Artists find inspiration through new mediums; Barbara Hodgson enters into the spirit of things as she previews a paranormal mix of disembodied voices, squirrels and orbs at a newly-opened exhibition.

Byline: Barbara Hodgson

ART can speak to people in more ways than one of course but not often does it raise its voice at us as we walk along a street.

But a new exhibition at Waygood Art Boutique in High Bridge, Newcastle, just refuses to be ignored.

Is Mary Here Again? is rather a spooky little display by artists Nicky Coutts and Liz Murray, which includes a film made from footage recorded by the pair during a recent seance at Kielder Castle in Northumberland.

Speakers mounted on the wall outside the gallery project the voices of the seance mediums so that, even more creepily, the sound and images are separated.

While the film runs silently on screens in one gallery window (the other features a symbolic seance scene of table and upturned glass) startled passers-by can hear questions such as "are you a child?", "do you mind us being here?" and "is there anybody else there who would like to come through?" The exhibition's title comes from another of the mediums' questions, all of which were recorded on the night. So, did the pair find out who this Mary was? "They think she was one of the castle's maids, a serving girl," says Liz.

"There was a lot of working out dates of various sprits coming though, connected to the hierarchy in the castle."

She adds: "We're both interested in the paranormal - I'd been doing some work with psychics in New York and Nicky had been working on levitation - so when we heard about the event, we decided to go."

They hadn't necessarily planned an exhibition but the evening - held in the dark by four paranormal investigators - proved a gripping one and the castle's atmospheric rooms with their displays of local history, wildlife and wax works were an atmospheric backdrop.

"There were different rooms - spirit writing in one, an ouija board in another, table tilting," they recall.

On the night, they say the mediums picked up the vibes of 93 spirits, some dating as far back as the Jacobite period, and had contact with seven of them.

Inside Waygood's small gallery space, Liz and Nicky have made a "spirit hut", echoing the look of those panelled rooms and displaying images of the castle's squirrels and portraits.

There are also prints of "orbs" - tricks of light captured when flashguns went off during the seance.

Only one image is contrived: a photograph they composed to be made into a screen print as part of the region's current Northern Print Biennale celebration of the art form.

Adding to the outer-wordly feel, visitors can also sit in the spirit hut and listen to recordings being relayed live from a device on the building site around the back of the gallery, where Waygood's current redevelopment is taking place.

The artists have set up a link as near as possible to the site of a medieval well, which was uncovered during the building work.

Liz says: "The well was found to have been at the epicentre of the medieval town. The council's clerk of works suggested it might even have been a priest hole." The find has been recorded and filled in but the artists hope the recording device they have positioned at the spot will pick up the voices of spirits.

And so far? "There have been the workmen's voices - and seagulls," laughs Edinburgh-born Nicky, who is currently at Tarset in Northumberland as part of the Visual Arts in Rural Communities scheme.

At another side of the hut, visitors can watch a recorded interview in which the artists talk about their work.

It's an ongoing source of fascination to them.

Nicky, who has been taking photographs of herself trying to emulate "the Flying Friar", St Joseph of Cupertino - famed in the 17th Century for his ability to float, will be travelling to Tokyo to research more about levitation.

And Liz, from London, has spent time working with psychics in New York, where she found people would visit "psychic shops regularly to have tarot readings and ask questions about aspects of their lives. It's all about faith and belief, she says.

"They have psychic shops in New York as often as you have nail bars or hairdressers here."

Next year she's off to Prague for a three-month residency to study the "Golem" of Jewish folklore.

Is Mary Here Again? by Nicky Coutts and Liz Murray is at Waygood Art Boutique at 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, until August 22. The film from the exhibition can also be seen online at www.waygood.org during the run.

It is the second in a series of three Fresh Eyes Exhibitions by four female artists to take place at Waygood this summer.

The third, and last, exhibition in the series, will be a collection of self-portraits by Berlin-based artist Heather Allen from August 29 to September 26.There were different rooms - spirit writing in one, an ouija board in another, table tilting

CAPTION(S):

INSPIRED BY SEANCE Liz Murray, left, and Nicky Coutts. SPIRIT HUT Nicky Coutts, left, and Liz Murray at the "spirit hut". ECHOES OF THE CASTLE The artists' "spirit hut" echoes the look of Kielder castle's panelled rooms and displaying images of the castle's squirrels and portraits.