Chris Gamble : double success in the Eastern Open exhibition

One of Chris Gamble‘s pieces, ‘The Faces That You Meet‘, has been selected for the annual Eastern Open exhibition and it gained not one but two awards! The first award was the Exaclair Art Prize of artists’ materials and the second was the Bank House Hotel Purchase Award.

This year’s Eastern Open attracted 557 works by 280 artists from seven counties, with prize money totalling more than £4,000. The winners were announced during a packed ceremony at the King’s Lynn Arts Centre in Norfolk.

Chris Gamble‘s prize-winning work, ‘The Faces That You Meet‘, comprises thirty six small pen drawings of head portraits, and it represents part of an on-going body of work around the theme of ordinary people.

The faces that you meet © Chris Gamble 2012

The annual Eastern Open exhibition is held in King’s Lynn Arts Centre, and it invites artist submissions from seven counties in the east of England: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire.

A different group of selectors are invited each year to select wotk for this prestigious exhibition. On the judging panel for the Eastern Open 2012 were: Mark Hill, TV Presenter, 20th Century Design Expert and Applied Arts Patron of the King’s Lynn Arts Centre; Yasmin Canvin, freelance curator and Director of Fermynwoods Contemporary Art; Jessica Lack, Arts Writer for The Guardian for 12 years and co-author of “Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms

The selection panel selected forty one works for the 2012 Eastern Open exhibition, all currently on show in the Shakespeare and Fermoy galleries at the King’s Lynn Arts Centre. An alternative Community Choice panel selected works to hang in the Red Barn and the Old Warehouse galleries.

In addition to being a member of the Artworks group, Chris Gamble also belongs to Breckland Artists, who will be holding a tenth anniversary exhibition in the Forum, Norwich, from 27th May until 1st June 2012.

Chris’s husband, Roger Gamble, is also in Artworks, and he won the ‘Best in Show Award’ at the Eastern Open exhibition in 2002. Both Chris & Roger have had their art selected in previous years. Chris won also an award in 2009 for an acrylic painting called ‘Economic Downturn‘.

The Artworks blog says well done to them both – a prize-winning duo!

The Eastern Open exhibition continues until the 19th May 2012, open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.

Eastern Open exhibition 2012
31 March – 19 May 2012
King’s Lynn Arts Centre
King’s Lynn
Norfolk
PE30 1HA

Valerie Armstrong : printmaking school workshop

Each year Artworks offers the opportunity for local schools to apply for one of four fully-funded one-day artist workshops, with the schools selecting an artist of their choice from the Artworks exhibition. The four workshops are then planned, organised and run by the selected artists.

Schools are encouraged to visit the annual Artworks exhibition in September, and this is often the time when teachers (or the children!) decide on which artist they would like to work with later in the school year.

In 2011, Artworks artist Valerie Armstrong was selected to run a one day workshop with Great Whelnetham Primary School:

This year I was invited to Great Whelnetham primary school to run a printmaking workshop with eight and nine year old children.

Realising I would need considerable time to turn an organized multi purpose classroom into a printmaking studio, it was agreed that I should run the workshop in two sessions; an afternoon workshop followed up by a workshop the very next morning, giving me time to set up and clear up in the two lunch breaks.

I planned several ambitious techniques for the children to explore. To my delight they had just begun a classroom project on India, a country I have a deep involvement with, so I was able to provide lots of images and material to work from.

The children embraced the experience with focus, joy and enthusiasm and produced some vibrant and thoughtful pieces of art. The results of the two half day workshops will be on exhibition in the schools section of the next Artworks exhibition in September 2012.

Visit Valerie Armstrong‘s website.

www.valeriearmstrong.com

More information about planning school visits and applications for artist workshops is available on the Artworks Schools page. While some school groups simply enjoy looking at the exhibition, other groups come to sketch, paint and draw. There is always someone from Artworks on hand to offer more information on the art, encouraging the children to study, enjoy and absorb all the art in the exhibition.

N.b. To avoid possible clashes with other school visits please contact our Schools Coordinator who will assist you in planning your visit to the Artworks exhibition.

The Artworks exhibition this year runs from the 8th to 30th September 2012 at Blackthorpe Barn, open daily 10am to 5pm.

John Glover : a new artist to ARTWORKS

Today we warmly welcome a new artist to Artworks (and the Artworks blog) the highly accomplished and experienced portrait painter, John Glover.

John Glover recently won the Rowland Hilder Award at The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Below is the prize-winning painting, which is entitled ‘Mrs. McLeod’.

John Glover’s subjects include people from all walks of life, from official portraits to more intimate family groups or individual studies. He works in a variety of mediums including pencil, watercolour, pastel and oils.

John says of his work: “As a portrait painter I find myself in a very privileged position. I am invited into people’s lives however briefly, to witness their work, their aspirations, their successes and sometimes their failures, indeed their humanity.“

John was also recently elected as the President of The Cambridge Drawing Society. The Cambridge Drawing Society was founded in 1882 by Lady Sandys and is one of the oldest art societies in the country. Former members of The Cambridge Drawing Society include Cecil Beaton, Ronald Searle, Gwen Raverat, Peter Graham (Vice President of the Institute of Oil Painters) and James Horton (President of the Society of British Artists). The Cambridge Drawing Society’s membership now comprises over one hundred and forty artists. We wish John much success in his new appointment.

John is also an experienced teacher in portraiture, life-drawing and painting. He runs day classes locally in the Cambridge area and also teaches at summer schools throughout the UK. John also offers painting demonstrations to many art groups and societies. He is also available for individual, one-to-one art tuition.

Visit John Glover’s website for more information on commissioning a portrait or attending one of his art tuition classes.