LOCAL ARTISTS GROUP PLANS ART ANTIDOTE TO SOCIAL ISOLATION

Hosts Virtual Exhibition of Free-to-Download Artworks

Local visual arts group Easterly Artists is staging a virtual online exhibition throughout May, delivering its own “art antidote” to the ravages of Coronavirus and the isolation it brings.

Titled “In Isolation”, the exhibition features some of the most creative artistic talent in Lowestoft and the surrounding area. 25 artists are presenting their work, all based on their own interpretation of what it means to live through, deal with and continue to create in a period of prolonged physical and social isolation.

A key feature of the exhibition is that all the artists are donating their work for nothing. As a result, all the pieces will be available for the public to access completely free of charge. For simplicity, they will all be in A4 format, making it easy for visitors to download and print them on a home computer.

The exhibition opens on the Easterly Artists website on Friday 8 May 2020, to coincide with the early May Day Bank Holiday (this year, this holiday has been moved back to coincide with VE Day and the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II). It runs for three weeks and ends on Sunday 31 May 2020.

Hugh Davies, Easterly Artists webmaster and the instigator of the exhibition, commented: “This show is a way to bring a little light and give something back to the local community. A lot of people are trapped at home, with nothing to look at or look forward to. The plan is to bring the work to them: to give them something inspiring to download and enjoy in their own home, and perhaps create some hope at a time when hope can sometimes appear to be in short supply.”

Visitors will be able to view work in a wide range of mediums, including drawing; painting in oil, acrylic, gouache and watercolour; mono print, screen print and lino-cut; photography; pottery and ceramics; artistic wood-turning and more.

To access the show, simply go to the exhibition website at www.easterly.org.uk/inisolation. Visitors can return as often as they want at any time of day or night, and download as many pieces as they like.

The 25 Easterly Artists members taking part in the exhibition are:

Bill Haward (Reydon) – Collage based on line drawing

Chris Milham (Henstead) – Modern contemporary art in oil and acrylic

Claire-Louise Dowson (Pakefield) – Abstract painting in acrylic and oils

Clare Johnson (Lowestoft) – Photographer/Mixed media artist

Darren Breeze (Lowestoft) – Artistic woodturner

David Sullivan (Lowestoft) – Realist painter engaged with political themes

Eileen Coxon (Brampton) – Fine art painting in oils and watercolours

Fiona Shreeve (Somerleyton) – Sculptural ceramics

Harvey Bradley (Lowestoft) – Porcelain pieces featuring expressive brushwork

Hilary Barry (Kessingland) – Figurative fine artist and painter

Joan Murray (Lowestoft) – Drawing, photography and book works

Lisa Hurcum (Lowestoft) – Printmaker

Lorry Cudmore (Bungay) – Sculptural and functional ceramics

Malcolm Cudmore (Bungay) – Fine art painting and drawing

Marilyn Jackson (Bungay) – Mixed media and mono printing

Mark Burrell (Lowestoft) – Fine art and magical realism

Neil Whitehead (Halesworth) – Acrylic painting and watercolour

Ni Gooding (Brampton) – Fine art screenprinting

Nina Roffey (Beccles) – Sculptural assemblages with found objects

Patricia Davidson (Reydon) – Fine art painter and printmaker

Peter Rodulfo (Great Yarmouth) – Fine art and magical realism

Rebecca Bergese (Wangford) – Painter and object maker

Rinat Baibekov (Lowestoft) – Abstract painting in mixed media or oil

Rosalind Bieber (Halesworth ) – Modern contemporary art in Ecos paint and conte

Simon Wilde (Lowestoft) – Fine artist specialising in painting and drawing

 

Easterly Artists background

Run by its members, Easterly Artists is a group of visual artists based at the easternmost edge of the UK mainland. The group formed in 2018 as a mutually supportive collective to promote the practice of local artists and encourage awareness and appreciation of their work. Members are all practising artists living and/or working within a 20-mile radius of Ness Point, the most easterly part of the UK.

More details:
•    Web: www.easterly.org.uk
•    Facebook: @easterlyartists
•    Instagram: @easterlyartists

---

Artist profiles

Eileen Coxon (Brampton)

Eileen was born and grew up in Hampshire, in an area renowned for its natural beauty. This instilled a life-long love of the natural world which still forms the basis for her work.

Daily walks in the lanes and footpaths near her home in Brampton provide her material. Leaves, twigs , stones, photos and sketches etc are sometimes gathered but mostly it is the experience which counts, and memory plays a large part in the final paintings.

Lock-Down Walk, by Eileen Coxon
Click here to download a high resolution version of this image.

 

Neil Whitehead (Halesworth)

Neil is an artist, illustrator, photographer and designer. He recently returned to the UK after 15 years in South West France, organising painting courses.

His paintings are principally of landscapes in a semi-impressionistic style, working mainly in acrylics and watercolour. He is inspired by the local landscapes and loves colour and structure. His illustrative work is technical in nature, especially of vintage cars, planes and trains.

Sardines, by Neil Whitehead
Click here to download a high resolution version of this image.

 

Rebecca Bergese (Wangford)

Rebecca’s work begins from experience of places, people and atmosphere: this drives the imagery, the colours and the forms. Although she works primarily in watercolour and mixed media, she also enjoys working with oil paint and finds it the most versatile medium.

She works slowly, not least because the process of making the piece is something she tries to begin fresh each time. Each painting is an attempt to make an object which will have its own independent life, and which at the same time allows the viewer to bring their own associations, memories or narratives.

A Garden’s Tale, by Rebecca Bergese
Click here to download a high resolution version of this image.

 

Rinat Baibekov (Lowestoft)

Rinat comes from a family of painters. He began sketching and painting at a very young age, attending full-time art courses alongside his primary schooling.

After completing high school, he was accepted to the Kazan Art Institute. This in turn was followed by the Kharkov Academy of Fine Art where he majored in Public Art. After living and working as an artist until 1990 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), he moved to Toronto, Canada. In 1998 he once again crossed the ocean, this time to the UK where he eventually settled. He works in a variety of media, including watercolour, drawing materials, oils, acrylics and fresco.

Wooden Lovers, by Rinat Baibekoz
Click here to download a high resolution version of this image.