Wendy went to see Anthony Gormley s figurines at Barrington Court: The Field for Somerset.

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1 SEPTEMBER MEETING Our first session in this academic year was exploring catalogues of exhibitions, past and present, that had impressed members (or not!). Barbara showed us Hans Tisdale Andrea was very taken with Rolf Harris and Moish Shokal, both seen in Liverpool Jan had visited the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and saw Degas Blue Dancers amongst other famous paintings. Wendy went to see Anthony Gormley s figurines at Barrington Court: The Field for Somerset. Pam told us about an art exhibition at Lower Cockhill Farm nr Dimmer and the etchings of Will Vaughan. Denise brought along a catalogue of Brancusi sculptures and also paintings by the other John Piper. Margaret visited Bath Library to view paintings by local artists - too numerous to show here!

2 Glennis gave us many examples of exhibitions she had visited - here is the bronze statue erected in the Bomber Command Wellington Memorial Arch Jenny told us of the Watercolour Exhibition at Tate and chose The Blue Rigi, Sunrise by JMW Turner. Val was impressed by David Hockney.... and Nancy was distinctly unimpressed by the Independent review of the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate which stated they were an avant garde movement. Nancy argued they were not as they were going back to the old ways as a rebellion against the Royal Academy. We all felt that exhibition catalogues were now becoming very expensive and in future we would have to rely on postcards - if we can find the particular paintings we admired on show! OCTOBER MEETING Anton continued the exhibition catalogue theme with a presentation on the Highgrove Florilegium, Garden Museum in London. Anton explained that florilegium means a book illustrated by artists depicting plants in a particular garden. This caused great debate about the ethics of inviting artists to contribute but not allowing them to visit the garden they were illustrating - merely be told what flower or plant they were to paint. The book produced contains 120 illustrations by 72 artists and is very expensive at around 12,000! Apparently for this you do get two copies both signed by HRH.

3 This month we were reporting back on Somerset Art Weeks events which members had attended. However, Wendy had been on holiday in Scotland during SAW Open Studios and instead showed us samples of jewellery made by Flat Rabbit Ceramics she had seen at Crieff. Val visited several studios and liked Gaye Fox s paintings which combine a variety of techniques, including monoprint, collage, paint, and fabric. Denise bought a print of this painting for Peter as he had been impressed by it when looking through the SAW brochure. It is by Ioannis Antoniadis and called The Great Portal. Andrea visited Strode Theatre to see the exhibition put on to raise funds. She liked the portrait of Harry Patch by local artist Bill Leyshon. Mary went to many venues including Mark Nesbit who uses plaster and chemistry to produce uniquely origina coloured and textured abstract paintings on canvas Pam found Orchard Vale Trust, which provides homes for people with learning disabilities and which was showing some of their work for SAW. Nancy didn t have time to visit any venues but brought along a cutting about Damien Hirst in which a learned art historian had dared to suggest that he was a con artist along with a few others such as Tracy Emin. This provoked further discussion!

4 NOVEMBER MEETING Only nine of us arrived for this meeting about War Artists which proved to be very interesting with lots of lively discussions. Nancy brought some cartoons by Bruce Bairnsfather, the officer artist who drew pictures of what life was like on the Western Front in you know a better ole, go to it and similar. Bairnsfather was criticised in the House of Commons for denigrating our Heroes at the Front but the heroes loved his cartons. Glennis was unable to come but sent notes about Henry Tonks a doctor who drew pictures of faces that had been smashed up in the fighting. He and others used them to help rebuild the faces and lives of the victims. He was helped by Kathleen Scott (widow of Scott of the Antarctic) and several people had read a recent biography of her much recommended. Jan brought a teddy bear in a bomber pilot s outfit which is sold to raise money for Bomber Command charities. She had photographed the new Bomber Command memorial in Hyde Park, an impressive classical building containing a bronze Fighter crew of nine men. It is very detailed and the faces express the courage of the airmen who flew on such dangerous missions. Wendy had read a book about the Official War Artists of the Second World War with details of how they were recruited and commissioned to record all aspects of the war at home and abroad. Evelyn Dunbar was one of them, and she painted agriculture scenes, especially the Women s Land Army, and nurses in action under difficult conditions. Her biography included some very interesting pictures. Wendy also brought a book, Growing up in Wartime Somerset: Portrait in Water Colour by Syd Durston, available at the Rural Life Museum. It was a delightful record in pictures of life on a farm in this area. Andrea brought Colour of War about Edward Burra who lived near her family in Sussex and who had made paintings of the Spanish Civil War ( ), They were dark and contorted with the figures modelled almost in contour lines.

5 Val brought a guide book to Stanley Spencer s Gallery in Cookham and we talked about the murals at Sandham Memorial Chapel, near Newbury. Several members have visited one or both of these sites. The size and strength of Spencer s works are impressive. Carol brought examples of another Sussex artist, Eric Ravilious, who was killed while working as a War Artist in His cool water colours show a dreamlike world in which the wartime elements seem almost incidental. Jenny brought her copy of the Tate book of the exhibition of Feb - Aug 2011, and shared some of the information in the article written by Alison Smith (one of the curators at the Tate) The article was entitled "Watercolour and war" in which she commented about the different approaches to / reasons for / official backing of / art in war, and in particular how different it was between the first and second world wars. After tea, we watched Anton s presentation about the Bayeux Tapestry as war art, quite a different war, and an embroidery instead of the more usual art mediums of the 20 th century.