april 2014 - Lichfield Society of Artists

APRIL 2014
Editor: David Lawton
NEWS
SPRING EXHIBITION
Our Spring Exhibition was opened by our retiring
th
President Royston Evans Saturday 15 March, with the
usual display of high quality art work by members.
Daphne Gick Award for Seascape
‘Summer Sunset at Hope Cove’ Christine Taylor
Len Powell Memorial Award
‘St. Johns’ [Lino cut} David Hodges
Award of Excellence for Oil Painting
‘Barcelona’ [Oil] Margaret Harrison
Award of Excellence for Acrylic Painting
‘Green and White Splendour’ [Acrylic] Patricia Jones
Award of Excellence for Sculpture or Low Relief
‘Green Woman’ [Wood sculpture] Dave Barnes
Award of Excellence for Mixed Media Painting
‘In a for Long Wait’ [Mixed media] Jennie Speck
Award of Excellence for Watercolour
‘Puffins in Parliament’ [Watercolour] Stuart Ramsden
Artists at the opening of the exhibition
Awards were made to artists as follows:
Margaret Newman-Smith Award for Portrait Painting.
‘Potrait of Laura Ashley’ [Pastel] John Wood
Eilidh Barnardo Award for Drawing
‘Wightwick Manor’ [Pen, pencil & wash] A. E. Morgan
John Sanders Award for best artistic work in Show
‘Lisa’ [Pastel] Beryl Evans
COMMENDATIONS:
Textiles
‘Pheasants’ by Freda Harris
Pastel
‘Silver Birches’ by John Nixon
Watercolour ‘Welsh Mountains’ by Tahereh
Mirfattahi
Mixed Media ‘Mothers Day’ by Mildred Hammond
Screen Print ‘Hartland’ by David Hodges
Mixed Media ‘Autumn Morning’ by Pat Perkins
Mike Griffin, who donated the Len Powell Memorial and
will also donate the Gillian Griffin Award at the Autumn
Exhibition, has asked that the awards be made for ‘The
City of Lichfield and its surrounds’.
Also, Saun Godfrey has kindly donated £100 to fund the
Dorothy Godfrey Awards for the next two years.
PUBLIC VOTE
Winner of this exhibition’s Public Vote is Stuart
Ramsdenwith his painting ‘Puffins in Parliament’.
Results of the public vote were close, the top 7 being as
below:
Beryl’s painting ‘Lisa’
Dorothy Godfrey Award - Barbara Edwards ‘Swans below Tamworth Bridge’
Barbara Edward’s fabric stitch work
title
artist
Votes
Puffins in Parliament
Stuart Ramsden
14
Swans below Lady Bridge
Barbara Edwards
10
Lisa
Beryl Evans
10
Wightwick Manor
Tony Morgan
9
Evening in Cornwall
Colin Clifton
8
In for a long wait
Jennie Speck
8
Dockyard Creek, Malta
Tony Adams
7
Next she uses a yellow-ivory shade of pastel from the
"Chamoix" range which she feels is excellent for skin
tones. Next she used a yellow ochre and a darker
terracotta to darken and shade to create the contours of
the face, arms and legs of the figure. She explained that
she will always try the shade of pastel first on a separate
piece of paper to make sure it is the shade that she
wants.
She cautioned about never to use a red or pink for the
lips, but to just use the colours already mentioned and
to use them more heavily.
Next she drew in the features by using a black pastel
and blended this in by using the "colour shaper" tool and
her fingers. With the drawing finished, she held up the
board and sprayed once again with the hairspray.
Stuart Ramsdens ‘Puffins in Parliament
After a slow opening the exhibition has gone fairly well
with attendances and sales about the same as recent
exhibitions.
Now Pascale showed us a collection of cut papers that
she had prepared, cut into different shapes and sizes,
that would all fit together to cover the rest of the board,
and to do this she painted areas with PVA glue and then
applied the cut papers. It was rather like completing a
complicated jig-saw puzzle, but amazingly everything
fitted perfectly! She also likes to use cut-out words and
text from magazines, often in French, and glues these
on top which add more interest and drama to the
finished piece!
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday
19th March. In the main the committee members were
re-elected as before but our President Royston Evans
retired and was replaced by Margaret Harrison – our
new President, Dave Barnes and John Shipton were
also elected onto the committee.
Members expressed thanks to Royston for his work with
the society since he was elected as President in 2003.
Finally, to complete the demonstration, she applied cutout butterflies and flowers in different fabrics and used a
silicone glue to ensure that they were fixed securely,
then used a brown pastel to outline the shapes which
emphasized the overall design.
PASCALE BIGOT
On Wednesday 12th February, on a stormy and windy
evening the society welcomed nearly 50 members who
had braved the weather to come to the hall in Saxon Hill
School, to enjoy the demonstration by Pascale Bigot
who had travelled from Stourbridge to be with us.
The "Right sort of framing is so important", she urged,
and advised us to always use a double mount or even a
box frame for this sort of artwork.
Originally from France, Pascale explained that she had
been teaching in the Midlands for over 15 years now and
has had several books published which she held up to
show us.
She originally started working in pastels and specialised
in landscapes, but then about 7 years ago she saw
another artist named Tim Nash, also from Stourbridge,
demonstrating his work using mixed media, and was so
impressed, that she began experimenting with other
materials and now she uses "anything and everything
that will stick onto the paper!"
The range of materials includes fabric, tissue paper,
ribbons, feathers, acrylic paints, pastels, glitter, beads,
sequins, string, wall paper, wood shavings, sawdust,
even grit and sand!
Afterwards, many of us stayed to ask her more
questions and to examine the beautiful, piece of finished
work more closely.
FORTHCOMING DEMONSTRATION EVENINGS
She had brought lots of examples of her work and
passed these pieces around for us to examine.
For her demonstration she had brought a drawing that
she had prepared,on a piece of mount board, of her
daughter with their three cats. Pascale explained that
she uses an HB pencil for the drawing and smooths the
pencil marksby using a "paper blender", which is made
from a piece of rolled up paper. Then she sprays the
drawing with hair spray to fix it and to prevent smudging.
The next demonstration evening is on Wednesday
th
14 May, starting at 7.30pm, when we have Tim Fisher
demonstrating 'Pastel Landscapes.
We also have painting evenings, where you can join
other members to paint or draw in a friendly atmosphere,
th
on the 4 Wednesday of each month starting at 7.30pm
nd
also at Saxon Hill School. The next on is on 22 May.
2
There is a charge of £2.00 per member to cover the
room hire cost and providing a cup of tea.
Society by the then Bishop of Lichfield during an
exhibition we were holding in the Cathedral. She was
well into her 80’s when she died.
Anyone who has difficulty in getting to Saxon Hill School
for meetings please let us know and we will try to help
you. Contact David Lawton on 01543 301347.
Eilidh Barnardo
(Best drawing)
Eilidh Armour Brown
WESTGATE AND MANSELL HOUSE
(best work in exhibition)
She was an early member of the society, with her
husband but not for the first couple of years. She lived
in a large house and grounds, called Leomonsley House
on the outskirts of Lichfield. She had painted all her life
and always mixed her own paints from pigments and
had travelled widely. She exhibited at the Summer
Exhibition at the Royal Academy where, it was said, the
Duke of Edinburgh had bought one of her pictures.
When she died the family gave us a sum from her will to
buy the award; but in her lifetime, she had already
donated one, which was called the Armour Brown Award
(her married name), which is for the best painting in the
exhibition, this one is her maiden name and, yes she
was the grand-daughter of Dr. Barnado, of the Homes
for poor children.
The paintings in Westgate Health Centre and Mansell
House are due to be changed in May, with Westgate on
th
th
Friday 9 May and Mansell House on Thursday 15
May. Entry forms are included in the newsletter below.
PROPOSED FUTURE OUTING
Chris Taylor is organising a society trip to visit The Royal
Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in London on
nd
Sunday 22 June. Further details and a form for you to
fill in, if you wish to go, are attached at the end of the
newsletter.
LICHFIELD FESTIVAL
The society is planning to have a display stall again at
this years Festival Market, which is to be held on
th
Saturday 5 July in the close adjacent to Lichfield
Cathedral. We need members to submit works and
assist with the manning of the stall, which will be open
from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Each member would be asked
to spend one or two hours manning the stall in addition
to assisting with the setting up and taking down of the
gazebo and tables. Works can comprise paintings,
crafts, prints or cards and the society will take 15% of
any sales.
Daphne Gick
(Still life - subject changes
every spring exhibition)
She lived in Sutton Coldfield and was married to a
doctor. She died relatively young and he gave us one of
her textiles, which we had framed and is given every
year in her memory. She was an incredibly talented
artist in many mediums, and had been a dress designer
by profession.
If you are interested and able to assist can you please
contact Sue Brindley on 01543 426773 or
susanbrindley@hotmail.co.uk
Jack Ballenger
(Architectural Interest)
He was the Society’s Chairman after Mike Kilfoyle
resigned from the post and he was succeeded by Janet
Cottrell. He had been an architect by profession, and
had designed the gates to the school, which are etched
on the glass bowl which was bought by the Society as
his family donated money from his will for this award.
DEDICATED AWARDS GIVEN AT LICHFIELD
SOCIETY ARTISTS EXHIBITIONS
The following is a brief history of the people and events
leading up to the awards at our exhibitions. The
information has been prepared by Margaret Harrison.
Michael Fabricant
John Sanders Award
(Landscape painting)
(Best work in exhibition)
John was President of the Society after Alfred Pochin
had died, which was in 1963. He was Head of the
School of Art in Lichfield until he retired and he died in
2003 and a memorial service was held in the Cathedral,
which seemed strange, as it was thougth he was an
agnostic. He also started the Darwin Walk around
Lichfield, which is now an annual event and was
incredibly well known and loved in the city.
Our local Member of Parliament as well as a Patron of
the Society for many years. He has arranged two trips
for Society members to go round the Houses of
Parliament, and he donated money for the best
landscape painting in our exhibitions in the Autumn.
Sybil Clarke
(Sculpture)
She was a member for a number of years and was
interested in sculpture at which she was incredibly good.
She had no family and so wanted to give the Society
some thing to be remembered by. This horse was
purchased by her in Crete.
Margaret Newman Smith
(Portrait painting)
Lived in Tamworth, but was a member of the Society
from its beginning, her name was on the list of artists in
the first catalogue in the first exhibition they held in
1945. She was given an honorary membership of the
3
Dorothy Godfrey
(Her and now her son’s choice)
She was a “pillar of society” in Lichfield for many years,
being mayor/mayoress/deputy and was involved in 26
other organisations when she died! She had always
supported the Society, and had the D.G. cup given to
any painting that she liked best, in any medium, at the
Spring Exhibitions. One year she came in to the Library
Gallery with a shopping bag and gave us the plate as a
replacement prize for the cup, which she thought was
“too old”. We were then left with two prizes and it was
decided that the cup would be given to an artist selected
by the judge at the critique evening, and the plate given
to the artist to be chosen by Sean Godfrey, her son,
again in the spring.
The Alfred Pochin Award
This is awarded to any member of the Society who has
helped with the organisation of it in the past year. His
daughter, Mary, presents this at the AGM each year.
It is of course named after our founder of the Society (in
1945).
SAD NEWS
It is with great sadness that we have to report the death
of one of our long-standing honorary members.
th
Norman Squire died on 28 February. He was 92 years
of age.
He will all be missed by members and our thoughts and
sympathy go out to his family.
NEWS LETTER ITEMS
If you would like to contribute to future editions of the
newsletter (next one is in September) or advertise an
exhibition of your own, you would be most welcome.
Please contact David Lawton on 01543-301347 or by
email to lawtondave@hotmail.com
If you have access to a computer on line you can have
the newsletters sent to you via email and see them in full
colour. Please let us know your email address and we
will include you for the next issue.
4
WESTGATE HEALTH CENTRE, GREENHILL, LICHFIELD
The next exhibition at the Health Centre is due to commence on Friday 9th May and you are requested to
submit entries for this on the entry form below, by 3rd May. The exhibition will run for a period of six months.
There are no hanging charges for these exhibitions, sales charges of 20% will be applied.
Space exists for 22 average sized pictures. Minimum size of pictures to be 300 x 250mm (12”x10”),
maximum 850mm x 600mm (30”x24”). Each artist can submit up to two paintings.
Pictures will be removed and replaced in November 2014. Artists have the opportunity to replace pictures
sold.
CALENDAR
DEADLINE
rd
!
By SATURDAY May 3
send entries to: David Lawton, 36 Darnford Lane, Lichfield,
Staffs., WS14 9RN, (tel. 01543 419287)
HANDING-IN TIME:
FRIDAY 9th May at 1.30pm to 3.00pm
AT THE GREENHILL HEALTH CENTRE, LICHFIELD, OR BY
ARRANGEMENT WITH David Lawton (telephone 01543
301347).
FORMS:
or email: lawtondave@hotmail.com
NOTE THAT THE EXHIBITION RULES IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP BOOK REGARDING LABELLING, STRINGING,
ETC. WILL APPLY
"-----------------------------------------------------------------------WESTGATE EXHIBITION May to November 2014
KEEP THE ABOVE INFORMATION FOR YOUR OWN REFERENCE AND SEND ONLY THE
FORM AS BELOW.
PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS AND WRITE CLEARLY
NAME (AS YOU WOULD LIKE IT ON THE
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE
LABEL)
TITLE OF WORK(No more than five words)
MEDIUM
1st
2nd
5
PRICE
£
MANSELL HOUSE, BORE STREET, LICHFIELD
Our next exhibition at Mansell House is due to commence on Thursday 15th May and you are requested to
submit entries for this on the entry form below, by 10th May. The exhibition will run for a period of six
months.
Mansell House is a community centre office building in the centre of Lichfield (not far from the Library), on
Bore Street, two doors or so along from Wilkinson’s hardware store and opposite Salloways jewellery shop.
There are no hanging charges for these exhibitions, sales charges of 20% will be applied.
Space exists for 30 average sized pictures. Minimum size of pictures to be 300 x 250mm (12”x10”),
maximum 1000mm x 750mm (38”x 30”). Each artist can submit up to two paintings.
Pictures will be removed and replaced in November 2014. Artists have the opportunity to replace pictures
sold.
CALENDAR
FORMS:
DEADLINE
th
!
By SATURDAY 10 May
send entries to: David Lawton, 36 Darnford Lane, Lichfield,
Staffs., WS14 9RN, (tel. 01543 301347)
or email: lawtondave@hotmail.com
THURSDAY 15th May at 3.00 to 4.00pm
AT MANSELL HOUSE, BORE STREET, LICHFIELD, OR BY
ARRANGEMENT WITH David Lawton (telephone 01543
301347).
HANDING-IN TIME:
NOTE THAT THE EXHIBITION RULES IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP BOOK REGARDING LABELLING, STRINGING,
ETC. WILL APPLY
"-----------------------------------------------------------------------MANSELL HOUSE EXHIBITION May to November 2014
KEEP THE ABOVE INFORMATION FOR YOUR OWN REFERENCE AND SEND ONLY THE
FORM AS BELOW.
PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS AND WRITE CLEARLY
NAME (AS YOU WOULD LIKE IT ON THE
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE
LABEL)
TITLE OF WORK(No more than five words)
MEDIUM
1st
2nd
6
PRICE
£
Lichfield Society of Artists
Outing to The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, London.
Sunday 22nd June
Leaving from The Bowling Green Pub Car Park, Lichfield at 8.15 am
Other pick up points by arrangement (Shenstone, The Bulls Head / Sytners Garage Four Oaks/, Mere Green, (outside
Boots)
Return from outside the RA at 5.00 pm.
Price is £29.50 for the coach and
cost of timed entry ticket to the RA.and guide/catalogue to the exhibition.
Please complete and return the slip below with your cheque made out to Lichfield Society of Artists.
.......................................................................................................................................
Sunday June 22nd 2014 Visit to RA Summer Exhibition, London
Please reserve...........seats at £29.50 each. (coach fare) Pick up point............ ................
I enclose cheque for £.........................made payable to Lichfield Society of Artists
Name (please print)................................................................................................
Address......................................................................................................................
Post Code.............................................. Contact telephone..........................................
Send to :- Christine Taylor, 91, Hill Hook Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 4ED
Tel: 0121 353 0352 or Mobile: 07736 804 887.
7