News

We are delighted to announce our first visiting artist exhibition of Norfolk sculptor Bob Catchpole.

Bob's sculptures present a dichotomy: both humorous yet thought provoking, these pieces intrigue. The works are highly tactile and well crafted, demanding to be touched. 

Artist's Statement 2021                              

Bob Catchpole harnesses the agricultural tool as a metaphor for man's relationship with landscape and buildings, attempting to explore the historic and contemporary link between the land and the built environment. His work uses farm tools that have helped to reconstruct the landscape of Norfolk whilst also celebrating the rich variety and sophistication of the tools needed to work the land.  The sculptures undermine our preconceptions about the nature of function and the man-made world we inhabit. The tools become surreal objects, at once humorous and mysterious. 

ABOVE: RAIN DANCE, HOLKHAM BEACH, NORFOLK

Simple imagery with a strong graphic quality draws me in. Rhythmic bands of interest broken with a vertical focal point is visual poetry to my eyes. The striping delineates and dissects the panorama. Whether wide or sinuous - it’s the dynamic of the sections that is exciting. It is the balance and harmony versus the abrasion of colours and textures that is engaging. I see the challenge as an artist, is how to make such basic inspiration intriguing - to translate the joy into something tangible through media. A lifetime of layering different materials to build and excavate has led to multiple approaches. The current fascination with pigment and wax has evolved over many years of experimenting to source a painting medium that embraced all that I needed to execute the energies within. In these natural materials I have found a voice that speaks my mother tongue.

ABOVE: NOWHERE TO HIDE, NORFOLK

ABOVE:  SERENITY, HOLKHAM BEACH, NORFOLK

I am seeking to create on the canvas, an almost reincarnation of a fleeting moment that requires an enveloping of the elements at the site. Whether a tranquil haven or a dramatic storm the immersion is aided with research: sketches, colour studies and photographic details. But the process of absorption, reflection and creation is so full of energy and dynamic interactions, between myself and the medium, that I find the best way to record my inspiration is by filming the subject matter. Just by taking video clips, the essence of a place is better transported to my studio, than through stills that freeze the energy I wish to evoke. Whilst, wishing to paint on site seems attractive, my chosen medium is very limited, as intense heat and power are critical.

In the studio it is a juggling act of controlling hot and cold - an alchemy of materials and old techniques mixed with new technologies. The materials are natural: pigments and bees wax, mixed with dammar resin to set the strokes. These are brushed, knifed, poured and rubbed onto specially sealed wooden boards, then layered and fused, layered and fused and repeated. The rhythm is broken by incising, texturising and sgraffito. The process is reactive with a strong element of serendipity tempered by intuition. I embrace the challenge and realise it will take more than a lifetime to hone any skill set.

The heated palettes provide softened creamy molten colour in tins waiting to be saturated with pigment or thinned and translucent. Mixing colours and different quantities of wax opens up endless possibilities for saturation and washes. The range of hand tools  employed is vast from fine dental steel implements to large chunky brushes made of wood and natural animal hair. Wax and pigments are fused with heat, which dries quickly, capturing brush strokes, drips and textures. Encaustic art is an all consuming very physical practice.  One is seduced by the process of not just applying paint with a brush, palette knife or hands but also the harnessing of heat to energise materials and move the liquids around. The fluidity of the process allows the materials to mix and metamorphose.

There are examples of this ancient art, practiced by the Greeks and the Egyptians, from 2000 years ago. The British Museum has examples of portraits from 100-300 AD. The Fayum encaustic pictures are still vibrant, providing an amazing historical testament to the longevity of the medium. Painted as part of the mummy casing, the deceased’s portrait was depicted fully dressed with a background around the head. A visit to see these in the flesh is at the top of my list for my next research trip to London.

We've fallen in love with antique tin tiles from US and would like to share their interesting history.

Tin tiles were introduced to the USA in 1800s as an affordable way to mimmic the ornate plaster ceilings, covings, cornices and wainscots found in European houses. These architectural elements became very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, leading to the development of around forty five US tin companies in the nineteenth century. Whilst easy, quick and cheap to install the added benefit of their fire retardant nature added to their appeal.

Designers were commissioned to create elaborate patterns that formed expansive ornate ceilings cleverly echoing the continental style. Designs varied from geometric to ornate swagged flourishes. Typically, a palette of white and creams dominated, whilst green, ochre and rust were also popular.

Sheets of tin plate were pressed over a cast iron decorative mould to create a patterned metal in relief. The metal was then painted to evoke plasterwork. The light weight tin tiles were easy to install adding to their fashionable status.

Salvaging original tin tiles is a specialised job as the tiles are fragile and can easily be damaged. We have found a reliable source who scours the US for hidden stocks and then imports them for us.

 

Now highly covetable, the antique tiles are salvaged and mounted as individual pieces of architectural history with a strong aesthetic and tactile appeal.

Each is different depending on its history and position in a room.

Simply framed in a rustic style, with raw edges and nails, the tiles and shelving are easy to hang. 

The tiles and shelves are in lovely old condition with an attractive old paint patina, naturally created through age.  The tile has been wrapped over a timber frame - for a close fit just hang the wooden frame on a picture pin.

The tin coving is transformed into unique shelving with a rustic timber shelf on the top and simple fittings on the back for a flush fit.  Please study the photographs.

What can I do with a tin tile?

There are numerous easy and stylish ways to use antique tin tiles in your room.

Hang one on its own as a piece of architectural history - with its texture, colour and detail it makes an interesting talking point. Choose a tile that compliments your wall colour - a close match will be more harmonious whilst a strong contrast more dynamic: considering opposites on the colour wheel can be helpful.

Build a facia with tin tiles and create a unique surface and design.

Hang a small group as if they were paintings. We’ve hung them almost as bookends, with an array of personal objects and framed finds, with the shelves showcasing small sculptures.

They make great splash backs above basins. We advise selecting ones that don’t have flaking paint, otherwise it could get quite messy!

Mount one above your mantlepiece and create an intriguing backdrop for your favourite things.

Create a patterned headboard out of old tiles.

A curated group of tiles can cover an entire wall making a statement feature wall.

Antique covings transformed into shelving look fabulous on their own or for a stronger statement add a coordinating tile behind.

And of course you could cover your ceiling with them!

With the shift in design to focus on more sustainable living, these antique tin tiles are not only ethically sourced, but also are recyclable. 

Have fun developing your own ideas with these versatile pieces of history and do share your ideas. We love to see what our clients create.

Winter is the best time of year to research new trees to draw. The skeletal forms are mesmerising, whilst often challenging, due to the difficulty in extracting their form from the background. A specimen tree on the horizon with the sun glinting through makes an ideal subject to draw as a silhouette, but nature doesn’t often present this scene. Deciding on the composition usually takes place on site and involves preliminary sketching and the taking of numerous photographs. The images are taken from a distance to set the scene and then closeups for the trunk and branch configuration, plus bark details. Revisiting the location many times is usually necessary to glean particular information - rarely can one study contain everything required to transpose a true picture. The work is intense and detailed and executed in the studio.

 ABOVE - Oak and Hall, Holkham, Norfolk

The process commences with serious editing, coupled with decisions about which trees to draw in silhouette and those to detail. The drawing technique employs a discipline of restricting the building of the form just to making monotone marks, rather than the employment of colour or shading, leading to a focussed study that is very time consuming to create. The mass of  marks, varying in shape, strength and size, is repeated, then repeated. The approach to drawing is in a similar vein to that of the traditional building process of creating a sculpture with the rhythm of multiple marks both building and extracting until a form evolves from the ground. The technique is paradoxically quick in hand movement yet slow to evolve.

 ABOVE -The Old Oaks, Felbrigg, Norfolk

On a research visit to Felbrigg recently, a pair of old oaks at the front of the Hall stood out as worthy specimens. There was also a wonderful very old chestnut tree asking to have its character recorded before the next storm took another limb. These trees will studied at length then drawn for the Arboretum Collection where they will accompany the sycamore and beech at Felbrigg.

ABOVE - Chestnut, Felbrigg, Norfolk 

General Information

Jac Scott is multi-award winning artist and a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. She draws and paints what she loves: trees, wildlife, the countryside and seascapes that she discovers in Norfolk. The detailed drawings are shared as fine art giclée prints in limited and open editions. The artists retains the originals. The prints are made by specialist printers who are members of the Fine Art Trade Guild. A giclée print is a term used to describe a fine art digital printing process combining pigment based inks with high quality archival quality paper to achieve an inkjet print of superior archival quality, light fastness and stability.

ABOVE - Holm Parade, Holkham, Wells, Norfolk

The Limited Editions of 50 Collections

Signed, catalogued, limited edition of 50, fine art prints are available framed or unframed.

The drawings are giclée printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching 310gsm pH neutral paper made from 100% cellulose.

   . . 

ABOVE LEFT - Framed Sycamore, Felbrigg

ABOVE RIGHT - Framed Beech, Holkham

LOWER LEFT - Framed Beech, Felbrigg

LOWER RIGHT - Framed Three Oaks, Saxthorpe

Open Editions

All open edition prints are printed on Redcliffe Watercolour paper and are available in different sizes and colours - framed or unframed.

 A simple story of a painting.

Sometimes it’s the simple pleasures of living in this beautiful county that bring a lingering smile, such as looking forward to the casual, yet dynamic blooming of the wild poppies in June. The impact can be just a single lost flower or the invasion of a whole field swathed in red.

 But usually it’s a graceful lacing of the field edges - red heads of delicate crepe paper petals bobbing in the breeze.

This June on a winding lane from Edgefield, near Holt, there was a particularly wonderful field of poppies - so inspiring I had to paint the view.

2020 saw the start of a whole new portfolio of paintings for artist Jac Scott.  Fluid Lands emerged through the lockdown as the artist was able to dedicate significant studio time to developing the new work with pigments and wax.  The Storm Collection was the initial response now followed by Linear Lands.

Each work is a unique response to local Norfolk sea and land scapes.

Inspiration - Linear Lands Collection

North Norfolk, with its big skies and undulating vistas, specialises in creating layered wide and sinuous bands of landscape.

There is a rhythmic poetry where the bands of interest stretch across the land forming stripes of colour, texture and form. This striping delineates and dissects the panorama leading to an inspiration that explodes across the canvas - broad strokes of emotion and energy captured in paint.

Technique - Encaustic Painting

The ancient method of encaustic art was practiced by the Greeks and Egyptians with 2000 year old examples still in existence. Wax and pigments are fused with heat which dries quickly capturing brush strokes, drips and textures. Encaustic art is an all consuming very physical practice.  One is seduced by the process of not just applying paint with a brush, palette knife or hands, but also the harnessing of heat to energise materials and move the liquids around. The fluidity of the process allows the materials to mix and metamorphose.

East View, Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk

The coastal path elevates the walker to view a wide vista of lines on the landscape where reeds, stream, bank, grass, hedge and sky form natural bands.

Phacelia, Hindolveston, Norfolk

Bands of wonder in a local meadow where phacelia forms a lacy border to rustling wheat, dwarfed by a row of Scots pines.

Phacelia is a wonder plant. It has beautiful scented purple flowers with dense fern-like foliage. It smothers weeds and has an extensive root system that improves soil structure  - it is often used as a green manure. It grows quickly showing blooms for 6-8 weeks - providing an excellent cut flower and one of the top flowers for bees and hoverflies.

Mick doesn’t like cushions. We only have 3! I have to fight to get a cushion in our home - the joy of two designers living together and curating a home together.

So when I design a cushion it has to be special, not just a little bit but full blown special, so that it earns its place in our home or our gallery. Every aspect is considered, every detail scrutinised and analysed for what it brings to the design - the same as for our lighting and furniture. 

So for the Raw Luxe Collection expect sumptuous cushions in antique and vintage fabrics, beautifully made by our professional seamstress, with a strong attention to detail.

Each cushion has our branded vegan leather label plus a washing instruction label inside. A British-made, hollow fibre cushion pad (filing complies with BS 5852 part 2) is included in the price.

Each of our cushions are unique designs making them worthy style contributors to your ever evolving home.

By the way they’re also great for snuggling up to.

Expect to discover a range of antique textiles including handwoven linens from France, fine English embroideries and cut work plus vintage cotton velvets. 

French Antique Linen

The frugal living conditions of the French peasants meant that many wove cloth on narrow looms in their own homes. These highly covetable cloths were often made into sheets with a join down the middle. Hemp was relatively easy to grow and turn into fibre, making it an obvious choice for country folk with little means. These antique linens are usually rough with a slub texture and have a variance in the tightness of the weave. 

Repeated washing will help break down the fibres to create a softer cloth and laundering also changes the dark beige colour to a softer creamy white.

Raw Luxe Collection

Our Raw Luxe products specialise in creating contemporary atmospheric interiors that exude a faded grandeur.   The Collection celebrates the tactile and sensuous qualities of old fabrics with their natural imperfections and worn narratives. We source antique and vintage textiles that capture a palpable sense of history in their weave and drape, then mix them to create new interfaces for interior accessories - thus making enduring and unique style statements.

All the creations in the Raw Luxe Collection are one-offs, we may be able to find and make something similar that happily partners another, but none will be exactly the same.

Each cushion is created from softly faded, vintage velvet that has been utopiaised to create an individual pattern on the front face. The velvet is 'framed' with a flange of French antique linen. The reverse is made of the same antique fabric with a deep envelope to contain the cushion pad.

Fluid Lands

All artworks in this collection are originals by Jac Scott.

Utopia do not create prints from these paintings.

Encaustic Art

The ancient method of encaustic art was practiced by the Greeks and Egyptians with 2000 year old examples still in existence. Wax and pigments are fused with heat which dries quickly capturing brush strokes, drips and textures. Encaustic art is an all consuming very physical practice.  One is seduced by the process of not just applying paint with a brush, palette knife or hands but also the harnessing of heat to energise materials and move the liquids around. The fluidity of the process allows the materials to mix and metamorphose.

Artist’s Inspiration

The collection is a narrative from the Covid-19 lockdown where the staying home mantra led to a visceral response in oil paint and wax, to places long remembered.  No longer able to embrace the wide vistas of the Norfolk sea and land scapes, that the artist’s spirit yearned to revisit, she decided to indulge in some highly emotive abstracted work that would kindle a long repressed flame. 

Would you like chocolate or free carriage for EASTER?

Whilst we are in this pandemic we thought we'd spread some cyber good will. 

During APRIL we have removed all carriage charges so you can purchase your favourite Utopia creation and enjoy free postage. We know it won't solve the pandemic but it's a gesture to show appreciation to all our loyal clients.

To get free shipping please enter the following code at the checkout

APRIL 2020 free carriage

For all small businesses it is particularly difficult at this time, so if you can support any of us this year, we know it will make a difference. 

Since the 17th century tulips have been a popular flower with their wonderful palette of hues and wide variety of shapes. Today, tulips are readily available and reliable to provide a burst of saturated colour on demand. The flowers originated from the Ottoman Empire and were circulated around Europe in 1500s growing in fashion until their peak in the early 1600s in The Netherlands when an era named Tulip Mania erupted. Then tulips were regarded as an exotic luxury associated with good taste and learning by the wealthy Dutch merchant classes.

During the Dutch Golden Age in 17th century,  the flowers were so fashionable that they were traded for extortionate amounts and featured in classic paintings as voluptuous blooms.  The tulips were hard to cultivate with the desired stripe (which much later was discovered to be caused by a virus) hence demand grew leading to bulbs commanding high prices.

Dutch master by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt  

Tulip Mania is a new floral lamp shade design by Jac Scott featuring bunches of tulips in a painterly style, with a nod to this period in Dutch history. The range is available in various colour palettes: salmon, blue, red and purple with tints and tones blending throughout the design. On our website the designs are available with a clear lining, whilst at the gallery you can also have the choice of a coloured lining at a small extra cost. The clear designs have a dreamy quality when lit, whilst the lined option presents more of a saturated palette.

https://www.utopiatheunexpectedgallery.co.uk/collections/romantic-botanicals-collection-floral-lampshades

 Tulip Mania: SALMON design in 30cm drum

.  Tulip Mania: BLUE design in 20cm drum

. Tulip Mania: RED empire shade

.  Tulip Mania: PURPLE oval drum shade

Since we created our little business 6 years ago we have been delighted not only at how it has grown, but also at how many great clients have supported our venture.

Moving to Holt High Street last year was a huge step for us, enabling us to fulfil our design ambitions, and that has worked out fabulously despite the Brexit et al uncertainty. This year Covid 19 is testing the world. 

All of us are facing this difficult and worrying time together and we want to assure you that the safety and wellbeing of our lovely customers and staff, as always, is a priority.  We have had to make the very difficult decision to temporarily close the shop, so that we do not contribute to the spread of the virus.

Whilst we have this opportunity we plan to devote significant time to being creative - working on new designs and artwork that will fill the gallery with even more Utopia! As we create, we will post on our website and on social media, so please check in regularly to see what we’ve been up to. If you have an idea and want to explore its possibilities with us, then please get in touch as we are still accepting commissions.

If there is a product you want that is too big or too heavy to be delivered, then you can purchase it online and arrange collection at your convenience after we are able to open the gallery again. We have arranged extra storage during these next few months.

Our online business is operating as normal and we ask that you continue to support our unique business by purchasing your favourite Utopia creations online. All small independent businesses are particularly vulnerable at this time and we hope you are able to support many of us to make sure we can come through this test.

Please monitor the CONTACT US page on this website for the latest news.  Please do not phone the gallery as no one will be there - always email.

We stay hopeful that the situation will improve and that by all of us acting sensibly, and caring for others, a tragedy can be averted.  To those that are affected we send our deepest sympathy and regard for a return to good health.

This is a gift of time, so we plan to enjoy the garden even more and maybe have time to weed it! The stairs might actually get finished and Jac’s bicycle will get dusted off - no excuse now. Moss always has lots of exercise but we’re sure he’ll enjoy the extra company. Local help groups need volunteers so we’re going to join in and do our bit.  What will you do with this gift of time?

Please take care and do something that brings you joy every day to ease the worry.

 Raw Luxe Collection 2020

We're delighted to announce the launch of a NEW COLLECTION of our designs - the Raw Luxe Collection. This collection offers luxurious antique and vintage textiles given the Utopia treatment to bring them into the contemporary fold.

Raw Luxe specialises in creating contemporary atmospheric interiors that exude a faded grandeur with a twist of casual chic.  The Collection celebrates the tactile and sensuous qualities of old fabrics with their natural imperfections and worn narratives. We source antique and vintage textiles that capture a palpable sense of history in their weave and drape, then mix them to create new interfaces for interior accessories - thus making enduring and unique style statements.

All the creations in the Raw Luxe Collection are one-offs, we may be able to find and make something similar that happily partners another, but none will be exactly the same.

Raw Luxe Collection: Luxury Vintage Velvet & Handwoven

Antique French Linen Cushions

Sumptuous cushions created from softly faded, vintage velvet that has been utopiaised to create unique patterns on the front face of the cushions. The velvet is 'framed' with a flange of French antique handwoven linen with a great natural slub texture. The reverse is made of the same antique fabric with a deep envelope to contain the cushion pad.

A British-made cushion pad is included in the price.

A variety of sizes are available in this design. 

Raw Luxe Collection: Embroidered Antique Linen Cushions

Little cushions created from finely embroidered vintage/antique cloths with linen envelope backs.

We love the sophisticated texture of white embroidery on white cloth and enjoy how the light plays on the surface creating shadows.

A British-made, duck feather cushion pad is included in the price.  

A variety of sizes are available.

The Best of British Design and Craftsmanship

We are passionate about harnessing traditional British trade and craft skills to make our exclusive designs, so expect: well made creations with a strong attention to detail.