Ipswich PrintWeek

The third annual Ipswich PrintWeek runs from May 20th-27th and features another exciting exhibition of printmaking at the prestigious Whistler Gallery, on the Ipswich Waterfront. PrintWeek was devised by Oyster Community Press CIC, an Ipswich based community arts organisation that teaches printmaking, because they couldn’t deliver workshops or exhibit during Lockdown, and they wanted to provide fellow printmakers, including emerging printmakers, with an opportunity to promote their work again. They also wanted to give people who may not know about printmaking a chance to find out about the art form, so they provide free events during PrintWeek for the public too.

Al Smyth, Creative Director at Oyster Press says; ‘Ipswich PrintWeek is about supporting printmakers and giving the public a chance to enjoy printmaking across all disciplines.’ One of the ways they do this is through their acclaimed exhibitions. These showcase work from fine art students from the University of Suffolk, alongside established printmakers, and members of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, to deliver a diverse and fresh exhibition every year, which stands out from others you may see in Suffolk. They differ in other ways too.

Al says ‘We want to encourage people to both exhibit and to buy work at our exhibition, so we don’t charge commission on sales. This means work at our exhibitions is very affordable and the full price you pay goes directly to the artist, helping printmakers of the future to thrive.’

To exhibit you must be a printmaker living or working within twenty miles of Ipswich and able to email jpegs of your work to the 2023 selection panel of printmakers to view, by April 28th.

Full entry criteria and an entry form are available on www. towerstprintproject.org.uk.

Any printmakers who are interested in helping at this year’s event are most welcome says Al, and you are invited to email him at oysterpress.cic@gmail.com or call 07990 553662 for more information.

BIG WOMEN: Curated by Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas, one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, will curate a major exhibition at Firstsite in 2023 - and it’s going to be very BIG.

Under the headline BIG WOMEN, the Colchester gallery will showcase work by leading female artists; Renata Adela, Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, Kate Boxer, Yoko Brown, Angela Bulloch, Phillippa Clayden, Vanessa Fristedt, Maggi Hambling, Pam Hogg, Rachel Howard, Merilyn Humphreys, Patricia Jordan, Princess Julia, Abigail Lane, Tory Lawrence, Millie Laws, Polly Morgan, Clare Palmier, Georgina Starr, Gillian Wearing, Sue Webster, Erica Åkerlund, Sonia Coode-Adams and Lucas herself.

The exhibition, running until June 18th - promises a wealth of diverse artworks to enjoy - and a few surprises too.

The seed for BIG WOMEN was planted when Lucas took a trip to Venice with her friend, fellow artist Kate Boxer, in 2017. As Sarah explains: ‘I can’t put an exact age on when we stop being ‘Miss or ‘Señorita’ and start being ‘Madam’, or ‘Señora’, but by the time you’re in your mid-fifties you’ve definitely arrived. We got talking about what great fun it can be to be a Señora and talked about the concept of Señora with our women friends and it proved to be a very uplifting idea. Even as an idea it has the power to shift one’s outlook on life – in a positive way.’

The initial result of those conversations was a group exhibition in Vienna, SEÑORA! The show explored a number of themes and questions relating to womanhood. Inspired by its impact, Lucas and her colleagues began to follow up SEÑORA! with a corresponding exhibition, purely featuring British women artists.

‘So here it is. BIG WOMEN at Firstsite’ she says. ‘An exhibition of sculpture, painting, film and fashion. So much emphasis in our culture is on youth. When the media wants to arouse our sympathy, it’s all about children. The fashion and advertising media concentrates on young female beauty. The older woman is often overlooked, irrelevant, without currency. We live in an increasingly ageist society and this affects women disproportionately. I see BIG WOMEN as both an endorsement and a celebration of women’s achievement in the creative field. It aspires to be thought provoking, funny, serious, attractive and fun. God knows we need it in these times dominated by male aggression, politicking, greed, war and pig-headedness.’

As part of the exhibition, BIG WOMEN will also include a festival/ fete day complete with bands, DJs, food and drink. firstsite.uk

Vermeer - The Rijksmuseum’s major exhibition catalogue

Pieter Roelofs (Editor)

Gregor J.M. Weber (Editor)

Published to accompany the once-in-alifetime exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, this is the first major study on Vermeer’s life and work for many years.

Vermeer’s intensely quiet and enigmatic paintings invite the viewer into a private world, often prompting more questions than answers. Who is being portrayedare his subjects real or imagined? What details do we know of Vermeer’s personal life? How did it affect his painting style, and how did he create such an unrivalled sense of intimacy?

For the first time in its history, the Rijksmuseum is staging a dedicated exhibition of this beloved Dutch master, featuring nearly all of Vermeer’s masterpieces in the context of a new investigation into his life and art. Including three extensive scholarly essays, and a series of thirteen thematic sections which bring together diverse strands of the artist’s professional and private life through his paintings, this publicationdesigned by Irma Boom, the ‘Queen of

Books’ - will be required reading for all art-lovers as well as devotees of this most admired of painters.

Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

RRP: £50 and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

Publisher: Rockport Books

RRP: £18.99

All the Beauty in the World: A Museum Guard’s

Adventures in Life, Loss and Art

by Patrick Bringley

A revelatory portrait of life in a great museum and the moving story of one guard’s quest to find solace and meaning in art.

Plein Air Techniques for Artist: Principles and Methods for Painting in Natural Light by Aimee Erickson

Take your plein air artwork to the next level through easy-to-understand workshop-style lessons and skill-building exercises.

In Plein Air Techniques for Artists, awardwinning artist and respected workshop instructor Aimee Erickson demystifies how to capture a variety of light effects and guides you in strengthening your plein air skills through practice. This accessible book covers materials and gear, composition and value, colour, light effects and design and visual ideas. Featuring exceptional still lifes, figures, and landscapes by other noted artists working in a range of mediums, Plein Air Techniques for Artists gives artists at all levels of experience the guidance they need to grow as a plein air artist.

The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing

Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase into New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. But when his brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer he quit his journalism job, and sought peace in the most beautiful place he knew.

To his surprise, this temporary refuge becomes his home away from home for a decade. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and place among the lively subculture of museum guards. As his bonds with colleagues and the art grow, he learns how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

RRP: £25

Here we catch up with Hammond Organ Guru James Taylor as he brings the ever-impressive James Taylor Quartet to Norwich’s Maddermarket Theatre.

For over 30 years, the James Taylor Quartet have set the standard for the coolest sounds in funky acid jazz. On dozens of mighty albums and at their legendary gigs at home and around the world, they’ve become a byword for distinguished British creativity.

On April 21st, they bring their magic to the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich for what promises to be a very special night.

Performing in front of an audience has always been James Taylor’s passion.

‘I did my first concert at 17 - I was completely baptised and changed. It’s the interaction between the musicians and the audience…what goes on in the space between,’ says James. ‘Lots changes hands and it’s always fascinated me. Each performance is unique and every audience is completely different. I first played in Norwich in 1987 and I’ve always found Norwich audiences very responsive.’

For James, performing live connects to something primal.

‘Humans have performed sounds and music around campfires for thousands of years,’ says James. ‘They needed that connection 50,000 years ago and they still need it now. Jazz clubs are like churches - something happens between the audience and the player. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

For James, music really does have the power to heal.

‘A good gig leaves everyone feeling happy and well,’ he says, ‘I’ve seen many musicians start a gig with a bad back and by the end of the show they come off saying the pain has gone.’

The James Taylor Quartet was formed in 1985 and is now on its third line up.

‘I still call these the new boys even though this current line- up has been together for 17 years,’ says James. ‘What we do at gigs is largely improvised. We just try to get sparks flying!’

James’ passion for what he does shines through every word he says.

‘I feel blessed to have made a career out of something I love for so long,’ he says. ‘If it wasn’t my job, I’d be doing it anyway.’

Famed for his skill on the Hammond organ, James was introduced to the instrument by a school friend.

‘I was learning piano at the time when a friend showed me a Hammond Organ and I was hooked,’ says James. ‘When I finally got my hands on one, we had to cut it in half to get it into the house. Since then, I’ve worked hard on it to make sure it gives the sounds that I want’.

It is a true labour of love to maintain this 70-year-old instrument.

‘I drive all the way to Milan which takes 15 hours to get it repaired and serviced,’ says James. ‘Despite this, as we are setting up for a gig, it often stops working and I’ll have to get my soldering iron out to get it going again!’

And thank goodness James works so hard to maintain the instrument. Without his dedication, we wouldn’t be lucky enough to witness the magic the James Taylor Quartet bring to the stage.

The James Taylor Quartet are at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich on April 21st. www.maddermarket.co.uk