WAVES flow along the north Norfolk coast every day - but a 9ft tall “breaker” with a difference turned heads when it rumbled along the shoreline …by road.
WAVES flow along the north Norfolk coast every day - but a 9ft tall “breaker” with a difference turned heads when it rumbled along the shoreline …by road.
The arrival of the wall of water at a seaside churchyard was not a flooding disaster - but the signal that an annual tide of artwork is flowing in.
Salthouse's church has become the venue for an arts event that attracts more than 6,000 people with a range of displays, workshops, recitals and talks.
The giant wave which arrived on the back of a trailer is among scores of art pieces which will figure in the month-long festival which starts today. It was made by four north Norfolk artists - Sam Robbins, Tony Eadson, Jenny Rumens and Annie Lloyd - from a mixture of materials, including plastic water pipe, chicken wire and expanding foam, and is called 430,000 - the number of homes under threat from rising sea levels in the next 50 years.
The wave, and its warning, fits in with the Seahouse, Lighthouse, Spirithouse theme of the event. The brief was to focus on the 15th century church's building, history and setting near the sea and bathed in the “northern light” of north Norfolk, said this year's curator, Ian Collins, who is marking 30 years as an arts writer with the News' sister paper the EDP.
Some of the striking creations would include a copper leaf sail hung from the church tower, a life-sized crab boat painting altar piece, underwater photographs taken on a sunken wreck off Cley, and a shelter and lanterns on the shingle bank and marshes.
There is also a “camera obscura” igloo offering an unusual view of the landscape, and a flood-related soundtrack in the church created by Roger Eno, brother of Roxy Music's Brian Eno.
A new 10-mile sculpture trail which can be explored by foot, cycle or rail has been added this year. And a series of events include readings from author Louis de Bernieres, a chat with daytime TV's Trisha Goddard, Cuban music and a poetry and Pimms evening.
Details about displays and events during Salthouse 08, which runs from July 3 to August 3, from www.salthouseart.org.uk, and details of the sculpture trail on www.salthousetrail.co.uk
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