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MEMBERS' NEWSLETTER: September 2002 The wonders of modern technology! Ok, who spotted the deliberate mistake in the last newsletter? The gremlins infiltrated my poem as the newsletter winged its way through the ether via email to be published, and swapped the verses round. [Oops ’Fraid not, Chris: just my plain old-fashioned carelessness. Sorry. Printer.] Apologies if it didn’t make sense, but you can look at it the right way round on the LAS web site. I’m not sure of the exact deadline for January 2003 but if you would like to send me articles to be published in the New Year, the first two weeks in January would be ideal. Chris Butler Do artists talk to each other? Do they indeed have anything worthwhile to say apart from what is expressed visually through their paintings? I often look at the on-line editions of two quality dailies, The Times and Guardian Unlimited chiefly to read the arts pages. Unlike the printed papers the on-line editions have ‘message boards’ where readers can contribute to discussions about new books and all aspects of the performing and visual arts. The boards dealing with new film and book reviews generate very interesting discussion about new releases, but in contrast the contemporary art boards are rather dull and pathetic. ‘Seen any good exhibitions lately?’ is the kind of colloquial style and level at which many comments are expressed. Then there are the predictable irate outbursts aimed at the latest silly installation in the Tate Modern. It is all rather sad. Discourse plays an important part in anyone’s artistic development but the widely scattered nature of our membership makes it difficult for members to talk to one another and to share their ideas and opinions. This is a weakness which is now addressed by our web site, ludlowartsociety.org.uk. This has an Artists’ Forum consisting of message boards, which will allow members and guests to generate discussions about any topic which might be of general interest. If you take a look at the Forum there are sample topics which suggest ways in which the boards can be used. The message boards are there for anyone to start a discussion about anything relating to painting or the wider visual arts. I hope in time they will develop a lively community of artists who are willing to share their ideas and expertise. I belong to a generation which, like many of our members I suspect, is uncertain about using the internet Ð particularly when it comes to posting comment which the whole world can read; younger folk have no such inhibitions. If you are shy you can opt to write under a pseudonym! While developing the Society’s web site I made use of the support forums provided by supanames.com our web hosts. If I had a problem I simply posted a message to the forum and within days there were replies that helped me over the difficulty. I know nothing about the people who freely shared their expertise Ð they replied using exotic names like ‘Black Prince’ or ‘Celtic Bruce’. I formed the impression that they were probably young, certainly enthusiastic about the web, and they knew far more about writing programming code than I do. As a spin-off, after posting my queries, around 200 people visited our web site. This experience with the Supanames support forums made me wonder why the Times and Guardian art boards are so pathetic. If artists are as genuinely enthusiastic about their craft as programmers certainly are why do they seem so reluctant to share their expertise on the Internet? Our Artists’ Forum is a resource for members to express their enthusiasm for painting and share their ideas and opinions in a way which will show the whole world that Ludlow has lively community of artists. This must be good for the future of the Society. Why not take a look at the Artists’ Forum Ð I look forward to reading your message. Robert Kirk Master of acrylic When acrylic paints first appeared they were taken up by commercial artists and illustrators. I remember that when Chromacolor was first launched in the UK the advertising hype tried to make us believe that here was a totally new medium that gave rise to stunning effects exploited by cartoon animators. Only gradually did the company drop the hype and admit that Chromacolor had an acrylic polymer base just like Liquitex or our own Rowney Cryla Ð there was little difference. Acrylic paints are now an established water-based medium that is often used to supplement pure watercolour or developed in ways unique to itself. Allan Laycock RWA who gave a presentation to members last July learned to use acrylics when working as a magazine illustrator and he has gained remarkable mastery in handling it. He paints out of doors and has developed a method of completing his paintings sur le motif. He brought a huge sample of his work to supplement his demonstration, and ten examples which illustrate his commentary can be seen as a slide presentation on the web site. All of the presentations given in the current programme now can be viewed on the web site. Do look at them and perhaps the content will persuade you that our monthly meetings are events that you simply cannot miss. Robert Kirk Here’s a thought Allan Laycock steered me in the direction of Masterclass in Watermedia by Edward Betts. If you are courageous enough to break away from traditional pure watercolour and willing to experiment in the mould of our late President John Blockley then this book will be an inspiration. Here’s a quotation that catches the flavour of it.
News from Broseley Broseley Art Group formed in the early 1980s when a group of artists who all lived in Broseley began to meet, draw and discuss art in each other’s homes in the town. Since then, over the years, we have met up weekly, attended events together, exhibited locally, and at various venues in and around Shropshire, shared news and views and supported each other throughout that time. Members come and go, depending on time and commitments, but the core group presently consists of Betsy Smith, Ann Whall, Sue Docwra, Angela Jones, Jean Ramsden, Jane Roberts and Maggie Humphry. Betsy exhibits throughout Shropshire and neighbouring counties, Ann Whall is currently showing at the Real Art Gallery, Shrewsbury. Sue Docwra’s photographs and paintings will feature in her own exhibition at Broseley Library throughout September, with Roger Smith; and Jane Roberts will be exhibiting and curating an exhibition in C&A modes, an empty shop in Shrewsbury, for the Countryside Association, during September. We will keep Ludlow members up-to-date with forthcoming exhibitions when they come up. Jane Roberts Annual Report and Summary of Accounts Chairman’s Report At the Annual Meeting in October 2002 I will have completed a three-year term of office as Chairman. I hope that this will become the established practice in the future because I believe that there should be a triennial election of a new chairman to bring in fresh ideas and take the Society forward with new initiatives. At the end of my period of office it seems appropriate to restate the aims I have tried to pursue. Experience shows that most members join because they are attracted by the success of our exhibitions. This is good because it shows that the quality of the exhibitions is widely recognized and it has resulted in a steady influx of talented artists drawn from Shropshire and neighbouring counties. Unlike some societies we do not have a waiting list or selection procedure and attracting members whose primary aim is to sell work has proved relatively easy. Inevitably our links with such members are rather tenuous but for the Society to continue to develop as a lively community of artists there has to be a stronger obligation. The Society has always had the stimulus of a few professional artists and others with professional aspirations showing work in our exhibitions. Probably the most notable of the professionals was Roland Spencer-Ford who was a very influential figure in the Society’s early years. Roland always showed his work with us to the end of his life even though physical frailty eventually prevented him from taking an active part in the Society’s affairs. I like to think that he sent work in as his way of supporting the Society by preserving the quality of our exhibitions. Roland was unique in this respect Ð the usual trend has been that whenever one of our talented members develops a firm market for their work they no longer show with us and over the years we have lost several members for this reason. When I first joined the Society our membership consisted of the professionals like Roland Spencer-Ford and Noel Shepherdson, a few like the late Mona Wallin who were keen to sell their work and were aiming to make an income from their sales, and true amateurs who simply enjoyed painting. This blend of professional and amateur work created stimulating exhibitions that attracted wide public interest and helped to put the society on a firm financial base. I hope that current members with professional aspirations will show a Roland Spencer-Ford brand of loyalty once the Society has helped kick-start their careers. I have always believed that the Society should be more than a means to facilitate sales of members’ work. The monthly programme and the workshops that were once a regular part of it should help members on a journey of artistic development and give opportunities for dialogue and sharing expertise. The widely scattered nature of our membership makes it difficult for members to meet and talk to each other and this problem has been addressed by expanding the Newsletter which now has at least four pages. It is important that the Newsletter should develop from being the Chairman’s mouthpiece that it formerly was to a journal that reflects the views and interests of the wider membership. Of course to achieve that objective requires enthusiastic support from you, the members. Chris Butler now edits the Newsletter and I thank her for taking this burden from the Chairman’s shoulders Ð she has an important job. Do please support her with regular contributions of news and articles. The Society is fortunate to have the expert services of Ernest Buckley who handles our printed material. Ernest has been the guardian of my spelling, grammar, and syntax; he has taught me a great deal and I am very grateful to him for the dependable service he has given to the Society for many years. Printing and circulating the Newsletter to members is expensive and its format and circulation imposes constraints that are overcome by use of a web site. The world-wide web offers a better way to inform members and to publicize our activities Ð though I expect that its potential will not be fully realized until we have younger members more at ease using computers. The online edition of the Newsletter could be enhanced with full colour illustrations; the web site could carry news of members’ activities and can be frequently updated; while the message boards of the Artists’ Forum could generate lively discussion which reflects the range of members’ interests and will allow them to share their expertise. However, the fundamental importance of the web site is that any member, however distant from Ludlow, need never feel isolated or unable to take an active part in the life of the Society. The number of visits to the web site is growing and it is now up to members to make imaginative use of it Ð so developing a resource that has the potential to reach fellow artists world-wide. The numbers attending our monthly meetings always fluctuate but attendances have averaged between 30 and 40. This is encouraging, though attendances remain at less than 20% of the total membership Ð which leads to consideration of whether the form of the monthly meetings should be changed. The ‘Presentations’ pages on the web site offer a summary of each meeting in the current programme as a guide to what has taken place and hopefully will arouse more interest. The problem of how to generate more active member-participation in the programme remains unresolved. There have been a few disappointments. The committee’s decision to invite a nationally known artist to be the Society’s President was a good one. John Blockley was someone who became a professional artist after working in engineering and with little formal training; he was an ideal role model for many of our members moving in a similar direction. It was a disappointment that John’s failing health prevented him from taking a more active presidential role. I cannot explain why we overlooked inviting John Napper to address one of our monthly meetings Ð we had an artist with a national reputation right on our doorstep. When invited he readily accepted, but the opportunity to hear him was missed: sadly he died before the date of his presentation Ð a great disappointment. Recently I woke up to the fact that our list of Vice-Presidents had dwindled to one. A matter of no great import perhaps except that the Vice-Presidents were founder members and when Kit Hall died there was no one left with first-hand knowledge of the early days of the Society. I regret now that we missed the opportunity to interview our former Vice-Presidents and record their memories of the Society’s activities in the early years. I am now arranging for the Society’s archive of minute books and other material to be held in the County Records and Research Centre in Shrewsbury where they will be available to historians and others. It would be good if anyone who has a long-lasting association with the Society could write an account of their recollections Ð these would be a useful supplement to the more formal records we hold. Sponsorship has featured amongst the Society’s activities for a number of years, originating with donations made to Ludlow School and Ludlow College for an Annual Art Prize. John Blockley’s ‘President’s Exhibition’ in 2001 was the last of the major sponsored exhibitions we arranged to coincide with the Ludlow Festival. Pressure of use of ‘The Studio’ made the organizing of these events increasingly difficult. The Society will continue sponsorship of the ‘Saturday Morning Art Club’ and this has proved to be a very successful and worthwhile enterprise. The organization of our two members’ exhibitions requires a great deal of work and I must thank all of the Committee for their support during the past year. It is the Committee’s responsibility to take decisions and act in the best interests of members I hope members fully appreciate the amount of time that is spent on planning the monthly programme and arranging exhibitions. The Society’s Hon. Treasurer Betty Harriss has to make sure that money is in the right account at the appropriate time to pay rental charges and to reimburse members when paintings are sold Ð so thank you Betty. Special words of thanks are due to the retiring officers, Barbara Birks and Desmond Keig-Shevlin. Barbara has competently managed the Society’s membership records Ð thank you Barbara. I am particularly grateful to our retiring Hon. Secretary Desmond Keig-Shevlin who has handled the bulk of the Society’s correspondence, and kept summary records of meetings. All this was done with a degree of competence and a level of courtesy that made him an both an agreeable colleague and a fine ambassador for the Society Ð so a final thank you Desmond. Robert Kirk, Chairman Treasurer’s Report A profit of £472 was made on the Spring Exhibition after paying rent of £585 for use of the Harley Centre and £370 for screen storage and removal. A profit of £47 was made on the Summer Exhibition after paying rent of £948 for use of the Harley Centre and £381 for screen storage and removal. £5229 was spent on new exhibition stands. £600 was paid to Ludlow Assembly Rooms for sponsorship of the Saturday Morning Art Classes. The General Fund at 31st December 2001 was £6499.44 of which £5652.06 was held in a National Savings Investment Account. Copies of the full audited accounts will be made available at the A.G.M. on 3rd October 2002. Betty Harris, Hon. Treasurer The autumn programme In October and December the monthly programme has to be created by you, our members! Do please support the Annual Meeting and bring an example of your recent work. Last year the presentations members gave about their work at the end of formal business rounded off the evening in an interesting and pleasant way. Let’s try to repeat the experiment this year. I read somewhere that the best way to improve at chess is to discuss with yourself the next possible moves Ð I often do the same these days when painting! What if I added a blue touch here or a strong line there? It helps. Perhaps if you are brave enough to make similar comments out loud when showing your work after the AGM you can provide others with valuable insights as well. In December the plan is to hold a members’ workshop where the evening will be given over to members’ presentations. So that the evening can be planned I need to know in advance what you are proposing to do. I’ve already received one offer from Craig Young, which is a start Ð we need two or three others please to complete the evening. Please let me have a resum? of your idea and if you can e-mail me text and pictures I can feature the topic on the web site for the whole world to see. In November Mike Leber will give a talk ‘L.S. Lowry Ð his life and work’. Mike works for Salford Arts and Community Services and is an authority on Lowry. Lowry is a true English eccentric and you are either charmed by his work or you hate it. Adolphe Valette, a delightful impressionist painter of Manchester scenes, who was Lowry’s tutor at Manchester College of Art thought him terrible with no talent at all! Yet Salford has commemorated Lowry with a state of the art Gallery and Arts complex. You must now all be curious to hear more. I look forward to meeting you on November 7th. The last item on the programme is the Christmas Dinner for which a booking form is enclosed. Robert Kirk I had recently moved to Ludlow... and my first priority was to join the art society. I knew it would be a thriving and friendly society and this has been confirmed from the meetings I have attended and the welcome extended by everyone. To an outsider Ludlow and the surrounding area offers an abundance of painting subjects and I couldn’t wait to get visiting all the sites and start painting. I am a keen watercolourist but recently I saw some paintings in a local gallery in the town by John Piper. In fact they are signed prints, but the subjects and the impact really interested me. John Piper was friendly with Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash and also John Betjeman; he belonged to 1930/40s era. I have obtained books of his pictures which show he painted Ludlow Castle, Eastnor Castle and Shobdon church. I have visited these subjects to find the exact spot he painted from and hope to produce my own pictures. I have since read up on John Piper and find that he was a very versatile artist involved in abstract art during the 30s, and book illustration – in particular the Shell Guides to Britain (Oxfordshire and Shropshire). He designed a lot of stage sets for the theatre and stained glass windows for numerous buildings including the large baptistry at Coventry Cathedral and also a large abstract window for Liverpool Cathedral. He kept abreast of everything that Picasso was doing and also in his twenties met Braque who was a strong influence on his work. It is interesting to read some of his attitudes to art: ‘He was as interested in semi-detached houses around London as he was with the nave at Salisbury Cathedral. Also a small Welsh railway station was as rewarding as St Pancras.’ There was no such thing as a dull place. ‘My aims in painting are to express love of country and architecture and the humanity that inhabits them and to increase my own understanding and nourish my own love of the work of other painters past and present.’ He was a student of colour in all its manifestations. He liked colour plain and strong and he also liked non-colour of rocks and stones. He talks about abstract art as a luxury, which can be meaningless, unless it is based on real life objects or experiences. John Piper painted in all media but the ones that really interested me are his mixed media watercolour/gouache/ink and pastel. I have carried out a detailed study of these pictures and in certain pictures he appears to have laid an overall variegated wash of watercolour and then applied either gouache or pastel to define shapes, and finally used pen and ink very sparingly to outline certain features. In other pictures he uses ink applied with a brush to define shapes followed by broad applications of pastel and gouache. The resulting pictures have instant impact with very strong design and colour. A picture of a church in Nottinghamshire is broadly drawn with a brush using black ink and then gouache applied in certain areas followed by strongly coloured applications of pastel. The resulting picture fills the frame with bright green foliage, strong red roof, leaning tower with bright yellow brickwork and blue window. The combination of transparent washes and opaque gouache is very satisfying. I have made a few sketches using these materials and can see the possibilities to provide my own work with more impact. I have used most media in the past but never tried gouache except to touch in watercolours. This approach treats the two media as equal. There is obviously a lot of trial and error involved in knowing what to paint in which medium and finally how little ink definition is required but I intend pursuing this route for a while. Craig Young Silk Top Hat visits 2002 Thursday October 10th. Tour to The National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff (coach £12). Thursday November 7th. Tour to Manchester Art Gallery (coach £12). Coaches will leave from Parkway, opposite the old Post Office in Corve Street at 9.00am; return departure at about 5.30 pm. Further details from the Silk Top Hat Gallery. |