Meetings are at 7.30pm in the Wallington Hall on the first Sunday of the month, from September to June, with talks from professional speakers and occasional films.
Topics are wide-ranging; recent talks have included Caravaggio, Gothic Art and Architecture, Johnny Cash in San Quentin and the History of Travel Photography…
Entry is £3 for members and £5 for non-members.
Forthcoming Meetings
April 2019
The Arundells of Wardour: Six Centuries of a Wiltshire Family — Barry Williamson
Barry Williamson, a history teacher who grew up in a village on the edge of the Wardour estate, will tell us of the turbulent history of this family. Tudor opulence and military catastrophe in the Civil War were followed by the building of a huge Georgian mansion next to the old castle and a spectacular bankruptcy. The last Lord Arundell died in 1944 on his return from German prison camps. Barry has subtitled his talk "Chasing Red Herrings". The process…
Find out more »May 2019
The Methodist Modern Art Collection: its History and Purpose
The Crucifixion (William Roberts 1895-1980) being hung for the ‘Fully Alive’ Exhibition of the Collection in Bath Abbey, September, 2016 Well known to us as a member of the Arts Association, Bob will deliver a fully illustrated talk on the history and evolution of this unique art collection. Bob was for ten years on the Board of Management Trustees of the Collection as Secretary to the Friends Group, and is still, currently, the Editor of the Friends Newsletter. Do come…
Find out more »June 2019
‘Oil Paint and Grease Paint’; the life and work of Dame Laura Knight RA — Megan Jones
Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the leading painters of her generation, a figurative artist who embraced English impressionism. Many of her most popular paintings reflect the backstage world of performance – circus, ballet and theatre – capturing performers in fleeting, intimate moments. During the Second World War she was the only female war artist, painting the Nuremberg trial in 1946. Laura Knight was the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy, and her success in the…
Find out more »July 2019
Screening and discussion of ‘The Fishing Party’ and ‘The Home’ – Paul Watson
Paul Watson studied at the Royal College of Art as a painter and has two paintings in the National collection. He then joined the RCA film making department and is credited with changing the course of observational filmmaking on British television. His series The Family focused for the first time on a 'working class' household. It ran for 12 weeks and caused many viewers, newspaper critics and politicians to take against its approach to an intimate and, it is said,…
Find out more »September 2019
Film – The Art of Eric Gill
Carrying of the Cross. Wood Engraving. 1926. Eric Gill This is the final film in the Illuminations series "The Art of…….." on sculpture, all of which are distinctive in having the soundtrack drawn entirely from the subject's own words. These films have proved very popular with our members. Controversial as his life was, Gill was one of the most gifted sculptors and letter carvers this country has ever produced. He was passionate about his craft, and many of the figures…
Find out more »October 2019
John Chambers, with reader Jill Ross – The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
photo: John Chambers Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) published only one volume of poetry (The Colossus) in her lifetime, with three more published posthumously. Her Collected Poems won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 and her Ariel was restored in 2004. John's talk, with readings by Jill Ross, will approach Plath's work chronologically, focusing on a selection of her poems from the main phases of her life from 1956 when she met Ted Hughes until her death in London in 1963 after their…
Find out more »November 2019
Sarah Latham Phillips – The Slade School of Art up to the eve of the First World War
This well-illustrated lecture will be the first of two, with the second (in 2020) dealing with art of WWI. They will identify some of Britain’s greatest 20th century artists.
Find out more »December 2019
“The Mediterranean my oyster!” Indulging Twin Passions
Arts Association member, Bob Williams, will be giving us a fully illustrated talk which could well be sub-titled: ‘DASHING AROUND THE MARE NOSTRUM OF THE ROMANS AND THE MESOGEIOS OF THE GREEKS, VISITING TREASURED SITES OF ANTIQUITY, ARMED WITH A CAMERA!”. Educational Cruises, for our nation’s school children, were particularly popular in the 1970s and early 80s. Bob was a School Party Leader on the S.S. Uganda, for 3 Educational Cruises undertaken in the 1970s and ’80s, and enjoyed a…
Find out more »January 2020
Barry Williamson – An Episode of The Grand Tour, or Losing Your Shopping
In 1779 the Westmorland set sail from Livorno for London, laden with the crates of works of art bought by English aristocrats and gentry on the Grand Tour. It never reached England. The ship was captured by French warships off the coast of southern Spain and escorted to the port of Malaga. The Spanish King declared the cargo a "spoil of war" and all the items were absorbed into Spanish collections. But there was a secret box on board. It…
Find out more »February 2020
Stephen Girling – The Modern Portrait as Icon
Revd Stephen Girling, Missioner at Bath Abbey, will be drawing on his Masters research to talk about the aspiration of Vincent Van Gogh to paint portraits which are able to penetrate through to a person's soul and into another eternal dimension. Stephen will pose the question to what extent Van Gogh’s portraits, and more specifically, this image of La Berceuse, equate to the powerful effect that religious icons had on the early Christians. In van Gogh’s own words - ‘I would like…
Find out more »