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Victor Batte-Lay Foundation

Victor Batte-Lay Foundation

Victor Batte-Lay Foundation has a collection of East Anglian art and a much-loved historic building to care for on behalf of the people. The collection includes well-known and prominent artists, such as John Constable, Camille Pissaro, Paul Nash and John Nash, and Maggi Hambling. Image shows jewellery created by evaluator Kassandra Gordon - "‘Art Diamonds’ is a wearable gender neutral art jewellery piece. It pays homage to organisations like yours for investing in artists in uncertain times. It is a playing card. This represents ‘taking a chance’. The ‘A’ is for art but also for ‘ace’. Sometimes it is the highest card, sometimes the lowest, depending on the game, or in art, depending on the observer. It is the ace of diamonds because pressure creates diamonds. Diamonds, although valuable, take great effort to excavate and come rough. They take great care and skill to make beautiful things to be enjoyed. These are pressurised times."

 

"We aim to support creativity for all people in our area, support early careers, particularly young artists in their careers with residencies and paid opportunities, and to share the heritage and histories of our collection and the Minories building which is help in affection by the local population."

"Being an artist is hard, but being a working artist in lockdown has been extremely difficult. However, finding an organisation like Victor Batte-Lay Foundation that fights for artists was great to see and experience. I feel that this organisation has gone above and beyond to support emerging and more experienced artists. Supporting artists with new work and giving them a safe space was, in my opinion, exemplary best practice. My goal was to find a way to express this relationship in jewellery." - Kassandra Gordon