Post Exhibition Party :)

We're going to be holding an afternoon party to celebrate our exhibitions this year, and all LAS members are invited! There'll be a few drinks and nibbles to say thank you for all the work put in to make the exhibition come together, to welcome new members and to say thank you to those who awarded prizes.

The party will be held on Saturday 26th September in the Chang Thai Bar, just opposite the Chang Thai Restaurant, from 1pm.

Hope to see you there!

Choice Award - Update

For our current exhibition at St Laurence's Church, the Chang Thai Choice has been awarded to Jim Bailey's painting 'Sister'. Congratulations, Jim!

Spotlight - Hannah Hock

This month, Spotlight takes a look at one of the creators of photomontage, Dadaist artist Hannah Hock.

She was very aware that art had been dominated by men, and amongst the Dadaists who "paid lip-service to women's emancipation" she found they were reluctant to include a woman amonst their ranks, and so, "Through her art, Hoch quietly submitted female equality to the list of anti-bourgeois and radically leftist sentiments which Dada espoused." You can find articles about her HERE, HERE and HERE.

If you know of any great art websites or articles, why not share them here? Send your suggestions to samsketches@yahoo.co.uk - please note that this isn't for self-promotion.

Drusilla Cole's Linocut Exhibition

Friday 2nd October - 31st October 2015 at SpArC Theatre, Bishop's Castle, Brampton Rd , Bishop's Castle , SY9 5AY

An exhibition of Drusilla Cole's Linocuts

"Currently I am exploring linocuts, and in particular reduction linocuts. The lino is gradually cut away as each colour is printed, which essentially destroys the lino during the process, meaning a reduction print can never be reprinted.

I use rainbow rolls, stencils and sometimes caustic soda to enrich areas of the prints and enhance texture. Printmaking processes are especially exciting to me because they create so many variables, presenting a challenge to achieve a desired end.

Often, my artwork demonstrates my fascination with quirky and unusual  architectural constructions, especially any containing lettering. Fairground and circus scenes often interest me, and I find these images frequently crop up in my artwork. Another fascination is with vintage ceramics, particularly made in German in the 1960s.

I base my work on my own photographs or paintings and sketches, whenever possible."

SpArC Theatre is located next to Bishop's Castle Community College just off the A488 from Shrewsbury to Clun.

www.drusillacole.co.uk

'Bloxwich Fair (sienna)', linocut, 50 x 40 cm.

Magical Spaces at Bishop's Castle

Magical Spaces, Friday 4th – Wednesday 30th September 2015 at SpArC Theatre, Bishop's Castle, Brampton Rd, Bishop's Castle , SY9 5AY

 

An exhibition of post modern paintings by Artist Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts describes the intuitive process involved in abstraction. As a painter she creates sensuous surfaces with paint and sand into which she draws or scratches, articulating shapes or marking out the textures that correspond with what she holds in her mind's eye. Often she lets an idea make its own way, for she is fascinated by the unpredictability of paint, and the pure magic of creating an illusion. Each work is allowed its individual identity with a sensibility of its own. For her, a painting is an object of physical beauty. Her current exhibition looks back on ten years of prominent studio work influenced by pure abstraction and the magical domain of her studio.

 

www.dianeroberts.co.uk

 

SpArC Theatre is located next to Bishop's Castle Community College just off the A488 from Shrewsbury to Clun.

LAS in the Ludlow and Tenbury Advertiser

A small article on our current exhibition made it into the Ludlow and Tenbury Advertiser on Wednesday - you can find the full piece HERE, but we've also uploaded the photo to this blog:

George Loades (L) and Alan Hobbs (R) with one of David Tedham's paintings

Charity Convention

I will be at the charity event Dragondaze (a games and mini comic convention which raises money for Barnados Young Carers) in Newport on 19th September, with a table of prints and a few originals for sale. The convention's website is HERE.

Westhope Craft College Courses

Westhope Craft College is offering a wide range of art courses over the coming month - Mixed Media Collage, Drawing, Watercolour, Still Life, Composition, and many more!

Coming up soon is Copper and Enamel for the Garden, with Jill Leventon. It runs as a one day course on Saturday, 29th August. "Design and make beautiful copper and enamelled flowers for your garden for the autumn." Beginners welcome. Contact Westhope  on 01584 861293 for details. Also on the same day there's a Mixed Media course with Magda Polakov (details on the website, see link below)

For details of all the art courses Westhope offers, visit their Art Courses page HERE, and be sure to check the left-hand menu for Embroidery, Glass, Jewellery and lots of other subsections.

Herefordshire Art Week

Running from 12th - 20th September, the annual event of Herefordshire Art Week (or h.Art) is a county-wide showcase of the vast amount of artist talent in the region. Established some 13 years ago, h.Art is a prestigious annual event across Herefordshire, with a huge variety of art on show with at least 16 different media, 150 individual artists and approximately 100 different venues across the whole county. With the vast majority free to visitors, h.Art promises a fun day out in one of England’s most beautiful counties as well as the chance to go on the famous h.Art Trail. Click the flyer below for details, and visit the website HERE!

Click to enlarge

Autumn Courses with Ann Wallace

LAS Member Ann Wallace has some new courses ready for the autumn - Introduction to Drawing Facial Features and Portraits, Fused Glass Jewellery for Beginners, and a series of evening classes. Click to enlarge the following images for details:

Facial features and portraits

Fused glass

Evening classes

New Chang Thai Bar Exhibition

The next exhibition on the walls of the Chang Thai bar is a photographic show from Tottie Aarvold - all details on the flyer below:

click to enlarge

Upcoming - John Instance's Watercolour Demo

On Thursday 3rd September we welcome Birmingham Watercolour Society member John Instance, who's going to give us a demonstration of his painting techniques. John became a full time watercolour artist in 1983, opened a gallery on Severnside South Bewdley from 1983 to 2001, and now works from home in Bewdley - he's particularly fond of painting outdoors when possible.

Ahead of evening, John has sent along a couple of examples of his work:

The talk is at our usual time, so please arrive 7pm for 7.30pm at the Studio, Ludlow Assembly Rooms,  and it's £3 for members, £4 for guests - tea, coffee and biscuits will be available.

See you there!

2015 Summer Exhibition!

MEMBERS' SUMMER EXHIBITION

22nd - 31st August 2015

at St Laurence's Church, Ludlow

10.00am to 5.00pm daily.

The LAS's second and final major exhibition of 2015 is now open to the public! On the evening of August 21st we held our Preview Evening, once again with background music from local talent Jack Brett, and we were provided with a table of drinks and snacks courtesy of Lesley Connolly and Alan Hobbs.

Once again we had hoped to display a selection of artworks from the Ludlow College students, but unfortunately for a second time we found ourselves unable to display (or even locate!) the work. Despite this, though, the astonishingly beautiful setting of St Laurence's Church proved a wonderful location for our exhibition (located in the Chancel), and we were delighted to show a high quality selection of traditional paintings (including work from LAS President Charles MacCarthy), sculptures, glass works, and cards.

The exhibition was opened by PCC member Dr Ewart Carson, who spoke a little about the Church's plans to take out sections of pews to make room for a more creative space, and two awards were given: Samuel Bebb's Olive Grove 1 won the Silk Top Hat Choice, while the Castle Bookshop Choice went to Wilfred Langford's Passing Clouds over Wrekin. There are more awards to come, though, so keep an eye out here and you'll be kept right up to date!

Some pictures from the Preview Evening:

Dr Carson opens the LAS 2015 Summer Exhibition

One of our card racks

The Craft Table

Rotating Card Display & Diane Jennings - Inside My Head - acrylic

Anthony James - The Drive, Greenways - oil

Caroline Clist - stained glass flowers

Charles MacCarthy - Chairs and Ladder - oil

David Tedham - Compressions - acrylic

Elizabeth Moss - Triganometry - acrylic

Frances Clarke - The Madonna - charcoal

George Y Loades - Lunch Break at Wooferton - watercolour

JeanSimnett - Dinham Bridge, towards Ludlow Castle - oil

Jim Bailey - Sisters - oil

Joan Anley - American Kestral - pen & ink

John Willetts - Above Cwm Tryfan, Snowdonia - watercolour

Kim Rogers - Autumn Hare - artists pens

Martin Dutton - Backyards Montgomery - watercolour

Pat Innes - Still Life with White Crockery - oil

Samuel Bebb - Mother Love -oil

Steven Foxx - Enchanted Garden 4 - acrylic

Valerie Alexander - Promenade, Cadaque's - watercolour

Of course, this is only a small slice of what you can see if you visit our show. If you're nearby, why not drop in? 

You can vote for which piece you think is 'Best in Show'!

New Top Hat Tours

The Top Hat Tours for the next three months are set, and they are: to Ruthin Craft Centre and Chirk Castle on Thursday 17th September, to Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum and Snowshill Manor on Thursday 8th October, and to Arnolfini and Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery on  Thursday 12th November.

Details will be on the Silk Top Hat blog soon! www.silktophatgallery.wordpress.com

Chris Williams, Shropshire Landscape Exhibition

All the details of Chris Williams' exhibition, at the Discovery Centre, are on the flyer!

Click to enlarge the image!

Reminder: Val Alexander's Chang Thai Exhibition

A quick reminder - if you haven't seen LAS Member Val Alexander's exhibition of watercolours on the walls of the Chang Thai Bar, it's well worth a visit and it's on until September 1st!

Summer Exhibition Progress

We've got the entries in now, we've confirmed that PCC member Dr Ewart Carson will be saying a few words to open the show, and we're finishing the exhibition catalogue. We're hanging the show, and having the Preview Evening, next Friday - see you there!