“Wednesday was an altogether calmer day.  I walked along Sheringham’s promenade in search of artist Gaia Shaw’s beach-hut, passing ‘Hello’ written in rocks on the sand, and a cormorant with outstretched wings resting on top of one of the tall metal masts marking the end of a breakwater.  I failed to find Gaia at this time, but spoke with the artist later.  She told me that the activity had been amazingly fertile.  People were unexpectedly enthusiastic to talk about the weather.  As well as facilitating people’s weather memories, Gaia has been working with light to see how in the changing weather-conditions it might imprint textiles with marks.  She was exploring the possibility of a further beach-hut residency, since being by the sea seemed to encourage artistic practice.  Perhaps this was because of the setting’s light and space.  Perhaps too such a setting helped evoke something primal: ultraviolet light and sea-water being important for early organic processes.  Gaia found the setting very conducive to her own attempts to escape from the image, and to use natural cause-and-effect as key elements in her own art.”

See Links:  Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Culture of the Countryside

North Norfolk COAST Festival 2010