PRESS RELEASE

Artworks 9th annual exhibition
6 - 28 September 2008, Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP30 9JG

Admission FREE; ample parking, light refreshments available
Open 10-5 daily

Artworks is all out to save the planet!

Artworks is to hold its ninth annual exhibition at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds from 6 to 28 September. This year there is an emphasis on the environment and its value to us, reflecting our anxiety to observe and preserve it and to exist in it. Bernard Baker is looking to the heavens and painting skies, to quote from Ruskin “It is the part of creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man and it is just the part in which we least attend her”. In East Anglia we are particularly conscious of the skies and follow in the footsteps of Edward Seago and Turner not to mention Sir Arnesby Brown’s fine painting ‘View of Norwich’.

Janet French, a newcomer to Artworks, explores the fragile symbiotic relationship between man and the natural environment. Her aim is to create work that implies a sense of being part of, and not ownership over the land. Themes of humanity’s fascination with manipulating nature and the meditative state created by the wonder of nature’s power inform her work. She hopes to convey a sense of the fragility of the natural landscape suppressed beneath the urban landscape. Marianne Koby Johnson, a painter and assemblage-artist also shows for the first time with Artworks. She likes to capture the essence of a particular moment in the landscape and uses weathered found objects – gathered for their aesthetic or textural qualities. Ben Platts-Mills, a new sculptor in the group asks the question, ‘how much sustainability is tolerable to the human?’ His work is narrative, realistic and formal. A lot of his work is site specific and commissioned. Clare Dawson, a photographer, loves flora and fauna and shoots three-dimensional, multi-layered still life images, shows with us for the first time too.

Doug Patterson, although not proud of his carbon footprint, has continued to progress with his illustrations and paintings of the monasteries of Bhutan and Mount Athos. However, in his capacity as an architect, he was also commissioned to visit Las Vegas to head up the design team developing a universal peace centre for world leaders to be built on the shore of Lake Las Vegas in Nevada, USA.

Mary-Anne Morrison will be creating a ‘recycle’ installation with thirty 7-9 year olds from Gt Finborugh CEVC Primary School. The installation will hang from the oak beams of the barn and will consist of redundant kitchen utensils, garden implements embellished with textiles, threads and strings knotted onto the frames. Mac McCaughan endeavours to reflect the randomness, turbulence and chaos of the natural world in his unusual sculptures, whilst Roger Gamble depicts life in the 2lst century with a touch of irony. This is just a flavour of some of the new work Artworks will be showing at the forthcoming annual exhibition.

A great hit last year, Artworks is again presenting ‘Artists Making an Exhibition of Themselves’ – an evening when artists will set-up temporary studios Thursday 20 September (6.30-8.30pm). Entry £3 on the door to include a glass of wine.

Presenting another Baroque concert, Artworks this year welcomes ‘The Delightful Companions’ on Saturday 20 September at 7 pm (doors/bar open 6 pm). Tickets £15 include wine and canapés. Box office NOW OPEN 01359 270421.

This year, the Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw which provides funding for our schools’ projects will donate 20% of the proceeds to West Suffolk Headway.

For further information about Artworks and artists, please see the Artworks website www.artworksinfo.org.uk For any queries please ring or e-mail: Anne Paton 01502 722068 annpannie@tiscali.co.uk or Verena Daniels 01394 273366 verena@reuniongallery.co.uk

For IMAGES OF ARTWORK please contact Rasik Bhadresa, by e-mail tygertyger1757@aol.com