Our 2022 Shropshire Art Society Summer Exhibition is now open and on until 1pm on Wednesday 6th July (daily 10am – 4pm, except Sundays). It looks splendid, with an exciting range of great work by our members. We were very pleased to welcome Katherine Garnier DL, Deputy Lieutenenant for Shropshire, to open the exhibition on Saturday 18th June. Thank you so much Katherine. She is pictured below with our Chair, Phil Hadley, and our President, Wilf Langford. The other pictures give a flavour of some of our members and their guests at Saturday’s preview, a very happy occasion.
Alan Townsend, Jane and Sally (with Joanna on Whatsapp!) very much enjoyed judging the Judy Townsend Memorial Prize, awarded this year to Paul Cronin for his uplifting reduction lino-cut print, ‘Gannetry‘. Sally and Jane spotted the print as soon as they walked in, knowing their mum would have loved its vibrancy, energy and movement, as well as its strong and clever design. The whole family agreed that it would be a wonderful piece to wake up to every morning, and they couldn’t resist buying it. Paul is pictured below with ‘Gannetry’ and with Alan, and we’ve also included details from the other shortlisted paintings: from top right going clockwise, Vase of Late Summer Flowers (Rachel Savine-Jones, pastel); ‘Gannetry’ (Paul Cronin, winner, print); ‘Natal Hill’ (Melanie Houlder, print); ‘Honda Super Sport 400’ (Bob Spendlove, watercolour); ‘Bridled Guillimot’ (Karen Sillar, print).
Congratulations Paul! It’s lovely that Paul is the organiser of our new-look-for-2022 Print Club and also that three of the shortlisted works are prints. Perhaps we could say, it’s ‘the year of the print’ 😊
The exhibition is vibrant and we heard many compliments about it and its artworks on hanging day. We must thank John Willetts, our Exhibitions Organiser, and his team of volunteers for all the hard work that makes the Summer Exhibition possible. And, of course, we are grateful to St. Mary’s Church for allowing us to exhibit in such a stunning venue, with its world-reknowned stained glass windows, quiet atmosphere and friendly cafe. The photos below give a flavour of the exhibition and we do hope you will visit, if you haven’t already, and vote for your favourite painting in the ‘People’s Prize’. Thank you to all our members for exhibiting their paintings, and here’s to a very successful Summer Exhibition for the Society and for you all!
