To Slack Space! …on Wednesday morning. Bright ‘n early as well. The early bird catches the worm – or even the first sunrays of the Sunny Colch bright new morning.
A new exhibition has just opened up at Victoria Place, and whaddya know – Sunny Colch [of sorts] is the theme. Stretching out the summer in Britain’s Oldest Recorded is Beside the Sea, a joint exhibition featuring the work of Olivia Goddard and Vikki Walsh.
Who needs Clacton when Brightlingsea is but a number 78 bus journey away?
Both Olivia and Vikki are Brightlingsea locals. Each produce brightly coloured artwork that is inspired the seaside and our traditional emotions that are stirred up by this setting. It is a nostalgic look back at the thrill of childhood holidays, but one that is still very much on show around Brightlingsea today.
Different mediums are used throughout the exhibition; brilliant bright colours are the only constant. Short of sifting a ton of sand into the old Co-op bank building that is now used by Slack Space, the beach comes to Sunny Colch experience is almost complete.
But there is also a semi-serious side to the work of both artists. Olivia and Vikki have a passion in promoting the place that they call home. Featured in Beside the Sea is a series of postcards from the postcardsbesidethesea project.
This is an online and offline campaign, encouraging folk to share their positive thoughts about Brightlingsea, and to act as an unofficial tourist guide. The Slack Space exhibition fits in perfectly with these objectives.
We were thrilled to find on Wednesday that beach huts figure prominently. This is a passion of Olivia’s, who has also taken on the restoration and decoration of many of the beach huts around Brightlingsea.
One caption in the exhibition reads:
“A beach hut is for life, not just the summer.”
It is a message that should resonate well around Slack Space when the *shhh* Autumn Festival finds itself taking over the old bank throughout Saturday.
Beside the Sea is being exhibited at Slack Space until 22nd September. The gallery space is open Wednesday to Saturday, from 11am – 6pm.
Entrance is FREE.
