Latest news with #MaggiHambling
Forbes
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
A New Era At Wolterton: Sea State Exhibition Featuring Maggi Hambling & Ro Robertson
Simon Oldfield, Maggi Hambling and Gemma Rolls-Bentley at Wolterton. COURTESY OF GEMMA ROLLS-BENTLEY Hidden within the peaceful North Norfolk countryside, the Wolterton estate is stepping into a bold new chapter. After decades of slumber, the 18th-century Palladian masterpiece built by Horatio Walpole in 1741 has reopened to the public–not merely as a preserved historic site, but as a reimagined centre for contemporary arts and culture. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Simon Oldfield, Wolterton's inaugural arts and culture programme breathes striking new life into one of Britain's top 500 stately homes, opening a dialogue between heritage and the avant-garde, history and immediacy. Set across 500 acres of parkland and framed by a 10-acre lake, the estate's restoration is not only physical–it is conceptual. The space now exists not only to remember the past, but to interrogate the present and look to the future. This season's programming represents a significant milestone in Wolterton's transformation, with exhibitions and residencies curated to explore identity, emotion, memory, and our relationship with the natural world. Installation view, Maggi Hambling & Ro Robertson: Sea State, 2025, Wolterton. PHOTO: EVA HERZOG. COURTESY THE ARTISTS AND WOLTERTON Sea, Memory, and Identity in Sea State At the heart of the new programme is the two-person exhibition Sea State , featuring new work by celebrated British artist Maggi Hambling and the critically acclaimed Ro Robertson. Co-curated by Simon Oldfield and Gemma Rolls-Bentley, Sea State runs until December 7th, 2025, aligning with Hambling's 80th birthday. Occupying Wolterton's Marble Hall and Portrait Room, the exhibition stages a compelling visual and emotional journey through our relationship with the sea–a force Hambling describes as 'ever moving' and 'timeless.' Upon entering the first-floor galleries, the ambient Norfolk light filters through tall windows, catching the textured surfaces of Hambling's waves and reflecting off Robertson's colourful steel sculpture. The effect is immersive and elemental. Hambling's contribution is anchored by her new installation Time in the Portrait Room–an intimate collection of forty Nightwaves radiating around a central portrait of her late partner, Tory, October 2024 . The portrait, according to Hambling, 'painted itself' at the moment of Tory's death and serves as both a tribute and a meditation on love, grief, and nature's continuity. The surrounding wave paintings add emotional turbulence, invoking both the physical might and metaphysical vastness of the sea. Here, the sea becomes more than subject–it becomes a surrogate for memory, loss, and the artist's internal landscape. Sea State, Maggi Hambling, Wolterton PHOTO: EVA HERZOG. COURTESY THE ARTISTS AND WOLTERTON In the adjoining Marble Hall, Hambling presents two new monumental canvases– Summer Wave Breaking II and Wall of Water XXVII . These explosive yet meditative works, part of her celebrated Wall of Water series, ripple with energy and echo the physicality of the ocean. They are not mimetic but expressive–evocative of sound, sensation, and psychic resonance. 'The sound of the sea,' as Hambling puts it, is felt more than seen. Sharing the space is Ro Robertson's The Swell , a bold new site-specific sculpture composed of three undulating steel forms, painted in rich marine hues. The work–which has been acquired by the Ellis Family, current owners of Wolterton–feels both solid and in motion. Each element encircles a central void, which Robertson describes as symbolic thresholds–portals between identities, spaces, and ideas. It is an invitation to look not just at, but through. Robertson's gouache works on paper flank The Swell , continuing their exploration of sea-as-symbol. Born in Sunderland and now living in Cornwall, the artist has long drawn on the fluidity and wildness of the coast to explore themes of queerness, transformation, and emotional resilience. As they note, 'Both the sea and Maggi Hambling are vital inspirations,' reflecting a conversation across generations and identities that's felt palpably throughout the show. The pairing of Hambling and Robertson is a curatorial triumph. Though separated by age and medium, both artists find in the sea a metaphor for life's instability and beauty. The works invite not just admiration but introspection–challenging us to reconsider our relationship to nature, to time, and to one another. Installation view, Maggi Hambling, Sea State 2025, Wolterton. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy the artist and Wolterton. A Wild Pulse: Nessie Stonebridge's Residency On the ground floor of the house, a different but equally compelling energy takes hold. Suffolk-based artist Nessie Stonebridge, currently artist-in-residence at Wolterton, presents new ceramic and painted works that seem to pulse with the wild, untamed rhythm of the estate itself. Her dynamic sculptures and canvases are alive with depictions of Norfolk's native wildlife—swans, dogs, herons—rendered in an expressive style that's as primal as it is poetic. These creatures, often captured in moments of flight, fear, or fight, act as metaphors for personal trauma, resilience, and the human instinct for survival. Stonebridge's work walks a tightrope between chaos and grace, abstraction and figuration. Much of her practice emerges from the land itself–observations made on daily walks through the estate and the surrounding countryside. Whether painted from memory or sketched on site, her animals seem to leap from their surfaces, propelled by an urgency that speaks to life lived on the edge. Through Stonebridge's lens, nature is not pastoral, but fierce, fragile, and ferociously alive. Nessie Stonebridge and Lee Sharrock at Wolterton Lee Sharrock Local Voices and Global Conversations Beyond these centrepiece exhibitions, Wolterton's broader cultural programme includes residencies and research-led projects rooted in place. The Clay Research Group (CRG), based in Norwich, explores the local material history of the estate–engaging directly with the soils, resources, and archival narratives of the region. Similarly, De Onkruidenier, artists-in-residence at the Sainsbury Centre, are based at Wolterton until September, creating work that interrogates ecological memory and environmental change. These initiatives ground the estate's arts programme in the Norfolk landscape–bridging global themes with hyper-local specificity. They demonstrate a clear intention: to make Wolterton not a closed bastion of heritage, but an evolving space for critical, creative, and collective exploration. A Living Estate for the 21st Century What makes Wolterton's cultural revival so remarkable is not just the calibre of artists on show, but the ambition of its vision. It's not simply a gallery, nor a museum, nor a stately home frozen in time. It's all of those–and something more. It's a living, thinking estate that dares to juxtapose grandeur with grit, history with risk, and tradition with transformation. The public can explore the house, grounds, and lake; stay overnight in the main hall or one of several charming cottages; and experience art in a setting that transcends the usual white cube. With bespoke experiences on offer, including private views and curated stays, the estate invites deep engagement–not just a visit, but an immersion. The launch of the Wolterton Arts & Culture Programme marks a powerful and poetic reinvention. This is not heritage for heritage's sake–it's a bold new articulation of how the past can fuel the present. With visionary curation, deep connection to place, and a commitment to dialogue between artists and audiences, Wolterton has firmly established itself as one of the UK's most exciting new cultural destinations. Find more information on visiting Wolterton here. Wolterton Park Wolterton Park
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘It went black': Maggi Hambling describes life as artist after finger amputation
Maggi Hambling's morning routine involves making one drawing with her non-dominant left hand as soon as she gets up – a practice that has come in particularly useful lately, after having her little finger on her right hand amputated. 'On November the 17th, I fell down the stairs, and I had a glass in my hand. And it's cut through the hand and cut through the little finger,' she told the audience at Charleston festival in East Sussex, holding up her four-fingered hand. After the accident happened, she said she 'just sat at the bottom of the stairs with blood everywhere, because I thought Ipswich hospital would be full of drunks and everything on a Saturday night'. She waited until the following morning to go to hospital and, after an initial operation, she and the doctors decided to 'wait to see how it does'. 'But it just went black and began to stink,' the artist said. 'So I had to have it off.' Ever committed to her art – she gets up at 'about five in the summer and six in the winter' and works every day – Hambling was back in the studio as soon as she got back from hospital. She started drawing her right hand, which was in a 'great big bandage', with her left, 'and it felt fine'. Her therapist told her that hand injuries were 'most difficult for musicians and artists because a lot of their brains are in their hands', but that was 'news to me', Hambling said. 'Two of the funniest things' about the injury, she said, were when her plumber came into her studio in Suffolk, 'saw I was working with my left hand, and said: 'Is it going to be half-price then?' 'And then I sent a photograph [of her hand] on my telephone to my friend Carol and she immediately texted back and said: 'You'll have to go to Prince Harry's Invictus Games',' Hambling said. 'And that's the end of that.' The artist was speaking at the festival, held in the grounds of the former home of the Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, alongside the artist Sarah Lucas. The pair have just announced a winter show at Sadie Coles HQ, for which they will each select works by the other. The art scene is 'a stinking, bitchy world', Hambling said, with Lucas adding that a lot of artists want to be in the 'success club', 'get rich' and 'get a yacht'. 'Like Tracey Emin,' Hambling joked.
Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Maggi Hambling: I've lost a finger but it hasn't affected my art
At the age of 79, Maggi Hambling, the painter, sculptor and provocateur, is still making art every day — only now she is doing it minus a finger. The outspoken artist revealed that she recently had to have the pinkie finger on her right hand amputated after falling down the stairs while holding a glass. The accident happened at her home in Suffolk last November but, happily, the injury has not hampered her two greatest talents: making art or smoking cigarettes. She shocked the audience at a speaking event at the Charleston Festival when she held up a conspicuously fingerless hand. 'Can you all see that?' she asked, holding up her right hand, while taking sips of whisky from a glass in her left. 'You
Daily Mirror
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Beautiful UK seaside town with charming high street named among the best
This little-known town in Suffolk is nestled between the picturesque River Alde and a stunning stretch of coastline, featuring a classic high street that is filled with thriving local businesses This breathtaking seaside town is a little escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding villages, providing an abundance of experiences and activities for visitors and residents alike. Aldeburgh in Suffolk is right in the middle of the River Alde and a stunning stretch of coastline overlooking the North Sea. This alluring town offers a whimsical escape from neighbouring towns and has even been named the best seaside spot by The Times. The little pebbled beach features a stunning four-metre-high sculpture of a scallop, created by popular Suffolk-born artist Maggi Hambling entirely of steel by Aldeburgh craftsmen Sam and Dennis Pegg, providing picture opportunities like no other shoreline. Steeped in charm and history, Aldeburgh is a town where every corner tells a story. Its colourful Georgian houses line the seafront, creating a picture-postcard setting that's every bit as charming as it is authentic. The town's heritage as a former Tudor port is still evident today, with historic buildings like Moot Hall, a 16th-century timber-framed town hall that now houses the Aldeburgh Museum. While in town, boutiques filled with clothes, art, and antiques line the high street, alongside independent bookshops and a classic cinema. The high street is also home to culinary delights, from the renowned fish and chips to fine bistro dining, pizzas, and, of course, it's not a beach town without some ice cream! When visiting the town, be sure to stop by O&C Butcher. This 130-year-old clothes store has everything you need and more to kit yourself out for a weekend on the coast, selling beloved UK brands like Gant and Barbour. You can even treat your little furry friend to a matching coat, too! Aldeburgh is well known for its link to Benjamin Britten, the founder of the Aldeburgh Festival, which takes place annually in June. The Aldeburgh Festival has been a pilgrimage for lovers of classical music and culture since 1948. The town is also praised for its outstanding fish and chips. The local fish and chip shop has been in operation since 1967 and has received an overwhelming number of positive reviews from national publications, ranking it as one of the best in all of Britain. There's lots to see and do in Aldeburgh, the historic Quatrefoil Martello Tower is a great immersive experience for the whole family, a relic of coastal defence from the Napoleonic Wars. Walkers have a wealth of enjoyable routes available in and around the town. Among these, the 9.7km Aldeburgh Circular Walk stands out as a popular choice, rated as moderate. This beautiful trail leads you along the striking Suffolk coastline and through the adjacent heath and meadow. Whether you're leaving the city, enjoying the local attractions, or simply looking to try the local chippy, Aldeburgh is an ideal spot for a family staycation.
