Art Celebrates Maritime Heritage
A fascinating research project by a Northbrook art lecturer is currently featured in an exhibition at Littlehampton Museum.
Foundation Art, Design and Media Lecturer, Stephanie Bolt, secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £26,000 for a project to collect and document memories of Littlehampton’s maritime history. Stephanie was inspired by a 1935 film about the town made by the celebrated Hungarian artist, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.
Moholy-Nagy’s documentary film about Littlehampton’s lobster fishing and boat-building industries has launched Stephanie onto a journey of discovery in the town’s community, unearthing a wealth of stories, pictures and ephemera dating back to the turn of the century.
The project began after Stephanie made an exploratory visit to the Museum with Northbrook’s Curriculum Leader for Art, Design and Media, Dave Yorath. They went to meet the curator with an interest in working with the Museum’s Lens collection.
“Littlehampton’s maritime history has been largely ignored and overlooked. The town was home to the development of world famous boats,” explains Stephanie. Moholy-Nagy, an important artist of the 1930s, spent up to two years in the town, filming his pioneering documentary and getting to know the people in the harbour.
Stephanie’s project has involved the production of two new films shot by fellow Northbrook Lecturer, Nick Collins, which are screened as part of the exhibition alongside Moholy-Nagy’s film. The exhibition also includes an oil painting of Moholy-Nagy by Sam Worthington, one of Stephanie’s students on the Foundation Art, Design & Media Diploma at Northbrook College.
Stephanie has been keen to involve members of the community who have no background in the arts. She says, “My aim is to give people a sense of pride and awareness of the town’s history”.
The exhibition, entitled ‘Littlehampton’s Lobsters’, continues until 16th April.