We've visited the The School House Gallery in Wighton, a picturesque Norfolk village. Red kites circled the fields behind the gallery and the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway was just visible through the hedgerows, making daily journeys from Walsingham to Wells and back.
Diana, Alfred Cohen's wife showed us round. I'm not into the art world at all, but it was an interesting visit. Nobody else came to the gallery while we were there and we've seen it since with no cars in the small car park. Our impression is that there are few casual visitors.
Looks like a nice place for a visit. It reminded me of the Watts Gallery in Surrey, where the Victorian artist George Watts had his studio. When people start to give such places the corporate treatment and tart them up, it's game over. I suspect many National Trust properties started out like that before being ruined.
And on a more general level, isn't it nice to know a very small amount about a subject (like I do about art) and just enjoy what we can, including the deeper enthusiasm of specialists? It's like opening up a big vista that we are happy is there, but don't feel inclined to wander about in.
Not sure how popular it is, but have been there, as with many of these smaller galleries/museums they have an attraction of their own, when we visited we also were the only ones there during that time, but sometimes that can be misleading asdifferent days and times can be different. On another note we have hardly visited anything up there on the coast since this wretched virus and its nonsense restrictions were imposed on us, memo to start getting out more now, it's only up the road for us.
Yes it's good to enjoy what we can without delving too deeply. There are quite a few areas where I do that and somehow knowing my limitations doesn't make it less enjoyable. I like many of Cohen's paintings for example. I'm not sure why, but I'm happy to leave it there.
James - a drive in the countryside for me. I can't paint or draw but I can drive.
Wiggia - it's one of our favourite areas of the country, particularly the salt marshes, but also the atmosphere of it all.
dearieme - I like the sound of that but don't have the experience or even the basic knowledge. I know a bit about antiques but not enough.
Our previous experience of Alternative Investing was when we'd bought a bottle of Penfolds Grange to keep for a few years and finally drink. Then I saw a remark in the paper about how much a bottle of Grange had gone for at auction. So we sold our bottle to a local wine merchant on the agreement that we'd take the price in wine. We left with 13 bottles of jolly good stuff. We really couldn't have brought ourselves to drink one bottle that was that valuable.
Our luck was mainly that we'd lived a short walk from one of the finer Penfolds vineyards for a while and knew how good their stuff was.
What I have a whim to do now is to collect British Iron Age gold coins - struck before the legions came. But I am handicapped by my ignorance of the topic. So our art collection will be some small oils and a couple of limited-edition prints. If they don't appreciate in value they can be appreciated for their beauty. We don't have much free wall space so our Hanging Committee might have to meet every month to swap them around.
dearieme - I once had a whim to collect ancient coins, but I lack the experience to plunge in at the deep end. An online forum discussing what was seen as a widespread problem with high quality forgeries put me off too. Our wall space is limited too, so not much scope for more pictures.
7 comments:
Looks like a nice place for a visit. It reminded me of the Watts Gallery in Surrey, where the Victorian artist George Watts had his studio. When people start to give such places the corporate treatment and tart them up, it's game over. I suspect many National Trust properties started out like that before being ruined.
And on a more general level, isn't it nice to know a very small amount about a subject (like I do about art) and just enjoy what we can, including the deeper enthusiasm of specialists? It's like opening up a big vista that we are happy is there, but don't feel inclined to wander about in.
Have you never fancied, AKH, setting up a skylit studio with leather couch and easels everywhere ... or do you prefer the drives in the countryside?
Not sure how popular it is, but have been there, as with many of these smaller galleries/museums they have an attraction of their own, when we visited we also were the only ones there during that time, but sometimes that can be misleading asdifferent days and times can be different.
On another note we have hardly visited anything up there on the coast since this wretched virus and its nonsense restrictions were imposed on us, memo to start getting out more now, it's only up the road for us.
We've decided to pursue Art as an Alternative Investment for the next wee while.
After all it's bound to go up. Up on to the wall, at any rate.
Sam - "And on a more general level..."
Yes it's good to enjoy what we can without delving too deeply. There are quite a few areas where I do that and somehow knowing my limitations doesn't make it less enjoyable. I like many of Cohen's paintings for example. I'm not sure why, but I'm happy to leave it there.
James - a drive in the countryside for me. I can't paint or draw but I can drive.
Wiggia - it's one of our favourite areas of the country, particularly the salt marshes, but also the atmosphere of it all.
dearieme - I like the sound of that but don't have the experience or even the basic knowledge. I know a bit about antiques but not enough.
@AKH: what's required is luck.
Our previous experience of Alternative Investing was when we'd bought a bottle of Penfolds Grange to keep for a few years and finally drink. Then I saw a remark in the paper about how much a bottle of Grange had gone for at auction. So we sold our bottle to a local wine merchant on the agreement that we'd take the price in wine. We left with 13 bottles of jolly good stuff. We really couldn't have brought ourselves to drink one bottle that was that valuable.
Our luck was mainly that we'd lived a short walk from one of the finer Penfolds vineyards for a while and knew how good their stuff was.
What I have a whim to do now is to collect British Iron Age gold coins - struck before the legions came. But I am handicapped by my ignorance of the topic. So our art collection will be some small oils and a couple of limited-edition prints. If they don't appreciate in value they can be appreciated for their beauty. We don't have much free wall space so our Hanging Committee might have to meet every month to swap them around.
dearieme - I once had a whim to collect ancient coins, but I lack the experience to plunge in at the deep end. An online forum discussing what was seen as a widespread problem with high quality forgeries put me off too. Our wall space is limited too, so not much scope for more pictures.
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