Strange days indeed!

Helen Hopkin-Jones • Apr 01, 2020

There is no doubt that we are in interesting, challenging times and it is effecting everyone. Whoever you are COVID 19 is having an impact on us all. This poses as a challenging and stressful time but also gives the human race an opportunity to come together, to embrace all that is good and kind and highlight how we can flourish in a crisis.

It is moments like this that the type of car you have, what material items you have don’t matter. It’s our connections, our meaningful relationships and our creativity in responding to such events that count. When COVID 19 hit Italy local residents started an art project to bring members of the community together, painting, drawing a rainbow with “Andra tutto bene” (all will be well) very quickly wonderful pictures started to appear from people of all ages, hanging sheets from windows, painting posters and pictures. The art work brought a smile to people’s families and created a sense of togetherness and hope while in turn providing the artist, whatever their age, some therapeutic release.

As the virus has spread so have the rainbows.

In the Suffolk village I live in my two boys and myself enjoyed creating rainbows and placing them in the windows. My children were delighted to see the rainbows in windows grow throughout the village and wonderful art work on the pavements, for example hopscotch drawn in chalk with rainbow designs. All these actions done to cheer the hearts of others.

What is so wonderful about art is it’s accessible to all and people of all ages and experience have got involved throughout the world and you can see examples of the varied, inspiring work in the UK on Facebook on the Rainbow Trail page.

Art can serve as a salve in times of need. Creative arts have been springing up in unexpected places, a Spanish balcony, live music in a shopping aisle and beautiful artwork in household windows. All of the examples that we have witnessed over the last few weeks around the world are a reminder of the power of humanity in troubling times and that individually we can collectively touch lives. Now more than ever reaching out to others in creative ways will connect us and bring us together even when we are physically keeping a distance.

Artists have generously offered free lessons online, have performed concerts from their living room and offered virtual galleries. Theatres are streaming performances and sharing readings and concerts. At a time of a lot of unanswered questions art encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, and creativity and to search constantly for new ideas. In doing this it enables us to identify with each other and focus on the “we” and that individually our involvement can make a difference.

Artists are stepping up to help us and their colleagues by entertaining us for free.

All museums and galleries have had to close due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the commissioning of new work has been halted. Art Fairs and exhibitions have been cancelled. At a time that Artists are providing such support we as a society have a responsibility to support them.

I was relieved to see that the Arts Council England has released plans for a £160m emergency response package that will give artists access to cash grants of up to £2,500 and offers £50m to organisations outside its national portfolio, with a further £90m to support national portfolio organisations. However it is clear that more government funding will be needed to ensure that museums and galleries are able to respond in a sustainable way and reach out to the public in meaningful and relevant ways.

The Tate’s director, Maria Balshaw, said the role of galleries and museums is to “keep people’s creatives spirits up” by focusing on online resources.

We must protect the arts during this time and going forward, Art in all its form is vital for our soul and helps us to heal, grow and truly live. When this is over and we can easily pop to the shop, have a beer with a mate down the pub; we must remember what we turned to during the lock down, music, dance, drawing, plays streamed from theatres to name a few; and we have a responsibility to ensure that the Arts are high on the agenda in our education system and in our daily lives.

I hope so much that when the lock down is over, the magic of creativity and the arts is remembered, new creative hobbies continue to be embraced and we continue to value the power of the arts in all our lives.

Thank you Artists for being you and sharing your love. Believe me, it matters.

If you are an Artist please do take a look at the funding support available to you on the Arts Council England website – see link below.

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/financial-support-artists-creative-practitioners-and-freelancers

“Ensuring the people and organisations that make up our arts, museums and libraries are protected during the Coronavirus crisis is our number one priority”. Arts Council England

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We’ll be on YouTube next…

19 Aug, 2021

We are delighted to be working with up and coming Landscape Photographer Owen Clarke who kindly produced this short promotional video of our Bury St Edmunds Gallery for us. It coincided with Owen also creating a video documentary of his journey from shooting photographs on location to printing, framing and bringing his work into the Gallery for us to exhibit. We were delighted (and so was he) when one of our customers purchased his work after being displayed in our window for just a couple of hours. We will be sharing his video story shortly. If you are looking to personalise your home or office with exciting, original art by talented East Anglian artists do call in to see us in Langton Place, Bury St Edmunds or checkout our online marketplace

At the Heart of Art

05 Apr, 2021

We have always been enthusiastic about local art, championing and celebrating the sheer abundance of talent we have in our region, but things have just got a whole lot more exciting here at Art in East Anglia. We have now launched an online marketplace for our members to be able to sell their creative efforts AND we will be opening a physical Gallery for their work to be seen and appreciated ‘in the flesh!’ Firstly we wanted to make it as easy as possible for artists to get the recognition they deserve without having to grapple with difficult technology. So we have been busy simplifying ways for artists to upload their work to our website and for them to be able to make some money from their creative talents - and who wouldn’t appreciate a little more money in their pockets at the moment? Secondly, we wanted art lovers to be able to find and own beautiful, original art whilst supporting the buy local culture that many of us have re-adopted. We think it’s a win-win situation and our new online marketplace is growing every day. If that wasn’t enough, an actual physical gallery seemed the next logical step, so we have managed to find some lovely premises for our first dedicated gallery in the heart of Suffolk. Bury St Edmunds has become a real destination town, having been voted one of the best places to live in the East of England with its rich history, community spirit and culture. It feels the right place for us to showcase our members’ talents. So we have increased our team and we are all are busy painting walls, curating and hanging art ready for opening. As we begin to emerge from lockdown with a feeling of positivity in the air, and fingers crossed that life will start to feel more normal, we hope you will come and join us on the next step of our journey.

Getting creative…

09 Dec, 2020

Innovative ideas to help you sell more art

Call For Proposals for Five Artist Commissions

16 Nov, 2020

Babylon ARTS is seeking proposals from East-Anglian based artists and creative practitioners for five new paid commissions. The new work will be shown at the upcoming contemporary arts exhibition ‘No Frost at Night’. Curated by Sid White-Jones during his time on the Babylon Young Curators programme; the exhibition will form part of Babylon ARTS’ 2021 gallery programme, open to the public from the 12th March - 5th April at the Babylon Gallery. Five selected artists will be commissioned to create new work in response to a single weather diary from 1963, sourced from a collection of archival records known as ‘The Soham Weather Diaries’ which are currently held within the care of Heritage for All CIC. The invitation to apply is open to both established and emerging East-Anglian based creative practitioners over the age of 18, including (but not limited to) artists, creators, designers, makers, performers and writers. Deadline for applications: Monday 14th December 2020, 5pm. Find out more and how to apply here: bit.ly/No-Frost-At-Night

Lockdown 2 – When online art sales matter more than ever

04 Nov, 2020

It wasn't entirely unexpected, but it' s still a shock. Here we go, back into lockdown, and the virus is spreading faster than ever. At the same time scientists are confirming that this thing isn't going to go away any time soon. It looks like we're in it for the long haul, along with most of the rest of the world. What does that mean for East Anglia's vibrant creative community? Well, for a start it means we'll all be back home again for at least a month, and that means plenty of us will be back at the easel making paintings and drawings, carving, potting, casting, doing all the amazing things we artists do. At the same time, we'd all like to sell more work. Especially with so many people's finances suffering. But with the second lockdown in place art galleries will be closing down again, leaving most of us with no sales outlet for our work and nowhere to exhibit or showcase it. On the bright side, there's our members club to join, The Artists Circle. More about that later. First, let's look at some of the latest online art sales trends. Colonial-era art falls out of favour It's interesting to see a genre of paintings going so completely out of favour as the artworks describing colonial-era explorations. Many auction houses are discontinuing sales of prints and paintings from the era, and Christies is holding its final sale of 120 historical pictures of places from Asia, Antarctica, Africa, Australasia, the Americas and the Arctic. They've been holding sales of this type of art since 1968, but this one will be the last. The last sale contains paintings of explorer ships abandoned in the frozen Arctic ice, views of the Arabian Gulf by John Constable’s son, and images of the infamous Canton hong trading depots, all of which represent a colonial era most of us are happy to consign to history. Booming art auctions Down Under It looks like online art auction sales in Australia are booming thanks to frustrated travellers spending their money on art instead of expensive overseas holidays. And the spend is impressive despite Covid-19 restrictions. As the co-owner of one fine art houser in Adelaide said, the shift to online auctions in response to Covid restrictions has hit the mark with art lovers in recent months. The amount of money Australians spend nationally on overseas travel is 'staggering', and it's great to see so much of that money diverted into sales of artwork. He is seeing 'multiple bidders on works that would typically fetch about $4,000 had bolstered prices to about $6,000', and claims the Aussie art market is 'very buoyant', especially thanks to people buying online at home. The USA focuses on online art sales July 2017 saw Artsy, a New York City-based startup, winning a vast amount of venture capital. They wanted to create an 'open and approachable way' to buy art online through a digital shop. 2018 saw the online creative outlet Etsy home to more than 60 million items in its creative market, 2.1 million sellers, and 39.4 million buyers. The point is, online art sales have been a disruptive force for longer than the Covid-19 virus, and Covid means online art sales are on the up over the Atlantic as well as elsewhere. Art Society of Inverness goes online The Art Society of Inverness is set to showcase art by Highland artists thanks to a six week pre-Christmas art fair showcasing more than 100 paintings from local amateurs and professionals, many for sale. It follows the cancellation of the annual summer exhibition in July, usually a very popular event and a huge art sales success. The online event is inviting members of the society to submit up to four pieces of work for consideration for the festive showcase. 44% of Brits due to spend online for Black Friday 2020 Black Friday falls on 27 th November this year, and the Covid lockdown means experts are predicting a vast number of online sales. According to the Global Banking and Finance website “A survey of more than 2,000 people by Atom bank found that 44% of Brits plan to take advantage of this year’s Black Friday sales, with experts predicting that online shopping will hit a peak this Black Friday as savvy shoppers look to take advantage of the online sales, whilst non-essential shops remain closed throughout lockdown 2.0.” Buying art for Christmas All of the above, plus a load more stories along the same lines, give us much more than a mere hint that online art sales will be healthier than ever this Christmas. And that means you need a platform to showcase your own artworks in good time for the festive season. A place where your artwork is revealed in all its glory, in 3D, so it looks absolutely, completely and totally stunning. Online art galleries are thriving, and online art sales are following the same pattern. A truly beautiful member gallery is just one of the many cool benefits offered to The Artists Circle members. If you haven't seen our 3D gallery, take a look at it now . At just £20 a month for Artists Circle membership, it makes a lot of financial sense. How much art will you sell online this Christmas?