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Out of the Grapevine
InPrint artist Annette Rolston and Martin Laurance took down the Paston Grapevine exhibition on 19 April, with some help from gallery owner Peter Low. InPrint poet Tim Lenton took some of the pictures over to Paston and seized the opportunity to research a couple of Paston walks, which will appear in the forthcoming guidebook being written by Lucy Care.
Next event in the Paston saga: Art Alive at Paston Church over the weekend of May 23-25.
Paston exhibition success in the sun
The "amazing weekend" forecast for the Paston exhibition turned out to be exactly that, with the sun shining brightly throughout, and medieval characters to be found enjoying the unexpected warmth of the sun in the graveyard, as well as fulfilling such functions as scrivener and paper-maker inside. In the normally cold church the atmosphere was temperate, even for the Latin Compline on the Saturday evening, when fog paid a fleeting visit outside.
The Private View on the Friday evening was a big success, with a fascinating film of the project being followed by a poetry reading, in which InPrint poets Caroline Gilfillan, Lisa D'Onofrio and Tim Lenton took part. The handmade, leather-bound book had centre stage, with InPrint's Annette Rolston turning the pages and explaining the background. Prints and poems from the book were on display. Small facsimiles of the book were very popular at £10 a time, and two copies of the big book, priced at £850 each, were ordered during the weekend.
On the Saturday Annette and Lisa offered a workshop, and bookbinder Judith Ellis from Aylsham demonstrated her skills. There were further poetry readings from the InPrint poets and from the other Paston poets – Dot Cobley, Kay Riggs, Rob Knee and Adrian Ward. Natural England organised a couple of visits to the Great Barn, which is rarely accessible. Visitors to the exhibition were augmented by a large party of ramblers who happened by and who found the whole project fascinating, especially Annette's description of the book's contents.
Sunday was dominated by the visit of medieval music interpreters Horses Brawl, who rehearsed during the afternoon and put on a concert of 18 songs in the evening, interspersed by readings from the Paston Letters. One of the pieces, sung by Jennie Cassidy, was from a manuscript found in the church in the 1920s and dating back to the time of the Pastons. It was believed to be the first time it had been heard since that time, and it was beautifully sung by Jennie.
InPrint were proud to be part of the project, which owed much of its sucess to Annette's determination to master the innovative non-toxic intaglio process and produce excellent prints. Lucy Care, from the Paston Heritage Society, had the vision for the whole thing and worked closely with Annette to bring it to fruition. Part of the exhibition will now go on show at Nottingham, and at the North Norfolk District Council offices in Cromer. The book itself will be on display in the Millennium Library in Norwich in December, and more exhibitions are lined up for the New Year. The Eastern Daily Press recognised the importance of the project by devoting two full page threes to it – one on the Friday and one on the Monday.
Open Studios Taster
The Open Studios taster began on May the third. The Poetry Vending Machine resided rather fetchingly in front of the font, and Bronwen and Lisa's piece 'Basketcase1' was on display at the Assembly Rooms. The taster exhibitions proved a good, well taster, for the main open studio event at our Art Factory studios.
Just a taste
Rupert, Lisa and Tim spent a couple of hours this morning (May 3) transporting the largest Poetry Vending Machine from the Art Factory Studios at Bally to St Giles Church in the middle of Norwich for the Open Studios "taster" exhibition.
Rupert had already done all the preparation, making sure the machine was in good order and its legs could be removed for easy transportation. He had also checked and categorised all the boxes.
At St Giles the machine is in a good position to be baptised, standing as it does in front of the font, adorned with its alluring "make-up". Rupert and Tim invested some cash in checking that it worked and were rewarded by getting their money back. Meanwhile a number of other artists were putting together their exhibits, encouraged by artist Martin Mitchell.
The machine will be at St Giles for two weeks, and then be transferred to Bally for the Open Studios proper.