Junk Mail

Is there anything you can do about the junk mail now appearing in the ‘Recent Comments’ section on my Homepage (or should I say dashboard??) for example:

From dark on Summer Wednesday Evenings at Time and Tide # [Pending]
came; buy cheapest etc;
or another:
From century on Samba Magdalena # [Pending]
river; etc;
…..or yet another:
From shoe on Summer Wednesday Evenings at Time and Tide # [Pending]
question; etc;
….. and there’s plenty more where that came from. If this website is to become a useful networking tool as we all hope it will, these timewasters need to be barred from using it

The Strictly Gallery

The Strictly Gallery has opened in 25-26 Victoria Arcade, Great Yarmouth and is looking for new artists to exhibit . 

The gallery has opened with a Round the World exhibition by gallery owners Elizabeth Hearne and Paul Irving along with an exhibition of reproduced pictures titled Legends with canvasses of stars like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.

The gallery also offers a photographic studio and a canvas printing service.  The photographic studio is for hire for a small fee

Strictly Gallery is open six-days-a-week during the school holidays and is closed on Sundays.

Anyone wishing to get in contact can either call in to the gallery or visit www.thestrictlygallery.com, or email at mailto://info@thestrictlygallery.com.

Mother & Child in Limbo, public art in Great Yarmouth

Mother and Child, carving in York stone, by Bridget Heriz, commissioned for the Cobholm and Lichfield  Resource Centre by the Bridge Trust, 2006, funded by SRB5.  The sculpture has been moved whilst building works are taking place to extend the Resource Centre and I hope this photographic compilation (background from the avenue in the graveyard) does not relate to the fate of the sculpture!

April 2010:  The carving has been relocated in the new foyer of the Cobholm and Lichfield Resource Centre.  It looks fine in its new setting apart from the notices mounted on the wall unnecessarily close the sculpture.

Public Art by Andrew Tanser, Middlegate Garden

Stone Sofa by Andrew Tanser, 2004, photograph by Derek Jackson 2009

This stone carving by Andrew Tanser was commissioned in 2004 as part of the Middlegate Garden project funded by SRB, Integreat and GYBC.  Andrew also designed the massive gates.  Andrew lead workshops with young residents from the surrounding estate, who participated in the project to improve this garden area between the two English Heritage sites on South Quay.  For more information on Andrew’s work click here to view his website.

Public Art, Mark Goldsworthy, Lichfield Community Centre

Chalky White, a fisherman counting in the fish with the assistance of his cat, looks out upons the play area at the Lichfield Community Centre, Suffolk Road.   The sculpture by Mark Goldsworthy commemorates 1,000 years of maritime history in Great Yarmouth and is carved from the trunk of an oak tree.   The work was funded by SRB5.

Mark also created the St.George and the Dragon sculpture in St. George’s Park.

Mark attended foundation course at Great Yarmouth College of Art and Design in 1981-82 before going on to Manchester Polytechnic.  For more information, click here to view his website.

Voluntary Arts England

EastCoastNet recommends signing up to receive Voluntary Arts England’s weekly e-newsletter to receive the latest news, including  jobs, funding and events. 

Voluntary Arts England is the national development agency for arts participation, raising awareness of the contribution that the voluntary and amateur arts and crafts make to the well-being of communities, social inclusion, lifelong learning, active citizenship and volunteering. 

For example, there is useful information about Grassroots Grants which has funded thousands of projects, from sports for the disabled to arts for older people, activities for young people, counselling services, employment programmes, food parcel services, music groups and village halls. It is these small, volunteer led groups that make a real difference to the lives of local people, and often a small amount of money can go a long way.

To view the wealth of information available on the website click here.

Art in Empty Spaces

If you are using or thinking of using empty retail spaces to display art or run an art project, you might be interested to know that Arts Council England’s £500,000 initiative to help artists use vacant high street shops is now open for applications.

Artists are able to apply for grants to support artistic activity that will transform empty retail units into creative spaces – anything from an art gallery to recording studios or family arts workshops – which the whole community can enjoy.

The programme, ‘Art in empty spaces’ will run in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s scheme ‘Looking After Our Town Centres’ which will invest £3 million to reinvigorate ailing town centres during the recession.

More information about the scheme and how to apply can be found at www.artscouncil.org.uk/artinemptyspaces.

Public Art, The Fishermen’s Hospital

The Fisherman’s Hospital at the north end of the Market Place was founded by The Corporation of Great Yarmouth in 1702.  The building was begun in 1698, probably based on an off-the-peg design by a Dutch architect, with the plan tweeked to fit the irregular space available on the site.  It cost £621.  It was set up as Almshouses for ‘decayed’ fishermen providing free housing for twenty fishermen and their wives aged sixty and over who could no longer provide for themselves.  A wife had to leave for the workhouse however if her husband died. 

Some of the cottages had spiral staircases up to the first floor, and some ladders, but there were no floor boards and it is presumed the fishermen swung hammocks from the rafters.  No were there any  partition walls on that floor, so privacy was only available on the ground floor.

The building is built in brick and displays ornamental detail in a charming baroque fashion, including a fine figure in the cupola on the roof representing Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, and the ‘fisher of souls’.  English Heritage, probably mistakenly, has stated that this figure is Saint Christopher.  The sculpture is made of wood and was repainted in 1986 by students of the Great Yarmouth Art College when some restoration work took place.

Originally there were also two wooden sculptures of fishermen adorning the brick gateway posts but these had decayed and been removed by 1805.

In the centre on a square pedestal stands a cast  statue of a figure of Charity: this is thought to be the first free-standing sculpture to exist in the town. This figure is cast in lead painted to look like stone and came from a lead foundry in London.  There seems to be no information available about the artists who created these figures, but research will be taking place 2011-12 to support an application to English Heritage for funding towards further restoration work.  If anybody has any information or ideas, it would be good to be able to improve the record.

The exterior of the building has been well-preserved but the internal layout has been altered to provide nine units suitable for contemporary fishermen of Great Yarmouth who continue to be provided for by the Charity. 

Thanks to Dr. Paul Davies and Great Yarmouth Municipal Charities for information.

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Further events and cinema listings are provided on www.greatyarmouthtown.co.uk
and on the official Great Yarmouth Tourism site www.great-yarmouth.co.uk
Also see www.96talkback.co.uk for news about local initiatives, events and opportunities

Tom & Muriel Mallin Memorial Exhibition, Halesworth

You are invited to a memorial exhibition of Tom and Muriel Mallin’s work at
THE HALESWORTH GALLERY, STEEPLE END, HALESWORTH, SUFFOLK
Saturday September 5th to Wednesday September 16th
11am to 5pm Daily (Sundays, 2pm TO 5pm)
Also showing: work by David Thompson – one time Times Critic and Director of the ICA.

You are also invited to the Private View – Friday September 4th from 6.30pm – RSVP 07775 870392

YOU ARE ALSO INVITED TO ATTEND
An Evening of Poetry & Music
with Gerald Nason, Rupert Mallin & Andrew Osborn
Friday September 11th from 8.30PM
TICKETS £4 – including refreshments – phone Jan Martin on 01986 872409