Wells Art Trail II

We pottered off to Norfolk after seeing a video clip on Facebook of the Lifeboat Horse sculpture by Rachel Long here.  The cottage we stayed in looked out over the marshes and we could see the horse from an upstairs window.

The tide only covered the feet on our last day as the tides were all very low while we were there. 

I've still not managed to see the Anthony Gormley metal sculptures in Lancashire but I'm delighted to have seen this Lifeboat Horse.  You can really feel the wight of the horse and I have been fascinated by the rendering of the head which is a beautiful shape.

The other work I really wanted to see was View From the Shipwrights by Debbie Lyddon whose work I have followed on't internet for some time.  I got rather carried away trying to capture the piece in various lights and in many states of movement, especially as the wind was trying to rip it from its masts.

You can read more about Debbie's work for the Art Trail here.  Do click on the photos in this post to see them in a larger format.  There's also an interview with Debbie Lyddon here.

Seeing Debbie's work and the way she has used spaces in the fabric has sparked off potential thoughts for weaving techniques and ways of making see-through areas in my cloth.  I've already experimented with something called cool cross which enables you to open out the fabric and create movement so there may be more to come.   (Excuse the vibrant colour in this otherwise calm post).

Watch this space (no pun intended).

The cottage we stayed in was right on the quay so we could enjoy the changing views from our bedroom window.  You can't beat Norfolk skies.

 Not exactly from our cottage but the iconic Wells view across to the Granary.

Wells Heritage Art Trail

We recently popped across to Wells Next The Sea in North Norfolk for a few days to see an art trail organised by the newly redeveloped Wells Heritage Centre.  The pieces were displayed mostly along the quay, in the heritage centre and down at the beach cafe.

Above and below are the panels of a triptych displayed at the Beach Cafe made by Kate Allsop and titled Shoreline Shifts.

I couldn't usefully photograph the whole thing but it can be viewed here.

Also at the Beach Cafe was Harbour Side by Andrew Ruffhead

Pieces of driftwood and a boat's transom are included.  I was really pleased to see this piece as we enjoyed Andrew's work in a holiday let we stayed in at Sheringham earlier in the year.

We had to look a bit harder for our next piece on the art trail as it was out of place due to the bad weather.

Jack was busy keeping us company while we had a cuppa in the Heritage Centre.

Along the East Quay we encountered The Ships by Andrew Schumann.

This is in fact a tall post with two spheres placed one above the other.  We had fun photographing the upside down view through the glass.  Sadly I didn't photograph the interpretive information.

A rather more poignant installation was found at the Harbour Office and was entitled Through These Doors by Robert Smith MBE.

Back on the East Quay we were invited into Gordon Senior's garden to view Marris Otter Barley and Sea Barley.

I hope you can see from the photos that real grain was used to render the barley.   I loved the textures.

I'll continue in a second post for my two favourite installations.