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A launch exhibition - Art & Memory for the creation of a National Collection of Contemporary Memorial Art. The exhibition is currently running from 2nd April until 1st November 2009 in the gardens, parkland and arboretum of West Dean Gardens, West Sussex with 53 newly commissioned works by some of the UK's foremost letter carvers. The intended beneficiaries of this exhibition will be the bereaved, the young, the elderly & people from all walks of life, including the visually impaired, the blind and the disabled (specific works have been created).
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It is not generally recognised that we have in Britain an extraordinary tradition of letter carving and memorial art going back hundreds of years. The Memorial Arts Charity plays a critical role in ensuring that this tradition continues to flourish. We seek to promote and foster letter design and letter carving, with particular reference to the founding of a National Collection of Contemporary Memorial Art, and to providing letter carving workshops and apprenticeships. The launch exhibition, Art & Memory will consist of 53 newly commissioned works. The ability of such works to comfort, move and inspire people was borne out by the general public’s enthusiastic response to our pilot exhibition, The Art of Remembering (Blickling Hall, Norfolk, 1998). When the Art & Memory exhibition finishes in November 2009, the works will be distributed to six permanent locations and become part of The National Collection of Contemporary Memorial Art: Blair Castle, Scotland; Winterborne Botanic Garden, Birmingham; The Monnow Valley Arts Centre, Herefordshire; Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire and The Memorial Garden, Canterbury. The collection will evolve over time. A full budget for the project as a whole is available from the charity. We aim to raise over £500,000 to commission artists, to install the works at their permanent locations and continue to provide training through letter carving workshops, but especially for apprenticeships for young people. This incredibly beautiful craft, steeped in tradition, must not be allowed to disappear, it is our heritage.