‘Birmingham and Beyond’… with a Christmas flavour

On Monday 1st December, 39 Shropshire Art Society members and friends travelled to Birmingham for our annual Pre-Christmas gallery visit. After our usual stop for coffee, on arrival in the delightful St Paul’s Square we headed for the annual ‘Birmingham and Beyond’ exhibition at the RBSA Gallery. This exciting and varied show featured work by Members and Associates of the RBSA. Then, after enjoying a traditional Christmas Lunch at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, many of us visited the new galleries designed to house the splendid Anglo Saxon artefacts from the Staffordshire Hoard, while others sampled the delights of the Christmas markets in the streets outside. Smooth journeys both ways in our comfortable Longmynd coach ensured another stress free and very happy outing with a lovely Christmas flavour, as the photos below show.
We wish you all an excellent festive season to come!

Collage of SAS Birmingham Gallery Visit 2014
Birmingham Gallery Visit 2014, festive photos with thanks to Anne Linton

Autumn Exhibition winners awarded!

We are pleased to confirm that the Shropshire Art Society Autumn Exhibition Reg Harrison & Harold Walker Memorial Salver Award has been awarded to our Exhibitions Secretary John Willetts for the picture that best reflects the Shropshire countryside. His winning picture, a watercolour painting titled ‘Sunset over The Wrekin’ (photo below), was chosen by our esteemed adjudicator this year, Councillor Mansel Williams, who presented the award to John on Saturday 8th November at the Autumn Exhibition Social event.

Image of winning painting SAS autumn 2014 (Sunset over the Wrekin by John Willetts)
Winning painting: Sunset over the Wrekin by John Willetts

Joint second prizes were awarded to Val Littlehales for her painting ‘Looking West from the Longmynd’ and Michael Brown for his painting ‘Rainstorm over Longmynd’. Congratulations to all our winners!

The Social was a lovely occasion as the photos below show, the Gallery was packed with visitors. Thanks must go to Councillor Williams, everyone who helped with the organisation, and to all our members and their guests for supporting the event. The Exhibition continues until Saturday 15th November at the Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury.

Collage of SAS Autumn Exhibition 2014 Social with award to John Willetts presented by Councillor Williams
Photos of the Autumn Exhibition Social with thanks to Anne Linton

Autumn Exhibition 2014 opens at the Bear Steps Gallery

Shropshire Art Society Autumn Exhibition 2014
Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury, SY1 1UR
Monday 3rd November to Saturday 15th November (not Sunday 9th) from 10am to 4pm daily. The Exhibition Social will be on Saturday 8th November from 12pm to 2pm. Members and guests all welcome.

Exhibition Awards:
We are delighted to announce that the Reg Harrison & Harold Walker Memorial Salver Award has been awarded to our Exhibitions Secretary John Willetts for the picture that best reflects the Shropshire countryside… his winning picture, a watercolour painting titled ‘Sunset over The Wrekin’ was chosen by our esteemed adjudicator this year, Councillor Mansel Williams. John will be presented with his award by Councillor Williams at the Exhibition Social on Saturday 8th.

Collage of setting up the SAS Autumn Exhibition 2014
Setting up the Shropshire Art Society Autumn Exhibition 2014, photos thanks to Anne Linton

Thanks must go especially to John Willetts our Exhibitions Secretary and to the committee and other members who helped hang the exhibition at the weekend. Rob Leckey rewarded us all with a most welcome round of coffees and showed us how to use the new card machine to take credit and debit card sales… we were all pleased to see how much easier the new machine is to use and hope that it will make the buying process happier for everyone! Thank you Rob.

We look forward to seeing you lots of our members at the Exhibition Social on Saturday 8th at 12 noon!

Wednesday class participants explore industrial Shrewsbury past

Following the very successful September Wednesday classes with our well establish tutor Judith Moy, who offered us an experimental approach using collage and mixed media, the October sequence got off to an exciting start under the leadership of tutor Lynne Morgan, back with us for her third year.

Under the course title of ‘Exploring Shropshire’s Industrial Past through a variety of Media’, we made fruitful sketching visits to both The Flaxmill and The Coleham Pumping Station, with the generous cooperation of these organisations. So far this activity has generated some excellent outcomes, with Lynne encouraging a bold and fresh approach to our painting and use of media.

Thank you Lynne!

Here are a few photos to give you a flavour.

Collage (1 of 2) SAS Lynne Morgan classes 2014 Flaxmill Maltings
Shropshire Art Society Wednesday class participants at Flaxmill Maltings
Collage (2 of 2) SAS Lynne Morgan classes 2014 Coleham Pumping Station
Shropshire Art Society Wednesday class participants at Coleham Pumping Station

2014-2015 Workshops and Classes underway!

It’s been a joy to head down to the English Bridge Workshop in the last month, armed with my camera, to catch a glimpse of the Shropshire Art Society Workshops and Classes as they start a new season of activity.

Collage of SAS Wednesday classes 2014
Wednesday classes 2014
Collage of SAS Printing Workshops 2014
Printing Workshops 2014

So far I’ve seen the exciting work being produced by members at the end of three Wednesday sessions with Judith Moy as she taught ‘Experiments with mixed media’. Next up will be tutor Lynne Morgan with ‘Exploring Shropshire’s Industrial Past through a variety of media’ beginning on 1st October.

And yesterday I visited the first Wednesday Printing Workshop of 2014, led by Suki White – it made me want to get my hands on lino, ink and printing press! Next month Sally Dixon Leigh, herself a member of the Society, has kindly agreed to lead a Monoprint Workshop for the group.

On Saturday 4th October I’ll be popping into one of the Saturday Workshops, this one ‘in the style of Norman Cornish and the ‘Pitmen Painters’ – Northern Portraiture’, led by Lynne Morgan and Mick Krupa and I can’t wait! Watch this space for a new photo collage from that day.

These are the kinds of activities you can get involved in as a member of the Shropshire Art Society.

Report by Sally Townsend Blake