Arts & Culture

The Streaming Sky by David Morris

More than 250 artists have been selected to display their paintings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics and textiles for a special event, and it's due to one common factor - they all live in Norfolk.

Artists will throw open the doors to where they work, whether it's a studio, shed, caravan or spare room during the last two weeks of May for Norfolk Open Studios.

The event is the largest of its kind in the UK and opens on Saturday, 17 May, the day the Norfolk And Norwich Festival closes - whose organisers are also responsible for putting together the Open Studios scheme.

Arts boom

Last year more than 21,000 people are thought to have made a trip to studios across the county, accelerating a local boom in arts sales with nearly 3,000 pieces sold.

Photographer Jo Halpin Jones, who's the Open Studios representative for west Norfolk said the event is equally important for artists and members of the public.

Dawn, Spain (detail) by Jo Halpin Jones

She said: "It's a forum in which they can display their art and obviously if they manage to attract people into their studio they're getting a wider audience to come and see what they're doing.

"It helps to raise the profile of the arts in general.

"People can sometimes feel a bit intimidated about going into art galleries but people are also quite nosy and they find it's quite fun and they wouldn't normally get the opportunity to do that," she added.

Drawn to Norfolk

Norfolk's diverse range of scenery from the glistening Broads to the expanses of farmland stretching into infinity has lured many artists to the patch.

Norfolk And Norwich Festival director Jonathan Holloway said the project is an ideal way for people to appreciate the vast amount of talent on their doorstep.

"Where the festival brings the best performing arts in the world to Norfolk, Norfolk Open Studios opens the door of some of the best artists in Norfolk to the rest of the world," he said.

"Artists are attracted to Norfolk because of the quality of light, quality of life and the fact that it's one of the most beautiful regions and counties in the world," he said.

Monday In June 2 by Rosemary & John Parr

All studios are free to visit and the ethos of the scheme is to give visitors a chance to see how the artists' creativity unfolds.

Personal commissions

For some people it inspires them to commission a piece of work, a notion which perhaps they didn't think possible until seeing an artist at work.

Painter Emma Hart, who is exhibiting at the old Bally shoe factory in Hall Road, Norwich, said the project gives the local arts economy a valuable boost.

"I think it's a brilliant thing to show people that art is alive and well and it isn't something that you can buy from Argos," she said.

"It's something that you should go out and seek an artist and say, 'Eh, I've got this idea and can you do something special for me,' and they're only too happy to oblige or they'll show you round their studio."

Norfolk Open Studios runs across the county from Saturday, 17 May until Sunday, 1 June, 2008. For a full list of where artists are exhibiting go to the Norfolk Open Studios '08 website.