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MEMBERS' NEWSLETTER : January 2002 Please Note With the successful Spring Exhibition behind us, it’s time to look forward to the Summer Exhibition and two practical matters by which all exhibiting members will be affected. Firstly, it seems to be quite widely thought that it is permissible to submit a solitary work of art for exhibition and to mark it ‘Not For Sale’. This is a misconception and has never been intended. Secondly, due to the ever-increasing costs of putting on the exhibitions, the rate of commission levied by the Society on the sale of each work of art has been increased to 20%. The Notes of Guidance (which are sent out to all members with the entry forms at the appropriate time) have been amended accordingly and should be read carefully. ……another important notice | ||||
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Summer Exhibition The handing in date has been altered to Wednesday 7th August. Remember to look carefully at the entry form for the time applicable to you. |
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Desmond Keig-Shevlin Monkey Business I hope the name Rodin makes this article ‘arty’ enough to be included! - Chris Butler My husband, Graham, was on a business trip to Scotland. Whilst staying in a hotel in Irvine he saw a small bronze statue of a monkey in the foyer. It was striking the pose of Rodin’s Thinker and holding a human skull! When Graham asked the meaning of the monkey statue he was given a copy of the following poem:
The Chairman’s Last Sermon The good attendances at our monthly meetings this year are very encouraging. I know our guest speakers appreciate a large and interested audience particularly if they have travelled some distance. A consistently high level of support helps to enhance the Society’s reputation and provides the spur needed to invite good speakers and demonstrators to make the monthly programme more interesting. It is also nice to welcome new members to our meetings and also to see others who have travelled some distance from Hereford, Bishops Castle, Leebotwood and beyond. I have always thought that the Society should be more than an organisation, which just shows and sells your paintings- though lately I’ve formed the depressing opinion that a significant proportion of the membership regards the Society as simply that. The Society’s membership is now widely distributed through Shropshire and neighbouring counties, due no doubt to our successful exhibitions-that’s fine we now have no residence restrictions. So it is understandable that some distant members will not travel to Ludlow meetings each month. Those members who never attend our monthly meetings miss out because it is important that members have opportunities to share their ideas and expertise. There are two ways in which we can try to provide a forum for our members, first by the Newsletter-Christine Butler now edits the Newsletter and is there to receive your copy. This can take the form of comments, letters, news, or even a short article. We do not envisage publishing more than 4 issues a year though so its scope is limited. Secondly there is the web site, publishing on that is much cheaper and quicker. It is usually always accessible so you can visit it at any time if you have internet access-now that libraries have internet terminals you do not have to have your own computer. The World Wide Web is just that and the Society’s web site offers a wonderful opportunity to tell the world what we are doing-but more of that later. Fifteen years have passed since the day I was invited by Bill Hall, the Society’s Chairman at that time, to join the Committee-unaware that he had me earmarked to take over the organisation of our exhibitions from Hazel Dickson. I have served the Society as a committee member and holder of office almost continuously ever since. For me, in respect of Ludlow Art Society, it is very much a case of ‘been there, done that.’ In the early years the Society used to hold a summer buffet in June. I remember one held at Ashford Hall, the grand home of our Vice-President Paul Mclean because Paul has a striking oil painting in his dining room of a shire horse drawing a plough. The memory strikes a chord because I have begun to feel a bit like that plodding old shire in Paul’s painting, straining to draw out a deep straight furrow for the Society to provide a fertile environment to nurture members’ creativity. Just lately the burden of ploughing the furrow has made me feel that it really is time to hang up my hay-bag. Our Secretary Desmond Keig-Shevlin is another friendly noble shire who has been in harness with me during my period as Chairman. The old fella needs a blacksmith to attend to his right hoof and has to take life easy-so he too is asking to be put out to graze in ‘Fresh woods and pastures new.’ Of equal importance in the stable is Barbara Birks who has kept the Society’s membership records. Barbara will also be retiring as Membership Secretary at the Annual Meeting in October. So the Committee will soon be considering nominations to put forward to the next AGM. If you are lively, intelligent, enthusiastic-I’m sure most of you are really-and under 60?....er, hmm! We need you anyway to form the new Committee do please help if you can. Web Site Developments The web site is now with a new host and the change will enable us to develop new features. The most innovative is the ‘Guest Book’. You can write an on line entry in the Book about any topic that you consider needs raising. Visitors will also be able to use it to tell us what they think of the site or of our exhibitions if they have visited them. The web is full of Support Forums, which allow specialist groups with a common interest to share ideas or get help-the Guest Book could be developed along these lines if members want such a facility. Also you can now ‘Post a Message’ from the web site, though if you do not have an email account you will need to give an address or telephone number if you anticipate a reply. Do have a look again at the web site and make use of these features. To encourage those members who miss the monthly meetings the ‘Presentations’ pages on the web site give illustrated summaries of each of the demonstrations in the current programme. This will be an ongoing feature-not as good as being there of course but you will be able to acquire a taste for the monthly programme which might persuade you that it is worth making the journey to Ludlow to get to the meetings. With access to the web we can all become researchers and information seekers. I hope that many of you will have used the link to the Vermeer presentation offered in the last issue-the link is still on the web site whenever you need it. This time I suggest you look at the web sites of some artists’ paint manufacturers-there are 3 listed with the ‘Information Sheets’ on the ‘Archive’ page. Winsor & Newton’s web site has useful articles on techniques and how to use their range of products. The other two links-both good for similar technical information-are to the sites of Liquitex and Golden Colours, these are American manufacturers of Acrylic paints. Golden Colours have few retail outlets in the UK but they are a long established company, which pioneered acrylic paint technology. I’m fond of their Fine Pumice Gell, which I use to prepare textured grounds for pastels. You have to buy Golden Colours on the Internet or mail order unless you happen to be wandering through South Kensington with a spare £20 note or two-then you could pop into the materials shop at the Royal College of Art. There’s an endorsement if the crème de la crème of art schools stocks them they must be good! Here’s a thought I was once fortunate to meet Grahame Sydney at a major retrospective exhibition he had in Dunedin. He is one of New Zealand’s most successful artists and his enthusiasm for painting was generated by childhood Saturday morning painting lessons given by an artist friend of the family. His tutor gave him a copy of ‘The Art Spirit’ by Robert Henri-Henri was an American painter who died in 1929 and the book is a collection of his writings. Here’s a beautiful quotation from it, which sums up what we painters live for:
You can see Grahame Sydney's work on his web site at: http://www.grahamesydney.com John Blockley b1921 d2002 This issue gives an opportunity to pay a tribute to our late President who died on January 16th. aged 80. Gwilym John Blockley was born in Knighton and he knew and loved the border landscapes of Radnorshire- he spoke affectionately of the childhood days he spent on his grandparents farm at Llanfair Waterdine. As his career developed his painting subjects widened but for many of his admirers he will be remembered chiefly for his paintings of the wild and lonely places of Wales and Northern England where he found his artistic voice. John left school at the age of 13 and served an engineering apprenticeship, latterly working for the Atomic Energy Authority in Lancashire. His passion for drawing and painting led to his appointment as head of the Authority’s Design Studio. Dissatisfied with his job he devoted his week-ends to painting-succesfully selling his work until, at the age of 52, he began to paint full time. He belonged to a class of artist, who turned to painting after careers in other professions and became successful-John Yardley and Trevor Chamberlain fall into the same category. John forged his own painterly vision independently of the dubious tenets of the Art Educators in our Colleges-providing therefore an ideal role model as our President. Supported by his wife Margaret he set up his own Gallery in Stow on the Wold and shared a studio with Moira Huntly, creating a working partnership where each artist benefitted from the other’s criticism. He gradually acquired professional recognition and in 1967 was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and served on the council for many years. Membership of the Pastel Society followed in 1969 and he served two terms as President from 1981-3 and 1988-93. His leadership helped revive interest in both the pastel medium and the Society. He was also elected to membership of the New English Art Club and the Royal West of England Academy. John’s work became widely known through the seven books, which he wrote on Watercolour and Pastel techniques. I was first introduced to ‘Country Landscapes in Watercolour’ by Kath Edfryn Jones who gave a demonstration at one of our monthly meetings some years ago. The way John used watercolour came as a revelation to someone following the orderly controlled wash methods of Jack Merriot. John would drop blobs of colour, splatter, blot, rinse the whole lot off under a tap, exploit the happy accident if it occurred to achieve a strong textural interpretation of the subject which pleased his eye. He applied his same playful methods to the acrylic and pastel mediums with equal success. When I received the sad news that John had died I had just begun a series of watercolours of Shropshire landscapes with a copy of his book ‘Watercolour Interpretations’ at my elbow. This was an apt coincidence because John has, through his example and gentle encouragement, helped so many of us who shared his enthusiasm for painting. I can rarely look at a painting subject without the thought, ‘How would John have tackled this?’ coming to mind. This, I am sure, is an experience shared by many other painters. It is perhaps the best possible tribute to his achievement that, through the work he has left and his books, he will continue to be an inspiration to those of us following in his footsteps. I only trespassed into his life for a very brief moment but the occasions we met hold treasured memories now-I wish he had been granted more time, our friendly association was all too brief and he had so much to give to us all. John is survived by his wife Margaret and their two daughters. His younger daughter Ann is also an artist. Robert Kirk I am grateful for the help of Moira Huntly in the preparation of this tribute-particularly for the use of dates and other details which first appeared in John’s obituary in ‘The Times’ on February 25th 2002. Notice: Silk Top Hats Gallery Visits Provisional plans were made to go to London on Thursday 20th June for two major exhibitions. Tate Britain where there will be Lucien Freud, and Matisse and Picasso at the Tate Modern. For details of future gallery visits ring Silk Top Hat Gallery on 01584 875363 | ||||