Child's Play
We are excited to announce the first exhibition of the 2024/25 programme, ‘Child’s Play: Exploring Childhood Through Art.’
The play-on-words of the exhibition’s title addresses the long-withstanding criticism of Modern Art, and continuous comparison of work which abstracts from conventional methodology to that of a child’s scrawl. Our exhibition aims to seesaw this attitude and recalibrate it on artworks centred on liberty of the creative childlike mind, exploring themes of nostalgia, memory, and perhaps foremost of eccentricity. Relevant movements include (but are not limited to) Surrealism, Toyism, and Abstraction.
‘Child’s Play’ will be accompanied by a DJ set exploring Tezeta, an Ethiopian music genre that translates to ‘nostalgia’, to introduce an atmosphere of sentimentality and carefreeness. Opening night will take place on Wednesday, October 9th, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Pop-Up Market
The Norman Rea Gallery is pleased to announce the first event of the 2024/2025 academic calendar: a Pop-Up Market. First conceived in 2022 by Tash Crane, the previous Co-Vice-Director for the 2024/2023 committee, the Norman Rea’s pop-up shops have since become a bi-annual tradition. Continuing this ever-popular event, this September’s market will see the gallery transformed into a hub for vintage sellers, printmakers, and independent creatives with a whole host of wonders on offer. From vintage clothes and vinyls, to house plants and local publications, the Norman Rea’s Pop-Up Market will have something for everyone and we look forward to seeing you there! Entry is free and membership is not required in order to join us. The event will take place in the gallery on Thursday 19th September 2024, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
Cultural Resistance: Celebrating Palestinian Art, Culture and Heritage
The University of York Palestinian Solidarity Society and Norman Rea Gallery are pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition titled ‘Cultural Resistance, Celebrating Palestinian Art, Culture and Heritage’. This exhibition aims to highlight how art acts as a form of creative resistance against Israeli occupation.
This space aims to be inclusive and centre Palestinian art and culture. By providing a platform for Palestinian art and culture, we aim to challenge stereotypes and foster solidarity with the Palestinian people. We aim to offer visitors a glimpse into the rich history, heritage and culture of Palestinians. Over the last 6 months we have seen over 33,000 Palestinian men, women and children killed by Israeli occupation forces. This exhibition also aims to raise emergency funds for Fadi Hania (a University of York alumni) stuck in Gaza, who needs urgent humanitarian intervention to evacuate him and his family from Gaza. You are welcome to donate your art piece for an auction where all funds raised will be donated to Fadi's Go Fund Me.
Opening night will take place Wednesday 24th April 18:30-21:00. Join us by standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The Grand Finale: Art of the Extravaganza
We are excited to announce our final exhibition of our 2023/24 programme, “The Grand Finale: Art of the Extravaganza.”
The experience of daydreaming and thinking of alternatives to reality is one we all share, from our imaginary childhood friends to our mood-boards of manifestations. Throughout life we use fantasy as a form of escapism, but can these be transformed into tangible, real experiences? Art itself can be seen as a construction of the imagination, helping to bring the weird, the wonderful, and the whimsical into this realm in ways that speak to our own minds. This exhibition seeks to raise questions about how artists create a sense of drama in their works that transcends the mundane.
“The Grand Finale” brings together artists who explore theatricality and extravaganza through a variety of themes, materials, and techniques. These create pockets of fantasy within our own world, transforming the ordinary into the opulent and dreamlike.
“The Grand Finale” will be accompanied by live jazz and interactive media on opening night, which will take place on Wednesday 6th March 6:30-9pm, and it will finish exhibiting on March 23rd.
Threads of the North
NRG will be collaborating with Hard Magazine to bring you Threads of the North - our February Fashion Show
In decades past, the dress of society has been largely governed by cultivated styles and trend cycles, relentlessly dictating what is to be considered ‘in’ and what is to be deemed ‘unfashionable’, often stripping the industry of any creativity and expression. Threads of the North seeks to challenge this reductive way of thinking, and instead embrace the variety and innovation that fashion can induce.
We will be showcasing the best of local designers, who each, in their own ways, change the ways that clothing ‘should’ look like, challenging the so-called ‘rules’ of fashion.
The catwalk will take place on Wednesday 21st February from 7:00pm-8:00pm, with doors opening at 6:30pm. It will be a joyous celebration of fashion and we look forward to welcoming you and encouraging your presence at Bobo’s afterwards!
Entry will be £3 for members and £5 for non-members, which will be available over our Instagram: @normanreagallery.
Perceiving Nature
We are proud to present the third exhibition of our 2023/24 programme — Perceiving Nature: Exploring Representations of the Natural World.
Natural imagery is an integral element of art historical tradition - for thousands of years artworks have represented nature in a variety of ways: flowers, plants and animals have been utilised to symbolise ideas pertaining to folk culture, mythology and religion. The natural world in art exists almost as a means of communication, with flowers and plants becoming words in a visual language.
Natural imagery is often used as a means to understand our place in the cosmos: how do we fit into the patterns of the world around us? How do we find meaning within it? How does it make us feel? Why does it exist in the way that it does?
This exhibition seeks to reframe the world that we see everyday and open our minds up to more diverse ways of capturing it. We want to explore everything that is folk, rustic and rural: landscapes, spirituality, surreal artworks, and liminal natural scapes, with work about the cosmos, the elements, and more.
Opening Night will take place on Wednesday 31st January from 6.30-9pm, and will feature immersive soundscapes. It will stay up in the gallery space until February 16th. Stay tuned for exciting upcoming collab events too!
January Pop Up Market
Come to the gallery for our January Pop Up Market to support us and some local businesses! We’ll have vinyl, books, accessories, independent designers and vintage fashion, as well as local artists and publishers. We love bringing local and small businesses together for students so would love to see you there!
Make Space: Subverting Tradition Through Art
We are excited to announce the second exhibition of our 2023/24 programme “Make Space: Subverting Tradition through Art.”
For centuries we have fashioned our collective identities through visual manifestations, whether through the clothes we wear, the art we make, or the poetry we write.
Make Space wishes to examine the spaces we create for new and unconventional identities to be fully expressed, looking at their conditions and reasons for existing. We are intrigued by art that protests the status quo, and the nuances of its resistance.
The opening night for Make Space will take place on Wednesday 22nd November from 6.30-9pm, and will feature live DJs and performance art!
Make Space will be in the gallery until December 8th.
ArtSpeak: conversations between art and language
Our first exhibition this year will be ‘ArtSpeak: Conversations Between Art and Language.’
Just like art, language is in the very fabric of humanity and has been used since the evolution of our species. It has developed from signs for survival to the establishment of thousands of unique languages, which allow people to express themselves both individually and collectively.
ArtSpeak brings together artists who explore language through a variety of themes, materials, and techniques, demonstrating the versatility of language and its wider purpose in art.
Ultimately, this exhibition seeks to raise questions about the importance of who uses language, who it addresses, how it is being used, and to what ends.
ArtSpeak’s opening night is Wednesday 4th October from 6:30 to 9pm. Alongside the exhibition, the event will include performances, live music from BandSoc and interactive elements.
September Pop Up
We are excited to announce our first pop up shop of the year - this afternoon will host a variety of independent designers, vintage sellers, artists and much more!
This event is open to everyone, including members of the public - come and join us at the gallery from 1:30-5:30pm to support some small local businesses and of course our NRG merch stall!
Norman Rea Retrospective
A chance to reminisce on the past year with a panel of directors and artists, discussing exhibitions and events ran by the 2022/23 committee! Join us to celebrate our wonderful creative space!
Scott Award: Alchemy
We are excited to be hosting The Scott Award in the Norman Rea Gallery again this year, where entrants' takes on the theme Alchemy will be exhibited!
All works should be emailed to langwith-scott-award@york.ac.uk by the deadline of Friday 26th May, for a chance for your work to be showcased and to win a cash prize! All media accepted!
Alchemy is defined as 'a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.' The call is for artworks that explore the intersection between art and science, human consciousness and creativity.
Opening night will be on Friday 2nd June from 6:30pm-9pm. We can't wait to celebrate everyone's artwork!
Go to @thescottaward on Instagram for more information & inspiration!
Body-Architect
We are excited to announce our fourth exhibition of 22/23, ‘Body-Architect’
Body-Architect will create an environment that traces the human body in different physical spaces.
This exhibition will act as an artistic focus on work that is inspired by the evolution of the body in relation to scientific, technological and aesthetic developments, as well as present-day understandings. A visual overview of the interaction between bodies and their environments,
Body-Architect will also explore what constitutes the self, and what defines us from each other, asking the crucial question: “how is the self presented both within and against the body?”
Body-Architect opens 6th March, accompanied with live music and interactive events!
queer!
We are super excited to announce our first exhibition of 2023, queer!
This exhibition celebrates queer diversity, empowerment, and joy. The society we live in, even in York, continues to present hate, challenge, and pain to the queer community - and so we therefore believe it is important to challenge this by instead spotlighting the positive, euphoric, and exuberant aspects of LGBTQ+ experiences and expression.
Given that this is the Norman Rea Gallery’s first exhibition wholly devoted to this topic, queer! will embrace a broad concept of queerness, sexuality, and gender as a way of reflecting the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and queer spaces generally.
January Pop Up
Due to popular demand, we are hosting another pop-up shop in the gallery! Support local independent creatives selling prints, zines and more.
We are York: Celebrating Local Artists of Colour
In 2021, the team at Norman Rea Gallery partnered with the York Anti Racist Society and Racial Justice Network to commission a series of artworks created by artists of colour reflecting on the experience of living in our city. These artworks will find their permanent home in the University’s art collection.
Due to the pandemic, these contemporary art pieces were only shown for a short period of time in 2021. More than a year after the commission, the Humanities Research Centre joined forces with the University Art Collection and the Norman Rea Gallery to bring these works into the limelight they truly deserve.
We are delighted to have installed a selection of the Represent York Commission inside the Humanities Research Centre as part of the celebrations of this year’s Black History Month.
Join us for the exhibition launch where you will have a chance to see the artwork up close and then hear from the artists themselves about the thinking behind their creations. The event will be followed by drinks and nibbles in the foyer of the Berrick Saul Building.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Megan Russell at hrc-admin@york.ac.uk
INhibition
As part of the Norman Rea Gallery’s 22/23 programme, we are excited to introduce our second exhibition of the new academic year… ‘INhibition’
Our exhibition title applies to the moment when fear and embarrassment thwart someone's ability to feel at ease, moving them to act in unnatural ways that may constitute artwork, or relief through artwork. By selecting artwork that answers the question “How does ‘Art’ speak to you?”, our committee and members have curated this exhibition through their personal attitudes towards ‘Art’. Through this, INhibition will focus on the emotive response.
INhibition redefines what we define ‘Art’ to be, we want to emphasise that ‘Art’ encompasses a large visual plane. Rather than traditional art forms found in galleries, NRG have included alternative forms of ‘Art’. Through this, we’ll gauge more of an audience response on what ‘Art’ is, and how its contextual viewing can alter what we define as ‘Art’.
Our opening night will incorporate interactive elements and live musicians, which welcomes everyone in both our student and wider community.
Cache Money
We are excited to introduce our first exhibition of the new academic year: Cache Money, inspired by the digital technologies exhibited in 180 The Strand’s Future Shock exhibition. During the 33 years since the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989, our society has become one of data storage and transmission, in a world dependent on technology as a mode of thinking and doing. This development of technology has led to advancements in all aspects of life; communications have never been faster, services have never been so efficient, and the growth of an idealistic virtual reality has created conversation surrounding the “metaverse”.
This exhibition will bring attention to artists who have grappled with technology, artificial intelligence, media, and the metaphysical. It will discuss impacts across many areas of daily life, and will ultimately question the meaning of humanity against the backdrop of our current social and political society. The exhibition will be accompanied by interactive media and live musicians on our opening night, which welcomes everyone in both our student and wider community.
Pop-Up Shop
We are excited to announce that NRG will be hosting our first Pop-up Shop on the 5th October 3:30-8 in the Gallery! The afternoon will host a number of vintage sellers, print makers, independent designers as well as our own brand new NRG merch!
Entry is free, and you don’t need to be a member to come and browse.
'That's Hot' Exhibition
As part of the Norman Rea Gallery’s 21/22 programme we are pleased to announce our final March exhibition as a committee, That’s Hot. This exhibition will be part of our five-day festival with HARD magazine, Modern Renaissance: York’s Creative Festival. The exhibition takes inspiration from the beginning of 1990s to the 2010s, with the inclusiveness of third/fourth wave feminism which redefined what it meant to be a feminist; embracing individuality and diversity.
That’s Hot aims to recognise the diversity of marginalised experiences, and how women of colour were continually being whitewashed and oversexualised; such as the characterised hyper sexualisation of Asian women, and the origins of Y2K trends that derived off Black and Chicano cultures.
Within every fashion era, the Anti-Fashion movement will be interrogated alongside this through topics surrounding 1990s skate culture. Originally a male-dominated sport and trend, we want the exhibition to reflect the division of binary roles that is slowly diminishing as well as highlight the ever-increasing fast-fashion due to commercialism.
That’s Hot will exhibit a diversity of mediums which will be accompanied with live music inspired by 90’s, Hip-Hop and R&B sounds.
This is the final event with our 2021/2022 committee so we hope that you will be able to come along to our Opening Night on the 7th of March, 6:30-9:00pm.
Modern Renaissance: York’s Creative Festival
HARD Magazine and the Norman Rea Gallery are hosting Modern Renaissance: York’s Creative Festival , a five day festival celebrating the arts & culture scene in York. This festival takes inspiration from both the new and older generation of creators, artists and designers as they navigate themselves through the world of contemporary creativity. Modern Renaissance is a display of how local innovation has shaped the city of York and influenced its community - both as a University and as a city.
Through this event and the subsequent environment it will create, we are able to provide students and members with an outlet for their own personal creativity. We welcome everyone to participate, reflect on their understanding of art and be part of a larger creative community.
This will provide students with the opportunity to engage and learn from their local environment and meet with creative professionals. It will entail a wide range of events from the That’s Hot exhibition to the HARD Magazine launch, as well as a poetry night, a fashion show and networking event.
Resuscitate Volume Two
Norman Rea Gallery are proud to announce our new upcoming exhibition ‘Resuscitate’
‘Resuscitate’ emerges from the collaborative and beautiful process of turning waste into art. By artistically repurposing discarded objects perceived as ‘waste’, ‘Resuscitate’ challenges the conventional ideas about what art is and what counts as art.
This exhibition is inherently interactive, ‘Resuscitate’ will provide an opportunity for anyone to be involved in the creation of the exhibition’s artworks. The exhibition is therefore divided into two parts, ‘Resuscitate: Volume 1’ and ‘Resuscitate: Volume 2’ – the first consisting of the art-making process and the second being an opportunity to view these collaboratively-produced artworks to the public.
Resuscitate Volume One
Norman Rea Gallery are proud to announce our new upcoming exhibition ‘Resuscitate’
‘Resuscitate’ emerges from the collaborative and beautiful process of turning waste into art. By artistically repurposing discarded objects perceived as ‘waste’, ‘Resuscitate’ challenges the conventional ideas about what art is and what counts as art.
This exhibition is inherently interactive, ‘Resuscitate’ will provide an opportunity for anyone to be involved in the creation of the exhibition’s artworks. The exhibition is therefore divided into two parts, ‘Resuscitate: Volume 1’ and ‘Resuscitate: Volume 2’ – the first consisting of the art-making process and the second being an opportunity to view these collaboratively-produced artworks to the public.
Volume One will consist of two dates:
- 25th January, 18:00-21:00
- 27th January, 18:00-21:00
'Sitting Idle' Film Screening
A film screening that will be held in the Norman Rea Gallery. Anyone welcome to come- open to members, and also non-members. We will be providing drinks. The film 'Sitting Idle' 2021 is made by the filmmaker Luke Olutunmogun (a graduate from York 2019), and is a visual poem that follows the life of a nameless character over the course of a year. Explores feelings of loneliness and alienation amid the decaying urban landscape.
Dream Land
As part of the Norman Rea Gallery’s 21/22 programme we are pleased to announce our November Exhibition Dream Land. The exhibition takes inspiration from the rebirth of beauty in Europe from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Dream Land looks at how the injection of ethereal beauty in art throughout the centuries has been reimagined in our new cultural and political landscape. It furthermore understands the subjectivity of the term “Beauty” and it looks at how it has been shaped and changed by our contemporary truths.
John Keats once wrote that “The Imagination may be compared to Adam’s dream – he awoke and found it truth”. The imagination is inherent in art, it is the foundation of nearly all artistic beauty. The Dream Land exhibition probes the extent to which imagination is truth or whether the truths of today determine the imagination. Dream Land will thus be exploring the ethereal in a reintroduced setting of the modern landscape through artists whose work touches upon these issues.
NORMAN RAVE
As part of the Norman Rea Gallery’s 2021/2022 programme, we are excited to introduce our first exhibition of the new academic year Norman Rave. Inspired by Saatchi Gallery’s 2019 retrospective exhibition, ‘Sweet Harmony’. This exhibition will be exploring multiple artworks that reflect the revolutionary review of rave culture through the lenses of those who have experienced or been inspired by it. In turn, we encourage our audience to question how the new world that emerged from the acid house scene is mirrored in the rave culture of the youth of today, especially after such an unprecedented year.
This exhibition will feature the artists and observers who have captured and archived the atmosphere of rave culture. Norman Rea Gallery will be hosting and featuring an exciting line-up of DJs; bringing together an array of artworks and sounds from across the nation. We will be featuring urban works that are exciting, psychedelic and colorful. This exhibition marries art and music, injecting campus with life and energy after COVID-19 has silenced artists across the world this past year. We hope we can start the new term with a fun, positive experience and dedicate this space to our members and the public. This event will provide students and prospective gallery members with an opportunity to explore the way that art and music has shaped the current youth culture of today.
Perspective
PERSPECTIVE Installation is bringing art to West Campus in a time where access to art is limited and the importance of looking after our mental health is at an all time high.
Perspective, will rejuvenate the art scene by bringing it to the student’s door step. It aims to serve as a temporary event that will adapt to the students daily life. It will transform the university campus into a place of colour and vibrancy, which is important now more than ever with student mental health at an all time high. It will exhibit artists whose work is exciting, colourful and who understand the importance of mental health.
Isaac Julien Film Screening
An exclusive screening of two moving image works, Who Killed Colin Roach? (1983) and Derek (2009) by acclaimed filmmaker Isaac Julien
To mark Black History Month, Norman Rea Gallery and the History of Art Department invite you to an exclusive screening of two moving image works, Who Killed Colin Roach? (1983) and Derek (2009) by acclaimed British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien CBE RA. Who Killed Colin Roach? is a poetic investigation into the murder of a young black British man outside a police station in East London. Derek is a documentary exploring the life and art of pioneering queer filmmaker Derek Jarman. The films will be shown sequentially and be introduced by the directors of the gallery, Senah Tuma & Faith I Weddle. This event will take place online on October 20, 2020 at 7pm. A link to the website will be provided closer to the time.
The Norman Rea Gallery Web Team took on the curatorial task of creating a screening website and a means to document the event afterwards. The team consists of Senah Tuma, Faith I Weddle, Mariah Chuan and Nicole Fairey, with support from the History of Art Department.
Change - a digital exhibition
The aim of this digital exhibition is to support and promote the artworks of Black and POC* artists surrounding responses to police violence and racism.
Museums and galleries have a huge part to play in addressing historic oppression and institutional racism. As a voluntary, student-run not-for-profit gallery, our core aim is to provide opportunities for budding curators; we have a responsibility to address race from the beginning of our careers. We have a responsibility to instill, in these student curators, a sense of social responsibility and agency.
As our first digital exhibition and our first exhibition to be held outside of the University of York’s term times, “Change” aims to serve as a permanent resource for those wishing to educate themselves as well as an illustration of artistic responses to racial injustices. Exhibiting artists have provided links and quotes relating to their personal experiences and responses not just to the Black Lives Matter movement, but to racism and race-related injustices as a whole.
3 years ago, figures positioned our University’s student body as 87% white,** and as their student-run gallery; the Norman Rea failed to respond at the time. This exhibition has been created in response to the urgency of the current Black Lives Matter movement, and as a result of the newly elected committee’s aims to be more representative. We have begun an active mission to tackle diversity, equality and true representation on campus. Our committee - made up of students - is hugely diverse, in race, age, subject of study and cultural background; we owe it to our members and ourselves to represent our reality and the reality of others, and we will work towards better representation and to widen the expanse of artists we represent throughout the coming year.
This is not a one-off performative exhibition, rather a marked statement that from this point forward, we have made a commitment towards long lasting change within the way we function as a gallery. Alongside this exhibition the Norman Rea Gallery is actively meeting with the University of York, with a call to action to support POC artists within the University’s Art Collection. This collection contains a very small percentage of artworks created by POC. Our events throughout the year - available to our members - will explore ideas of race within the art world and beyond. We will also be fundraising throughout the year for BLM charities. It is important that we, as a gallery, consider our role and impact in this conversation, while utilising our platform.
*POC = Person/People of Colour
‘POC’ is a blanket term for everyone who is not white, while we recognise blanket terms can be problematic, ‘POC’ was coined by people of colour activity fighting racial oppression, and therefore has its roots in solidarity and anti-racist movements. We perceived it as the most appropriate term as of 2020/21.
**Statistics from HESA, 2016/17.
UP NORTH
In October 2019, reports from the European commission defined York as the UK’s most culturally vibrant city, in response to this, as a Northern hub of creativity, we wanted to offer a platform for young Northern artists to flourish.
As a student run gallery in the North, we feel it is our responsibility to provide a platform for our contemporaries to display their works in a professional setting.
When the Norman Rea Gallery first opened in the 70s, our founder was aware that “young artists sometimes struggled to get started, to find a gallery that would be willing to give them space for their own exhibition.” He wrote to us recently, explaining that he “felt that we could offer that chance,” on campus at The Norman Rea Gallery. By exhibiting young artists from the North, we aim to continue what our founder originally intended: an accessible platform for artists to exhibit and a welcoming environment, inviting students of all courses and interests at the University of York and surrounding areas to get involved.
This exhibition explores the identities of young Northern artists.
