Art Fair

Art Fair 09 - Hello Newcastle! This is Norway Calling!

It was a misty Thursday morning when reports came of an invasion, the like of which have not been seen for 1200 years! Norwegians again had crossed the North Sea to land in Newcastle. These 21st century Vikings, however, were a little different.

Instead of the traditional long ships, long planes were the transport of choice. In replacement for the horned helmets and swords in hand, this time it was woolly hats and works of art instead.

After landing on English soil Anne Jarulf and Randi Antonsen were whisked off to the Sage, Gateshead and were met by a building of outstanding modern architecture shining in the early morning sun as well as the vibe and excitement of 100's of exhibitors, artists and staff preparing for the days to come.

With the Paintings of Anne, Randi, Gunnveig Nerol and Georgina Askeland on the walls, brochures, cards and flags decorating the Norway2UK stand, ourselves and the Norwegian Bazaar artists prepared ourselves for the night that was to come. At 18.00 the doors were opened to 1000's of VIP's including mayors, celebrities, business leaders, and most importantly, to the Norwegian community who live in the North East.

With the excitement building and the wine flowing everyone at The Sage was enjoying the art, people and conversation. Through the night people flocked to Norway2UK stand to view the works on show and to chat to Anne and Randi about their work. After 3 hours of meeting, greeting and talking to hundreds of people it was safe to say that we were all happily exhausted with our days work and as the time passed 21.00 and the waves of people began to die down, we could all begin to relax a little more.

As we walked out the doors of The Sage to a warm, clear, Newcastle night, we left to fill up on good food and good sleep, ready to do it all again tomorrow, and for two more days after that which promised to be filled with all of the same excitement as the first.

In the days that followed the Art Fair became busier and busier as thousands of people walked through the doors of The Sage and admires the hundreds of pieces of art that were on show. Over the weekend the Norway2UK stand was visited by a whole host of different people. Young, old, foreign and domestic they came from everywhere each with a different connection to the art we had on show.

During the three open days we had people who had lived, visited, worked in Norway or knew friends, family or colleagues that had. It seems that the long history of Norway's influence in the North East of England still runs deep in the veins of the people here.

Not only were the days full of new people and experiences, the nights also proved to be a greater source of excitement. After the hard days work at the Art Fair the nights gave our Norwegian visitors a taster of the famous night life and activities that Newcastle has to offer.

On the Friday evening our artists were took under the wing of Astrid, one of the many Norwegians who now live in Newcastle. Carrying on with the art theme, they were taken to an opening of a new exhibition at a local gallery in the Gosforth area of the city. There they had the chance to admire other peoples work from the area and they could see someone else working and talking about their art for a change. To give them a little taste of home they also got a bit of strong Norwegian coffee, which they had craved since landing.

Saturday night was a slight change of pace. After closing up shop we all took a short walk over the river across The Millennium Bridge that has become so iconic on the Newcastle/Gateshead quayside to one of the most popular bars in the city. In a roped off VIP area in The Pitcher and Piano were chilled bottles of wine and no empty seats. As people working on galleries at different ends of The Sage had to the chance to socialise and swap stories of the weekend. The minutes quickly turned into hours and the bottle of wine soon was two and three. As the bar began to quieten down soon we headed with the famous Norwegian stamina taking us to the end of the night and in some cases into the very early morning.

Sunday, unfortunately, was the day when everything had to come to an end. Come 17.00 the visitors had been replaced with removal men and I had once again found myself up a ladder with a screwdriver in my hand removing the art I had put up 4 days earlier. With everything packed away the next thing to do was to take our artists back to the hotel where they could be fed and watered ready for the return journey.

Monday morning was much like the morning of their arrival, the cloud covered the sky with the sun beginning to burn through warming the chilled morning air. As the artist flew back to normality, as did I, already thinking about a bigger and better event for next year.

Venue

For a 360 degree virtual tour of the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside, Click Here.

The Sage Gateshead

The Sage Gateshead provides world-class facilities on a prime riverside location overlooking the famous Tyne Bridge. The £70 million project has been designed by internationally renowned architects Foster and Partners and is their first concert hall. It is seven buildings in one, designed from the inside out and then clothed by a spectacular curved roof. A glass fronted public concourse and foyer links all the areas - offering spectacular views across the River Tyne. Architectural glass artist Kate Maestri has designed a striking glass ballustrade running along the concourse of the building. Read more.

Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects / Gifford & Partners and built by Gateshead-based construction company - Harbour & General, the bridge was opened on Monday 20th November 2000. It is still the world's first and only tilting bridge! The unique design is based on the simple idea of a pair of steel arches - one is the deck, the other supports the deck. The whole bridge tilts, undergoing a metamorphous into a grand arch, in an operation that evokes the slow opening of a huge eye. Read more.

Some facts about the Gateshead Millennium Bridge:

• Each tilt takes four minutes.
• Powered by eight electric motors, equivalent to 589 horse power - more than a Ferrari F50 or eight Ford Focus cars.
• Weighs more than 850 tonnes - enough steel to make 64 double decker buses or 16 Chieftain tanks.
• So energy efficient it costs just £3.60 each time it opens