£275,000 Art Collection to go on Public Display at University Campus Suffolk

IPSWICH, England, September 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Two of East Anglia's most successful contemporary artists, Robert Priseman and Simon Carter, have joined forces with University Campus Suffolk (UCS) to launch the region's first ever dedicated collection of contemporary art for the East of England. Artists from seven counties Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have contributed work.

The East Contemporary Art collection will go on display at the UCS Waterfront Gallery in Ipswich during a private view on September 24 between 6pm and 8pm. The exhibition will then be open to the public until November 13.

All the art on display has been produced after the year 2000 by over 115 different artists. The donated works have been valued at over £275,000. In total 160 works will be displayed at the UCS Waterfront Gallery over a series of exhibitions; the first between September 24 and November 13, the second and between November 27 and 16 January 2014.  A third exhibition is scheduled for October 2014.

Leading East Anglian artists including Maggi Hambling (4 works), Mary Webb (who recently had a retrospective at the Sainsbury Centre), winner of the European Sovereign Painters Prize Susan Gunn, The John Moores Prize Winner Nick Middleton, local well-known artist James Dodds and Tate exhibitor Justin Partyka are just a few of the 115 artists who have generously donated their work.

Historically East Anglia has been home to some of the world's most famous artists - Constable, Gainsborough, Morris, Bacon, Freud and most recently Maggi Hambling, John Wonnacott and Christopher Le Brun. Simon and Robert realised that this level of artistic excellence had continued to evolve during the 21st Century with a new group of internationally distinguished artists practicing in the East of England and it was for this reason that the idea of forming the collection was born.

Robert Priseman said: "East Anglia is blessed with many distinguished art museums displaying collections of real significance such as the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Fry Art Gallery, Christchurch Mansion and Gainsborough's House. Simon and I set out to see if we could bring together a new collection, distinct from the historic collections yet complimentary to them, which would act as a showcase for the wealth of artistic talent at work in East Anglia in the 21st century. We were fortunate to receive much in the way of helpful advice and guidance and it quickly became clear to us that UCS in Ipswich was the ideal institution we should seek to collaborate with."

The exhibition marks the beginning of a relationship between artists and UCS' academic staff and students and will be enjoyed by the local community, people from across the region and visitors to Ipswich.

EXHIBITION DETAILS:

Dates: 24 September - 13 November

The first exhibition will be hung in a salon -style and will feature work from:

Richard Allen, Esmond Bingham, James Dodds, John Doubleday, Charles Debenham, Steve Downey, Wendy Elia, Anne Schwegmann-Fielding,  Jane Fredrick, Barbara Howey, Jo Howe, Maggi Hambling, Elizabeth Hughes, Linda Ingham, Gary Malcolm Johnson, Jacqui Jones, Tory Lawrence, Helen Napper, Nicholas Middleton, Malcolm Moseley, Caroline Mc Adam, Caroline Munn, Gideon Pain, Justin Partyka,  Barbara Pierson, Freya Purdue, Alex Pearl, Arabella Shand, Sarah Sabin, Ron Sims, Harvey Taylor, Gemma Watts and Mary Webb.

Dates: 27 November - 16 January 2014

The exhibition will continue from the 27 November with works from:

Debbie Ayles, Richard Bawden, Wendy Cruickshank, Emma Cameron, Annabel Dover, Andrew Dodds, Mark Edwards, Mary Down,  Betina Furnee, Katherine Hamilton, Jo Howe, Brian James, Eliza Kentridge, Jonathan Kipps, Robert Priseman, Simon Carter, Martha Haversham, Richard Hayward, Michael Goody,  Hayley Lock, Steven Newton,  Verity Mansfield, Elizabeth Morris, Alison Stockmarr, Mustafa Sidki, Lisa Temple Cox, Andrew Schumann, Tessa Spencer Pryse,  Rhonda Whitehead, Gemma Watts, Catherine Ward, Sara Wilkinson  and Gosia Urbanowicz.

Dates: October 2014

The third exhibition is scheduled for October 2014 and will support and collaborate with the 'Festival of Ideas' initiative which focuses on the county's contribution to the life of Britain as a whole. This exhibition will be themed on 'Place and Landscape' and will feature:

Amanda Ansell, Simon Carter, Charles Debenham, James Dodds, Andrew Dodds, Anne Schwegmann-Fielding, Susan Gunn, Geoffrey Lefever, Barbara Howey, Melvyn King, Charles Debenham, Joni Smith, Emily Cole, Delia Tournaey - Godfre, David Davies, Colin Nicholas, Nicholas Middleton, David Page, Richard Hayward, Jane Lewis, Kirsty O'Leary, Justin Partyka, Will Reid, Gilbert Richards, Gerard Stamp and Robin Warnes . (25 artists)

Simon Carter is an East Anglian painter who exhibits in the UK and abroad with work recently shown at the Toronto International Art Fair and in the survey exhibition 'Francis Bacon to Paula Rego'. He is represented by Messum's, London and curated the 2012 exhibition 'New East Anglian Painting'. Jill Lloyd, Andrew Lambirth and Peter Vergo have all written about his work.

Robert Priseman is a painter and curator living in Wivenhoe with work in international art collections including Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, The National Galleries of Scotland, Musée de Louvain la Neuve and the Mead Art Museum, Massachusetts. He recently featured in Michael Peppiatt's 'Interview's with Artists 1966 -2012' (Yale University Press).

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