ABOUT US: C&C show contemporary art and applied art from East Anglia

Contemporary and Country (C&C) present contemporary and applied art by artists and makers based in the east of England in exhibitions that celebrate their rural surroundings.

C&C work with artists and makers inspired by their environment or who use sustainable materials in their production process. Many live and work in rural areas, the villages and towns of East Anglia. Through their work they bring about a closer understanding of the countryside and reveal how their surroundings influence their creative thinking.

Country matters

Rural communities throughout East Anglia have become places where creative practitioners can make their work in relative peace and isolation. Unfortunately there are relatively few places to show the results of their labour. Many of the issues that concern the artists and makers C&C show, like the effects of climate change and the limitations of the rural economy are not restricted to the East Anglian region. They are concerns shared by artists and makers working in geographically isolated communities located throughout the UK. C&C's exhibitions are configured around themes that provide a forum for these issues. The variety of thematic ideas attract audiences from rural communities as well as visitors from cities like London, Cambridge and Norwich and from other regions of the country. They pull in an informed audience, drawing attention to the creative people C&C work with, brokering sales and facilitating greater understanding of their work and production process.

What makes the east of England a good location for creative activity?

During the last fifteen years artists and makers have exited the cramped conditions of cities like London, discovering creative hot spots in settings much more condusive to creative production. The east of England is one of several regional locations where this process has continued unabated as London has become a hostage to unrestricted development. East Anglian creatives have access to generous workshop and studio space and better working conditions with fewer distractions.

While fragmented by distance, the east of England does have public sector museums and galleries. Some, like Firstsite and the Minories in Colchester, and The Sainsbury Centre at the UEA campus on the edge of Norwich, occasionally display work by artists with a connection to East Anglia. These publicly funded organisations enjoy a national profile and take in touring exhibitions. But they are few and far between.

Commercial galleries that promote artists and makers from within the region quickly become unviable, unless they cater to the tourist market. Which is why C&C have taken a different approach to exhibition making. Working across disciplines, displaying original work in different exhibition spaces, C&C have been building a dedicated audience for art and craft while avoiding being teathered to a single location or institution. C&C's projects are tailored to the way artists and craftspeople operate today, providing a curated context to show their work to its best advantage in more unusual spaces to connect with new audiences.

You may have already been to a C&C Pop-Up

C&C's exhibitions have been held at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge, The Crypt Gallery, Norwich, The Fermoy Gallery and Shakespeare Barn at The Guildhall, King's Lynn, Houghton Hall Stables, in West Norfolk, at BallroomArts, Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, The Granary (Jarrolds), Norwich, and at Creake Abbey near Burnham Market on the North Norfolk coast. For each of these installations the work was chosen to suit the circumstances of the built environment being used, whether that was a purpose built art gallery, the top floor loft-space in a converted warehouse store, or an ancient chalk and flint barn.

The exhibitions at the Stables Houghton Hall took place between 2017 and 2023. These were large group shows featuring between 30 to 45 artists and makers with an East Anglian connection that were predicated upon a common theme. C&C's large group exhibitions were configured to support the solo exhibitions by acclaimed international artists: Richard Long, Henry Moore, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Tony Cragg, Ernst Gamperl, John Virtue, and Sean Scully.