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Britz and McGowan is a partnership of two established
Norfolk artists making work in various media inspired by the detail
and pattern of the East Anglian landscape.
Their latest work, made of hundreds of starfish, can be seen hanging
in the reception area of BBC East on Millenium Plain in Norwich.
How the 'Asteroidea' came about
In September 2001, Margie Britz and Liz McGowan embarked on a project,
an art walk around the Norfolk coast from King's Lynn to Yarmouth.
The artist would do a section of the walk on a predetermined day
each month, whatever the weather. On each walk they would pick up
many different things and take lots of photographs.
Close-up of starfish in Asteroidea 1 |
They knew for certain that the walk would lead
to some collaborative project.
At Cley beach in 2002 they came across hundreds
of starfish on the tide line. It reminded them of the ceiling in
the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, which was the initial
inspiration for the piece.
This sculpture explores the transformation of opposites: common
starfish collected from a north Norfolk beach become stars, the
moon or the sun.
The starfish in this work come mainly from Weybourne
beach.
The artists began by sewing small clusters of starfish
together and then these clusters were attached to threads of a "loom"
constructed in the studio.
This work is the first of a series of starfish
work, and they are actively seeking other venues to show this and
future starfish work.
Some facts about starfish:
 The
common starfish is called Asteria Rubens, and the family name is
Asteroidea. Other local names for it are: common crossfish, cramps,
old five fingers, five fingered Jack and the devil's hand.
They
are an ancient species that survived the glaciation of Gwondanaland.
They
have a rudimentary eye at the end of each arm, and an excellent
sense of smell.
They
feed voraciously on bivalves: a month old starfish can eat fifty
young clams in six days.
The
mouth is situated in the centre on the underside and is extremely
elastic.
They
eat the clam in the shell by extruding their stomach through the
mouth and inserting it through a tiny gap into the clam shell.
They
can completely regenerate themselves, even when only one arm and
one fifth of the central body survives.
Occasionally
they are thrown up onto the beach by a neap tide and stranded in
their thousands.
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It
is true without lie, certain and most veritable, that
what is below is like what is above and that what is above
is like that what is below, to perpetrate the miracle
of the one thing. And as all things
have been, and come from One, by meditation of One, thus
all things have been born from this single thing by adaptation.
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