Thursday, March 26, 2026 - 10:00 to 15:00

Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall Taunton TA2 8JY

Join us on a journey of interior design for the home from the Victorian era to the present day. William Morris was a revolutionary force in Victorian Britain. His work dramatically changed the fashions and ideologies of the era, and he remains as influential and important today as he was in his own time. Frank Lloyd Wright devoted his life to promoting architecture as the great mother art, behind which all others are definitely, distinctly and inevitably related. Throughout his career Wright would experiment with various ways to harness the advantages of machine production to design quality, affordable housing and beautifully designed furnishings for large numbers of people. IKEA reaches millions of hearts and homes all over the world. And it all began in a small Swedish town in the 1940s, with an enterprising boy who hoped to be able to create a better life for people everywhere. 

Stephen Taylor artist and art historian: studied John Constable as a post graduate at Essex and Yale, taught art at Felsted School and went on to became Head of Painting at The Open College of the Arts and course director for the Inchbald School of Design. In 2000, Stephen turned to landscape painting with early shows at King's College Cambridge, Meisel’s New York and Vertigo in London. Now has pictures in private collections world-wide and his book Oak: One tree, three years, fifty paintings was featured in The Guardian, The New Statesman and on Oprah Winfrey’s website.

Programme

Registration and Coffee 10.00am

Session One 10.30am – 11.30am

William Morris modernised craft for Victorian taste. Function, simplicity and beauty were aligned, and a feeling for how things were made became something to value. But the price of the fashionable new artisan furnishings was beyond the pocket of artisans.

Session Two 11.50am – 12.50pm

Frank Lloyd Wright's 1901 lecture Craft and the Machine sought to reconcile Morris's craft values with modern materials and industrial production, and the talk traces this idea in Wright's early work and the pioneer designs of the Vienna Secession. This approach became mainstream in the 30s as interiors throughout society began to reflect new versions of 'The Modern'.

Session Three 2.00pm – 3.00pm

Scandinavian design in the 40s and 50s emphatically re-introduced natural materials to modernist taste, solving Morris's problem of how to make craft values available to the masses. Ikea was born. 

Special Interest Day Thursday 26th March 2026

Cost £42 including coffee on arrival, buffet lunch and a glass of wine

Guests who are not members of our society are very welcome. 

Please return this form to The Arts Society Taunton to:  Margaret Way,  Special Interest Day Organiser, The Weavers, Church Lane, Kingston St. Mary, Taunton TA2 8HR or  email your booking details to Margaret Way at: Specialinterest.taunton@theartssociety.org

Payment by BACS is preferred: 

Account name: The Arts Society Taunton, account number - 35802160. Sort code 30-98-45. Ref: ‘your name’ 

Or please post a cheque to Margaret Way at the postal address shown above Name……………………………………………………………...............................................................................

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Number of places at £42 ……….   Total £……………

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Monday, March 23, 2026 - 10:00 to 15:15

Liskeard Public Hall
3 - 5 West Street Liskeard PL14 6BW

The Artistry of the Anglo-Saxons to the Golden Age of Design and Craftsmanship in Northumberland.

Sutton Hoo and the Lindisfarne Gospels provide remarkable insights into the England of the 7th century.

Mark Cottle born on the Isles of Scilly and educated at Truro School, Cornwall, and Birmingham University. His career has been spent in education and training at home and abroad. He has lectured at Exeter College on Medieval and Tudor history, St Mark's & St John's University College, Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and medieval England. Currently runs two small companies providing training and study breaks.

The Artistry of the Anglo-Saxons to the Golden Age of Design and Craftsmanship in Northumberland Sutton Hoo and the Lindisfarne Gospels provide remarkable insights into the England of the 7th century.  Sutton Hoo in Suffolk was the burial place of a powerful Anglo-Saxon warlord, buried with a mound of treasures from all over the known world.  Fine weaponry, gold coins and exquisitely crafted metalwork reflected levels of sophistication which were a revelation. At the end of the 7th century, after its conversion to Christianity, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria enjoyed a brief golden age – a result of which was the Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the most impressive works of art of the whole medieval period.  With reference to the Staffordshire Hoard and the Prittlewell Prince, the day will focus on the cultural achievements of an early ‘Dark Age’ century. Further details about the 3 sessions continue overleaf Images © Mark Cottle Lunch: 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm: independently; you’re welcome to either bring your own packed lunch and eat in Liskeard Public Hall or venture out into Liskeard for lunch.

The cost will be £34.50 per person and include coffee on arrival and  coffee and cake at break time.

Bookings must be made prior to the event

• By BACS (for instructions and LAS Bank details see overleaf).

• Or post this completed slip with your cheque to The Arts Society Liskeard to: Mary Utton, Tregantle, Barn Street, Liskeard PL14 4BL 01579 345140, 07731 380715, mary.utton2@gmail.com 

If you give your email address (or send a sae), your cheque will be acknowledged in writing.

Please reserve me ……… place(s) @ £34.50 per person

NAME(S)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

POSTCODE ………………………………………

TEL NUMBER …………………………………………………............. EMAIL…………………………………………………………………………………… GDPR: Your details will be retained only until the event has taken place, solely for Liskeard Arts to inform you of any updates about it. 

Session 1 (10:00 am –11:00 am): Sutton Hoo with reference to the later excavations in the 1960's and the 1980's. We will concentrate on Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, where a great ship was dragged ashore from the river Deben in the 7th century.  The ship was the burial place of a powerful AngloSaxon warlord buried with a mound of treasures from all over the known world.  Fine weaponry, gold coins and exquisitely crafted metalwork reflected levels of sophistication which were a revelation.  We will examine the finds in turn not just to appreciate them in their own right but also to explore what insights they offer about their world.  As well as the treasures themselves we will talk about the famous 1939 discovery and excavation.  We will also briefly cover the later excavations and discoveries.

Session 2 (11:30 am – 12:30 pm): The Staffordshire Hoard and the Prittlewell Prince before moving onto the Conversion to Christianity: The Roman and Irish Missions We will discuss the amazing finds from the Staffordshire hoard, the largest hoard of early Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found along with some garnet cloisonné jewellery.  This is then followed by a review of the finds from the Prittlewell Prince burial dating to c 580 -605 AD.  We then hear about the conversion to Christianity. 

Session 3 (1:45pm – approx. 3:15 pm): The Northumbrian Golden Age AD 680 – 735 and the Lindisfarne Gospels Our last session focuses on the Golden Age of Northumbria with particular reference to the  Lindisfarne Gospels.  The amazing work of smiths in the early part of the 7th century gives  way to the wonderful work of scribes and calligraphers.  These beautiful gospels were  created on the island of Lindisfarne by monks from the monastery and they are now housed  in the British Library.  We will learn a lot more about this beautiful illuminated manuscript,  its creation and history.

Participants will receive a course file with a small number of handouts, including a reading list 

Booking and payment by BACS

1. Please pay £34.50 per person to: The Arts Society Liskeard, sort code 20 68 10, account number 70729515, ref DDay.

2. THEN email mary.utton2@gmail.com 

Subject:  Discovery Day

Message:  how many places, how much you’ve paid, and your telephone number.

You will get a reply to your email within 48 hours, acknowledging your payment and booking.

For further information about TAS Liskeard or TAS Mid Cornwall visit www.liskeardartssociety.org.uk or www.theartssocietymidcornwall.org.uk 

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic laboratories in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig
Wittgenstein. Looking at these and others figures in the context of the society in which they worked, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900.

Gavin Plumley is a writer, broadcaster and lecturer who appears on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and contributes to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. He lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe. Recent appearances include Klimt and The Kiss in cinemas worldwide, and talks for the Hay and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum and the V&A. The Times named Gavin Plumley a ‘leading cultural historian’, known for his work on Central European art and music. Gavin’s expertise spans various periods and disciplines.

Lecture 1: Vienna 1900

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic laboratories in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Looking at these and others figures in the context of the society in which they worked, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900. 

Lecture 2:  Gustav Klimt, Imperial Muralist turned Radical Painter

Klimt was one of the most prominent figures in the Viennese fin-de-siècle, creating paintings whose sexual themes and bold use of colour and gold shocked an unsuspecting populace. Less is known about his early years as a muralist for the grand municipal buildings and royal and aristocratic palaces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This lecture looks at the many changes in Klimt's life, his rejection of public pomp and the impact on his style and works.

The cost of the day, including coffee on arrival and a light buffet lunch will be £42 per person. 

Payment can be made by BACS (preferred method) to:

The Arts Society Sidmouth;  Sort Code: 405240;  Acc. No. 00060214

If payment is by BACS please email or call me to confirm your booking.  

catherinebech10@gmail.com    01395 708693/07717743348

Alternatively, complete the slip below and send with your cheque to:

Catherine Bech, 1 Sea View Terrace, Higher Hill View, Sidmouth, EX10 9DQ.  

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Please reserve  .………..  places at £42 each for the Special Interest Morning on Thursday 20th November.  I enclose my cheque payable to The Arts Society Sidmouth. 

Name/s:            

Email:                                                                                          Phone no:      

Romantics, Rebels, and Reformers:

This popular 5 day course is celebrating its tenth anniversary year. Do join us for another captivating journey in good company, as we explore the radical transformation of art from 1840–890, when artists challenged tradition and responded to the age of empire, industry, and social change. From romantic fantasy to realism and reform, this course takes you on a journey through the imaginative, rebellious, and visionary art movements of Victorian Britain and France.

There will be 5 one day sessions, on the 19th & 26th February and the 5th, 12th & 19th March 2026, each running from 10.30am – 3.30pm. The cost for the 5 days is £150 including coffee.

Dr Geri Parlby has a most informative and lively style of presentation and questions are encouraged. It will be a small group with numbers limited to a maximum of 30. New participants are most welcome – no prior knowledge is required only a love of art and history.

Session 1: Last of the Romantics - Victorian Fantasy, Empire & the Unconscious.  Discover dreamlike visions and imperial spectacles of Landseer, Alma-Tadema, Leighton and Dadd.

Session 2: Art for the People - Realism & Painting en Plein Air with Courbet and Millet’s labourers to Rosa Bonheur’s animals in motion—witness art taken outdoors and grounded in real life.

Session 3: The Beautiful Revolt - Pre-Raphaelites and the Power of Beauty Meet Hunt, Millais, Rossetti, and the PRB as they challenge academic norms with passion, colour, and medieval inspiration.

Session 4: Rebels, Radicals & Arts and Crafts - From Aesthetic Rebellion to Design Revolution Follow the evolution from Pre-Raphaelite ideals to the social vision of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.

Session 5: Art with a Social Conscience - Victorian Art and Social Reform See how Watts, Fildes, Herkomer, and Holl used art to confront poverty, injustice, and the harsh realities of industrial life.

How to book this event:

To find out more or book a place, please contact Sarah Merchant at sarah.swstudydays@gmail.com or on 07896 094742

In 2026, the Exeter course proudly celebrates its 20 th anniversary. Do join us for another facinating course, as we journey through 18th- and 19th-century European art, from Hogarth’s biting satire and the elegance of Reynolds and Gainsborough to the drama of David and Goya. Explore the passion of Romanticism with Blake, Turner, and Constable,
then step into the Victorian imagination of Alma-Tadema and Leighton. Finish with the bold realism of Courbet, Manet, and the Barbizon School, who took art outdoors and to the people.

Held at The Rougemont Room, Exeter Library, Exeter EX4 3PQ 

There will be 5 one day sessions, on the 13th & 20th February and the 6th, 13th & 20th March 2026, each running from 10.30am – 3.30pm. The cost for the 5 days is £150.
New participants are most welcome – no prior knowledge is required only a love of art and history.

De-coding History’s Art - From Satire to Splendour: European Art’s Great Transformation (1700–1900)

Session 1: William Hogarth to the ‘Grand Manner’ – from the satirical to history painting and portraiture – Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kaufmann, Thomas Gainsborough and the grandees of the Royal Academy

Session 2: Age of Enlightenment, Revival and Revolution –– from the battles of Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley and Jacques-Louis David to the madness of Francisco de Goya

Session 3: Neo-classicism to the birth of Romanticism – From Antonio Canova, William Blake, Henry Fuseli to J.M.W.Turner and John Constable

Session 4: Last of the Romantics: Victorian Fantasy, Empire - Wander through enchanted forests and imperial visions in the imaginative art of Sir Edwin Landseer, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Frederick Leighton—ending in the haunting brilliance of Richard Dadd’s mad fantasies.

Session 5: Art for the People: Realism and the Rise of Painting en Plein Air - witness the bold new realism of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, as they turn their brushes toward workers and the land, while the Barbizon School and Édouard Manet pioneer painting under open skies and Rosa Bonheur depicts the majestic beauty of animals in motion.

How to book this event:

To find out more or book a place, please contact Carol Cathcart at ridge.farm@btconnect.com

Held at Liskeard Public Hall, 3-5 West Street, Liskeard PL14 6BW

£32 per person

The nature of painting materials from the Middle Ages to the present day including their common problems.

We discuss the nature of oil painting materials from the Middle Ages to the present day and common problems associated with the ageing and deterioration of, and damage to, easel paintings. These can be on canvas, panel, board or paper in a range of mediums: oil, acrylic, egg tempera or mixed media. Problems can involve natural deterioration and neglect, accidental damage, vandalism and even war.

Modern museum standard approaches to conservation and restoration are illustrated with detailed slides ranging from early Italian religious paintings in egg tempera, via rapid oil sketches on paper by John Constable, to 20th century British portraits and modern abstract works. Hints and advice on the proper care of paintings in homes is given in liberal doses throughout!

More information and booking form from Mary Utton mary.utton2@gmail.com

10.00am – 3.00pm Including lunch 

Cost £42 per person held at Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall, Taunton TA20 8JY

People think they know Constable through images on chocolate boxes and biscuit tins but often they don’t really understand his most familiar works! Sarah Cove is on a mission to open the eyes of the public to Constable as the ‘Jackson Pollock of the 1830s’. Through publications, lectures and TV appearances she has demonstrated just how radical his extraordinary technique was for its time. She shows that in many ways he is a true ‘Father of Modern Painting’ through his influence on the French 19th century landscape tradition that led directly to Impressionism, Cezanne and ultimately Picasso!

Sarah Cove is an accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with almost 40 years’ experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She lives and works in Falmouth, Cornwall, but also has a permanent base in London. As a conservator, she specialises in British portraiture, 19th-20th century British landscapes and oil sketches on paper and board. Alongside her conservation practice, in 1986 Sarah founded the Constable Research Project and she is now the leading authority on Constable’s oil painting materials and techniques. She has appeared in several TV programmes for the BBC notably Constable in Love with Andrew Graham-Dixon and twice on Fake or Fortune? where she was instrumental in the discovery of 3 ‘lost’ Constables. Other research interests include Tudor and Jacobean Portraiture, the 19th century Newlyn and St Ives schools and early-to-mid 20th century British painting generally. She has been a lecturer for The Arts Society since 2003 and is a very experienced speaker having lectured independently since the 1980s at major public venues across the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Her presentations are lively and enthusiastic as she speaks without notes with an inimitable passion that comes from presenting her own work and research with wonderful images.

 For more information and to book email: specialinterest.taunton@theartssociety.org

Sicily has long been the crossroads between Europe,North Africa and the Middle East. This Special Interest Day looks at the rich and varied cultural influences brought to the island by Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Visigoths and Islamic tribes from North Africa. It goes on to explore how these were woven together by the Normans during their remarkably enlightened rule, which saw Palermo become one of the most important cities in Europe. 

Our Special Interest Day will be at Boringdon Golf Club starting at 10.30.

For further details email: info@theartssocietysouthdevon.org.uk

The day includes three lectures by an Arts Society accredited lecturer, Teas and coffee, plus light lunch.

At the Arundell Arms Hotel, 1 Fore Street, Lifton PL16 0AA starting at 09:30.undell Arms Hotel
1Cost: £61.00 per person

To book your place please contact Caroline Shipley at shipleylea@gmail.com for an application form.

The SW Area Support Team is delighted to announce that a History of Art course is to be held in Plymouth. 

A most informative, exciting, and entertaining programme awaits you. There will be 5 one day sessions spread throughout the Autumn 2025 - 16th and 23rd October, 6th , 13th and 25th November. Course fee is £150.

The venue is The Box (formerly Plymouth’s Museum and Art Gallery).  Travelling  here can be by train, bus or car.

Please do join us.  Who could resist.... to start, ‘The Art of the Not So Dark Ages’ and to finish, ‘Leonardo to Michelangelo’.

For more information, contact Barbara, the Course Organiser at barbarahistorysart@gmail.com or 01579 351922.

Dr Geri Parlby

Geri is a former Fleet Street journalist and film PR. She has a first-class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate from Roehampton University in London. She has been lecturing for the past 14 years both in the UK and internationally. She is also principal lecturer on The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and is an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University.

The Day will look at the enduring Western obsession with, and invention of, the so-called ‘Exotic’ or ‘Noble Savage’, starting with the first discovery of the Island of Tahiti in1767.

The three lectures will demonstrate charting the impact of English and European influence in this part of the World, through painted images of the island and their people.  All this is as seen through the eyes of not only Captain Cook and those who came before him, but also through the eyes of the artists that accompanied these pioneering voyages,
and into the 19th and early 20th century with the images of Gauguin.

How to book this event:

Please book places by completing the booking form on line, with payment by Friday 22 nd August

BOOKING and PAYMENT link:

https://theartssocietyteignbridge.org.uk/

Click on the following tabs: WHAT’S ON – SPECIAL INTEREST – CULT OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC – PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Finally, Click on the GREEN Title bar “CULT OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC” and book!

This will guarantee you a place.

Confirmation will automatically be sent to Lis Stackhouse, the SID Organiser

For any other queries, please contact Lis: teignartssid@gmail.com
[Lis Stackhouse: 01626 872711. Mob: 07869 105906]

A STUDY OF SCULPTURE: THE CLASSIC TO THE MODERN

10:00 - 13:00      £25 per person inculding coffee

David Worthington has been drawn to abstract sculpture since seeing a Barbara Hepworth in a school history book aged 10. He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, then studied fine art in London, Barcelona and New York.  He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. David is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors, and was Vice President in 2010-13. He has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan. His work is in the museum the Creative Cities Collection Beijing China. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. He has had solo shows at the Lefevre Gallery, Horatio’s Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera,  and at the Lightbox Gallery Museum, Woking. 

August Rodin and 19th Century Sculpture

Rodin is one of the heroic figures of 19th century art history and was internationally celebrated during his lifetime. But after his death his reputation slipped and there were questions about his use of the female image. Now that is very much being reassessed and he is seen as having in one career taken sculpture on a revolutionary path equivalent to what the Realists, Impressionists and Post Impressionists did with many careers. This lecture surveys his work showing why he is one of history’s greatest sculptors and looking at his work in relationship to 19th century sculpture as well assessing his continuing relevance.

 Constantin Brancusi and 20th Century Sculpture

Brancusi was the son of a peasant from a mountainous province of Romania, yet he became an internationally famous artist and is now seen as one of, if not the, most important sculptors of the 20th century. How did this happen and what is so special about his work? Brancusi combined the Romanian wood working tradition with a Belles Arts fine art training. He also had an intuitive an understanding of the significance of engineered products. A great friend of the inventor of Conceptual art Marcel Duchamp, Brancusi is an enigmatic contradiction, and this will be explored in this lecture, along with his relevance to 20th century sculpture.

Booking Form available here

The Forensic Eye: find your inner connoisseur

10:00 - 15:00 at the Blue Ball Inn, Sidford

£40 per person including coffee aand a light lunch

How do dealers, auctioneers and museum staff determine whether a piece is by one painter or another? What role does the signature play, and what are the key clues to look for when deciding who painted the picture? Artists before the 18th century usually worked with a number of assistants around them, who were trained to reproduce the style of the master as closely as possible. How can we study these workshop productions, distinguishing between master and pupil, master and copyists? In these 2 lectures, we consider clues, weigh up their relative usefulness, and learn some of the tricks of the connoisseur. 

Biography:

MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

Booking Form and details here

How did the British view themselves and their subjects in the age of Imperialism? This Special Interest Day considers these questions by exploring a range of images, buildings, objects and art forms from across the British Empire. Beginning with a broad view of the empire and imperial art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we will go on to focus more closely on Imperial India. We will consider the arts and architecture of the vibrant capital city of Calcutta, the ‘second city’ of the British Empire throughout the nineteenth century. Finally there will be a detailed look at the life and art of Rabindranath Tagore.

Time 10:00 - 15:00

Location Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall Rowford Cottage,                               Cheddon Fitzpaine Taunton

To book email taunton@theartssociety.org  Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall
Rowford Cottage, Cheddon Fitzpaine Taunton TA2 8JYCeddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall
Rowford Cottage, Cheddon Fitzpaine Taunton TA2 8JY

Thursday 24th October from 9.30 am – 3.45 pm Tamar Room, Arundell Arms Hotel, Lifton PL16 0AA 

£55.00 per person 

The day includes three lectures by TAS accredited lecturer Charlie Hall. Teas and coffee, plus lunch – a small soup, a main course and a dessert.

To book your place please complete the application form and send it to Caroline Shipley at shipleylea@gmail.com

During the 19th Century, when the Habsburgs controlled many Central European countries, art and culture were often the only ways in which the Empire’s constituent crownlands could express their national identities. This enthralling study day explores in 3 lectures: The Magic of Prague – beloved of Kings and Princes; A Hungarian Metropolis Budapest, formed in 1873 by the unification of Buda and Pest, situated on either side of the River Danube, finding expression in lavish new buildings, the continent’s first underground railway system, and paintings of significant Hungarian subjects; and Gustav Klimt – imperial muralist turned radical painter, whose sexual themes shocked an unsuspecting populance.

Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre, Buckfast, Devon
Starting at 10:30

£47 (includes all refreshments, 2 course buffet lunch, free parking) 

For booking forms or more information:

E: lis.stackhouse@gmail.com

3 lectures with Arts Society lecturer and art historian Clare Ford-Wille, who teaches at the University of London, and has lectured at the V&A & National Gallery.

Lecture 1: From Dead Trees to Living Trees in Medieval and Renaissance Art
Lecture 2: The Tree Triumphant in 16th and 17th Century Painting
Lecture 3: The Diversity of the Tree in 18th and 19th Century Art

Venue - The Rougemont Room at Exeter Central Library (1st floor - lift available)

Time - Registration from 9.30 am, first lecture 10 am;
refreshments 11.15 -11.45am
second lecture 11.45 -13.000
Lunch 13.00-14.00
third lecture 2pm - 3.15 + Q&A
finish by 3.30pm.

Cost - £30.00 to include tea, coffee and Danish pastries at 11.15am
Payment can be made by BACS to
Lloyds Bank 30-93-14 Account number - 00149155
The Arts Society Exeter
Reference - your surname

Please send an email confirming your payment to
Susie Peat chair.exeter@theartssociety.org

Alternatively complete the form below and send with a cheque made payable to The Arts Society Exeter to: Susie Peat, 49 Sylvan Rd, Exeter, EX4 6EY

Please enclose an SAE if you require a posted receipt, otherwise I will confirm receipt by email or telephone.

Name /s - ………………….………………………………………………………
Address - ………………………………………………………………………….
Email - ……………………..……………………………………………………….
Telephone - …………………..……………………………………………………
I enclose £…………. in payment for Tuesday 4 th June 2024

The merchants of seventeenth century Holland filled their town houses with paintings. But these upright Calvinist citizens rejected biblical subjects and Baroque melodrama. Favourite themes were found closer to home. Still lifes and scenes of everyday living (genre scenes) reflected the prosperity and self-esteem of the new Republic. The detailed realism of these paintings convinces us we are looking at a window onto a past world. But is there more to Dutch art than meets the eye?

To book this event please go to Documents where you will find full details and the booking form.

https://tastotnes.org.uk/DocumentStore/Discovery%20Day%20Double%20Dutch%20with%20Lynne%20Gibson.pdf

Art Deco has the reputation of being the most glamorous and popular style of the 20th century which was prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s. We will review the development of the style within the context of its social and economic environment and look at specific examples of objets d’art, including silver, jewellery, furniture, ceramics, clocks and architecture.  The range of designers, craftsmen and artists that we will contemplate will include, but not limited to, René Lalique, Tamara de Lempicka, Georgia O’Keeffe, and English ceramicist, Clarice Cliff. In addition to some examples of domestic and civic Art Deco buildings in the UK, we will also touch on certain architectural buildings in New York, Miami, Mumbai, and Napier, thus confirming Art Deco’s full global reach and appeal.

Pamela holds an Art History degree from St Andrew's University. She has over 30 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts. She also conducts numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. She has over 12 years' experience at the Royal Academy and has undertaken work experience at Bonhams, Art Loss Register and National Trust. She is now a freelance art consultant and lecturer.

For Booking Form see Documents   https://tastotnes.org.uk/DocumentStore/Special%20Interest%20Day%20on%20Art%20Deco%20Taunton%20Programme%20and%20Booking%20Form.pdf

A study day to be held by The Arts Society Sedgemoor

for more information, see the link below:

www.theartssocietysedgemoor.org.uk

SW Area Arts Society is presenting a lecture at Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre on Monday 2oth June 2022. The lecture is titled :The Great Magicians of Spanish Art: Velazquez, Goya & Picasso

All are welcome to attend - in cluding non members. You need to contact Sara Merchant for an application form by email or phone:     

sarah.swstudydays@gmail.com; Tel: 01398 341973

Read on for full details of the event:-

The Arts Society South West
SPECIAL INTEREST DAY
Monday 20th June 2022
Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre
Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0EG
The Great Magicians of Spanish Art:
Velázquez, Goya & Picasso
Presented by
Douglas Skeggs
Over the centuries, Spain has been home to many important artists,
but there are three who stand out above the others, artists who
changed our perception of the world, who influenced generations to
come, artists who were quite different to each other in their style,
vision and personality and yet, strangely, had a great deal in
common. These are the Great Magicians; Velázquez, Goya &
Picasso. This Special Interest Day looks at the life and works of
each of these three artists.
Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been
a lecturer on paintings since 1980. He is presently a regular lecturer at The Study
Centre and Christie's course The History of Art Studies amongst others. He has
taken numerous tours around Europe, he helped to set up Abercrombie & Kent’s
Private Label Tours and is presently cultural adviser to Ultimate Travel. He has also
written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme
on Whistler.
Timings: 10.00 for a 10.30 start (Close 3.15 - 3.30pm)
Cost: £43, including coffee on arrival & a 2 course buffet lunch
For more information or a booking form please contact:
Sarah Merchant at sarah.swstudydays@gmail.com; Tel: 01398 341973
Non members are most welcome to attend.

Lecture 1 Velázquez: “The Great Magician of Art”
Although not always acknowledged nowadays, this 17th century Spanish
artist is one of the most influential painters in the history of art. Born in Seville
in 1599, where he made his name producing penetratingly observed scenes
of everyday life, he moved up to Madrid where his portraiture was so
successful that by the age of twenty-four he was the only artist permitted to
paint the king of Spain. After his death, the cool elegance of his style, his
ability to discover a sense of dignity and humanity in even the simplest of
subjects, coupled with his breathtakingly daring treatment of the paint was
widely admired by generations of artists from Whistler to Picasso, who
famously described him as “The Great Magician of Art”.

Lecture 2. Goya: Art on the Edge of Darkness
Born in southern Spain in 1746, Goya’s early career was unremarkable.
Failing to get into the San Fernando Academy in Madrid he travelled to Italy
and then made a living for himself producing portraits and tapestry cartoons
for the Spanish Royal Palaces. Then, in his mid forties, he was struck down
by a sudden and violent illness and from that moment his art began to
change. From a painter of simple portraits and gentle, satirical scenes of rural
life he began to produce dark and turbulent images, fused together from the
nightmares of his imagination and the horrors that he witnessed in the
Peninsular War into some of the most haunting and disturbing images of
western art.

Lecture 3. Picasso: “Art is a Lie through which we understand the
Truth”
Picasso is one of the most famous and controversial figures of the 20th
century. Even today his work triggers mixed and often violent reactions from
art lovers. This lecture aims to calm those fears. It follows his early career
from his childhood in Spain, where his unique talent was first recognized, to
the garrets and back streets of Paris where the poetic and wistful images of
the Blue Period were transformed into the daring experiments with form and
structure that became known as Cubism. It examines the ideas and hopes
that he nurtured, the friends and influences he met along the way, the
technical problems he overcame and the single minded determination that
enabled him to break every rule of painting, alter the course of modern art
and yet remain a classical painter in the long tradition of western art.

'Threads through Creation' is a spectacular display of twelve huge and beautiful silk panels reimagining the story of Creation from the bible.   

You’ll be able to see it from 8th June to 24th July, at Exeter Cathedral, part of a twenty cathedral tour.

 Textile artist Jacqui Parkinson is based in Chudleigh. Her work has been shown in most of England’s cathedrals and abroad. She spent three years on this project, used miles of thread, and eight million stitches!  Members who stitch will find it especially interesting: those that don’t will certainly enjoy the extraordinary complex designs. It’s startlingly beautiful with abstract and realistic imagery.

https://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/whats-on/events/threads-through-creation/

Valerie Woodgate is a Lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London galleries. Former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Lecturer and runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Artists can manipulate colour, form, composition and subject-matter (even facts!) in order to explore universal themes such as life, death, feelings, politics, and to engage our emotional participation in the work.  

1. The Language of Feeling: the use of colour, composition and subject matter. (Artists include: Delacroix, Turner, Renoir, Matisse, Kandinsky)  
2. The New Face of Tradition: modern treatments of traditional genres, the effect of the differences and how they add to, or change, our understanding of the subject and its message.  (Artists  include:  Rubens, Reynolds, Manet, Renoir).  
3. The Liberation of Form: the manipulation of perspective, composition and reality to convey more than meets the eye.  (Artists include: Raphael, Degas, Picasso, Hopper, Mondrian) 

Venue: Boringdon Park Golf Club, 55 Plymbridge Road, Plymouth, PL7 4QG.
Timings: 10.00 for 10.30 start (Close 3.00pm)
Cost: £35, including morning coffees and finger buffet lunch.

For a booking form go to 'Our Society’ above and then click on 'Documents'                                                                                                 

 Or contact: Roger Beasley – rogerbeasley05@aol.com or 07894-521414

Dartington Hall Estate TQ9 6EL

• 09.45 Registration and coffee
• 10.30 Lectures begin with Mike Hope, author, curator and designer
• 13.00 Buffet lunch of soup, sandwiches & fresh fruit platter in The White Hart bar
• 14.00 Lectures continue with an opportunity to handle and look at examples of Art Deco pottery, metalwork, sculpture, books, engravings, publicity and printed ephemera.
• Copies of Mike Hope’s newly published book entitled Art Deco Architecture: The Interwar Period, will be available to purchase
• 15.30 Close of the day

Cost £35.00 to include all refreshments
Applications open from May 2019 Members are welcome to bring guests

Application forms can be downloaded and printed from this website; look under "Our Society ..... "Documents" 

CLARE FORD-WILLE STUDY DAY

THE GOLDEN AGE OF DUTCH PAINTING
1600 - 1689
 

DARTMOOR ARTS SOCIETY
 

THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2019    09.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

£40 pp to include tea/coffee and a buffet lunch in the hotel restaurant

The Study Day will to be held at The Arundell Arms, Lifton, PL16 0AA.   Clare Ford-Wille will be giving us three lectures on The Golden Age of Dutch Painting 1600-1689. Clare is an art historian who has, for over thirty years, studied and lectured on almost every period of the fine arts, from Charlemagne to the late nineteenth century. She has led art study tours and lectured throughout Great Britain, Europe, Armenia, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.A.

For more information and to book a place please get in touch with the Study Day Secretary Caroline Taylor (The Arts Society Dartmoor) on caroline@clifford-taylor.net.

For information, there is disabled access into the Tamar Room (where the Study Day is being held) and there are disabled cloakroom facilities in the main hotel nearby.

A SW Area Study Day 

Venue:  Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre

Cost:  £39 to include coffee and a good lunch.

For further information please see SW Area website:

     theartssocietysw.org.uk

Venue:  The Best Western Hotel, Tiverton.

Fee:  £38 to include coffee and a good lunch.

For more information visit the SW Area website

      theartssocietysw.org.uk

A five day course running in four centres 

• Okehampton - 4 September 2018
• Exeter - 18 January 2019
• Plymouth - 21 January
• Sidmouth - 27 February

See SW Area website for further information:

      theartssocietysw.org.uk