To support Women and Health charity
Includes five local artists.
Five artists from the West Norfolk area have had paintings accepted for a fundraising exhibition to support the London charity ‘Women + Health’ which has been supporting isolated and vulnerable women, including those who are survivors of domestic violence and rape, for over 30 years.
Julie Clark, Sally Anne Fitter, Helga Joergens, Barbara King, and Pandora Mond are all taking part in what is now a virtual show and sale, after plans for a ‘physical’ exhibition at the Zabludowicz Collection in London had to be cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions.
The exhibition is co-curated by Cass Wedd, who is also an artist from Ringstead, and a long-standing trustee of Women + Health. Gemma Tighe, Director of Women + Health, said:
“I’m thrilled so many women artists have donated work to support our organisation, which like many small charities, has been hit hard by the financial challenges brought about by Covid-19. Each piece of art purchased helps a woman receive support from Women + Health.”
The exhibition/sale of artworks from a total of 49 women artists can be viewed online until 25 December at https://wla-exhibition.womenandhealth.org.uk/
NORFOLK ARTISTS – paintings and statements
Julie Clark
Halcyon, mixed media on paper.
‘Halcyon’ is an abstracted representation of the calmness, stillness and eerie peace of isolation.”
Sally Anne Fitter
Alice’s Flowers, collage and acrylic on canvas
“I am an artist by profession and, as the galleries closed over Lockdown I moved into working with Artist Support Pledge, a scheme on Instagram thought up by Mathew Burroughs at the start of Lockdown to help the artistic community survive. I also found time to experiment with new techniques and ideas.”
Helga Joergens
Landscape, acrylic and gouache on paper.
“I find consolation in nature, particularly in these dark times. Many of my works depict landscapes but they are imagined scenes. I start without a preconceived idea. (…) Despite the dark elements like clouds or rocks which seem to threaten the viewer, there is light that gives us hope. This light of hope is very important to me. Here, acrylic gouache paint was used. Its strong colour saturation intensifies the expression of the image. However, if diluted with water, it appears like watercolour.”
Barbara King
‘Liquified’, acrylic on canvas
Reflections: My paintings of boats reflected on turbulent water show a distorted reality, a jumble of colours and lines. A transformation of life into something disturbed and muddled in much the same way as Covid 19 has mixed up our lives from that which we knew so short a time ago.
Just as the water in my paintings deconstructs the forms of the vessels, this too could be a good time to take apart the known elements of our pre Covid lives – the building blocks – and reassemble them in a more sustainable and suitable order. From this bleak and confused time can come something better if we all make time for reflections.
Pandora Mond
Sea Cave No 1 oil on canvas.
“These cave paintings emerged during the early dark days of lock down. They are small and intimate compared to my usual large, rangy sea paintings. There is certainly a feeling of claustrophobia and maybe drama in the stark tonal contrast, but they are ultimately optimistic. We are inside the darkness looking out to a dazzling light. As so often with painting, ideas come from the unconscious mind and only make clear sense in retrospect. This was certainly true of these small caves, whose narrative is most certainly one of hope.”
