Norwich 20 Group
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Norwich 20 Group
Norwich 20 Group is one of the most important and active artist groups in the region, with a number of large member exhibitions and regular shows each year as well as monthly meetings and life drawing classes. It is organised by active artists and prioritises quality and artistic development in contemporary art. The group has a firmly established art presence with active involvement by its selected members, including monthly discussion meetings and topical presentations by invited artists, members and licentiates. After almost 80 years membership has grown to over 80 artists, which include painters, sculptors, digital video, installation and conceptual artists, printmakers and photographers. The group maintains a vibrant connection with the city’s cultural life. As well as the meetings, talks and exhibitions, the group liaises with Norwich University of the Arts, and graduates are asked to join the group each year as licentiate members. The group runs a weekly life drawing workshop and has an annual exhibition, also displaying large format and experimental works within group exhibitions. Meetings Monthly meetings are held at Park Lane Chapel, Norwich, at 7.30pm on the first Tuesday of each month (except May, July and August). The meetings are often ‘open meetings’ – where we view and discuss work that members and non-members bring along – the meetings are open to anyone with an interest in the arts and are free to attend. We also have occasional speakers and sometimes interviews with artists where we can look at their work in more depth – check ‘events’ for information on upcoming meetings. MembershipFor membership purposes, the year runs from 1st June each year to the following 31st May. There is an annual membership fee, set by the committee, which will be payable by all members at the start of the new membership year. Membership is open to anyone who lives in Norfolk at the time of their application to join, and supports the aims of Norwich 20 Group, and is selected after undergoing the joining procedure outlined below.Criteria for membership are the quality of art work and commitment to the group, and participation in events and activities, as well as exhibitions. It is suggested that prospective members attend meetings regularly to show work at ‘open meetings’ described above – when all are welcome to bring work along, and establish contact with group members. Applications to join the Group We recommend that prospective members first attend our regular monthly meetings, with ‘open’ ones when artwork may be brought along. The May meeting is for members only to consider the new applications each year, with a date a few weeks before given each year for names to be proposed by. Existing members are eligible to propose new members for election based on submission of their current work, a prospective member also needs another member to second their nomination. Prospective members will be voted in by a majority of existing members present at the annual selection meeting. https://www.norwich20group.co.uk/ |
Latest exhibition N2024G in the Undercroft Gallery
3 to 16 June 2024 |
Martin Laurance, Chairman N20G, explains: “Our exhibitions at The Forum and The Undercroft are our contribution to this great summer of contemporary art in Norwich, led by British Art Show 8, at NUA and Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, featuring a veritable smorgasbord of visual art.”
“From its beginnings in 1944, with just fourteen members, N20G has grown over the years and now has 89 members, all practising artists. Visual art has changed during that time, increasing its scope and diversity and the group reflects these changes with a growing membership; whose art encompasses digital media, installation, textiles, printmaking and moving image as well as sculpture, drawing and painting.”
“The group also selects three licentiates each year from the NUA BA Fine Art degree shows. The new graduates are given free membership for a year to assist them in their professional development as artists. Many go on to become full members, bringing new energy and ideas which help to keep the group vital and contemporary.”
As contemporary practising artists, we all draw upon and are strengthened by the art of the past. Norwich has a justly renowned Norwich School, and others that first forged a strong regional identity. Although the art being created today may appear very different, the same processes are at work, with artists continuing to explore the experience of the world in which they live through visual expression. The eminent critic, Herbert Read, writing at the midpoint of the twentieth century said, 'the artist is.... trying to find a stepping stone into an uncertain future. The more uncertain that future is - and it has never been so uncertain as it is today – the more desperate will be the plunge forward, and there will always be the risk of disaster'. Words that still resonate today.”
“Visual art continues to strive for new means of expression and must 'risk disaster' if it is to be relevant. Art can contain a transformative power with creativity being a fundamental part of what it is to be human. Enjoy the exhibition, visual art is made to be looked at and engaged with. All the exhibiting artists live and work here and are proud to be contributing to the diversity of visual arts that does so much to make Norwich and the wider region stimulating and culturally vibrant.”
Norwich 20 Group
N20G was founded in 1944 by Walter Thomas Watling, art master at CNS, supported by Aileen Law, art teacher at Blyth School and 12 other local artists. Stimulated by contemporary art movements, they wanted to raise standards of local professional art to something worthy of Norfolk’s artistic history.
N20G now has 89 members from across Norfolk. All aspects of the practice of contemporary fine art are represented, sculpture, print, photography, painting, digital media and installations.
Over the years N20G has included nationally known artists, for example, Michael Andrews, Bernard Reynolds, Edward Barker, Leslie Davenport, Mary Newcomb, Jeffery Camp RA, and Cavendish Morton. Many current and past members have received patronage, exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Galleries in East Anglia, London and internationally, with works in both private and public collections. Some have received prestigious awards, including election to the Royal Academy.
N20G has strong links with Norwich's twin cities and has held joint exhibitions with Novi Sad, Rouen, Koblenz and El Viejo.
More information about the history of the group can be found on our Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_Twenty_Group
“From its beginnings in 1944, with just fourteen members, N20G has grown over the years and now has 89 members, all practising artists. Visual art has changed during that time, increasing its scope and diversity and the group reflects these changes with a growing membership; whose art encompasses digital media, installation, textiles, printmaking and moving image as well as sculpture, drawing and painting.”
“The group also selects three licentiates each year from the NUA BA Fine Art degree shows. The new graduates are given free membership for a year to assist them in their professional development as artists. Many go on to become full members, bringing new energy and ideas which help to keep the group vital and contemporary.”
As contemporary practising artists, we all draw upon and are strengthened by the art of the past. Norwich has a justly renowned Norwich School, and others that first forged a strong regional identity. Although the art being created today may appear very different, the same processes are at work, with artists continuing to explore the experience of the world in which they live through visual expression. The eminent critic, Herbert Read, writing at the midpoint of the twentieth century said, 'the artist is.... trying to find a stepping stone into an uncertain future. The more uncertain that future is - and it has never been so uncertain as it is today – the more desperate will be the plunge forward, and there will always be the risk of disaster'. Words that still resonate today.”
“Visual art continues to strive for new means of expression and must 'risk disaster' if it is to be relevant. Art can contain a transformative power with creativity being a fundamental part of what it is to be human. Enjoy the exhibition, visual art is made to be looked at and engaged with. All the exhibiting artists live and work here and are proud to be contributing to the diversity of visual arts that does so much to make Norwich and the wider region stimulating and culturally vibrant.”
Norwich 20 Group
N20G was founded in 1944 by Walter Thomas Watling, art master at CNS, supported by Aileen Law, art teacher at Blyth School and 12 other local artists. Stimulated by contemporary art movements, they wanted to raise standards of local professional art to something worthy of Norfolk’s artistic history.
N20G now has 89 members from across Norfolk. All aspects of the practice of contemporary fine art are represented, sculpture, print, photography, painting, digital media and installations.
Over the years N20G has included nationally known artists, for example, Michael Andrews, Bernard Reynolds, Edward Barker, Leslie Davenport, Mary Newcomb, Jeffery Camp RA, and Cavendish Morton. Many current and past members have received patronage, exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Galleries in East Anglia, London and internationally, with works in both private and public collections. Some have received prestigious awards, including election to the Royal Academy.
N20G has strong links with Norwich's twin cities and has held joint exhibitions with Novi Sad, Rouen, Koblenz and El Viejo.
More information about the history of the group can be found on our Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_Twenty_Group