Carved, Cast and Constructed at Wymondham Arts Centre

19-31 August 2014

Norwich sculptor, Ros Newman returns to Wymondham Arts Centre to curate Carved, Cast and Constructed, an exhibition featuring sculpture from Norfolk and Suffolk artists. The show runs from Tuesday 19 August to Sunday 31 August, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm and Sunday, 12noon to 5pm, www.wymondhamarts.com.

Artists featured are Nigel Barnett, Pip Collyer, Chedgey, Chris Dixon, Andy Jarrett, Laure Olivier Minns, John Nicholson, Andy Reeve, Zoë Rubens and Monica Wesselman.

Ros Newman said: “I was delighted to be asked to curate a second sculpture show for Wymondham Arts Centre. It is always so interesting bringing together a varied group of artists with differing methods of working. I believe the fact that I personally like their individual work gives the exhibition an internal cohesion and I hope that everyone who visits the show will enjoy it as much as I have in putting it together.”

Andy Reeve’s mixed media installation, Symphony in D (Major) is a reflection on individual bravery and sacrifice in war, with music composed by Jess Diggins who plays the violin. Jay Freeman plays the guitar. The work tells the story of the final moments of a D. W. Boyd-Jones’ and his last performance, in the heat of battle, witnessed by an unknown soldier.

Andy Reeve, who is based in Norwich, explained: “Symphony in D (Major) is a monument inspired by the final physical and philosophical moments of two men; D. W. Boyd-Jones and an unknown soldier. The guitar is intended to be heard as the pulse of the two men as they slowly succumb to death. The violin is intended to be heard as Boyd-Jones’ soul and as a last lament to his loved one who feels his death happening.”

“The guitar forming the physical sculpture was played, and destroyed, in an exclusive performance by The Neutrinos in Westlegate Tower during the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2012. The music was inspired by Maxim Vengerov’s performance of The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 by Jean Sibelius conducted by Daniel Barenboim for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”

In complete contrast to Andy Reeve’s installation, Suffolk artist Zoë Rubens is showing ‘Facing Facebook, a comment on….’ The 170cm sculpture, made from concrete, etched steel, brass and copper depicts etched ‘selfies’ of people.

Pip Collyer, who is also from Norwich, is showing two sculptures, Around and Straight and Divided Form 4, both in Caen limestone.

Pip Collyer said: “The sculptures are inspired by stones that I find on Norfolk beaches and there is also a reference to the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) in the lines cut into the stone. Caen limestone, from which Norwich Cathedral was built, is a lovely creamy stone with relatively few shells or other inclusions, which enables me to achieve an even finish which is hopefully very tactile.”

Professor Arthur Lucas, Director, Wymondham Arts Centre said: ”The ambience of Becket’s Chapel is especially suited to sculpture, and we invite a practising sculptor to curate a show each autumn. I was pleased that Ros Newman agreed to return for a second exhibition, following the success of Evocations in 2011. Her show will engage the imagination of the viewer and give an opportunity to compare excellent work in a variety of 3-Dimensional media.”

Ros Newman specialises in creating small steel sculptures using oxy-acetylene welding. Her passion for the medium, coupled with her love of the human form, is undiminished nearly 40 years after being introduced to welding at Hammersmith College of Art, and continues to yield sculpture reflecting the variety of her personal view. Involvement in the first Bergh Apton Sculpture Trail (1997) broadened her work to outdoors and she has become well known for chickens, cockerels and flights of birds in stainless steel.

Wymondham Arts Centre is at Becket’s Chapel, Church Street, Wymondham, NR18 0PH

email [email protected], www.wymondhamarts.com.

Wymondham Arts Centre is a project run by Wymondham Arts Forum. Now in its sixth season, the Arts Forum runs a varied programme of exhibitions and events in Becket’s Chapel, from late March to the end of November. William D’Albini, grandson of the founder of nearby Wymondham Abbey, founded Becket’s Chapel in 1174 as a chantry.

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