Well, it’s not a painting but is it a sculpture? – ‘Path’ is a structure of common reed and various natural yarns by Monica Cass and Lizzie Kimbley. Here, it’s my link between ‘Exhibitions galore’ (i) and (ii). Somewhat unobtrusively, it sits outside the south door of St Margaret’s Church, Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, as one of the exhibits in the annual Cley Contemporary Art exhibition. I’ve been going to this event and its predecessor at Salthouse for over a decade. I thought this, called ‘Borderlines’, one of its most successful occasions, with exhibits spread around the graveyard as well as in the Church and, a mile away, in the Norfolk Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre until 4 August.

On the outside of the chancel’s north wall are three photographs on canvas by Simon Marshall; along the northern edge of the graveyard are three panels (mixed media) entitled ‘Perspectives’ by Jake Francis, one of several items overtly with a political message in the exhibition.

 

 

One of the most dramatic sights is looking into the Church from outside the west door:

Here Alan Cossins’ ‘Armistice’ fills the porch with bamboo, waxed cotton and paper while allowing a view through to the east window of the chancel (see below). Paper triangles carry dates and names of wars and battles, with numbers of the dead e.g.

The message is clear. As is that of the startling fabric hanging between the east window and the altar cross:

The title of this installation, ‘The Essence of Everything’ by Kelly Briggs, is somehow both meaningless and apt. Below and in front of it is  ‘Erebus and Nyx’ by Rachel Kurdynowska, a book simulation in ‘Wild Norfolk clay, silk, cotton, natural dyes’, with a sound piece (not illustrable).

Among the spaciousness of the nave, carefully curated in this exhibition, one unusual item in particular caught my eye:

Chalk writing on the nave floor is a mixture, as far as I could read, of real script and scribble-scribble. It is called ‘Return’ by Kristy Campbell.

Am going to cut there – this note is long enough; but there’s more to come from this summer’s exhibitions.