Monthly Round-Up

A quick note to say that the monthly round-up email for April will be a few days later than usual.

In the meantime, don't forget to tell all your friends about the Spring Exhibition!

Spring Exhibition at St Lawence's Church - Open to the public 30th April - 9th May 2016

There has been a little confusion about the dates and times the Spring Exhibition is open.

The Exhibition is open to the public from 30th April to 8th May and will be open during St Lawrence's normal opening hours which are 10.00 - 17.00.  
9th May open only from 10.00 - 12.00 noon

Members exhibiting will bring their artworks to St Lawrence's on 29th April between 10.00 and 12.00 noon and the exhibition will be set up by members that have volunteered to help.
Unsold artworks will be collected on Monday 9th May between 12.00 noon and 14.00.  Volunteers will be dismantling the exhibition during the morning but it will be open to the public from 10.00 until 12.00 noon.

Assembly Rooms, Ludlow, solo exhibition by LAS member Samuel Bebb

Ludlow Art Society member Samuel Bebb has a solo exhibition comprising some of his paintings and sculpture at the Assembly Rooms in Ludlow and also in the entrance to the attached gallery until 16th May. 

I am sure you will want to visit this diverse range of works in oil, acrylics, mixed media and stone sculpture.  Here is a taster of what there is to see:

Vote for Matt Smart

Do you remember our speaker back in February?  Ludlow Art Society member and sculptor, Matt Smart brought along some of his amazing sculptures?  He told us all about the how likes to work with earths and how his work is informed by how he looks at the world.  

He is asking if we can help him get into a group exhibition in Oxford Town Hall by voting for him in an online art competition?  It will also give him publicity for his solo show in June, and for the Fifth Plinth, which is part of the Ludlow Art Fringe Festival.

So, please vote for two of his sculpture entries (I already have)…

“Fist” vote http://wshe.es/wQIXvG5i

“Legs”  vote http://wshe.es/edVoqWsm

(When you vote and the page goes grey, you'll probably need to scroll up to find the box to tick you're not a robot.)

Also, if you vote each day, or every day you go online, we can increase the number of his votes.  He has discovered that you can vote every 24hours, so it's not “one person, one vote”.  You can re-vote every day, to build up multiple votes for the same art works.  

I am sure you will want to support him and please tell anyone else who might be interested!

Link Update - Cross House Arts

Cross House Arts can now be found at a different email address, which has been updated in our 'Links' section to the right. The new address is: http://www.crosshousearts.com/

Don't forget, LAS members receive a 10% discount when buying frames from CHA!

Call for entries, Church Stretton Art, Crafts and Photography Exhibition

Art, Crafts and Photography Exhibition Newsletter April 2016

Calling All Artists! The registration forms for the Church Stretton Art, Crafts and Photography Exhibition 2016 are now available. Follow this link to access our on-line entry system and sign up for stewarding: http://www.strettonfestival.org.uk/information-for-artists/. If preferred, you can download the forms for printing and submission by post. Paper copies are available at Barbara’s Framing, Scrappies and the Library in Church Stretton and at art galleries around Shropshire. Please note ... The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2016. Please read carefully the Conditions of Entry- completing your entry form will indicate your acceptance. To ensure the security of the work on display, exhibitors are required to steward for three hours over the course of the Exhibition. If this requirement causes serious difficulties, please contact us. For all queries reply to this email or phone 01694 723072. Photographers Photographers please note that we hope to include all works submitted for hanging but, as space is limited, items listed fourth may have to be kept in reserve. Please ensure that your entries are numbered to allow for this possibility.

Diary Dates Set up day: Saturday 30 July 2016 at Church Stretton School, Shrewsbury Road SY6 6EX, from 10am to 12 noon. Opening night: Monday 1 August 2016, 7.30pm at Church Stretton School. Admission £2 to include a glass of wine or juice. Exhibition: Tuesday 2 August 2016 to Saturday 13 August 2016, 11am to 6pm at Church Stretton School. Admission £1; free to children, students and exhibitors; free to all from 6pm to 7.15pm when there is an evening performance at the school. Collection day: Sunday 14 August 2016 at Church Stretton School from 10am to 12 noon. Note from the organisers We hope that as many artists, craft-makers and photographers as possible will enter their creative work into Exhibition 2016 and help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Arts Festival. If you know any other artists living within 30 miles of Church Stretton who may be interested in showing their work, please forward this newsletter or advise them where to find the forms. We look forward to welcoming you all this summer. Best wishes, Catherine Macartney, Kath Stephenson, Mike Gibson, Sue Hockaday and Sylvia Davidson Copyright © 2016 Church Stretton Arts Festival, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this e-mail because you expressed an interest in or have exhibited in the Church Stretton Art Exhibition.

Art Exhibition and a talk to be held at the Ludlow Museum Resource Centre

Two dates to put in your diary:- 

Friday 22nd April 2016 at 6pm - 7.30pm 

The end of course adult art exhibition opens at the Museum Resource Centre, Ludlow on 22nd April 2016 at 6pm - 7.30pm and all are welcome. 

Thursday June 9th at 11am - 1.30 pm

Angela Gladwell, the tutor, will be giving a talk about all the art work that the class has produced over a period of 13 years.  All are welcome.

The courses are run by Shropshire County Council and take place in the education room at the top of the Resource Centre/library building in Ludlow.  The long course runs for 18 weeks, starting the first week in October.  There are two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and each session lasts 2½ hours.  The cost is about £97 per term.  

The courses focus on the collection held at the centre which comprises natural history, geology, social history, art and archaeology.  There is a different theme each year so that a term of drawing and painting observation work leads to a second term where students produce a creative response based on their observational studies and extremely inventive works are frequently produced.  

The students are of mixed abilities, some having had art training, some have returned to art and some are complete beginners.  This works well because tuition is on an individual basis and course members inspire and encourage each other.  

Angela has been a tutor since the class began having run a similar course for Sussex University before moving to Herefordshire.  She has painted all her life and was trained in the painting department of the Royal College of Art.  

If you want to learn more and cannot attend Angela’s talk you can find out more at https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/museums/ludlow-museum-resource-centre/

                                                 click here

Ludlow Assembly Rooms have exhibition space available

Our Treasurer, John Jarvis, has advised that, due to a cancellation, the Ludlow Assembly Rooms have exhibition wall space available from 1st May until approximately mid June that they are trying to fill.  There would be no charge for booking or hanging, just a 15% commission on sales.  If any member is interested John can provide more details; call him on 01584 873182.

David Bellamy and Jenny Keal Spring and Summer events Events

David Bellamy's and Jenny Keal's 2016 Spring and Summer events

Click here for David Bellamy and Jenny Keal

Silk Top Hat Gallery - New Exhibition

NEW EXHIBITIONS LAUNCHED WITH PRIVATE VIEW

Please join us at the PRIVATE VIEW of an exhibition of paintings by JENNY JONES sculpture by NIK BURNS and watch piece jewellery by JULIE ROBERTSON on Sunday 24th April 2016 11.00 am - 1.00 pm Isaac Smart's showcase: Elspeth Soper pots Silk Top Hat Gallery Quality Square, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1AR (01584 875363) http://www.silktophatgallery.wordpress.com http://www.isaacsmarts.wordpress.com Above: Jenny Jones 'Family' (oil on canvas) Below: Nik Burns 'Nautilus' (found wood, brass, copper) Julie Robertson's butterfly design brooch with mother of pearl

Copyright © 2016 Silk Top Hat Gallery, All rights reserved. Thank you for joining the Silk Top Hat Gallery Mailing List. Our mailing address is: Silk Top Hat Gallery Quality Square Ludlow, Shropshire  SY8 1AR United Kingdom

April Evening meeting featured a talk by Charles MacCarthy, our President

Last night our President, Charles MacCarthy, gave an absolutely fascinating talk about his family and French ancestors, all of whom have been, and still are, artists, sculptors or musicians.  He started with his Great, Great Grandfather, Victor Geoffrey-Dechaume, who was in charge of the sculptors renovating the Notre Dame in the mid 1800’s (see previous post, showing the apostles he created for the spire), and continued to his Grandfather who came to England from France and worked as portrait painter (mostly of children) for society, creating 900 portraits in the space of 3 years!  At the outset of the First World War he returned to fight for France and suffered a wound which resulted in him losing his leg but even whist waiting for a stretcher bearer he was drawing the scenes around him.  After recovering his health back in England he returned again to the front, this time as a war artist for the British Government.  All of his 10 children became artists or musicians and this continues to the present day.  All of Charles's extensive family (42 first cousins!) are blessed with the gift of art. 

Charles had slides to illustrate his talk throughout and he continued, after the break, to show us some of his own elegant work.  With muted tones, his work has been likened to Giorgio Morandi.  It portrays a peaceful simplicity that clearly has a great deal of thought and hard work behind it.  He uses a limited palette of:- Ultramarine; Raw Umber; Burnt Umber Yellow Ochre; Burnt Sienna; Indian Red; Lemon Yellow; plus Titanium White and Ivory Black.  All Michael Harding oil paints.   

My personal favourite, a huge piece “The Last Supper”  see below;   there is also just a very small selection of the beautiful work he showed us.  We really were spoilt for choice when it came to selecting which to photograph.  

Do scroll right down to the bottom where there is also a photograph of this months “Monthly Draw” entries.  If you would like to join in this bit of fun, next months subject, drawn out of the hat, was “Musical Conductor” .  Any medium, any interpretation, all are welcome. 

A plaster cast created by Victor Geoffrey-Dechaume

Charles's Grandfather (back row right), his Grandmother, seated with infant, and 10 children

Charles's sister's beautiful ceramics

Charles's son's work

a selection of Charles's work, including "The Last Supper" immediately above

This months "Monthly Draw" entries

Monthly Draw Reminder

Don't forget, at our evening meeting on 7th, April along with our talk from LAS President Charles MacCarthy, we'll be showing pictures from our current Monthly Draw and drawing the topic for next month.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's how it works - at our meetings we invite you to write out a topic (pens and paper provided) and put it in a hat, and then we draw a winning topic. We then invite LAS members to create a piece of work (can be any medium, and a sketch is a great way to have a go) on that topic, and bring it in for the next month's meeting.

So far we kicked it all off with the LAS Committee working on the topic 'Chinese Fish', and last month we displayed work on the topic 'Construction Site'. This month's topic was your own design of a book cover, but it has to be of an existing book - should be fun!