On a sunny Saturday in mid-March, 38 Shropshire Art Society members and their guests arrived bright and early at the Abbey car park to board an executive coach run by the incomparable Longmynd Coaches, for a trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Pissarro: Father of Impressionism, 2022 (and Alan!)
Arriving at 10.30 am, just in time for coffee, many made their way to the lovely Museum café. The particular exhibition we had gone to see was Pissarro: Father of Impressionism which was deemed by everyone to be an excellent exhibition, and which was quite extensive, occupying 3 rooms. Tickets were timed and masks were required, so safety was well considered. Some had booked a lunch in the Museum’s rooftop restaurant, some made their way to the café, but those who had brought their own were able to sit outside enjoying the sunshine – no coat required!
The great thing about the Ashmolean is that it is a museum, with many and varied exhibits, including ancient instruments. In fact the museum is home to what is possibly the most famous Stradivarius violin – ‘the Messiah’, which is reputedly worth about three million pounds!
The collection includes ‘the Messiah’ (left), the famous Stradivarius
The Ashmolean certainly has something to interest everyone as Frank’s photos (below) highlight, thank you Frank!
Exhibits at the Ashmolean, as seen by Frank Hilton
The good weather also gave those who wished to the opportunity to explore Oxford, with its many and varied art galleries, as well as several shopping centres. The Ashmolean is perfectly placed right in the centre of Oxford, giving access to a wide variety of venues and experiences.
The homeward journey began at 4.30pm, and the journey was smooth and quick, thanks to our expert driver. We were back in Shrewsbury well before 7pm!
All were full of praise for the trip overall, and in particular for the Pissarro exhibition. Another lovely Gallery trip, and one enjoyed by all.
Our grateful thanks go to Beverley Wightman our Gallery Trips Organiser for making all the arrangements and for looking after us so brilliantly on the day. Thank you Beverley. We look forward to seeing where you take us next 😊
It felt very good to be meeting up in the Abbey Car Park once again on Saturday 30th October, after such a long pandemic-enforced break, to board our Longmynd Travel coach to Liverpool.
38 of us, masked up for the safety of all, travelled together. In our sights were two excellent exhibitions: Walter Sickert: A Life in Art at the Walker Art Gallery, and Lucian Freud: Real Lives at the TATE. Though, once in Liverpool, some of us went further afield and enjoyed many other city highlights too.
The Sickert exhibition was wonderfully informative with a focus on Sickert’s drawings and his process involving them. Many of us took the whole morning to take it all in. On at the TATE, as well as the Freud, were exhibitions featuring Louise Bourgeois, and Lucy McKenzie which some of us visited.
Liverpool Walker Art Gallery 2021, Walter Sickert: A Life in Art
Liverpool 2021, Shropshire Art Society Gallery Day Trip
Liverpool TATE 2021, Lucian Freud: Real lives
Liverpool 2021, Shropshire Art Society Gallery Day Trip
The weather blessed us with sunshine, and in short, a very good time was had by all.
We were fortunate that Beverley Wightman had joined Alan in organising this trip, and that she looked after us so well on the day. We are very grateful to Beverley, who is now co-opted on to the Committee to be our Gallery Day Trips organiser. Photos are thanks to Anne Linton and Sally Blake.
We look forward to seeing you on our next Gallery Day Trip, now in the early planning stage, in 2022. Thank you to all our members and their guests who came to Liverpool for making the trip such a special one. We are back in action!
Our Autumn Exhibition was successfully held at the Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury in October. It was wonderful to see the high standard and variety of our members’ new work. Thank you to all who exhibited, and of course to John Willetts and his team for staging the exhibition so expertly. Thank you to the Bear Steps Gallery for welcoming us again.
The happy news is that The R Harrison and H Walker Prize was awarded to Frank Hilton for his stunning painting ‘From Lilleshall’. Congratulations Frank! Thank you to Jonathan Soden of The Soden Collection for adjudicating the award for us. Here is the painting, and Frank with his award.
‘From Lilleshall’ Frank Hilton
The R Harrison and H Walker Prize winner Frank Hilton, Autumn 2021
We are grateful to all our visitors for making the exhibition such a success. Here’s a flavour of the Exhibition for those who couldn’t visit this time. See you for our next Exhibition in summer 2022!
Shropshire Art Society Autumn Exhibition 2021, Bear Steps Gallery
We are delighted that Saturday 19th June saw our valued team of volunteers setting up the Summer Exhibition in St. Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury, by kind permission of the Churches Conservation Trust. The exhibition runs until 3rd July.
There was a real buzz in the church as members began arriving from across Shropshire with their paintings. It felt exciting to come together in person after so many months, and to see all our members’ new work in place, ready for visitors to enjoy from Monday 21st June. Thank you all the exhibitors, helpers, and especially to John Willetts, our Exhibitions Organiser, for making the exhibition a reality… it feels like a very positive moment for the Society, St. Mary’s and for the local community as summer 2021 begins.
The Townsend Family were joined by our President Wilf Langford, to judge the Judy Townsend Memorial Prize… it was awarded to Shirley Wade for her painting ‘Still Life’.
“We loved the strong composition of the painting and its vibrant colours; its narrative drew us in and made us want to explore the garden beyond. Congratulations Shirley!”
Shirley Wade with her winning painting, accompanied by Wilf Langford, Alan Townsend and Mary Shirra.
Click HERE to watch a short video of Alan presenting Shirley with her award. Here’s a further glimpse of how the Exhibition looked after set up on Saturday afternoon. We hope you will all be able to visit and enjoy it. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite painting for the People’s Prize!
Thank you to all our participating artists, and here’s wishing you all a successful summer exhibition. (Photos, Sally Blake)
Some Saturday Workshop participants in their home ‘studios’!
We’re very pleased that 31 members (a record!) signed up for the Saturday Workshop programme this January. In addition, Wilf Langford’s classes ‘A passion for painting’ are now fully subscribed and underway, and Di Purser will be bringing us ‘POP’ in March; we have just sent out the Booking Form for Di’s classes to those who expressed an interest in participating.
The work from the workshops and classes, which we circulate among the participants, is plentiful and exciting (you can see some of it in our previous blog posts here and here) Even though separated by the pandemic, we are still learning together. Our tutors have also stepped up to the challenge, and we’re grateful to them for that. Some classes have been given by video, as well as those delivered via illustrated written instructions.
In February, Sally asked people to (optionally) share an image, either of themselves in their home studio, or of their works in process in their studio, along with a comment about how they are enjoying the experience of the Saturday Workshops, for this blog post. Her idea was to celebrate how we are making art together even when separated.
You can see some of the images above, and more here:
Home studios and processes; the topic was ‘Chagall / Matisse / Piper – From paint to glass’
We realise, of course, that working at home alone is not the same as meeting together at the English Bridge Workshop, where we can inspire each other and enjoy the social interaction, and that there are other ways to give and take classes and workshops in lockdown. But, we have offered what we and our tutors have felt able to do at the present time, and here follow some great and varied snippets of what people had to say about the experience of our e-correspondence-style Saturday Workshops. The comments made us, the organisers, smile – something that we welcome more than ever mid-pandemic:
I have enjoyed the Workshops enormously. A wonderful idea.
Quite a challenge, but very enjoyable to work out and paint – I became increasingly absorbed in creating it. Just what is needed in lockdown!
The Workshops have been a joy and a challenge to continue making art.
I am bubbled with another member of the Society, and it is good that we are able to swap ideas – it is great fun. I especially enjoy seeing the other artists’ work.
I have loved doing the Saturday Workshops so far this year (2021), as not only have I tried things I had never attempted before, but I have loved the experience and learned a lot. I feel truly enriched by the work undertaken and it has broadened my horizons as an artist. I will definitely be trying similar styles in the future. (new member – joined December 2020)
I have enjoyed the research and thought process, before I made a start on my candle holder. It’s a little basic but at least I have more idea of the beauty of a snowdrop. (first-time Saturday Workshop participant)
Each Saturday Workshop gets interrupted when I’m at home , but the subjects are always so interesting, I have to try and complete a painting! This subject, Angels tending, has been in my mind for a few years. When our family moved to LA, California, on my first visit I was in awe of the power of the Pacific Ocean, and the grandchildren loved it. I worried a lot about the children being safe as they swam. There was a piece of music that was played at a Pilates class that used to make me cry. But as it played, I had a vision of the children in the ocean and the sky was filled with angels watching over them. I eventually was able to buy the cd of the music, by ‘Asha’ and was amazed that the track that had moved me was called ‘Angels tending’. The project this weekend prompted me to paint the vision.
I just think these painting challenges have been amazing. They have certainly challenged me and got me painting differently to what I’m used to at times. My husband passed away last March and my motivation to do anything has been pretty low at times but these weekends have helped tremendously. Looking forward to the next one.
While painting alone at home can never replace the camaraderie of getting together for a Saturday of challenges and chatter at the English Bridge, these monthly workshops have provided a very welcome distraction during these difficult times. I’ve enjoyed having a go at something new, and have welcomed the chance to spend a little longer on the pieces. I’ve actually managed to produce a few finished paintings, which is something I rarely do at our usual Saturday Workshops. I hope we will soon get back to meeting in the real world, but until then, I would like to thank Lynne and Mick for helping us have some virtual fun.
I’m really enjoying the workshops in lockdown. Lynne and Mick work really hard to give us some inspirational material to keep us motivated and occupied.
My ‘studio’ is my kitchen! I paint whilst listening to radio 4 or radio 2. Most enjoyable. Painting for the Saturday art club helps me to focus on the selected subject. Brings me joy when I finish the painting and best of all helps me not to think of the horrid situation we are all in.
It’s lovely to have something completely absorbing to distract from ‘lockdown’.
And from the organisers:
Lynne and Mick: We as organisers (all four of us) are immensely grateful to all the participants who make this all worthwhile and provide a fitting testament to Judy who started the whole thing off many years ago now. This February Saturday Workshop has had a record number of submissions from 29 members with 49 individual works all of which took on the challenging theme and stretched the imagination of everyone.
Alan: I’m so impressed by the continuing commitment of our members to our Saturday Workshop project, with a record number of people participating in February. As one of those artists, I found it stimulating to have such an exciting challenge presented to us by our leaders Lynne and Mick, and ironically the ‘online’ format has encouraged me to plan my painting more carefully and see it through to a conclusion. It’s exciting to feel part of such a dedicated group.
Sally: I’m not participating, but I’ve been managing much of the the administrative side of things. I’ve seen all the paintings so far and taken calls from our participants, and it’s a joy to feel the collective enthusiasm and creative energy. We may be separated but we ARE making art together! The community spirit is helping me personally in this time of change and isolation.
Thank you to everyone who generously contributed to this article with images and words. Enjoy the March Saturday Workshop, ‘Gorky / Delaunay – Approaches to abstract colour!’
Meanwhile, if you’d like one of your paintings to be placed in our ‘Our Artists’ Gallery on this website, or if you’d like to update your painting there with a new one, now is the time. Sally will be doing the main annual refresh of our online Gallery in March. If you haven’t renewed your membership for 2021, your painting will be removed from the Gallery then. Don’t forget, we can link to your artist website, or your Facebook artist page (not your personal Facebook profile), or your public artist Instagram account; if you have a website, please make sure it’s up to date, working well, and celebrates your art! For how to submit your image, click HERE to go to the instructions at the foot of the Gallery page.
