A look at the In Proximity Open Art Show at Norwich Castle

By the end of November, the call had received 900 submissions.

This response was a captivating glimpse of the astonishing variety of work being made right now by artists across the East of England.

But what did the call tell us about the health of visual arts in our region?

To sustain a life as an artist is often difficult and complex, balancing time in the studio with other forms of paid work and family life.

And in the heart of Norwich, there have been recent setbacks.

The closure of Outpost Studios, which gave working space to up to 90 artists, to make way for the Anglia Square redevelopment, was a great loss.

Nonetheless, this region can boast a remarkably healthy and dynamic arts ecology.

And it takes a whole ecosystem to build this resilience, to enable people to become artists and to encourage their practice throughout a career.

The work selected for In Proximity is drawn from a cross section of all the elements supporting the artists who live here, and it allows us to trace some of the circuits and communities that sustain their work.

At the heart of many visual arts communities is an art school.

Norwich University of the Arts was founded in 1845 and today has an extraordinarily vibrant campus spread across the city centre.

Many artists who teach there or have studied there are represented in the exhibition, with works encompassing paintings, drawing, printmaking, textile and ceramic.

Like all artists, those leaving university need studios and places to show their work.

Helgate Pottery in Norwich provides studios, classes, gardens and community spaces and brings together a dedicated research group for artists working with ceramic, a number of whom are in the exhibition.

Organisations such as Asylum Studios in Rendlesham, and the Art Station, Saxmundham, Suffolk, also have exhibition spaces.

Artist-run Outpost Gallery in Norwich has delivered a celebrated exhibition programme for over 20 years, extending an artist-to-artist network across the world.

The East of England boasts innovative galleries that have pioneered work with local communities and artists based here and internationally.

In Norfolk these include Primeyarc, Great Yarmouth, Groundwork Gallery, King’s Lynn, and Cromer Artspace.

Ground-breaking programmes are run at 303 Projects, Lowestoft, Ballroom Arts, Aldeburgh, and The Cut, Halesworth, in Suffolk, as well as at Focal Point Gallery, Southend, The Minories, Colchester, Essex and Wysing Art Centre, Cambridgeshire.

Crucially, artists need to not only show their work but to be able to see work from across time and all over the world.

We are fortunate to live close to galleries of international acclaim: Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, the Sainsbury Centre, Houghton Hall in Norfolk, alongside Snape Maltings, Christchurch Mansion and Gainsborough’s House in Suffolk, Firstsite and the Focal Point Gallery, Southend, The Minories in Colchester and The Fitzwilliam and Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.

In recent years, the East Anglia Art Fund (EAAF) has supported exhibitions in many of these organisations.

EAAF has partnered with Norwich Castle to develop the Open Art Show model for more than 20 years, which is another way of offering tangible support to artists; we are delighted to have the support of Jarrolds for this years’ exhibition.

Those selected have the opportunity of showing their work in the grand Victorian galleries of Norwich Castle, alongside the work of their peers.

In Proximity opens this Saturday.

The exhibition takes experiences of closeness as its theme.

Using careful observation and a range of approaches, the exhibiting artists delve into real and imagined relationships with the places, objects, people and other life forms that make up our surroundings.

The first gallery foregrounds work featuring encounters between people and animals, and with urban and rural environments.

Shared concerns with the fragility, power and mystery of the natural world emerge.

Artworks in the second gallery explore objects and materials, and how experiences of proximity can be shaped by time, space, colour and light.

Unusually for a museum exhibition, all the work shown is for sale, which sets in motion a virtuous circle.

When a work is purchased, the sale provides income for an artist and funds for EAAF, which is in turn given as grants to exhibition projects.

The sense of community forming around In Proximity is palpable – artists connecting with artists that taught them, that they work alongside, that they have shown with.

In Proximity: Norwich Castle Open Art Show, is on show at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery until 14 June 2026.

The exhibition was selected anonymously from an open call by writer and curator Sarah Lowndes and artist Daniel & Clara, alongside myself, and Lisa Newby, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.

As well as supporting the exhibition, Jarrolds are sponsoring a cash prize for one artist, as well as bespoke hampers for runners-up.

Dr Amanda Geitner is director of the East Anglia Art Fund