It's April, and the exhibiting venues of North Norfolk kick off this seasons arts programmes. The opening exhibition at Salthouse Church, arrived mid April. Its by a group of artists who are practicing Christians. The Salthouse logo has been updated, as has its byline - Christian Creatives - Reflecting God's Glory. Perhaps this is to make it clearer what the objective of these exhibitions is. An emphasis I wasn't aware of previously.
The first thing arising out of this change was a question of what it meant - are these Christians who are also artists, or artists who make overtly Christian themed art? Well, judging by this exhibition, its mostly the former. Is there then anything in the art that draws on a Christian perspective or experience in a specific, identifiable manner? Not particularly. The experience of nature as a creation of a divinity, is this one only the artist themselves experiences in the act of creation? Is it something we as a viewer can also experience? Not necessarily. It feels a much more nebulous conception than that.
These type of thoughts thumbed through my mind as I took in the art. I am just the same when I've seen art exhibitions of work by Buddhists. This is not me having a bash at Christians or their art. The sacred and artistic creation are old bed fellows. I believe that the sacred may be experienced through art, but almost by accident, not conscious design. It's not unreasonable to ask, what was it in what I was seeing here that came from a particular Christian perspective? Was it tangible?
Our present views on nature, of being in nature, of painting nature, arrived with Romanticism in the 18th & 19th century. They turned closeness to nature into a mystical, spiritual, neo religious experience. That this has so entered into our contemporary lexicon of ways to relate to the world, it is hard to see this today as the secular substitute for religious experience that art and nature now are. The idea of connecting with divinity through nature, thus powering your creativity, is not then something unusual, or specifically Christian in viewpoint anymore. No one can claim exclusive rights over it. Though Christians are perfectly free and entitled to point out what there inspiration is, as is everyone else.
However, words do not convey what a recipe actually tastes like. I tend not to think much about the context of a venue, and what that contrubutes to an exhibition. Salthouse provides a lovely medieval church setting within which to frame your exhibition. Despite all of the centuries old creativity all around me. I found a lot of the art work here visually underwhelming. There were a couple of artists whose work I really did find I appreciated.
Sue Walsh's textile pieces use a botanical eco print technique enhanced by natural dyes. I enjoyed the subtlety of their muted tones and the loose sense of patterning across soft thin fabrics. They reminded me at times of faded Roman murals painted on pigment absorbing gesso. Fabric has that ability to soften edges and create mists of illumination around printed objects.
The other was a sound installation by Cecilia Tyrrell. Echoing wild sounds of winds and movement, with accompanying darkly atmospheric photographs. Which they seemed to capture the earthy fetid and salty nature of this sea marshy area. Both artists seemed to have something to say that made you stop, and want to contemplate them further.
There was a wide range of skill levels on show here. From slightly unformed drawing and painting skills through to the highly polished professional level paintings of landscapes. With the latter, I was left wondering whether the observation of an actual place and landscape had parted company, and had become subsumed by the fully worked out execution of a style of painting. And this being mistaken for expression. Feelings abstracted, perhaps to the point of not reaching the canvas.
Not generally a notable start to this seasons programme. Lets hope for better over the coming months.
CARROT REVIEW - 3/8
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