Margaret Mellis, Fisherman, 1990/1991. Private collection © the artist, 2008

Exhibition Preview: Summer Exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art in Norwich.

Three exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art in Norwich celebrate art in East Anglia as well as themes and works from further afield.

In the Beginning…The Art of Creation, runs until September 4 2008; Constructed - 40 years of the UEA, will be displayed until December 14 2008, and Margaret Mellis - A Life in Colour, runs until August 31 2008.

François Morellet, Sphère-trame, 1962. UEA Collection of Abstract and Constructivist Art, Architecture and Design

Following successes in the last two years, MA Museology students are presenting In The Beginning, the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) third online exhibition. In this show, students take the opportunity to act as curators for the first time. The project aims to allow them to reach people unable to visit the centre. So far each year has proved more popular than the last.

This year’s theme explores a range of creation ideas including folk stories, religious accounts and scientific theories. Student, Alicia Lloyd, explained: “Through the exhibition we hope to arouse the curiosity of visitors and stimulate their imagination about creation. We would like to encourage debate and reflections between museum visitors. I’m sure a mixture of art and stories will be engaging for a range of ages.”

The online exhibition includes art works made from 3,000BC to 2005AD, creative animations by Norwich School of Art and Design, and a debate forum. The site is accompanied by an exhibition room at the centre, at which visitors can see the original exhibits and create their own art.

Margaret Mellis, Blue Lighthouse, 1952/1954. Private collection © the artist, 2008

Constructed – 40 years of the UEA Collection, runs from July 1 to December 14 2008 showcasing exhibits from the UEA collection of abstract and constructivist art, architecture and design. Constructed will be the most extensive display of the UEA collection since it was founded, along with the university itself, in 1968.

Veronica Sekules, Head of Education and Research at the centre, added: “The artists, architects and designers whose work has been chosen for the UEA collection have a common concern to construct an ordered and rational environment appropriate for the modern world. An underlying theme in the collection is ‘Art and the Machine’.”

The earliest works in the exhibition date from circa 1910 to 1930 and reflect the origins of the modernist movement. The exhibition will also feature a room with Isokon furniture, the work of émigré artists who came to England during WW2. In addition, work by British constructionalists such as Victor Pasmore will be featured.

Gerrit Rietveld, Red-Blue Chair (replica, 1968.) UEA collection of abstract and constructivist art, architecture and design

Upholding a local theme, Margaret Mellis - A Life in Colour runs from July 1 to August 31 2008. The exhibition reveals Mellis’ life-long preoccupations: passion for colour and fascination with form. Margaret outlines her thinking: “For me painting is a way of making discoveries and of making a thing. When the areas of a painting start reacting together and yet hold together, the thing starts to live. Sometimes it gives a sort of kick.”

Born in China and one of the St Ives group of artists in Cornwall in the 1940s, Margaret settled in Suffolk in 1950. A Life In Colour is the first major exhibition of her work since she retired in 2001 aged 87. The exhibition displays over 60 items, spanning her career from the early still-lifes to the abstract reliefs and the magnificent constructions made from driftwood found on Southwold beach.

Max Bill, Three Equal Volumes, 1969. UEA collection of abstract and constructivist art, architecture and design

For further information about the new exhibitions please visit www.scva.ac.uk/ or contact the centre on 01603 593199.

This is an exhibition preview. If you’ve been to see the show, why not let us know?

Katie Brinkley is the 24 Hour Museum/Norwich HEART Student Writer in Norwich. Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) is the groundbreaking initiative to regenerate, manage and promote one of the most remarkable heritage resources in the UK and in Europe.