Give way

By way of explanation of my previous observation that the A11 dualling scheme is flawed, the problem lies at the Barton Mills roundabout. But only southbound. 

The two principal roads leading out of Norfolk towards London converge here. Given that we give way to the right, traffic on the A11 - however adequately catered for on the new dual carriageway - will always have to slow, if not stop, at this point.  Much as it did previously at Elveden. It seems fairly clear that the new scheme will simply have moved the previous pinch-point closer to London.

A southbound flyover, for which there would appear to have been room, would have resolved this

In Season

Every year, round about this time every 'journalist' who has a friend here or indeed has met someone who knows someone in Norfolk puts pen to paper.  Most simply recycle what they've heard or already read - some clearly have not been here recently.

That's bad enough but then you get the occasional one who has been - and that can be even worse. Country Life recently blew the gaff on one of the more private spots, identifying it and how to get there rather too clearly. And then there are those who either really like estate agents - or whisper it quietly - are paid by them and peddle a heady mix of beaches, geese and their selection of desirable properties.

I would rather they didn't but that clearly isn't going to happen. One can only hope that the almost laughably poor train services into Norfolk together with what I think may prove to be a flawed scheme dualling the A11 will continue to ensure we're not that attractive to their readers.

Mixed feelings

Halfway through another year of artist open studios, I must confess to mixed feelings about what has become a bit of an institution. When Grapevine first opened some twelve years ago we showed work by a relatively small number of artists, of whom a surprisingly high percentage were from Brighton and Hove. Now this is where, to my mind, the open studio idea really began to take off. A compact, intense urban environment housing large numbers of artists - and it was a prime visitor destination. The pluses are obvious - lots of choice and variety and relatively close together. With coming of area trails aimed at walking a few yards from one delight to another its success and appeal seemed assured.

However, talking to artists, many even then had their misgivings. One year was good and exciting. Two years was reassuring - the visitors came back. But after that? Why did these people come? Were they seriously looking at the art? Or were they more interested in the coffee/chat and a chance to nose about an 'artists' house? Increasingly, the more established and professional artists started to rethink. Grouping themselves to take away the personal intrusion. Bit like showing in a gallery really - and in due course Brighton began to house a few more proper galleries again.

Here in Norfolk, things have always been a little different simply by reason of the geography. Outside Norwich the artists are widely spread; they tend not to cluster. So other than in one or two places its not so easy to walk or cycle from one studio to another and this has to a degree mitigated against the Brighton effect. The artists experience is inevitably similar with many deciding not to take part each year, finding the uncertainty over visitor numbers inequitable with the disruption and intrusion. And here as well, at the upper end they tend to grow out of it.

From a gallery's point of view, there has always been unease. Why would you encourage this? It's similar to how any business with overheads would feel about competing with someone selling from the garden gate or roadside with no overheads.  And yet each year there are artists who trail round galleries they have no connection with asking for their promotional material to be displayed and are seemingly surprised that this is not seen as a great opportunity by the gallery.

For my own part, I can see some value to galleries. In the most general terms it increases interest and it attracts visitors. However for a gallery that represents a local artist, his or her open studio can albeit indirectly lead to future business for the gallery - and not necessarily for that artist. It also allows the gallery to have a look at an artists work without declaring their hand.  So - swings and roundabouts, but as a non-participant I am generally in favour. After all as one very well-known artist remarked to me,  "its what you do all day everyday, sitting there waiting for people - I just can't face it". Which is why he's an artist and why galleries exist.

Similarities

In meteorological terms, tomorrow is the last day of Spring.  The statistics being trailed are all about it being the third warmest spring on record - which suggests that it has been extraordinary. But having only recently mused on the contrasts in both weather and its affect on artistic interpretations of Norfolk, personal experience is that here 2014 has been similar to 2013.

Having just had two days of unrelenting cloud and rain, the sun is out again - but looking back to this time last year I was then writing about cold, wind and rain on Overy Bank just as I could have done this week. In fact May has been as wet as January with much of that falling in the last couple of weeks. 

Talking to one of Norfolk's better known photographers - who shares my love of all things Overy - he commented how remarkably similar the light has been. One of his best known images of a storm front over the Boathouse taken this time last year was almost replicated this year.

Along the bank, the biggest difference is not the weather but the vegetation, with the Alexanders noticeably bigger and bolder. Whether this is down to warmer temperatures or a different pattern of rainfall we shall never know. It could of course be down to the fertilising effect of the surge, or maybe a different maintenance regime.  Whatever it is that the statistics suggest my guess is that most of us feel its been pretty unremarkable. A typical Norfolk Spring in fact, followed no doubt by a typical Norfolk Summer.

I can see clearly now

In four weeks time, we are showing a small collection of paintings by an artist untroubled by style or fashion. Sister Deirdre Corfe has been a member of the Carmelite community at Quidenham in south Norfolk for over 40 years, entering a world of prayer and contemplation to live a life free of the fuss and fluff of that occupies most of our time.

Her paintings reflect this; they are neither fashionable or decorative. They do however give cause for thought. Thought about why she has painted them, why she has chosen to lead this life and whether all the other stuff - the fuss and the fluff - has any point or value.

in 2008, for her last exhibition with us in Norwich, Sister Wendy Beckett wrote; "Some art is for glancing at, and moving on: some art is for living with.  Art that is not an immediate crowd-pleaser (or displeaser) but has depth to be fathomed and experienced is a rare find, and it is this kind of art that we discover in Deirdre Corfe."  Sister Wendy concluded her comments writing "Corfe’s painting gives amazing pleasure but it is also a challenge.  It demands gently that we look afresh at the world and at ourselves."

I do not spend my life in prayer and contemplation, but even here in this privileged and beautiful bubble, life can sometimes seem complicated and confusing. Each time I meet and talk with Deirdre and look at her work I do feel challenged. Not in a confrontational way, but they do leave me quietly wondering.

Contrasts

To my mind Norfolk has always been a county of contrasts. Its people, its landscapes and its weather. In the last week the latent contrasts in the former have been drawn out by the latter.  Yesterday was largely grey and misty, particularly so out along the bank towards the sea. And yet just a couple of miles inland it was bright and warm. Inevitably this was reflected in people and their mood; at the coast rather moody and mysterious whilst inland the mood was more open and friendly.

Which gave me cause to consider how varied are our perceptions of the place - and how this is highlighted by the variety in the artistic interpretations of all this.  In July we have an exhibition opening of works by Mike Bernard.  Familiar to those who visit the gallery and widely known for his paintings of the West Country, London and the Mediterranean, this will be the first time he and we have shown a collection of Norfolk subjects.  I have yet to see the collection but the first taste suggests Mike sees Norfolk as a sunny place.

This is how many like to see it - family, sand, holidays. We all know it and empathise; its Norfolk - where else could it be?  But if you love this - there will be many of us who at the same time can identify with its other side, the mist and the mystery. Judging by the reaction, the latest watercolour in the gallery by Gerard Stamp, captures the essence of this. There is no perceptible divide between saltmarsh and sky and yet - we know it's there.

The subjects of these two very different interpretations and appreciations of Norfolk are probably little more than 5 miles and a few weeks apart. Yes, they contrast but they don't conflict. It would only take a seafret to roll in over the beach huts and the sun to break though over the saltmarsh for the polarity to be reversed. And isn't that wonderful?

Too cool for its own good? or just catching up?

I'm talking about Norfolk. There's been a suggestion that cool and interesting things are moving out of London because the people who do them can't afford to be there. That maybe so but I don't actually believe it. There's always an edge.  But what about Norfolk? We are the ultimate edge and it is starting to feel like it is all being smoothed out and interesting quirkiness is being pushed out by the money.

It must be the time of year - it is the time when all the money comes back - but I can't help noticing that the relentless drive to be cool and fashionable is going into customary overdrive. The difficulty is that the local economy needs it.

So what prompts this bout of unease? Away from the gallery, some of my time is spent on matters Overy, or to be more precise the Harbour. Like lots of places it really suffered back in December with the surge but of course there were only locals around then. With the return of money, the residual flaws revealed in December are a cause for concern; when is this all going to be tidied, mended and manicured?

In some ways this is fair enough. But when you look at old photos - by old we're talking anything more than 25 years ago - you see things that just wouldn't happen now or would give rise to much coughing and spluttering. Too dangerous, too noisy, too smelly or even too scruffy.

The world has of course moved on but Norfolk is still - just - a bubble in the eddy that is East Anglia. You only have to look at St.Ives in Cornwall to realise what can happen when places just get too cool. Not only is it expensive, it is simply too crowded for its own good. It's probably too late now for Norfolk and was inevitable, but it is increasingly difficult to look at how it was without a slight sadness and unease about where it's headed.