News Blog | Shropshire Art Society

A Lifetime’s Work – in memory of Judith Moy

“A Lifetime’s Work” was a sale of paintings and art materials gifted by the late Judith Moy, held on Saturday 1st April 2017.

Collage of Judith Moy memorial event A Lifetime's Work 2017 — A lifetime’s work from the very special Judith Moy

At noon on Saturday 1st April the doors of the spacious Allington Hall at Shrewsbury Schools opened to welcome the many friends and admirers of the artist, Judith Moy. They were there to support a unique fund raising event for Severn Hospice made possible by the great generosity of Judith with her donation of a significant body of her work for sale. Judith’s children, John, Kate and Lucy, helped by a team from Shropshire Art Society, staff of Shrewsbury School and the Severn Hospice fund raising team, hosted the event which has raised to date an impressive total of over £18,000.

The event was opened with a moving tribute from Wilf Langford, Chairman of the Art Society, supported by Kate, Judith’s eldest daughter and Lucy Ruff, fund raising officer from Severn Hospice.

Special thanks go to Liz Carr (close friend of Judith) for her tireless efforts to coordinate the organisation of the event, Lucy Ruff, John Willetts Shropshire Art Society’s Exhibitions Organiser and of course to Judith’s many admirers for supporting the event by their presence in some number and by their generous purchases.

Some 100 framed paintings, very professionally displayed, as well as many unframed paintings and artist’s prints were complemented by a huge variety of Judith’s Sketchbooks and personal art equipment. A rich feast for the artist and collector alike.

This splendid occasion was certainly an excellent way to mark Judith’s achievement as an artist and contribution over many years to the life and development of the Society and her significance as a painter of some note in Shropshire and well beyond.

The Society is holding the inaugural Judith Moy Annual lecture on Friday 5th May. Euryl Stevens will give the lecture.

Shropshire Artists love London 2017

53 members and friends have just returned from another SAS Annual Gallery Weekend, this year a return to London, again basing ourselves at the very conveniently situated Mercure Bloomsbury Hotel in the heart of that attractive district. Travel with Longmynd Coaches was as usual comfortable and efficiently organised to maximise our city stay.

After a Friday midday arrival, members were soon fanning out across London making the most of the excellent London Transport buses stopping just outside the hotel. Some of us headed immediately for the nearby British Museum to explore its rich offerings and to visit the large Special Exhibition of Watercolours. Tate Britain, with its striking Hockney Exhibition, Tate Modern with the Robert Rauschenberg, the Courtauld Institute, The Mall Galleries and the small but exciting exhibition of Australian Impressionist paintings at the National Gallery, provided rich fare.

Theatres, concerts and sightseeing, including viewing the city from the new 10th floor platform at Tate Modern, provided more excitement, topped off for many of us by a sociable evening meal in the hotel’s new Pierre Marco White Restaurant.

Our thanks go to our organiser Alan Townsend, to the very helpful hotel staff and to our Longmynd driver, Ian.

A Christmas flavour to final Saturday Workshop of 2016

A very well attended Saturday Workshop was held on 26th November to conclude an enjoyable Autumn Term’s activities. Led as usual by Lynne Morgan and Mick Krupa, we were re-introduced to the exciting multi-media work of John Blockley and discovered more about his subject matter and technique, before applying some of his approaches to our own chosen subjects.

Collage of SAS final Saturday Workshop of 2016 — A flavour of the pre-Christmas Saturday Workshop

The lunch break saw us relaxing with a pre Christmas drink and hot mince pies!
Our sincere thanks go to Lynne and Mick for their very thorough organisation of these sessions and their encouraging leadership. We look forward to meeting again in January.

Autumn Exhibition, John Willetts our prize winner

On Saturday 8th October, The Bear Steps, the traditional venue for our Autumn Exhibition, was the scene of a well attended gathering of members and invited guests. They had assembled to celebrate another very successful Autumn Exhibition and to witness the awarding of the R Harrison and H Walker Prize given annually in the judge’s opinion, for the painting that best reflects the Shropshire countryside. On this occasion, the award went to John Willetts for his watercolour entitled ‘Snow on the Wrekin’.

Image of winning painting SAS Autumn 2016 Walker Harrison Prize (John Willetts, Snow on the Wrekin) — ‘Snow on the Wrekin’ by John Willetts

Our adjudicator, Jim Davies, with his considerable knowledge of the county and his artist’s eye, commented on the high quality of the paintings eligible for the award and offered a thoughtful critique of his final shortlist. He was thanked warmly for the trouble he had taken in making the award.

Collage of Autumn Exhibition 2016 Social, with John Willetts receiving his award from Jim Davies — A flavour of the event, and Jim presenting John with his award.

Our thanks go to John and his team for the hard work and attention to detail that makes this all possible and to Margaret Rowson for again organising the hospitality. Thanks too to Anne Linton for capturing the essence of the occasion in her excellent photographs.