A group of us soon to be year 3 Fine Art Students decided it would be a good idea to have a little get together before starting back for our final year. And where better than the Sculpture Park at The Sainsbury Centre.
We had all seen some of the work and after spending two years visiting the Sainsbury Centre's Learning Centre for Artslab Workshops I had seen some of them a lot but never all of them and as it continues to grow there is always something new to experience. So armed with a map and a picnic, off we went.
It was very refreshing to find, explore and discuss the pieces on show with a group of like-minded people. And it was free! What's not to like. The pieces on show are very varied and are a mixture of ones by well known artists, such as Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink and Antony Gormley and those you have to dig a little deeper to find information about like Liliane Lijn or Christina Iglesias.
It was not only very interesting to see all the works and be able to see them completely in the round but to also interact with them, touch them, feel the structure and look to see how they were constructed, something that is not really permitted in a white cube exhibition space. (although I have just read the leaflet and it says to not touch or climb on the sculptures... we didn't climb on them).
They also presented an excellent opportunity to photograph them in their unique environment, it was a perfect late autumnal day, so the light was good and the big Norfolk sky lovely and blue, a perfect backdrop along with the ziggurat architecture of the UEA and the Norman Foster designed Sainsbury Centre.
It was after this visit that I started to play with some materials back in the studio to see what I could create. Not replicating or copying but using the shapes that I had recorded as provocations in order to stimulate creation. (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/keeping-creative-during-the-break).
The Sculpture Park is definitely a place for contemplation and inspiration and somewhere that you can visit time and time again to engage with sculpture in the open air. Such a variety of work on display and materials being used it does give you hope for more of the general public to see art in the open and be appreciative of how a three dimensional work can move you visually and bodily.
Comments