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In the warm sunshine of a Saturday afternoon, visitors
to Norwich were given the chance to browse, ponder and discover
works by the art collective Articulate.
Forget the etiquette and controlled environment
of a gallery, Articulate member Elizabeth Armstrong said it was
time to bring art out into the open.
"Putting our work literally out into the 'market
place' is quite a challenge as generally we exhibit in galleries,"
she said.
"To hang a show on the
railings of St Peter Mancroft and in the churchyard brings us right
into the unsuspecting public's eye.
Transparent sculpture with wire by Articulate
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"Millennium Plain is an exhilarating venue,
bounded by one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in Norwich
and the sparkling reflections and glass of The Forum."
The idea of Articulate came from a group of students
who were about to become graduates from the Norwich School of Art
and Design.
"We'd always worked as a team in studios and
we knew that once we'd graduated we'd be on our own," explained
Armstrong.
"So we decided to form Articulate - an artists'
syndicate - in order to collaborate on professional development,
projects and exhibitions.
"We meet every couple of weeks to talk bout
projects and Art On The Railings is one of those," she added.
Artist Lorraine Cook admits
that displaying works on the church railings brings a new dimension
to the idea of an exhibition.
"It's the first time
we've done it like this and we've had lots of feedback," she
said.
"When you do it in a gallery most people have
an artistic background, so it's been a good experience just to have
people dropping by for a chat.
Painting by Annie Hall (detail) |
"Exhibiting the work in this way makes the
art much more accessible as it doesn't have
the stigma associated with a gallery.
"People can come up to you, or they can enjoy
the work from a distance - they can treat it exactly as they want.
"It's just nice to get an honest approach
from people, they've also bought works today and expressed interest
in commissions," she said.
As the sunlight sparkled off the glass of The Forum
and clouds scudded across an early summer sky, artist Mary-Colleen
Rabb found it quite exhilarating to be showing her work in the open-air.
"A gallery is a very controlled environment,"
she said.
"It's exciting seeing your work like this
as you get to see how you it reflects light, how it appears in the
sunshine, how the cloud affects the light on it and so on.
"The unpredictability of being outdoors does,
in itself, contribute to the experience.
It's really exhilarating being outside, not being 'in the white
cube' of a gallery and seeing everything that can possibly happen,"
she concluded.
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