Imaginative abstracts, exploratory films and a sonic version of The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner are all being displayed at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, as part of an exhibition showcasing artistic talent from across the region.

A record 300 hopefuls submitted pieces for this year’s Kettle’s Yard Open, which is one of the main opportunities for both emerging and established artists from East Anglia to show off their work to a wider audience.

Panellists narrowed down the entrants to a final 19, whose work is on display now at the University of Cambridge-run gallery and will remain so until January 7.

The exhibition extends to St Peter’s Church, next to Kettle's Yard, where visitors can experience a sound piece based on the Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, created by Kirsten Lavers and Chris Cheek with pupils and staff at Coleridge Community College. Each of the pupils, teachers and support staff at the school participated by speaking a different line of Coleridge’s famous poem to create a sonic portrait of the school community.

Paintings on display include those by Amanda Ansell, whose fictitious islands in abstract seascapes are inspired by bathing rituals and long periods of time contemplating bath foam, Julia Ball’s light-filled abstract pieces inspired by the Norfolk Coast, and a huge wall drawing by Jo Chapman, made up of intertwined flowers and other objects found in horticultural illustrations and during the course of daily walks.

The moving image is also a central theme. An ant runs obsessively round the rim of Terry Bond’s short movie, Equator, while Neil Henderson’s reversed film of a developing Polaroid ends up looking like a seascape under a setting sun.

“The Open presents visitors with the opportunity to see and enjoy recent work by each of the artists involved,” Kettle’s Yard director Michael Harrison said. “We hope that people will find them variously thought-provoking, contemplative, upbeat and sometimes surprising.”

Kettle’s Yard is a department of the University of Cambridge and is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 11.30am and 5pm. The House is open from 2pm to 4pm. Admission in either case is free.

Many of works in the Open exhibition will be available for sale and a number of the artists concerned will be giving free talks about their work. A full programme can be viewed on the Kettle’s Yard website, by following the link to the right of this page.

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