Norwich 20 Group (N20G) is staging two major exhibitions at The Forum and The Undercroft (below the War Memorial) in Norwich during July this year.

www.norwich20group.co.uk.

Eastern Horizons at The Forum, from Monday 4 to Friday 15 July, which is the 72nd N20G annual exhibition, will showcase work by 70 artists including new members Carolyn MacArthur and Thea Hickling and will feature paintings, sculptures, limited edition prints, digital art, moving images and installations. Amanda Geitner, Director of East Anglia Art Fund, is curating the exhibition. N20G members will be present every day, between 10am and 6pm, to talk to visitors about their art. The show will feature work by recent Norwich University of the Arts graduates Josh Harbord and Jack Mackenzie, who have been invited to join the group for a year, participate at meetings and exhibit alongside the members.

Never Mind the B****** Art Show Here’s The 20 Group is at The Undercroft from Tuesday 26 July to Sunday 7 August, open daily 12noon to 5pm. This is the third N20G exhibition in The Undercroft and will feature work by more than 40 artists, with art in a variety of media made especially for this huge space.

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.”

“We are fortunate to have the services of Amanda Geitner, formerly of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and now director of East Anglia Art Fund, as our curator for Eastern Horizons. Never an easy task given the time constraints and the diversity of members’ work in both scale and subject matter. Our thanks go to Amanda for her enthusiasm and skill in presenting this exhibition to its best advantage.”

“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.”

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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.