Paintings depicting buildings that were affected by the recent Sudbury fire are among around 125 works on show at an exhibition in the town.
The Visions of Sudbury exhibition opened at St Peter’s Church on Tuesday. More than 85 artists were invited to create works of art illustrating some of the town’s 247 listed buildings.
The idea is that some of them will eventually be included in a book which is being compiled by the Sudbury Society, the organisation behind the exhibition.
Event organiser Robin Drury said: “We chose the brief to raise awareness of the many wonderful heritage buildings we have in Sudbury. It gets the artists to focus on producing work and is great for the local community.”
Because of the devastating effect of the fire, which completely gutted the historic Goldsmith Mansion building in Friars Street, several artists chose to record the incident in their work.
Mr Drury continued: “Once all the initial shock had died down, we were left with this big gap in the street and the skyline had changed for good. People started to realise what they had lost.
“Several of the artists contacted me and asked if it would be okay to record what those buildings looked like, both before and after the fire.
“We have one in the exhibition by Nicky Harbridge entitled Fire Hose on Friars Street and another striking work Sudbury on Fire by Julie Ibeson.”
The centrepiece of the Visions of Sudbury show is a huge painting by Suffolk-born artist Steven Binks entitled Seeing Jesse Home, which gives a detailed bird’s eye view of Market Hill in 1944 and has a price tag of nearly £7,000.
A selection of the work in the exhibition will be used to illustrate a book about Sudbury’s listed buildings, which Mr Drury said will “promote the town’s wonderful heritage”.
The exhibition is open from 10am to 6pm today and Friday and from 10am to 2pm on Sunday.
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