The Wivenhoe Art Trail
15th-17th November 2024
Well, after a fabulous year exploring the cultural sites of Malta, the Gallery Tart is back home in the UK, I told myself to embrace the British weather on return as otherwise I’d only spend my time pining for some sun, however, on a freezing cold November day, I must admit I am left wondering about my life choices!
Seriously though, it’s good to be back, and, after a bit of time settling in, I was looking around for my first review on home soil. I found it in the Wivenhoe Art Trail, Wivenhoe is a small town on the banks of the River Colne in Essex, it’s very picturesque and has a thriving artist community. Twice a year, local artists open their studios to the public giving people the opportunity to look around the studios and engage with them to learn about their work and motivations.
I have reviewed the Art Trail previously and I was excited to see whether it had grown and who was creating what. I wasn’t disappointed, forty artists took part, that’s an awful lot of artists in a town with a population of roughly seven thousand people. The trail is great, very easy to follow and the artists were all very welcoming and happy to discuss their work. You can tell it’s a wider community effort as well since in addition to individual art studios, many community spaces were also open as exhibiting spaces; the church, council offices, Nottage Institute, British Legion had all clearly engaged with supporting the trail. There was quite a mix of media; painting, prints, glass, textiles, ceramics, driftwood, photography, it’s a wide range of artworks to view and, all for free entry!
Tucked away in Malting Yard, we found Noah Carter who specialises in botanical works, his plants signposted the way into his studio like models! There’s a freshness to his paintings, I liked the close up angles getting right into the leaves and stems of the plants resulting in a sense of freshness and realism in the artworks.
Wandering down the network of lovely old streets and right in the heart of things in Alma Street we knocked on the door of The Letters RW. I was able to chat with the artist Rose Wilford and she explained her methods and motivations, she has an interest in graphic design through typography, which she combines in her images such as, ABC’s Colour Ink Rollers, a combination of the tools of typography and letters themselves. In a world of digital typography, even intentionally imperfect fonts are replicated perfectly digitally, it’s not surprising then to see an interest emerge in the manual, often flawed, process of ink printing.
We were warmly welcomed at Angela Godwin’s ceramics studio, she makes functional ware which looked fabulous all lined up for viewing! I really like the range Absgra, it has lots of sinewy, fantasy, animal prints that create movement on colourful backgrounds, I can see them on display in the kitchen!
Further down on Alma Street, we wandered into Fiona Harmon’s studio, I reviewed Fiona’s work previously, I liked the rawness of her work and at the time considered mostly at her small boats, almost like toy versions of the real thing. This time I was looking at the assemblages, seemingly slung together bits of wood, metals and other materials, her work is firmly rooted in the boatbuilding tradition of Wivenhoe, here, for me, is art, it’s in the assemblage, that thinking about how to put a sculpture together irrespective of the materials, it’s the seeing of beauty in everything. My imagination probably runs away with me but it’s like the artist is defiantly asking us to look at the beauty of what Wivenhoe once was, an insistence of remaining true to the materials that are Wivenhoe and further, get discarded.
Up the rackety stairs of the British Legion we found a few artists exhibiting together, I liked the work of Jacqueline South, who is clearly a well established artist, particularly her images of animals. They’re so skilful and detailed, while Harmon’s work brings us the core of Wivenhoe through driftwood and the discarded, South brings us another side, its natural picturesque.
Right down on the riverbank we found Debra Weiss, I’ve reviewed her work previously as well, we chatted to the artist and she explained that she’s inspired by her work as a conservator, I was fascinated by the collection of pairs of portraits showing the evolution of portraiture as well as the group of miniatures. I commented on the fabulously rich background colours in the miniatures and Debra explained that deep blue was often used in this form. I like that mix of old and contemporary, you can even commission a portrait in one the styles, I can see myself in an over the top ruff!
We popped into the Business Centre, a hotchpotch of studios and businesses and stopped into Ella Johnston's studio, I was taken by her large scale, abstract paintings. Ella explained that they represent seasonal moods, I really liked Autumn, she is interested in the calligraphic line, you can see that here, the joy of the swirl and swoosh drawn across the board in gorgeous autumnal tints. To Western eyes, Latin script automatically forms into words, this feels like an attempt to unfurl those lines, let them hang a bit and give the viewer an alternative interpretation of the beauty of line.
The Sentinel Gallery was also open and was hosting the exhibition, Oceana – Making Waves, featuring two artists; Alex Waylett and Lorraine George and reflections on the sea. As you know, I love the sea with a passion so I was entranced by the artworks here, Waylett is a well established textile artist and her embroideries were just so resonant for me, the delicacy and intricacy of works such as Coral Carnival or Rock Pool capture that sense of peering into shallow waters and seeing the creatures living there, floating and dancing in the waves. Lorraine George’s paintings also take the viewer into the water with her, Bait Ball caught my eye, she’s captured the sense of fish swimming in a shoal underwater, I like that below the waterline view and of course, all the gorgeous blues!
What a great event, the richness and variety of art on display in one short, easily walkable route is quite amazing and enjoyable. I particularly I liked the range of art on display and I’ve tried to show the variety of media in this review, with apologies for those artists I didn’t include, there was loads more!
This event is over but there will be another one soon and my point in writing this review is to shine a light on the these kind of events. We can visit the blockbusters in large London museums and galleries and think about what this or that artist was thinking of when they created now iconic pieces but for most artists this is where it starts, working in a studio, thinking, creating and reflecting on their environment, let’s not just focus on the established but support the emerging too. After all, did you know Francis Bacon once had a studio in Wivenhoe?
Rita Fennell
Gallery Tart!
Sounds great! Hopefully I will be in London when they next open their doors. If you get to know, please send me the date, as I will try to do my next UK trip to correspond. Shame I didn't know as I was in London on these dates and had some free time. Keep up the good work!