and playful way into worlds seen through the microscope.
These new works sit alongside early examples of scientific equipment on loan from the John Innes Foundation Historical Collections and rare books from the archives of the John Innes Foundation which present some of the earliest illustrations of plants made with the help of the first microscopes.

The artists will also create new microscope-inspired work with participants from local community groups at Gressenhall. This part of the project will culminate in an outdoor trail which will be available to visitors in time for the school summer holidays.
Claudia West, Director, East of England, Arts Council England, said: “Through the Microscope is a brilliant example of how art can inspire the public’s curiosity and engagement in science. By blending scientific research with creative expression, this exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into the microscopic worlds that shape our lives. We are proud to support Edible East in bringing this unique project to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, helping to connect communities in Norfolk with the science that underpins our environment and food systems."

Councillor Margaret Dewsbury, Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships, Norfolk County Council, said: "It is a pleasure to see the fruits of this Norfolk-wide partnership between artists, scientists and our very own museums service in this year's exhibition at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. Edible East artists Jennie Pedley and Tara Sampy have worked with curator Rachel Kidd to produce a fascinating exhibition which celebrates the world-class work of scientists at Norfolk's John Innes Centre. Visitors from across the county as well as further afield will enjoy the creative responses to the world as seen through the microscope."    

Rachel Kidd, curator at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse said: “As the home of Norfolk’s rural life collection, it’s really important that Gressenhall continues to engage with the issues facing rural Norfolk today. This includes food security and growing food in the context of climate change and a loss in biodiversity. Art is a fantastic gateway into these topics. Visitors will be able to enter the mesmerising world of microscope images reimagined by Edible East, while engaging with some of the most challenging issues facing people in Norfolk today.”

Sarah Wilmot, Outreach Curator, John Innes Historical Collections, said: “‘The microscope books on loan from the John Innes Centre are part of an impressive library of rare books covering natural science and botanical art across five centuries. Starting in the seventeenth century we see the microscope was at once the most exciting tool of discovery. For the first time the world of the ‘infinitesimally small’ was made visible, from a flea’s foot to the structures under a leaf’s surface, every microscope image opened a new vision of nature. Later microscope studies show that many advances in biology have depended on more and more powerful microscopes and the ability to interpret the images”.

Jennie Pedley, artist and member of Edible East said: “Through meetings with archivists and researchers we are learning about the need to restore the delicate balance of microscopic life in the soil, in plants and in ourselves. I am loving looking at the past, present and future of the Norfolk environment through the lens of the microscope!

We hope people visiting the exhibition enjoy the playful artwork, where the minuscule becomes monumental in plant cells containing the silhouettes of scientists who are doing the work of microscopic creatures. You can peek into papercut model theatre sets and underwater scenes and see chromosomes floating like guardian angels above the landscape. We will be continuing this playful approach at workshops and further exhibits throughout the year.”
Tara Sampy, Artist and member of Edible East said: “This project is giving me permission to have fun with the science, and play with scale, exploring the ‘director’ and ‘performer' roles we have in our landscape”

Nik Thomson, Horticulturalist and member of Edible East said: “It’s a privilege to experience people’s excitement when they see plants and soil under magnification; the unveiling of a secret world that drives the imagination and shows how interdependent the world is. The study and understanding of nature is so important for all of our futures.”
Building on a well-established relationship with John Innes Centre, Edible East are taking part in a residency which began in October 2024. The programme is giving the group a unique perspective into the research taking place across the county, as they engage with scientists at the frontline of food security.

The artists drew inspiration from the cutting-edge scientific imagery being generated by scientists such as Eva Wegel and Susan Duncan at John Innes Centre and The Centre for Microbial Interactions. Much of the work has been inspired by the use of traditional plant breeding to grow resilient wheat and brassicas. Visitors to the exhibition will see beautiful blue-stained microscope images of oil seed rape seeds. The work highlights research into the mechanisms behind the early shattering of oil seed rape pods, one of the county’s most significant cash crops and a Norfolk success story. Scientists often add fluorescent dyes to plant tissue to reveal different parts of cells, then image them using high-tech microscopes. These visual devices have served as inspiration to the artists whose print-making and collages feature striking and contrasting colours.
Edible East are known for their playful interventions and co-creation of work with participants. Visitors to the exhibition will see silhouette portraits of JIC and Gressenhall staff members shrunk down to inhabit tiny landscapes inside roots and leaves. Here the artists creatively explore the work of microscopic fungi and bacteria in the soil rhizosphere which are vital for healthy plant growth. Scientific research into the shape of adaxial cells on petals has generated microscope images with landscape-like contours which inspired sculpture made out of the type of glassine paper bags used to cover the flowers of plants in the JIC greenhouses.

As the unifying element in this wide-ranging exhibition, the microscope itself offers a starting point for understanding how both plants and humans live in symbiosis with microscopic life. The microscope helps us understand our relationship with the landscape in which the production of food has to be balanced with care of nature.
The year of the exhibition is significant: 2025 marks 400 years since the first use of the term ‘microscope’. (Lenses made from polished glass had been used to magnify objects for hundreds of years before the invention of the microscope. But it was only in the 1600s, with the invention of the compound light microscope, that the instrument truly began to transform our understanding of the natural world).

Scientific equipment on loan from the John Innes Foundation Historical Collections includes a replica seventeenth century ‘simple microscope’ designed by Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723). Van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe bacteria and became known as the father of microbiology. The work of this pioneering scientist helped established research into plant anatomy.

Fascinating illustrations of plants made with the use of early microscopes are on display in a number of rare and facsimile books on loan from the archives of the John Innes Foundation. Visitors will be able to get close to a facsimile copy of Robert Hooke’s ‘Micrographia’ (meaning ‘small drawings’) which was first published in 1665 and represents the first major publication of the Royal Society. The work was incredibly popular and includes detailed engravings of creatures such as the flea which were seen in detail for the first time.

‘The Anatomy of Plants’ by Nehemiah Grew, also from the seventeenth century, showcases cross-sections of various parts of plants including a striking illustration of a young borage leaf (see image). Grew is regarded as a founder of plant anatomy and was one of the first scientists to map out the structure (morphology) of plants. Visitors to the exhibition will see the impact of these early pioneers reflected in the artwork on display.
Some of the stories explored in the exhibition are more personal in origin. Artist Jennie Pedley has loaned a microscope and series of slides which once belonged to her great-grandfather Edgar Pedley, a bookkeeper in a Yorkshire textile mill. In his spare time, Edgar qualified as a teacher of horticulture and gave public lectures on plant science, inspiring others to explore the natural world.

Following in his footsteps, the artists will create new microscope-inspired work with participants from local community groups at Gressenhall. The project will culminate in an outdoor trail which will be available to visitors in time for the school summer holidays. Two members of Edible East, Nik Thomson and Jennie Pedley will also be on site at Gressenhall’s Earth Day celebrations which will this year take place during the Easter holidays on Friday 11 April.
For further information, images or if you would like to book a time to preview the exhibition, contact: Esther Morgan, Communications Manager, Norfolk Museums Service,
[email protected]

Sadly I missed the programme launch tonight but am happy to share the press release with you. At first glance the programme looks amazing, back to what it does best - original, quirky work, a little bit off kilter and showing the newest work amongst tried and tested favourites - but all high quality and inspiring. I love this time of year when the printed programme arrives and the process of choosing events from the wide range of tempting shows. I have had many of my best cultural experiences in May of any given year.

I am looking forward to Gandini Juggling, who have to be seen to be believed. It is a real feel-good show for the whole family, showing mind-blowing skill - and I hope to get rare tickets to Close Up – magic in a small café. Norwich Nine also looks intriguing – as the grandparent of a 9 year-old I am fascinated to hear what they have to say – and not quite realising that the Brexit referendum was so long ago – a life-time for a 9 year old.

And Gilles Peterson - well he is a classic in his own right. Sean Shibe, 2025 NNF resident musician, makes several appearances in this year's festival playing lute, acoustic and electric guitars across his varied programme.

The Spiegeltent always has amazing new work in small shots to explore - I will leave that till I have had time to peruse the full programme. Meanwhile, I urge you to do the same as it hits the headlines after midnight (only 30 minutes till I can press 'send' and upload). Follow the blog for festival updates and recommendations

NORFOLK & NORWICH FESTIVAL
FRIDAY 9 - SUNDAY 25 MAY 2025
FULL PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED & TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Festival Director, Daniel Brine, has today announced the full programme for the 2025 Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Tickets are on sale to those with priority booking from Tuesday 18 February and public booking opens on Friday 21 February at www.nnfestival.org.uk. 

One of the oldest arts festivals in England, having been established in 1772, Norfolk & Norwich Festival continues the tradition of presenting world-class international performances alongside trail blazing local artists and emerging new talent.

Woven through the festival are a number of thematic programme stories. Under the umbrella of Magic and Mystery, The Dirty Work (14 & 15 May), is a new solo performance by Jo Bannon, blending the trickery of magic with the lived experience of visual impairment.  Gandini Juggling present their new show Heka (13 & 14 May), which combines juggling, magic and contemporary choreography; and acclaimed magician Vincent Gambini’s Close-Up (16, 17, 23, 24 May) is an intimate one-to-one performance in a cafe, melding sleight-of-hand magic with the dreamlike nature of cinema.

Another strand of the programme, Coastlines celebrates our country’s diverse coast - home to communities, nature, industry and endless stories. As part of this strand, River of Hope (9 - 25 May) explores the Norfolk rivers that empty into the North Sea and brings together the work of around 500 young people in a large installation. In Cromer, on the North Norfolk Coast, Sea Like a Mirror (15-26 May) is an ambitious national partnership programme led by Cement Fields and commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. At the heart of the project is White Horses, a new artwork by Ivan Morison

The third strand of programme stories - Create and Share celebrates the Festival’s year-round work with young people, schools and communities. Highlights which have been created by artists with people from across the region include The Norwich Nine (11 May), an intergenerational collaboration between Bootworks Theatre Co. and a group of nine-year-old children - born the year the UK voted to leave the European Union; MONSTERS (21 May), a short film depicting a post-apocalyptic fairy tale; created by and starring children from East Anglia; and Rebel Resistors Radio Club (21-24 May) - a new project by Action Hero, in which they work with a group of girls on analogue radios, to broadcast their manifestos for the future

The Adnams Spiegeltent now has a fierce reputation for staging awe-inspiring circus within the celebratory settings of Festival Gardens. This year is no different as Upswing presents Showdown (14-25 May) - a mix of circus thrills and cheeky humour as six contestants battle to the top in a fast-paced game show style competition

The festival will begin with the Welcome Weekend (9-11 May), inviting audiences to enjoy free outdoor performances across the centre of Norwich. Kicking off on the Friday, Speak Percussion and local musicians reimagine the concept of a marching band, heralding the opening of the 2025 Festival before High Voltage brings together over 150 electric guitarists from across the region as a huge garage band. On Saturday and Sunday, a host of premiere performances from some of the UK’s leading outdoor arts companies will fill the streets.

Music is another lynchpin in the Festival programme and 2025 highlights include Grammy award-winner Arooj Aftab (9 May) and DJ and record collector Gilles Peterson (10 May) in the inspiring setting of Norwich Cathedral. Other highlights include 2024 Mercury Prize nominated Liam Shortall aka corto.alto (22 May) and the return of the multi-award-winning Chaos String Quartet (14 May). Celebrating their 30th anniversary, the iconic Apartment House present Music in Four Parts (19 May) which includes a new work by Cassandra Miller – written for the group. 2025’s festival also hosts musical residencies from mezzo soprano Lottie Betts-Dean who presents a trio of shows demonstrating the extraordinary range of her voice, and guitarist Sean Shibe who plays lute, acoustic and electric guitars across his varied programme.

In a partnership with Norwich Theatre, Norwich Theatre Playhouse hosts Songs of the Bulbul (20 & 21 May) - a new dance work by Aakash Odedra, with choreography by Rani Khanam and music by Rushil Ranjan and Show Pony (16 & 17 May), a new show from Still Hungry and Bryony Kimmings, which brings a new perspective on women in circus. 

Presented in partnership with the National Centre for Writing, The City of Literature Weekend (23-25 May) returns with a lively programme of events and talks with writers including Hattie Crisell, Nicola Dinan, Erica Hesketh, Seán Hewitt, Val McDermid, Noreen Masud, Nicola Streeten and many more.​

Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Daniel Brine said: “We’re delighted to unveil this year’s programme in full. It feels like a really vibrant and dynamic mix with a number of international voices peppering the music programme; exciting new performance pieces; some fascinating literary conversations; and a strong sense of community with a number of events that showcase our participation work. I’m really looking forward to May!”   

The full programme for Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2025 includes many more unmissable dance, performance, music, visual arts and literature - visit nnfestival.org.uk for full listings and to filter events by genre and dates.

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.
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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.