NORHAM ARTS GROUP
Norham Arts Group arose from a series of community workshops held in 2017, which were designed to address concerns about losing facilities in the area. We wanted to ensure that Norham continues to be a great place to live and make it even more attractive to visitors, in the hope that increasing use of all the village’s facilities would help to ensure their survival.
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Norham Arts Group comes under the umbrella of Norham Development Trust.
Many people commented that nothing had been done to celebrate the links between Norham and JMW Turner. As he is considered to be the greatest English Romantic landscape painter, that seemed an obvious place to start.
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To coincide with the opening of ‘Turner – Northern Exposure’ at the Granary Gallery, Berwick, Norham Arts Group hosted a number of hugely successful, exhibitions and events in Norham.
We launched the Turner Heritage Trail, complete with trail maps, and ran ‘painting in the style of Turner’ workshops on the riverbank.
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We hosted an exhibition of specially commissioned contemporary artworks, inspired by Turner, by local professional artists. This was opened by Professor David Hill, a world expert on Turner. Alongside was a heritage exhibition of beautiful paintings and prints on loan from residents. We also showed the Sky Arts/Tate video ‘Tate Britain’s Great British Walks; Turner into the View Walk’ and the film, Mr Turner.
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Simultaneously, in Norham Church, we held an exciting exhibition of artwork by young children painting in the style of Turner and organised a well-attended schools visit day
Our ambition at the outset of the Turner event was to enable whole community engagement around the project. The response, not just in Norham but also in the wider community of Berwick and outlying villages, was overwhelming.
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Being an ‘arts’ group, in its broadest sense, we are always looking for suggestions for cultural events in the village, be they visual arts, music, dance-related, literary or dramatic.
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All offers of help are most welcome.
‘I made drawing or painting of Norham several years since. It ‘took’, and from that day to this, I have had as much to do as my hands could execute’ JMW Turner (1831)
For further information please contact norhamartsgroup@gmail.com or phone Sue Churchill 01289 382280