Conversation (dialogue,
exchange) has been the motif which has done most to open up theology, the
scriptures and ordained ministry for me from my ministerial training through my
ministry to date. The everlasting exchange of love within the Godhead into
which we are drawn as Christians, the dialogue between the different books and
genres of the scriptures, the great debates between God and his people through
which we read of God changing his mind; all are examples of ways in which
conversation opens us to the beating
heart of faith.
Each year
the exhibition has a different curator or curators. This year the joint
curators are Polly Binns and Rod Bugg who have themselves been engaged in a
shared creative conversation for the past five years. This conversation has
been aptly described, using a phrase from author Emily Post, as being an
'exchange of thought.'
The pair write that the
'notion that at the core of so much artistic practice there is a dialogue or
conversation seems to have struck a chord with ... many artists in North
Norfolk.' One manifestation of this is the 'conversation line' which runs
throughout the exhibition guide which captures moments from conversations held
in the exhibition's preparatory months. Here some of the underlying
spirituality of the artists' practices and ideas emerge with church, nature and
studio all viewed as sacred spaces.
The exhibition begins in the
churchyard with inscriptions in stone by Les Bicknell and Teucer Wilson.
Wilson's three inscriptions are taken directly from the entries for Cley,
Snitterley and Holt in the Little Domesday Book of 1086. These tax collection
records sited as gravestones stand as a requiem for a past way of life.
Bicknell cleverly divides and mixes up his carved inscriptions; the substantive
becomes fragmented thereby opening up opportunities for new combinations in
what is usually perceived as fixed and immovable. Cathy Runsey's work has synergies
with that of Bicknell but in the more transient medium of paper.
Many of the artists here are
utilising media and notions of transience. Among the most poignant are the
broken ceramic heads made by Sue Maufe; some of which have been left among the
pebbles of Cley beach to be claimed by whoever finds them. Judith Campbell has
made fragile hessian vases for twigs and buds from the local heath. She
compares them to butter lamps in a Buddhist temple and views them as carriers
of her prayers.
Explorations of the nature of
prayer also feature in the most overtly religious work on show. 'The Song of
the Heart' features video monitors set into prayer stalls with kneelers that
say respectively 'dilemma' and 'respond.' The stalls are set apart from each
other suggesting a prayerful dialogue between the two and the videos in each
combine images of sea and sky with fragments of text from various faiths and
none. Helen Otter and Sara Ross (a.k.a. Decca Maclean) met while studying art
together in Norwich and are collaborating for the first time in this
exhibition. If this work is an indication of what they can achieve when
combining playful concepts with attention to the unseen, then I, for one, would
want to see more collaborations.
St Margaret's Church, featured in
Pevsner's Architectural Guides and in Simon Jenkins’ 1000 Best Churches, dates from the early part of
the 14th Century and has been a welcoming host to the exhibition.
The south porch of the Church with its carved stone heraldry, provides a
beautiful entrance. Once inside one is aware of the almost cathedral-like
proportions of the high nave and the vast west window and the cinquefoil
windows of the clerestory flooding the interior with light. As a result, it provides
an excellent space in which the artworks can be shown.
As much as possible the works
are integrated into the space with some work on spandrels, some hung from the
ceiling and others grouped around pillars or the font. The exhibition extends
to the churchyard, beach, wildlife trust and other locations around the
village. Among work on the beach is Mary Crofts' 'let them eat ...'
installation with hundreds of empty plastic water bottles filling a dinghy as a
reminder of the ecological disaster caused by our throwaway culture. Rob McVicar's 'Ping Pong Tower' references the construction of St Margaret's
Church; an immense man-made structure from millions of individual flints. In
McVicar's work, light and ephemeral ping pong balls are glued together to form
a slender tower which, against expectation, endures amid the wind and waves on
the beach.
Guest artist Roger Ackling was
also engaged with themes of ephemera and transience. His poem in the catalogue
describes his practice of using the sun's rays to burn bands of ash onto wood:
SMELL OF THE
SMOKE
MY WORK IS
PERHAPS
THE SMOKE!
IT'S TRUE
THE EPHEMERA
IS OFTEN
DOUBTED
Ackling's invitation to return
to exhibit as a guest artist (he was part of the very first NNEP exhibition in
2001) was made more poignant still by his death on 5 June 2014 from motor
neurone disease. His work, with its focus on natural materials and processes,
recycling and ephemera, has been a clear and transparent influence on many of
the artists showing work at Cley14.
David North, Norfolk Wildlife
Trust Head of People and Wildlife, sums up many of themes explored by Cley14
when he writes in the exhibition catalogue:
'The coastal marshlands of
Cley and Salthouse touch us deeply with their wildness. Connect us to something
larger and more powerful than the everyday ...
The Cley14 exhibits and
installations, some in the landscape, some in St Margaret's Church, challenge
us to look in a different way, to glimpse the extraordinary in the ordinary.
They open our eyes to details we would otherwise miss, revealing patterns, from
tiny detail to landscape scale. Cley is a great place to gain a sense of
perspective, to see things both literally and metaphorically in a new light.
This exhibition helps us do both ...
Artists and naturalists both
share the ability to see things which others may not notice. To see detail
where others may only see uniformity ... Cley14 will hopefully both tantalise
and surprise you.'
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