School of World Art Studies, Sainsbury Centre Building, UEA

Saturday 26th November – Friday 17th December 2010

The School of World Art Studies’ forthcoming exhibition The Art of Faith: Self, Spirit, Surroundings investigates the expression of personal beliefs in Norfolk through the work of eight local artists. The exhibition investigates the transmissibility of spirituality to viewers, in the absence of a shared belief-system or a communal iconographic language of faith.

The artefacts displayed in the associated exhibition, The Art of Faith (now showing at Norwich Castle until 23rd January 2011) directly engage with religious groups and are often used for ritual purposes. However, Self, Spirit, Surroundings is an exploration of the many artists whose work, though faith- driven or spiritual, cannot be categorised within any specific faith group. The artists presented here each engage with a very personal and often eclectic and inarticulable dialogue with religious beliefs, testing the borderline between faith and a more tenuous spirituality, through a range of media. This quest often relates directly to the artists’ local community and its histories, and to the land they inhabit. The works might draw inspiration from Norfolk’s raw coastline or from visual traces of religious activity left upon the landscape, from ancient burial mounds to Norfolk’s many churches.

Juliet Wimhurst explores Norwich anchoress, Mother Julian and her ‘feminisation’ of Christianity, whilst Martin Mitchell merges his Christian beliefs with his awe of rural Norfolk. Trevor Ashwin casts an archaeological eye upon shamanism. Renowned artist, Peter Baldwin uses the local coastline to tussle with layers of belief, from childhood Catholicism to Quakerism. Internationally exhibiting artist, Maz Jackson fills her work with an eclectic mix of religious and mythological iconography, placed within a local landscape of ancient woods and earthworks. Keith Pomeroy explores both local and global religious mythology through highly abstract forms. Dominique Rey investigates her Persian ancestry through engagement with residual religious beliefs and ideologies bound to the Norfolk landscape and its communal history. Louise Richardson contemplates the very material traces of departed souls and their communal identities, testing the bounds between life and death.

For schools wishing to explore the educational elements of the main exhibition further, an Art of Faith web site contains teacher resources, interactive games and events for schools.
Visit: www.artoffaith-learning.co.uk

Both The Art of Faith and Art of Faith Today: Self, Spirit Surroundings are part of the Art of Faith Research Project, a collaboration between Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service and the University of East Anglia and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; Castle exhibition catalogue special price £9.95; RRP £12.95.

Opening Times

Mon – Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Admission Free