Just because we can only leave our house for daily exercise and essentials, it does not mean that your passion for art must be put on hold. Here are some local organisations who have shifted their attentions online to help us all keep busy and productive within the safety of our homes.
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art’s Art Deco by the Sea exhibition will be available from the 30th April as a short 15 minute film on BBC iPlayer, as part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative ‘Museum’s in Quarantine’. The exhibition showcases the art and architecture which prevailed from the interwar movement of Art Deco.
The creative arts can bring a healing power at this time. Ghislaine Wood, Acting Director and curator of the exhibition says, “At this challenging time, there could be no better moment to examine Art Deco as a style that celebrated pleasure and escape.”
The Norfolk Painting School is offering free painting tutorials via Facebook Live, run by top contemporary artist and course director Martin Kinnear.
The classes go out each Wednesday at 1pm on the school’s Facebook page.
‘The Great British Paint-In’ was developed to help improve mental health while we are on lockdown, as well as being a way to encourage new and current artists to continue learning.
Due to the popularity of these so far, they will be offering their long-standing workshop courses as interactive online lessons through their website later this month.
The Norfolk Painting School are also offering a ‘Little Paint-In’ through the same channels on Wednesday mornings at 11am. Some of the classes which have already taken place are also available to watch.
It’s a good time to try your hand at something new and Norfolk County Council are offering a whole range of online adult learning classes.
Some classes are free whilst others are paid for. Classes include dress making, creative writing and painting and you can see the full list of opportunities here.
The Garage, a performing arts hub in Norwich, is now offering their classes online via Zoom.
There is a wide range of classes for the summer term, running Monday to Thursday, which can be booked here.
There are classes for both adults and children ranging from beginners to more experienced performers. They are also offering extra free Facebook live classes.
Internationally acclaimed artist Will Teather was in the final stages of his upcoming exhibition at Strangers’ Hall when the museum had to shut its doors due to the virus. The exhibition was to show the artist’s new reworkings of older paintings which hang in the hall, displayed side-by-side. Mr Teather describes them as “glitched version[s] of the originals, helping viewers perhaps to see the museum collections afresh”.
The show is to still go ahead when we return to normal, but in the meantime, Mr Teather is shifting his show online, with videos and blog entries. Mr Teather says he has received feedback from people who are finding “the arts bring them a sense of comfort and escape in these troubled times.”
Will Teather is an artist in residency at Norwich Arts Centre, so the work is being presented in installments on their website, as part of their NAC Stories program, as well as posts on YouTube. Information is also available on the artist’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The Assembly House has been offering free weekly sessions via ASSEMBLY ONLINE.
The sessions will end on April 30, with the chance to still catch one more: live poetry readings hosted by Cai Draper. Visit their website for the link to watch.
Many craft shops are still selling online or through private message or email.
The Gallery in the Lanes, partnered with Riverside Art & Glass is one which has a very well set up website to view and purchase work from them.
Creative Arts East work with smaller rural venues around Norfolk and Suffolk to bring them performing arts.
On May 9, they are hosting a watch party at 7.30pm to show The Tale of Little Bevan, one of their touring shows of 2019, co-commissioned by the Pentabus Theatre Company and written by Robert Alan Evans.
The play takes audiences on a darkly comic journey through 24 hours in the life of a village called Little Bevan.
This new play by award-winning playwright Robert Alan Evans promises live music, storytelling, and the spirit of a 10th century saint.
Although the link is available to view now, Creative Arts East wanted to host a watch party to recreate the same sense of community as a live show and help to combat loneliness during lockdown, asking for feedback and discussion afterwards.
The link will also be put up on their Facebook and Twitter nearer to the date.
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