Meet your new chairman and the TEAM as well as each other 

Informal Coffee Morning at  St Stephen's Church in EXeter High Street ( opposite the White Compnay shop)

Coffee and biccys ( free) - drop in anytime between 10.30-12.00

Say hi!

SO much Joy to be found in June....

1. Saturday June 6th at the Phoenix - Free talk by artist Bruce Asbestos on his exhibition on now.
2. Saturday 6 & Sunday 7th June : Open Gardens: Rosebarn Avenue Exeter ( EX4  6DY)  - 4 gardens open 1-5pm. £6 for all and home made teas available. 
3.  Sunday 14th June  in St Leonard's Exeter Hospice Care Open Gardens. 7 to visit. Entry by donation. 
4. Saturday June 13th Jazz Concert with Exeter Philharmonic Choir in Exmouth. 7.30pm. 
5. From 19th June to September : Bristol Museum & Art Gallery: The Lost Paintings - a Prelude to return from Palestinian artists in memory of  Maroun Tomb - Suggested donation £6. Powerful and maybe distressing - not suitable for under 12 years old. 
6. From 20th June at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery - 50 years of Aardman - Wallace & Gromit creator. Until September 13th. 
7. Museum of Somerset in Taunton until 4th July, Roger Fry - first major show of his work in 25 years. £5 each.
 

And beyond....
1. A free, two-day festival at Falmouth University on 3–4 July 2026 in honour of  Matthew Lanyon, a contemporary, Cornish artist.

2. I am putting together details of a trip to Bologna and Ravenna (Byzantian Mosaics, Mantova, & Ferrara (of Isabelle D'Este fame) - late April 2027. Please let me know if vaguely interested - 5 nights - flying direct to Bologna with British Airways from London at sensible times about £1,700  plus £199 single supplement. More INFO HERE
 PLESE NOTE ALREADY FULL
                     ______________________________________

Desperately seeking a new hospitality person/s to host the teas (maybe several people). Needed from September this year. Email me if vaguely interested please here . Thanks.

We are also looking for a new auditor for our accounts from June NEXT year 2027 onwards. Do let me know if you could help us. It is a once a year task to check our accounts. 


Did you know……
The first Queen crowned in Europe was Matilda of Flanders, the wife of William the Conqueror. Crowned as Queen, not simply the 'King's wife'. They originally thought it was she who commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry. 

Joy & Laughter to be found in May....

1. Delamore House in Ivybridge has 1- 31st May Art & Sculpture. Info here. 
2. Tracy Ermin Exhibition at the Tate in St Ives. Info here.
3. Modern dance with the Balletboyz at the Northcote Theatre 22nd & 23rd June. Info here. 
4. PictureHouse Cinema Exeter 10th May 'The Christophers' - preview and recorded Q&A about the value of art and a comedy film. 7pm. Details here. 
                     ______________________________________

Don't forget our lovlery day out on Wednesday May 20th to Forde Abbey (now fully booked ). See you on the coach! 
                      ______________________________________

Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and need to be close to see or hear and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU.  ?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
                  __________________________________________

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Montmartre originates from Mons Martis, Latin for "Mount of Mars" - due to the temples honouring the gods Mars and Mercury on top of its hill long ago.

Hello. Spring has sprung and the blossom is wonderful.
Art to see in .. April 
1. Last few weeks of the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum until 4th May. 

2. Wildlife Photographer of the year at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery finishes 26th April. 

3. Our Study Day TUESDAY April 21st - Mark Cottle with 'Portraits in Stone  - the great Cathedrals of Medieval England - architecture, aesthetic details, events and fascinating figures involved'. This time it will be held at the PHOENIX - 2 x morning lectures. Form here and on website and available at next week's meeting. 

Further ahead

The British Museum have confirmed the Bayeux Tapestry from September 2026 in London. Info here.  It's here in UK until July 2027 after 1,000 years away!
                     ______________________________________

Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and need to be close to see or hear and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU.  ?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
                  __________________________________________

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Jane Austen never saw any of her books published with her name on the cover - her identity revealed after her death. She died at 41 having published at least 6 novels. 

Kindest regards
Susie
The Arts Society Exeter 

Image of the Bronte Sisters by Patrick Branwell Bronte courtesy of Creative Commons 

Hello!

Well if you haven't been to see Grayson Perry on at the RAMM in Exeter yet - you're in for a treat - 4 huge tapestries as well as some pots.  And fittingly this month's talk is about a much older 'tapestry'. 

Art to see in ...March  2026 

1. New to Torre Abbey and Torquay - a free outdoor installation of iconic National Gallery Paintings with trail. Info here. March to September. 

2. Beryl Cook at the Box in Plymouth till end of May. Free and we are thinking of going en masse by train sometime this month? You would all book your own train ticket but travel as a group!  More info at meeting next week.

3.Quentin Blake free exhibition upstairs until 12th April in Sherborne's new(ish) art centre with fab cafe!

4. March 14th at the Exeter Cathedral Handel's Oratorio Solomon with the Exeter Philharmonic Choir. 7.30opm

…April  2026 

1. If you are out and about near Kingsbridge pop into Velarde Gallery (has its own little sculpture garden - sadly no café but lots on the quay!)

2. Our Study Day TUESDAY April 21st - Mark Cottle with 'Portraits in Stone  - the great Cathedrals of Medieval England - architecture, aesthetic details, events and fascinating figures involved'. This time it will be held at the PHOENIX - 2 x morning lectures.Form on website and available at next week's meeting. 

3. Gee's Bend Quilts at the Americas Museum near Bath. On until June. Info here 
                   
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and need to be close to see or hear and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. 
?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
          
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
The 'tapestry' wasn't woven on a loom but hand stitched using woollen thread on linen. Depicting at least 623 men - it has more dogs and horses than it does women - only 3 women shown!

Kindest regards
Susie ??

Hello!                                                                                                                                                                                  February 2026

I hope you weren't badly affected by any flooding or wind damage. I am hoping at least to be able to get outside without getting soaked this month!

Art to see in ...February  2026 

1. Grayson Perry at the RAMM- 3 x Tours booked as 80 people wanted to come along! Tours fully booked now. But exhibition is on til April.

…March 2026 

1. Picture House Exeter Tuesday March 10th 6pm EOS film: Turner & Constable. 

2. Picture House Exeter Met Opera: Tristan & Isolde Wednesday March 25th at 1pm 

...Looking further forward

1. Our Study Day TUESDAY April 21st - Mark Cottle this time to be held at the PHOENIX - 2 x morning lectures about architecture and artefacts (England based) . Forms on website and at next week's meeting. 

2. Arts Society Exeter’s Trip to Norway - Bergen & Olso - one week September Friday 11th- Friday 18th 2026 - let me know if interested. Itinerary here.  Prices and highlights here. 

Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and need to be close to see or hear and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. 
?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Comedy originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theatres. Not much has changed then!

Kindest regards
Susie ??

Hello!

Another year and more wonderful art to enjoy and learn about. The largest (?) diamond in the world this month - but who actually mined it, made it and who actually owns it now? 

URGENT need for a Treasurer from July/September 2026  - details here. Maybe a New Year's Resolution to help out more? We cannot function without a Treasurer.  Please contact Chris for more info here. 

Also, sadly if we do not get a ZOOM/ Website person to help, there will be no more ZOOM from September. Its a very simple role but we urgently need a volunteer to take this on please.

Art to see in ...January 2026 

1. Beryl Cook Exhibition  at the Plymouth Box - most extensive exhibition of her work to date. Jan 24th - May 31st 2026 Info here

2. Turner & Constable at the Tate Britain, London until April 12th Info here 
They were born a year apart! Pension Credit tickets £5 otherwise £24 and half pice for Art Pass holders. 

…February 2026 

1. Grayson Perry at RAMM in Exeter (YAH!) from January 24th to May3rd. Info here.  I am asking RAMM about a curator led tour for us - possibly £10 each approx if 10 of us, or £5 if 20 of us. I will keep you posted when they respond to me. 

2. Holburne Musuem in Bath 24th January until 10th May - Zandra Rhodes exhibition. Info here.  I am definitely going to this one as well. 

...Looking further forward

1. Bayeux Tapestry will hopefully be at the British Museum September 2026- July 2027 Info here Dates to be confirmed!

2. Frida Kahlo exhibition from July at Tate Modern, London Info here.

3. National Gallery, London  ‘Renoir and Love’ exhibition from October 2026. Info here. 

4. Arts Society Exeter’s Trip to Norway - Oslo and Bergen - one week September 2026 - let me know if interested. FULL details to follow sooooooon.
Cost about £2,800 pp with £3,400 incl single supplement. 4* hotels, 7 nights, good flight times and local English speaking tour manager. (And me of course!)

3. Trip to Jordan and Petra with Topsham Arts Society October 2026. Details here 
                   
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and need to be close to see or hear and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. 
?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
         

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Koh-i-Noor translates as ‘Mountain of Light’ from the Persian and now it is only worn by female royalty as it is meant to bring bad luck if worn by a man. Sorry chaps!

Kindest regards
Susie ??
The Arts Society Exeter 

Hello. Gosh what a job it has been getting used to early dark evenings this year after our fabulous sunny previous 6 months.

Here is the ZOOM link in case you can't make it. Please log in about 1.45pm and PLEASE make sure your volume is turned up, you are muted and your video is OFF. Thanks.

Things to do in ...November 

1. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery - Wildlife Photographer of the Year - from 31st Oct to April 2026. 

2.  St Martin's Church Exeter on Cathedral Green is looking for stewarding volunteers - please contact Churches Conservation Trust here for info. 

3. Concert 8th November at Exeter Cathedral - with Exeter Philharmonic Choir. Info here. 

4. Study Day at the Exeter Central Library on November 28th. Link for more info here. 

5. EXHIBITION on Screen Film at the Exeter Picture house: Caravaggio on 11th & 18th November 

6. Evening of medieval music at St Nicholas’s priory in Exeter November 15th 

...and December:

1. Christmas Lunch Tuesday 9th December for Members (+ friends/partners non members) at the Mill on the Exe pub in Exeter £30 or £35. £10 deposit (non refundable) payable soonest - cash or cheque only - please NOT to bank acc). All enquiries and book your place with Jill please email : Jill here. 

2. Please consider a new year's resolution of becoming treasurer for the Arts Society Exeter. 

...and January
At the RAMM a Grayson Perry Exhibition. £8 on the door, and if booked online, £6. Art Fund £3. Link here
        
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
               
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
'Italian inventories and descriptions of Renaissance-period households document the importance of great chests in the main bedchamber, or camera. This room was the centre of an upper-class woman's existence, as she was encouraged to live mostly indoors and to avoid lingering at open windows or in the semi public courtyard of the family house. In this chamber she would proudly display the cradle she had been given on her marriage and also wedding chests, or cassone, containing her trousseau'. 
I am so glad this is no longer the case!

Kindest regards
Susie ??
The Arts Society Exeter 

Hello!

Just before our meeting this month will be our super fast AGM - (papers sent out earlier) and then straight onto the talk.

Art to see in ...October

1. Our Coffee Morning on Thursday 16th October at St Stephens Church in the High Street, Exeter (opposite the White Company shop). Please come and say HELLO - meet other members & your TEAM - free coffee and nice biscuits.

2. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery have an exhibition Prince of the Rocks with   4 rare watercolours by Turner from his very early years  when he visited Bristol in 1791. Info here.

3.  Plymouth Box has an exhibition about UK & Poland, Remember, Respond, Resist :  info here  October 4th - January. One by Grayson Perry.

4. Thelma Hulbert Gallery has a film installation called 'Delve into the work of Giants' in their Nature Calling Exhibition. Sounds curious! 'Til 1st November.

...November:

1. Our own Study day - Friday 28th November morning only 10am -13.00 with Geri Phalby on 'Harems. Hookahs, Odalisques and Ottomans: A Passion for the Oriental in 18th & 19th Century Art'. FORM here and on website. £28 each incl coffee/tea

2. Exeter Philharmonic Choir - Saturday November 8th at Exeter Cathedral - World Premiere of the Weather Book by Cecilia McDowell and other pieces. Info here. 

...Looking further forward

1. Beryl Cook Exhibition  at the Plymouth Box - most extensive exhibition of her work to date. Jan 24th - May 31st 2026 Info here

2. Trip to Spain with Topsham Arts Society in April 2026 info here

3. Bayeux Tapestry will hopefully be at the British Museum September 2026- July 2027 Info here Dates to be confirmed!
         
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?? Please welcome our lovely new  members.
       
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
The oldest physical musical instruments we know about - are flutes - probably over 40,000 years old - made from swan bones and mammoth ivory. The first pictorial image with a musical instrument was of a lute about 3,500 - 3,200 years ago. 

Kindest regards
Susie ??
The Arts Society Exeter 

We were lucky enough to have 4 members attend as guests who had been with the Arts Society Exeter from the beginning in 1975 and the early years.

Baroness Anna Carla Taxis, Catherine Heath, Anne Woollatt and Caroline Forbes.

We also had the best cake ever - from Kates Kakes Exeter

Hello!

Our last talk of this season is next week June 11th.
Next season starts on Wednesday September 10th.

Renewal information will be sent out around July 1st and the new programme for 2025/26 will be available to collect at the talk next week! 

ZOOM: Link here if you can't come along in person              

June

1. Book Market on Exeter Cathedral Green on Sunday 8th June 11-4pm

2. Art Week Exeter June 9th - 15th - info here. All sorts happening all over Exeter

3. James Ravilious Exhibtion until June 28th in Honiton at Thelma Hulbert Gallery

4. June 30th for £15;  Day looking at writers Collins, Dickens & Trollope with the  Bemrosian Group in Exeter - info here

in July....

1. 1st-11th July in Lyme Regis Exhibition called Five go to back to Lyme. Info here. 

2. Starting on 26th July at RAMM in Exeter, WILD exhibition. 
  
After the summer ... in September
Friday 12th September our own visit by coach  to Sherborne Castle and their RHS Partner Gardens. Application Form here.
         
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ??
      
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Picasso famously said of Chagall, "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is".

Kindest regards
Susie ??
The Arts Society Exeter 

Hello!

ZOOM: Sadly this won't be available this month.                 

Out & About in May

1.  Our own visit to Lanhydrock on Wednesday May 21st. National Trust members pay £18 for the coach. Non member of National Trust pay £38 for the coach and entry. Please fill in FORM here and wait for confirmation of place and only THEN please pay. Contact Lynda or Jill for more info. 

2. 17th May Exeter Cathedral Radiohead by Candlelight - other events and info here. And...  Friday 23rd May 80s Anthems by candlelight.

3. Tate St Ives - Liliane Lijn sculptures from 24th May till November. 

4. Hiroshige at the British Museum, London from now until September 7th. 
Half price entry after midday on a Monday.

in June....

1. Wednesday June 18th - Our Cream Tea Celebration at the Exeter Golf & Country Club from 3pm. Email here to book your place - £10.50 subsidised price. 

2. June 6th-8th  Flower Festival & Veitch with guest speaker Caradoc Day on Plant Hunters and Pioneers at Broadclyst Church.

3.  June 14th at Exeter Cathedral 7.30pm 'The Feast of English Choral Music' - info here.

After the summer ... in September
Friday 12th September a visit by coach  to Sherborne Castle and their RHS Partner Gardens. More to follow. Save the date!

and in October 
Van Gogh Live exhibition at West point - October 16th & 31st.  I've booked mine already!
             
Art Bytes update:
The schools three pieces have been judged - 1st, 2nd,3rd and the winners go forward to a regional judging then a national one, if successful. I will keep you posted if one of our schools wins.
here are the results of our 4 schools. 
ISCA secondary     Ladysmith primary    Montgomery primary    West Exe secondary
                 
Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ??
           
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
The Czech name Praha is derived from an old Slavic word, práh, which means ford or rapid, referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of the Vltava river.

Kindest regards
Susie ??
The Arts Society Exeter 

Hello!

We shall continue to trial alphabetical sign in this month. A - L and M - Z (surnames!) 
 
Please try not to enter the Theatre BEFORE 1.35pm, as we need to get ready with the speaker. Thank you.                   

Finding lots of  joy in April 

1. Visions in Stone on Wednesday 23rd April at the Phoenix in Exeter- a talk by Mark Cottle on Exeter Cathedral and Buckfast Abbey. Discount for us £8 instead of £10. Time 7.30-9.3pm with interval. 

2. For those of you wanting to see more of David Hockney after our wonderful Study Day last week, there is an exhibition in London at the Lightroom from 30th April until June 29th, called Bigger and Closer.
Alternatively, a different exhibition with 400 of his works in Paris from 9th April to August. 

3. Tulips at Strawberry Farm in Lifton. Now until April 21st. 250,000 bulbs planted - nearer than Keukenhof in Holland! Not 'a pick your own' but you can buy bunches there.  

In May
1. Toby Buckland Garden Festival - Friday May 2nd and Saturday May 3rd They have offered us discounted tickets if a group of 15 or more want to go together. I would suggest Friday 2nd May ( as quieter) and tickets would be £15 each instead of £22.50 on the gate. You would make your own way there and we meet at the entrance at 10.00am and you leave when you want. Please let me know here if interested please. Payment would be in advance whatever the weather, no refunds. 

2. Our own visit to Lanhydrock on Wednesday May 21st. National Trust members pay £18 for the coach. Non member of National Trust pay £38 for the coach and entry. Please fill in FORM here and wait for confirmation of place and only THEN please pay. Contact Lynda or Jill for more info. 

In June 
June 6th-8th  Flower Festival & Veitch with guest speaker Caradoc Day on Plant Hunters and Pioneers at Broadclyst Church.

ARTBYTES: 
As part of our 50th. anniversary celebrations we have sponsored four local schools to enter the above on-line art competition. The entries can now be viewed.
The schools we sponsored are:
ISCA secondary
Ladysmith primary
Montgomery primary
West Exe secondary
Devonlive Newspaper link here
There are some fabulous entries and the children should be very proud of their work. DO please vote for your favourite and, if you have time, view the other schools entries from across the UK.  As you may know, we as a Society, aim to give back to our local community to encourage the arts in all its forms.

Please keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the entrance doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?
                 
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Terry Frost the St Ives painter, was commissioned to design a stained glass window here in the Phoenix in Exeter? called the Sun and Moon, it is in the café and a picture is below. 

Have a sunny April ?

Susie and the TEAM

Hello! Happy February - daylight increases to 3 minutes extra per day - yah. 

A MESSAGE FROM OUR VICE CHAIR:
At the end of June I am stepping down from my role as Vice Chair.  I have been Vice Chair for 3 years.  The role is very interesting and fits in with the rest of the enthusiastic Team that makes our Exeter Arts Society what it is today.  The Vice Chair works alongside the Chair but is also a separate role (Vice Chair does not need to become chair or take over from the chair).  We have 265 Members, plus a waiting list of 40 people.  I am confident that at least one person can come forward to take over and join the Team.  You will be hugely appreciated.  I would  be very pleased to talk through anything and all you wish to know.   Veronica     Email:  vice.exeter@theartssociety.org     Tel:  07432 553000

Finding joy in February

1.  Bird Watching Cruise from Exmouth sounds wonderful if the weather is right.

2. Tate St Ives (you can even go for the day for £25 by train return) exhibition of the strange and wonderful surrealist Ithell Colquhoun now till May. 

3. Luke Jerram's Moon has reappeared at Exeter Cathedral. Free if you've a residents card (free to get one if you can prove you live in Exeter) otherwise £7. Now till March 1st.

4. We will soon be able to vote for our favourite painting by youngsters from local Exeter schools through a competition we are supporting in our 50th year, called Art Bytes. Next month's newsletter will tell you more.......
 
               
Topsham Arts Society have a few spaces left on their trip to Killarney, Ireland. 30th September for 6 nights - flying Bristol to Cork. Info and form here. 
                   _________________________________________

PLEASE please could you keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?
If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: Email Clare here.  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
In the painting below, the model for the primrose was in fact the American heiress Jennie Jerome, who married Lord Randolph Churchill. Lady Randolph, as she became, was the mother of the future prime minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 

Hello. Hope you are eager for this month's talk on Art Deco Architecture with Pamela Campbell-Johnston on Wednesday 8th January. Doors open from 1.35pm (please note 5 minutes later 'doors open time' to allow us to set up!

Finding joy in January

We have two super things we can tell you about this month:
A marvellous all day Study Day on Tuesday March 25th on David Hockney - all details on our website here and application Forms here 
And...
A 4 night trip to Vienna 1st-5th September - info here and on our website. 
                   _________________________________________

PLEASE please could you keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?
                  __________________________________________

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: please email Chris here  Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Did you know……
Radiolarians are tiny single celled organisms - so decorative that Art Deco is believed to have based some of their designs on them. Ernst Haeckel brought them to the world's attention in his book - Art Forms in Nature. More info here.  

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119          Enjoy Life more with the Arts 

Our 2024-2025 programme: hard copy available at the talk.

Image: by Ewan Munro of the Hoover Building in London and courtesy of Creative Commons licence

Hello. Hope you are looking forward to this month's special EXTRA talk on Wednesday December 4th ( the first Wednesday of the month ) with Sarah Dunant.

ZOOM: Here is the link in case you can’t make it.

Finding joy in December 

1.  RAMM Exeter has Dartmoor : A Radical Landscape exhibition on now until February. Looks fascinating.

2. Carols in Exeter Cathedral Tuesday 17th, Wednesday 18th at 7.30pm with Exeter Philharmonic Choir.

We have had very little interest in our post Christmas lunch. So our  DEADLINE showing interest for Members' Post Xmas  lunch (on Wednesday January 15th) is December 1st - please let Veronica know here if you would like to join us at the Exeter Golf and Country Club.

Topsham Arts Society have a few spaces left on their LONDON walking Tour including Ian Swankie touring Wren's 6 churches. Next year. See here for more. Need to book and pay deposit ASAP. 
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PLEASE please could you keep the front row for those who cannot use the stairs and please leave the end seats by the doors on first 6 rows (where possible) for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?
                  __________________________________________

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: Email Veronica here. Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Finally if you can’t make next week’s talk, see you on Wednesday January 8th in  2025 and have a lovely Winter Solstice.

Did you know……
"Before children speak, they sing, 
As soon as they stand, they dance 
Art is the basis of human expression." 

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119          Enjoy Life more with the Arts 

Our 2024-2025 programme: hard copy available at the talk.

Image: by Pieter Brueghel the elder, courtesy of the Royal Museums of Fine Art  in Belgium and Creative Commons 

November 2024 Newsletter

Hello. 

If you would like to bring a guest to our talk please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: Email Veronica our vice chair. 

Please make sure the guest brings  £10 in cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

Finding joy in November.......

1. EOS film on Van Gogh  6th November at 6pm and on 12th November at noon. Produced in conjunction with the National Gallery and titled Poets & Lovers at the Exeter Picturehouse.

2. Tosca Opera from the Met NY Saturday 23rd Nov at 6pm  and Wednesday 27th Nov at noon at the Exeter Picturehouse.

3. Wildlife Photographer of the year at the Bristol Museum. Until April 2025 and £6 for concessions. 

4.  RAMM Exeter has Dartmoor : A Radical Landscape exhibition on now until February.

5. Topsham have places for their STUDY DAY on the story of Frescos and Murals - 3 sessions - Roman, then Renaissance and ending with more modern oil versions. Booking form on their website. £37 incl lunch. Thursday 28th November 

Out & About in December....

1. Tim Burton - film maker extraordinaire exhibition of his work at the Design Museum in London. One the kids might like? On until April 2025.

2. National Portrait Gallery London - Francis Bacon until 19th February and the Portrait Competition until 16th February. 

3. Tate St Ives has 3 artists on display until January 5th. 

Looking into 2025….

1. POST CHRISTMAS LUNCH will be on Wednesday January 15th for members - January 15th at the Exeter Golf & Country Club. More details from Veronica to come. Please email her if interested.
         
2. We are always looking for people to help the TEAM make all this happen. Currently we will be needing a new Vice-Chair from June next year and another Chair from June 2026.Do let us know if you have any thoughts/inklings/new years resolutions as we always need people to help if not a committee role! Email me - Thank you.

3. Would you like to host a speaker for us? Meet them after the talk, take them home, feed them and put them up for the night and bring them/point them in the right direction to Tophsam the next morning? Email Ian if you're interested. 

4. History of Art Course February 28th - March 28th 2025 in the Central Library. More here. 

5. November 2025  (next year) Topsham Arts Society have organised a  LONDON walking Tour including Ian Swankie touring Wren's 6 churches.  2 nights. Need to book and pay deposit by the end of THIS month. 
             
PLEASE please can we ask you to fill up from the middle of the row when sitting down for our talks to leave end seats for late arrivals. Please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?
     
Did you know…… 

Tilda Swinton said:" Art is good for my soul precisely because it reminds me that we have souls in the first place". 

Kindest regards                                                       email:  chair.exeter@theartssociety.org
Susie ?

The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119          Enjoy Life more with the Arts 

Trip to Italy now full 

£1,499 pp  (+£99 single supplement) HB in 3* hotel
 

Day 1     - We meet at our designated pick-up point and transfer by private coach to Bristol Airport for our direct scheduled 12.15 midday Easyjet flight to Rome Fiumicino Airport. 

On arrival in Italy we are met by our tour manager who will accompany us throughout our tour. We continue by coach to the spa town of Chianciano Terme in Tuscany and check in at the Hotel Villa Ricci for a six night stay. Dinner is included in our hotel every evening, bar one.

Day 2     - This morning we visit the Abbey of Monte Olivieto Maggiore to see the magnificent 41 frescoes of the Life of St Benedict.

We continue on to the charming small town of Pienza where parts of the ‘English Patient’ were filmed. Take the time to walk the walls to enjoy the wonderful views and relax in the central square where the Cathedral and the town hall are located. Dinner is served in our hotel this evening.

Day 3 - Heading into Umbria this morning we make our first stop at the medieval town of beautiful medieval town of Assisi and home to St Francis of Assisi, where we have a guided tour of the Basilica, taking in the stunning frescoes by Giotto depicting the life of this most popular of saints. The Basilica, which dominates the town, is one of the great Christian shrines and is visited by thousands of pilgrims each year.

We then continue to Perugia, dating from Etruscan times, where we have a guided tour of the Galleria Nazionale dell’ Umbria, the centre for Umbrian art. Alternatively, you may choose to visit the Cathedral or explore Perugia at your leisure. Dinner is served in our hotel this evening.

Day 4 - This morning you can have a free day exploring the Spa or join us on a visit to Florence. On arrival we will have a guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery Italy’s the private art gallery of the Medici Family and now one of Italy’s finest gallery. In the afternoon you have free time and you may wish to visit the Duomo, the River Arno & Ponte Vecchio. Dinner is served in our hotel this evening.

Day 5 - On arrival in Siena this morning our guided tour takes in sights such as Siena’s main square, the Piazza del Campo, and the magnificent Gothic Duomo. The town is home to the annual festival of the Palio, a daring horserace which takes place each year in the Campo. This is the heart of Siena, a sloping amphitheatre of a square, lined with café tables with the focal point being the Palazzo Pubblico. Our guided tour also includes a visit to the Cathedral and it’s Piccolomini Library. This evening is free to dine out ( restaurants & taxis can be booked at reception)

Day 6     - This morning we visit the Church of Madonna Di San Biagio at Montepulciano, dating back to 1518 and one of the most important church buildings of the Renaissance period.

We then enjoy a guided tour at the Gardens of Villa La Foce. When Antonio and Iris Origo bought the estate of La Foce, they engaged the English architect Cecil Pinsent to restructure the main buildings and create a large garden. The house is surrounded by a formal Italian garden, which is divided into geometrical ‘rooms’ by box hedges with lemon trees in terracotta pots. Travertine stairs lead to the rose garden and a winding wisteria-covered pergola bordered by lavender hedge. Gentle informal terraces climb up the hill, where cherry trees, pines and cypresses grow among wild broom, thyme and rosemary, and a long cypress avenue leads to a 17th-century stone statue. Through the wood, a path joins the garden and the family cemetery, considered one of Pinsent's best creations. After our guided tour, we enjoy an included lunch at a carefully selected local restaurant. Dinner is served in our hotel this evening.

Day 7 - This morning after checking out of our hotel, we visit the charming Etruscan town of Orvieto. Gaining access into the town by cable car, we enjoy some free time at leisure. On an individual basis you may choose to visit the stunning 13th century Duomo, among the greatest of all Italy’s Romanesque-Gothic cathedrals. After we travel to Rome Fiumicino Airport for our direct scheduled flight back to the UK where we continue by private coach back to our original pick-up point.

 EMAIL Susie :  chair.exeter@theartssociety.org ig interested 

Image courtesy of Villa La Foce, Italy 

Hello & welcome to our new 2024-2025 season. SO glad you have stayed on another year with us. 

Our new programme is here and a hard copy (bright orange to celebrate the 'golden' 50 years )will be available for you to collect at the talks.

We are offering ZOOM for our first talk on September 11th should you be unable to come along.  As usual, it is only possible live, so you have to log in about 1.45pm at home and it finishes about 3.15pm. Download ZOOM here (or from your app store) its free. Email me here if you wish to partake and I will send you the link the day before. Just Click on it on the day of the talk at 1.45pm. Make sure you have your volume up high. 

Finding joy in the remaining Summer....

1. Saturday morning free coffee Concert 14th September in Southernhay Church  Exeter, starts at 11.00am, doors open 10.30 for coffee.  Melanie Mehta (soprano), John Draisey (piano).

2. Devon Open Studios begins this Friday 7th September until 22nd. 

3. We seem to have a new Art Gallery in Exeter in Southernhay - showcasing Exeter artists - looks promising....?

4. Phoenix Exeter Open Contemporary starts on September 13th until November 2nd. Always worth a visit.  

And into (dare I say) Autumn.....

1. Our own Visit to Berkeley Castle on Wednesday October 16th. Info here 

2. Our own Study day in November is full so you may wish to look at this : 
study days available on ZOOM from other Societies eg: the Silk Road - info here. 

3. Torbay Musical Weekend 15th-18th November 

4.  And finally - an interesting offer for book lovers from Unicorn Publishing 
Liotard (ISBN: 9781911397595) total cost: £21.00 A Portrait of 18th Century Europe 
A Place Apart (ISBN: 9781911397687) total cost: £17.25 The Artists Studio 1400-1900. Price includes postage.  Add code ART5 you will get an additional £5 off

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In our last newsletter I mentioned the results of the overwhelming votes (206-85) by all the Arts Societies against changing the Head Office constitution (not our own one). Well, the Trustees were not best pleased and all bar one resigned, along with the CEO at the AGM at the end of August! People power - a true example of democracy - where your/our votes led to change. A new board of Trustees and interim CEO are now in place. Who says we are a staid organisation? Check out our fancy new trendy podcasts and films here 

_______________________________

Once again, if you would like to bring a guest to our talk  please remember we have limited seating and only allow 10 guests in total to each talk. Please remember to BOOK in advance: Email Clare here . The same guest may come along only twice.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash (we don’t have a card machine!) Thank you.

PLEASE please can we ask you to fill up from the middle of the row when sitting down for our talks at the Phoenix - please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?

Did you know …… 

Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni were Opera rivals in Handel's time, who divided opinion among the opera going public.  “In short, the whole world is gone mad upon this dispute. No Cuzzonist will go to a tavern with a Faustinian. And the ladies of one party have scratched those of the other out of their lists of visits."

Looking forward to Tim's talk on the 11th and seeing YOU all! 
 

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
   

Image: Courtesy of deviantart.com and creative commons license Antonio Salieri 

Last Newsletter of our Season. 

Hello again (and welcome to those on our waiting list!).

We are offering ZOOM for June 12th talk, for those unable  to come in person ( and those of you on our waiting list).
It is only possible live, so you have to log in about 1.45pm at home and it finishes about 3.15pm. Download ZOOM here (or from your app store) its free. Email me here if you wish to partake please and I will send you the link the day before. Just Click on it on the day of the talk at 1.45pm.

Finding joy this (dare I say) Summer?....

1. Saturday free coffee Concert 22nd June at Southernhay Church, Exeter, starts at 11.00am, doors open 10.30 for coffee. Another one on 6th July, 3rd August & 24th August.

2. ROH Opera Andrea Chenier at the Exeter Picture House live on  Tuesday June 11th at 19.15 or the encore at midday on Tuesday June 18th. 

3. National Gallery Film on at the Phoenix Cinema in Exeter on Sat 15 June, 2pm

4. Tate St Ives Beatriz Milhazes until September - modern abstract and colourful. 

5. 'Five go to Lyme' - a group exhibition in Lyme Regis, at the Malthouse Gallery 1-11th July.

6. Our first talk of next season (our 50th Anniversary year) starts on Wednesday September 11th is Great Operatic Rivalries with opera singer, Tim Mirfin. Can't wait!

_______________________________
 

Thank you to all of you who responded to the changes to the Head Office Constitution. The results of the voting countrywide of local societies was: 206 against and 86 for.
Exeter also voted against as that is what we believe is in your best interests and also because more of you voted against than for. 

_______________________________

Renewal time is soon here - please do NOT make any payments before July 1st - (because of our financial year end and the accounts!)

We will tell you the renewal details and prices on July 1st. Because we have a waiting list - we will need renewals finalised by July 31st, so we can offer places to those 36 or so on the waiting list. So, when we DO send the renewals out, please be prompt and pay AFTER July 1st and before July 31st to maintain your membership. Thank you so much. Don't worry we will remind you! We will also be offering ZOOM only membership to those who just can't make it in person anymore but wish to stay full members. 
 

_______________________________

                
Once again, if you would like to bring a guest to our last talk of this season,  you may – please remember to BOOK them in advance with Trevor so we can make sure we have enough seats! Our max capacity for guests is 10 per talk.  Email Trevor here to book them in. The same guest may come along only twice.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash they bring as we don’t have a card machine! Thank you.

So sorry, but we no longer feel we can accept visitors who are NOT guests of members - as sadly we just do not have enough seating.  
 
Did you know …… 

The painting of Starry Night by Van Gogh  sold for $50 million in 1990 and may be worth $100 million now! Ian Swankie at June's talk will tell us more about prices of the world's most famous art......

PLEASE please can we ask you to fill up from the middle of the row when sitting down for our talks at the Phoenix - please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?

Kindest regards
Susie ?

Image: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh courtesy of rawpixel images 

This has been cancelled now

So Sorry to disappoint - just not enough people to make it break even. 

Hello!

 
After our successful ZOOM offering last month, we will repeat this for each talk (subject to speakers agreeing)  until the end of the season for those unable  to come in person. It is only possibly live, so you have to log in about 1.45pm at home and it finishes about 3.15pm. Download ZOOM here (or from your app store) its free. Email me here if you wish to partake please and I will send you the link the day before. Just Click on it on the day of the talk at 1.45pm! 

Finding joy this Spring  ....

1. Tate Britain London till July 7th - 60 of John Singer Sargent's paintings on display in exhibition called Sargent & Fashion.

2. Exhibition on Screen film about John Singer Sargent at the Exeter Picture House on Tuesday 16th at 6pm or Thursday 18th April at midday. 

3. Tate St Ives until 6th May - Outi Pieski - a Sami artist with fabulous attention to detail. Saw this last week and was blown away by it. Very modern and thought provoking. Picture below is by her. 

4. The Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton is always worth a visit if passing. 
SWA (South West Academy artist's work til May 11th.)

5. Opera, La Rondine by the Met Opera New York showing at the Exeter Picture House April 20th  as well as Royal Opera House London Carmen May 1st and May 7th. I saw the singer at the ROH version and she is fabulous
              
6. May 15th our fabulous outing to Bowood House in Wiltshire. Price £36 and booking forms here.  Also link here. Booking fast and only 8 places left!

7. Looking ahead - we are holding a repeat of our excellent sold out Study day about Trees through Art (held on 26th March) on June 4th. £30 info here with booking form here.
                
Once again, if you would like to bring a guest - you may – please remember to BOOK them in advance with Trevor so we can make sure we have enough seats! Our max capacity for guests is 10 per talk.  Email Trevor here to book them in. The same guest may come along only twice.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash they bring as we don’t have a card machine! Thank you.

So sorry, but we no longer feel we can accept visitors who are NOT guests of members - as sadly we just do not have enough seating.  
 
Did you know …… 

Robert Adam (this month's talk)  left nearly 9,000 drawings, 8,856 of which were  purchased in 1833 for £200 by the architect John Soane and are now at the Soane Museum in London. What a fab whacky museum that is!
 

PLEASE please can we ask you to fill up from the middle of the row when sitting down for our talks at the Phoenix - please don't leave gaps but sit right next to someone (and say hello!) - thank YOU. ?

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

This is now FUll 

3 lectures with Arts Society lecturer and art historian Clare Ford-Wille, who teaches at the University of London, and has lectured at the V&A & National Gallery.

Lecture 1: From Dead Trees to Living Trees in Medieval and Renaissance Art

Lecture 2: The Tree Triumphant in 16th and 17th Century Painting

Lecture 3: The Diversity of the Tree in 18th and 19th Century Art

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

Pop in, have a drink or lunch and make some friends and maybe organise an outing or two :)    .......

DearMember 

Finding joy in February & March ....

1. From the Royal Opera House, the Royal Ballet perform 'Manon' 7th & 13th February at the Exeter Picture House 

2. 'Vanya' from the National Theatre on several dates in late February & 3rd March at Exeter Picture House 

3.  Met Opera: 'La Forza del Destino' 9th & 12th March  at the Exeter Picture House 

4. Weird and whacky at the Hayward Gallery, London - 'When forms come alive' - looks fab. Feb 7th till May.
 
5. Lubiana Himid 'Lost Threads' at the Holburne Gallery, Bath. Until April.

6. Art Deco Study Day at Cheddon Fitzpaine on March 21st - info here. 
                    
Our Arts Rendezvous Social group is meeting February 19th at 12.30- 3pm in 'the Snug' at the Cosy Club, Exeter. Pop in anytime.
                         
Meanwhile, our outing on May 15th has been changed to Bowood House, in Dorset. Price and booking forms coming soon - also on the website and available at our next talk. Forms came with Trevor's last email......and here

Our study day on Trees through Art from Giotto to Klimt proved so popular that we are holding an identical one on June 4th. £30. Forms and info at the next talk and here. Please email me to book a place   chair.exeter@theartssociety.org as I will be helping organising it whilst Linda is in Australia. 
                         
Our trip to Italy Monday 30th September - Sunday 6th October, has proved so popular we only have 1 single room and 4 double/twin rooms left - more info here. Brochures at next talk on 14th Feb.                               

Once again, if you would like to bring a guest - you may – please remember to BOOK them in advance with Trevor so we can make sure we have enough seats! Our max capacity for guests is 10 per talk.  Email to Trevor here. The same guest may come along only twice.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash they bring as we don’t have a card machine! Thank you.

So sorry, but we no longer feel we can accept visitors who are NOT guests of members - as sadly we just do not have enough seating.  
         
Did you know …… (according to Wikipedia ...)

Valentine was a bishop in Italy who performed weddings for couples who were forbidden to marry (because the parents did not agree or because the groom was a soldier or slave). Valentine gave the married couple flowers from his garden. Sadly, on February 14, 269 AD, Valentine was beheaded because of his Christian faith.  Awhhhh.

See you on Wednesday 14th February for a talk about Wessex - Thomas Hardy certainly wrote about love's trials and tribulations! 

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image: Thomas Hardy Cottage, Brockhampton  courtesy of Clive G'

Happy New Year 

Finding joy in January ....

1. Exeter Cathedral have a Son & Lumiere show from 9-13th January about Coronations and the Crown Jewels through history. 

2. Nabucco Opera (6th & 10th Jan) & Carmen Opera 27th & 31st Jan)  from the Met Opera New York at the Exeter Picture House 

3. Mark Cottle at the Phoenix  illustrated talk about Scot & Amundsen race to the pole and then Shackleton's Endurance Expedition. January 15th at 7pm for 7.30pm. £8  I saw this a year back and it's super interesting and has some great pictures. He is one of our favourite local speakers.

4. Rusalka Opera at the Picture House January 24th 18.45pm and 30th at midday from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. . 

5. Wildlife Photographer of the Year until April 2024 at Bristol Museum & Gallery in Bristol. 
                             ________________________

Meanwhile, our membership is doing swimmingly and we have reached our goal of 250 members HOORAH and now have a waiting list.

Once again, if you would like to bring a guest (which we LOVE) – please remember to BOOK them in advance with Trevor so we can make sure we have enough seats!  Email to Trevor here. A guest may come along twice before being expected to join us (or go on the waiting list). If they join on the day/week after a talk, then they get their £10 entrance fee back.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash as we don’t have a card machine! Thank you.

So sorry, but we no longer feel we can accept visitors who are NOT guests of members - as sadly we just do not have enough seating.  
                    ________________________

Our next study day is on Tuesday March 26th on Trees through Art from Giotto to Klimt. £30 for all day at the Exeter Library, Rougemont room. Forms and info at the next talk and here. Please email me to book a place  chair.exeter@theartssociety.org as I will be helping organising it whilst Linda is in Australia. 

Did you know ……

Giles resolutely refused to be interviewed and on the very rare occasions he capitulated gave nothing away, not because he was shy but because he did not feel like it. ...... he should have found London attractive but he had to be dragged there and got what he wanted from newspapers, his Suffolk farm, local pubs and the view from his Ipswich studio. And, once he could get away with it, he obliged the Express to come and collect his drawings by taxi or, in snowy weather, by helicopter!

See you on Wednesday 10th January for all the inside knowledge of Cartoons - Hogarth to Giles! 

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image Hogarth's 'Marriage a la Mode' courtesy of Wellcome Gallery & Creative Commons 

11-13.00 at the Cosy Club ( in the Snug at the back ) 29th November 

turn up grab a coffee and chat and plan an outing or two - and get to know fellow members a little more.  

So sorry to annouce that we have now introduced a waiting list to join and can no longer accept visitors who are NOT members to our talks. We simply don't have enough seats!

(let me know if any new theatre is being built with more seats in centre of Exeter please !)

Hello. Well, still a lot of 'arts' activity in Exeter and beyond this month. 

Finding joy in November ....

1. .EOS Film Klimt and the Kiss at the Phoenix on 12th November at 2pm. As members of the Arts Society Exeter, you get £1 off at the Phoenix. I can highly recommend it. 

2. Exeter Philharmonic Choir perform Music of the Baroque Saturday 4th November at 7.30pm Exeter Cathedral.

3. Wildlife Photographer of the Year until April 2024 at Bristol Museum & Gallery in Bristol.
 

4. Our CEO of The Arts Society UK  Florian Schweizer  will join us on Wednesday 8th November as our guest,- please feel free to ask him some questions at tea time and say hello!

5. Don Quixote Ballet from Royal Opera House live on film at the Picture House 7th & 14th November. Bliss!

6. The Kurdish Film Society are showing 'Name Me Lawand' at the Phoenix Cinema  on Sunday 12th November at 11.45 am - looks fascinating. £7. 

7. The Christmas markets at the Cathedral open on 17th November until 17th December. Monday-Wednesday: 10am-7pm,   Thursday-Saturday: 10am-9pm,  
Sunday: 11am-5pm
 

8. 28th November at the Cathedral, showing of Hans Christian Andersen's old film (1948) Red Shoes at 8pm.

Finding joy in December ….

1. Christmas Lunch Time Everyone!! Yes I know it's MONTHS away but they book up sooo early!!

This year we have the choice of either Cote Brasserie at £37.95 in Exeter for 3 courses (this year they want a £10 deposit per person......) Click on Christmas for correct menu. 

OR  the Italian Sabatini near the Cathedral - something a bit different - it's a local family business and not a chain. 2 courses for £18.95 and three for £24.95.

If you would like to come either of the above on Wednesday 6th or Wednesday 13th of December for lunch at 12.45, please let me know which venue and which date you would prefer. Email me by clicking reply to this email.

                            ________________________

Meanwhile, our membership is doing swimmingly and we will be starting a waiting list any day now as we approach 250 members. WOW.

Once again, if you would like to bring a guest (which we LOVE) – please remember to BOOK them in advance where possible with Trevor so we can make sure we have enough seats!  Email to Trevor here. A guest may come along twice before being expected to join us (or go on the waiting list). If they join on the day/week after a talk, then they get their £10 entrance fee back.  Please make sure it’s £10 cash as we don’t have a card machine! Thank you.

Next year .......

1. Exeter Cathedral have a Son & Lumiere show from 9-13th January about Coronations and the Crown Jewels through history. 

2. Topsham Arts Society (called ExeDFAS) have a trip to Sicily next September and have offered it to our members as well. Info here. Scroll down to Palermo & Sicily.

Did you know ……

Cesare Borgia was an Italian noble who served as a cardinal in the Catholic Church after his retirement as a soldier for hire.  He was the inspiration for Niccolo Machiavelli's political treatise, "The Prince."

See you on Wednesday 8th November for intrigue and Machiavellian tales about the Borgias of Renaissance Italy. 

Kindest regards
Susie ?
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image 'A glass of wine with Caesar Borgia' by John Collier courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

History of Art Course at Exeter Central Library in the Rougemont room 
5 weeks starting 27th October ( Nov 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th)
10-3.30pm
coffee incl
£150 each 
3 sessions  each day
This 5 day course is open to both regular and new attenders. A journey from High Renaissance to Mannerism via Tintoretto, Veronese, Caravaggio & Artemisia Gentileschi, to 16th & 17th century Spain and on to the New World. We will also explore such diverse subjects as indigenous African Art & Fantasies of Opulence.

Tutors: Geri Parlby and Jeni Fraser

So sorry but for some reason I cannot load the booking form to Documents

Please email Carol ( below)  for a booking form ( or me ) Susie at chair.exeter@theartssociety.org 

For any further information, please get in touch with me – Carol Cathcart at email :  ridge.farm@btconnect.com

Meet your Team and each other on Thursday 19th October for coffee biscuits and a chat

St Stephen's Church in Exeter HIgh Streeet (opposite the White Company shop) 

Please come and say hi!

Meet in the Snug at the Cosy Club in Southernhay Exeter 11.00-13.00 for coffee & chat - stay as long or short as you like. See google maps here for what it looks like and where exactly the Cosy CLub is!

Get this newsletter for free by emailing info@theartssociety

A lovely programme awaits us this year, kicking off on Wednesday 13th September with Toby Faber (of Faber & Faber fame) talking to us about T S Eliot. Please be sure to pick up your programme card at the meeting. Please let us know if you wish to bring a guest to ensure they have a seat - email membership.exeter@theartssociety.org. Thank you. £10 cash on the door.

Finding joy in September …..

1. Devon Open Studios starts next week and runs from 9th to the 24th September. Free entry to artists venues and homes and a chance to see their work up close and talk to them about their process. No need ( or pressure) to buy.

2. Our members' social group, Arts Rendezvous - will meet at the Cosy Club, Southernhay, Exeter, Thursday September 28th , 11 am to 1pm for coffee and chat. Please contact Niki at niki.thomas01@gmail.com for more details.

Finding joy in October ….

1. History of Art Course - once a week for 5 weeks in Exeter 10-3.30pm at the library - long running course and very popular - ever felt stupid when other people talk about art? this course takes you slowly and chronologically from High Renaissance (1490s ) onwards. £150 per person incl coffee. More info and booking form here and on our website under documents and also under NEWS.

2. Our trip to Bath on 25th October to see the exhibition of Gwen John's work at the Holborne Gallery. Booking Form here

3. Exhibition on Screen are releasing a film about artist Gustav Klimt at the end of October so look out for it at the Phoenix and the Picture House in Exeter over October/November.

Finding joy in November …..

1. Torbay Music Festival 17th-20th November .

2. Our Study Day on the Weimar republic Artists on Tuesday 21st November. Booking form here.

Please remember to pre-book your guest should you wish to bring one along to a meeting, to ensure we have the a seat for them!

Did you know ……

Eliot wasn't very impressed by Oxford University? He wrote to a friend: "I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books and hideous pictures on the walls [...] Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead."? Rude or what?? Is this true? what do you think?

Looking forward to learning more on September 13th! Hope to see you there?

Kindest regards Susie

The Arts Society Exeter

Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image Blue Plaque courtesy of Wikimedia Common

Click here to email to add you name

info@theartssocietyexeter.org.uk

Image courtesy of Steve McCrackern 

So many lovely things and so little time!!, So just a short one this month:

Firstly, if you wish to come along after the Rodin talk on June 14th at 4pm in the Exeter Phoenix to learn about Harriet Bowman's work there on display with curator Matt Burrows, please let me know by email. Free, fascinating and just for us.  

Finding joy in June …..

1. Medieval Manuscripts return to Exeter at the RAMM - a free exhibition from June 3rd to September 3rd.
2. Art Week Exeter - 13th -18th June  Huge variety on offer and our own  June talk on Rodin and his contemporaries is in their brochure, so we might be busy that day!
3. Our members' social group, Arts Rendezvous - will meet at the Cosy Club, Southernhay, Exeter, Tuesday June 20th , 11 am to 1pm  for coffee and chat. Their future activities: Boat trip on Monday June 12th and a tour of Devon & Exeter Institution, (7 Cathedral Close, Exeter)  on a Friday in June. Please contact Niki at  niki.thomas01@gmail.com for more details
4. Exhibition On Screen (EOS) Film, Tokyo Stories (Japanese art over 400 years) at the Exeter Phoenix  on Thursday June 15th at 8pm or on Sunday June 18th at 2.30pm £12.00 

The annual membership fee for 2023-2024 is £54 and renewals are due on 1st July.  Trevor - our wonderful membership secretary - will send out forms to you  before the next talk. We look forward to having you with us for another year of learning, discovery and beauty together!

Please remember to pre-book your guest should you wish to bring one along to a meeting, to ensure we have the capacity by emailing Trevor  £10 cash on the door (no cards) Thank you.

Did you know ……
We meet back on Wednesday September 13th for our new season, with Toby Faber (of Faber and Faber fame) coming back to talk to us about T.S Eliot and his sketches. 

Until then have a super summer discovering, exploring, learning and hopefully seeing lots of blissful art! Devon Open Studios begins 9-24th September .... Enjoy! I will have brochures at the next talk if available and definitely in September if not.
 
Kindest regards
Susie 
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image Detail from Text - from Bodleian Library, Oxford. 

Dear Susie

Last month I announced spring had arrived - oops - but maybe it has now?

Earlier in the year, you took part in a survey for the Arts Society Head Office (thanks for taking part) and here is the report coming out of that.  It makes interesting reading.

The Arts Society AGM on 24th May in Bristol (free and open to all members) is going to be interactive with discussions held to guide the way forward nationally, so ultimately locally too. All members may attend (please book with them) and I shall be there representing Exeter and voting on your behalf. Please let me know of anything particular you wish raised.

The annual membership fee for 2023-2024 will rise by £5 from £49 to £54. This allows us to cover our costs. As you know we are a 'not for profit' group, and the activities we organise are all done by volunteers, your TEAM. We charge what it costs us (lecturers, venue hire, coach travel, printing etc).  We do hope you feel membership is still worth every penny!

We are so popular at the moment we would ask you to pre-book your guest should you wish to bring one along to a meeting, to ensure we have the capacity. Any 'random' visitors who are not coming with members, may have to be limited to guarantee you, our members, and your guests, a seat.  So, please,  pre book your guest via Trevor email: trevorwrixon@gmail.com. Thank you. Still £10 cash on the door.

If space becomes an issue, as we grow, we will consider a waiting list for new members who wish to join us next season - this depends how renewals go over the summer. I will keep you posted. You obviously will NOT have to go on a waiting list.

I promised last month to report back from my visit to the Cave Art from Lascaux at Bristol Museum 'virtual reality' experience at Bristol Museum & Gallery.  It was so good, my friend and I immediately went straight back to the entrance and did it again! You are right 'there' - it is very real. You wear a large headset (you keep glasses on if wearing any). It takes about half an hour - I was standing - although you could possibly do it sitting down - maybe ask first. Costs £7.50 with Art Fund membership or £10 for a senior. On till September and maybe a great way to entertain bored teenagers...

Finding joy in May…..

1. Penlee Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall, 'Lamorna Colony Pioneers' Exhibition from May to September – all the artists in last month's lecture.
2. National Arts Society AGM in Bristol 24th May (activities on afternoon of 23rd too). I shall be there both days.
3. Our members' social group, Arts Rendezvous - will meet at the Cosy Club, Southernhay, Exeter, Tuesday May 30th, 11 am to 1pm  for coffee and chat. Their future activities: Topsham walk, Friday May 26th; Tour of Devon & Exeter Institution, (7 Cathedral Close, Exeter)  on a Friday in June - tba.  Contact: niki.thomas01@gmail.com for more details and info.
4. Exhibition On Screen (EOS) Film, Tokyo Stories (Japanese art over 400 years) at the Exeter Picture House May 23rd £12.50 (say your a member with the Arts Society for a member price - only if book in person at Exeter) at 18.15pm. 

 Finding Joy in June....

1. As you know I had wanted to organise a garden party for members this summer and the best we can do this year is a Garden Meet Up  - IF and only IF  the weather on Monday June 5th is dry.  We will meet in the wonderful (2 acres & flat)  High Kenn Garden Nursery in Kenton (Chiverstone Lane EX6 8NJ) for tea/coffee and delicious homemade cakes. Entrance is £5 and tea/coffee + delicious homemade cake is £4.50. There is plenty of free parking (number 2 bus to Kenton Triangle stop - £2 single - ten minute gentle uphill walk to a back entrance - the main road is toooo dangerous to walk along - ask me for more details.) If the girlies (or men!) want to wear a pretty frock/hat please do! I certainly will. Meet in the gardens anywhere and anytime after 2pm for tea and cake. Opens from midday and closes at 5pm.  There is one compost loo (spotless).
2. Art Week Exeter - 13th -18th June  I am not sure what the offering is yet - but our June talk on Rodin and his contemporaries is in their brochure, so we might be busy that day!
3. The National Portrait Gallery in London finally opens on June 22nd after a 3 year refurbishment programme. Exhibitions here 
4. EOS Tokyo Stories film on at the Exeter Phoenix Thursday June 15th at 8pm and Sunday June 18th at 2.30pm. £12.50

 Our trip to Dublin, 17-21st September has 22 people on board and is officially running! yahhhhh Spaces still available....

Did you know ……
The talk on Wednesday 10th May called 'Treasures of the Turf', follows rather nicely on from Alfred Munnings, the great horse painter, we spoke of last month (Lamorna Cove). 
Alfred Munnings went on to be the President of the Royal Academy of the Arts......

Kindest regards
Susie 
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image by John Wotton called: Lord Portmore watching Racehorses at Exercise on Newmarket Heath courtesy of Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Fancy meeting like minded arts enthusiasts for chit chat coffee and maybe plan an outing together?

Come along anytime between 11-13.00 to the Cosy Club (in the Sung at the back) grab a coffee  and join us. Led by member Richard and committee members Niki and Veronica. 

Spring has sprung FINALLY YAHHH ?

Firstly a HUGE thank you to all our members who have been with us so many years and  supported us throughout the last 3 years so loyally, even when you didn’t attend. Thank YOU ? sooo much - we do notice and appreciate your support a LOT.

Finding joy in April…..

1. Cave Art from Lascaux at Bristol Museum from April 1st – September. Please NOTE - this is a virtual reality experience – I am presuming headsets etc but not sure myself – going soon so will report back. Nearer than France and at £10- a lot cheaper too!
2. Met Opera Rosenkavalier at the Picture House Exeter  Saturday 15th April 5pm. Check out the other MET Opera and ROH live screenings too eg: Marriage of Figaro April 27th 18.45. 
3. Arts Rendezvous social on 18th April at the Snug at the Cosy Club, Exeter 11-13.00 drop in, have coffee, say hi and suggest outings.
4. the Exhibition on Screen (EOS) Vermeer Film at the Picture House in Exeter 18th April (almost sold out) BUT…..

Also showing at the Beehive in Honiton on April 28th at 7pm also at cost of £12.50
AND again at Picture House Exeter in May 9th at midday.

          5. Southernhay Church, Exeter Coffee Concert Saturday 22nd April 11 am (free)
 
Finding joy in May….

1. High Garden, Kenton opens 12.00-5pm on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th of May (and first 5 days of June, July, August and September). Fabulous flat garden (2 acres) to wander round, great value (and quality) nursery and delicious teas and homemade cakes. ONLY has compost loo - spotless.
2. Picture House Exeter Tokyo Stories Film from ancient woodblocks to modern Japanese art. May 23rd 18.15pm.
3. Southernhay Church, Exeter afternoon Concert 2pm Piano concert (free ) Saturday May 20th
4. Tate Modern London, Piet Mondrian and the glorious Hilma af Klint exhibition till September.
5. Bethe Morisot still on at the Dulwich Picture Gallery until September.  
6. Penlee Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall, 'Lamorna Colony Pioneers' Exhibition from May to September – all the artists in next week’s lecture…..oooooooh

 
As you know I was hoping to organise a garden party for this June, but flat easily accessible gardens are hard to find in Exeter.
So I was thinking, about a trip to the lovely gardens at  High Garden Nursery Kenton on  weekdays 1st, 2nd or 5th June ( whichever has the best weather forecast!) Let me know if you would like to join us 2-5pm for tea and cakes in the garden. Sign up sheet at  April's & May's talk. Entrance fee is £5 each and teas and delicious home made cakes very reasonable - around £4.50 for generous slice of cake and tea/coffee together.

If you would like to join a small team to organise a garden party for next June, 2024, please let me know! (thinking afternoon cream tea, live band, bubbles….in a lovely garden)

April Meeting 12th : Please fill up from the middle of the rows where possible, we have a top tier (which we have never used) so there are plenty more seats available up there, if you don’t mind steps….

A gentle reminder about guests and friends (which we LOVE that you bring) – the deal is the same person can come along twice before being expected to join us. They can join on the day after a talk (and then get their £10 entrance fee back). We know our guest/visitor fee is possibly more than some other groups at £10, but it is necessary to cover our costs. (Please make sure it’s cash as we don’t have a card machine!)
 
Our trip to Dublin, 17-21st September, has had the deadline extended to end of April ,so please mention to friends etc – should be a super trip, flying from Bristol and 4 nights, 5 days of Irish bliss - art and gardens (Guinness optional!) I am so looking forward to seeing the Book of Kells for real.

CORRECTION :There IS a raffle this month

Did you know ……

Vermeer died at the young age of 43, left his wife and family in debt and was not widely renowned for a very long time after his death. The 2023 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam features 28 of his works, the most ever shown together. The EOS film of the exhibition at the picture house is a bit nearer ......

Hope to see you on the trip to Caerhays Castle on May 3rd for a jolly day out .....

Meanwhile, have a lovely bank holiday weekend (hope there's lots of chocolate involved...)

Kindest regards
Susie 
The Arts Society Exeter 
Tel: 0789 184 9119             Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image courtesy of the Mauritshuis museum in Amsterdam by Vermeer - detail of his View of Delft.

 

The first informal gathering is being held :

Tuesday 14 March 2023

Drop in anytime  between 11:00 - 13:00

Venue:

The Snug

Cosy Club

1 Southernhay Gardens

Exeter  EX1 1SG    Further information:    Website:  www.cosyclub.co.uk

Gosh, March is looking to be a busy month as there are many activities - our society, locally and in other South West Area Arts Societies.

Finding Joy in March in Exeter .....

1. Wednesday March 8th Mary Cassatt Exhibition on Screen Documentary at the Picture House Cinema, Exeter 18.15pm. Say you're a member of the Arts Society and you pay the member price of £12.50 instead of £15.00. Great treat after our AGM and Picasso talk. 

2. Tuesday March 14th at the Cosy Club 11-13.00 - drop in and mingle with fellow art society members at the inaugural Arts Rendezvous meet up. ?

3. Bemrosian Arts holding a study day 11-3pm on the Giants of American Art Friday 17th March (bring own packed lunch or use small cafe there) at The Exeter Community Centre. £15 Email J.R.Stevenson@exeter.ac.uk for more info/to book. 

4. Monteverdi Vespers at Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 18th March 19.30pm. Bliss.

Finding Joy  in March  further afield ....

1. Kingsbridge Arts Society Study Day - about musician Leokadiya Kashperova - 13th March.

2. Taunton Arts Society Study Day on 5 Remarkable Women (Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Misa Sert, Suzanne Valadon and Marchesa Luisa Casati) who influenced modern art. 23rd March.

3. Bodmin Arts Society Study Day on the Private Press Movement 1880's -1930's. March 30th.

Looking ahead to sunnier days.....

We're off to Caerhays Castle on May 3rd to see the gardens and apartments there. A Paul Nash house, more info here.

If you fancy a part time job (or know someone creative who might) Organic Arts at Ide are looking for someone. More here.

Raffle this month .....

£1 a ticket to win the book  - Picasso & Truth - Better odds of winning than the lottery with only some of the 130 of us buying tickets.?

Dublin DEADLINE - Friday 24th March.....

You have until the 24th March to sign up to join our merry band. September 17th -22nd. Non member friend/partners are very welcome to join us too. We need a minimum of 20-25 to make this happen. Come join us at the National Gallery Ireland and see a marvellous collection of art. ? Just one of the things we do in Dublin.

I am so looking forward to our talk by Douglas Skeggs next week on Cubism and Picasso.

Did you know?....

...there are over 27,000 catalogued art works by Picasso? He died in 1973 aged 91. So we still have some time left to start making great art ourselves.....?

Kindest regards
Susie 

Image below courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland with works by Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Poussin and Gainsborough.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the next talk on February 8th will now be by wellknown singer Tim Mirfin on:

The Opera Singer Phenomenon - How do they make that noise?

Image by Pietro Tessarin La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy wikimedia commons license

Hello!

It has been a great few months from June 2022 to now, being Chair and getting to know you better and find out more about what you want and enjoy from the Arts Society

On March 8th we hold our AGM (Annual General Meeting). You should have received all the papers earlier this week by email. 
We hold the AGM before the lecture, and it usually takes about 10 minutes, although Paul, our previous chair has been known to do this in around 5 minutes!

The purpose of an AGM is for you as a member to approve:

1.   The minutes of last year’s AGM

2.   The accounts from 2021-2022 (our financial year runs July 1st – June 30th)

3.   The re-electing of the Independent Examiner of accounts

4.   Confirm election of anybody who has been ‘co-opted’* onto the committee.

5.   Elect, by approving the proposing and seconding, of new committee members

6.   Re-elect committee members/Officers who are staying on for another year

7.   Approve the new President of our Society, Mr Paul Holmes (Catherine Heath has moved to Dorset)

8.   Vote on something the committee might feel is necessary and to ask for your approval/agreement.

All these are done by a show of hands at the meeting. Any questions you may have, please email in advance for the committee to answer. Objections will be asked for by a show of hands at the meeting too.

This year, we need to confirm two extra things. One is the Constitution, basically unchanged from 2012, but needs re affirming and has been sent to you with all the reports for you to read.

Secondly, I would like to know what you think of bringing the AGM forward to October each year, (so October 11th 2023 will look at July 2022- June 30th 2023) so as to be as soon after the end of the financial year as possible. Then our reports to you (July 2022-June 2023) will be fresh in all our memories and be more relevant to everyone. We would like you to vote on this at the AGM.

The downside of the change to October is that the election of committee members would be confirming approval after they may have been in role for a few months.  All this would mean, is there may be a few more committee members listed as ‘co-opted’* rather than have been proposed, seconded and accepted by you at the AGM. This won’t affect their work!

Do let me know any concerns you may have about this, in advance of the AGM and please be prepared to vote on these two extra things on March 8th.
*‘co-opted’ means agreed by the committee to do the role but not formerly proposed/seconded at an AGM.           

Raffle this month .....

£1 a ticket to win a book on this month's topic - Opera!

Dublin is booking up nicely ...
September 17th -22nd. Don't forget non member friend/partners are very welcome to join us too!

Finding Joy for February ....

1. Musical joy - Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Iryna Ilnytska will sing at Southernhay Church, Exeter at a concert on Saturday morning 18th February, free entry. Starts at 11am, with coffee from 10.30am. Her songs include the 'Habanera' from Bizet's Carmen, Samson and Delilah's 'My Heart opens itself to your voice' (Handel) and a Ukrainian folk song. She is accompanied by a pianist. See you there!

2. From 11th February, RAMM, Exeter are having an exhibition Earth's Spells: Witches of the Anthropocene which having just  seen the National Theatre's 'The Crucible', I shall certainly be going to. 

 3. Exeter Cathedral, Gaia by Luke Jerram  (remember the moon last year?) for the whole month of February £5 unless have a Exeter resident card (free) or are a Friend of the Cathedral (free).

Finding Joy  in March  ....

1. Our Study Day on Tuesday 21st March about Art and Culture in Andalusia is almost full. Please NOTE: start time is 10.00am with doors opening from 9.30am. Finishing around 3.15pm. Coffee incl. 

2. Also, Liskeard are holding a study day (plus walk) on Canals, at Bude Castle on March 15th 10.30-4pm for £32 pp. More info here and email carolinepetherick@gmail.com
3. There is another Decoding History's Art with Dr Geri Parlby in Taunton Museum, 2nd, 9th, 17th, 23rd and 30th March. £150 pp More info here. 
4. A Bend in the River Exhibition in Bristol of Jem Southam's photos of the River Exe. On till end of April.
 

Looking ahead to sunnier days.....
We're off to Caerhays Castle on May 3rd to see the gardens and apartments there. A Paul Nash house, more info here. This time, I will be in the right place and time and join you!! 

Did you know?
Helen Duncan, was the last women to be tried (and sent to prison) in 1944 under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 in Britain? That is not long ago at all......

Look forward to seeing you in February on Wednesday 8th for the AGM then the talk ?for some glorious music.

Kindest regards

Susie 
The Arts Society Exeter 

Happy New Year!

What a year of joy and beauty in the arts we have lined up.  Starting with the stunning architecture in Madras and Calcutta; then Peggy Guggenheim's astonishing collection, followed by Picasso and cubism, paintings of Cornish artists in Lamorna Cove, fine and decorative arts of horseracing ( I've only heard of George Stubbs ?) and the glorious sculptures of Rodin and his contemporaries. What a feast. And what a lot we will learn. 

                                     
Something new for the New Year ...

We thought it might be fun to have a raffle each month with one prize - a high quality Art book signed by the speaker on the topic at each talk. £1 a ticket - please bring some change! We start next week!

We're all going on a summer holiday ....

We have organised a trip to Dublin with Tailored Travel for September 17-22nd this year - all the information now on the website and leaflets will be available at January's talk. It is packed with the Arts and gardens, including of course the Book of Kells at Trinity College ( image below).

Our Study Day on Tuesday 23rd March about Art and Culture in Andalusia is now available to book, on the website or booking form can be picked up at the lecture or attached here. £30 for the whole day, coffee incl. 

Finding Joy in January ....

RAMM and the Silver Wave a short film about Artic exploration sounds fascinating

Rosemoor Sculpture Exhibition till end of January at Great Torrington. The bus number 5a stops right outside their door! And the 315 and 345 also goes there from Exeter.

The Art of Japanese Porcelain  on at Bristol Museum (free entry) on till July. 

Woodcuts in the Age of Durer at the Holborne Museum Bath  from January 21st. Free if member of the Art Fund or £5.50. 

Finding Joy for February ....

Exeter Cathedral, Gaia by Luke Jerram ( who did the moon last year) for the whole month of February £5 unless have a Exeter resident card (free)Victoria Gallery in Bath New English Artists ( Winifred Nicholson and contemporaries) 

Tate at St Ives has Barbara Hepworth Art & life exhibition until May 
                                                   

We have had to put our guest/visitor fee up to £10 from January - payment by cash is necessary as we do not have card machines. Thank you. 

 HELP! We need somebody....

We are still looking for people to help with various Team roles eg: Programme, Website and Publicity. Do let me know if you think you might like to join our merry band. For the website / social media role/s, a student with a media project might work - would look good on someone's CV.

 Did you know?
Leonardo da Vinci once said “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” 
Sounds just like my 'to do' list!                                                                         
                                                                                              Kindest regards

                                                                                              Susie    ?

New Form to be found in Documents too (bottom of Our Society tab) with latest fees

£33 for 6 talks January to June 2023. What a lot to see and learn about in 6 months!

Join us and enjoy the journey.

Hello. Just a short newsletter this month as no talk until January 11th when we return to our second Wednesday of the month slot until the end of our season on June 14th.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________________

Meanwhile, we have the results of our short survey - 33 of you completed it - thank you - here are the results.

Word of mouth is the way 8 out of 10 of you heard about us, so please do keep plugging us to friends, neighbours & acquaintances - it works and we really appreciate your help.

You joined primarily to learn about the Arts and the talks are the best bit of what we do. 

Only 30% of you joined primarily to meet like minded people and for socialising. 

Of the other things we offer (study days, visits, annual tour, magazine etc) you like the Study Days most.

You would like more information about Arts in the South West. 

Of the talk topics, the 5 favourites are: Architecture, Modern Art, Fine Art & Paintings, Sculpture and Ceramics. A suggestion was made to include non European artists and more female artists. 

Over 80% of you use the website (yahhh)

Over 90% of you would happily recommend us to your friends - again YAHHHH

So what does this mean? We will continue to promote bringing guests and friends to talks and ask you to keep plugging us. 
We will look to include your preferences in the programme with our new programme organiser over the next few years. 
We will continue to focus on excellent talks and offer information about the Arts in the South West. 

__________________________

                     
As you know we are seeking someone to take over the organising of our programme of talks from next September, (2023/2024 is booked), so do let us know if you would like to know more of what that involves. It could be a shared role with a partner/friend.

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Finding Joy in November ....

Cezanne at the Picture House on November 29th at 18.15pm 
Our members pay the retired members price of £12.50 instead of £15.50. Quote Arts Society Exeter. 

Finding Joy for December....

1. The Phoenix are offering us a deal on a film about modern abstract artist Hilda af Klint (see the image at very bottom of this email) - lovely colourful fun paintings. Offer is £6 to us with code  instead of standard £8. 
Times: 
Fri 16 Dec: 10.45am  
Sat 17 Dec: 3.50pm
Tue 20 Dec: 5.15pm
Wed 21 Dec: 2pm

I shall be doing the Friday morning on 16th December if anyone cares to join me and stay for coffee afterwards. 

2. Eric Ravilious' Film 'Drawn to War' is back at the Picture House on January 3rd at 18.00 - again at our reduced rate of £8 (for non members) quote Arts Society Exeter. I will be going. It is free to members of the Picture House - yah! 

3. Until January 8th in Bath at the Holborn Gallery - sculptures of Degas and Rodin. I haven't been but looks interesting, especially as our talk in June is about Rodin and 19th century sculptures.

4. If you are free on any Wednesday afternoon - there is a free 20 minute guided tour of the Devon & Exeter Institution in Cathedral Green, Exeter, so do go along anytime between 1pm and 4pm. No need to book. 

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Meanwhile, the Christmas Markets and the wonderful concerts at Exeter Cathedral beckon....We are so lucky we have so much on offer locally. Enjoy.

Susie 

The Arts Society Exeter 
Enjoy life more with the Arts

This November ....           

I am really looking forward to Charlie Waite's talk about landscape photography on Wednesday afternoon 2nd November. I will give out notices a little earlier from now on, at 1.55pm so the talks can start at 2pm (mindful of your car park/buses).  Please do fill up from the middle when you sit down, as i think it will be a busy one! thanks. 

If you are coming to the free talk (after Charlie Waite's talk) on the Exeter Contemporary Open Exhibition at the Phoenix, please meet me in the Foyer at 4pm by the main entrance.

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Decoding History of Art Course (full now) starts on Thursday October 27th - look forward to seeing you there in the Exeter central Library, Rougemont room upstairs, if you're going too.  And don't forget the Study Day (fully booked) on the Silk Road on Tuesday 15th November (same venue as above).
 

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Also, don't forget to claim your £10 rebate for the new member/s you have introduced by emailing Trevor before the end of the month (30th November). Give us your name, the new member's name you introduced and how you would prefer the rebate to be paid to you. Thank you  trevorwrixon@gmail.com

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News just in ...

I have just heard we have been successful in applying for a grant of £1,000 on behalf of the Freefall+  Project held at the Exeter Phoenix. This project offers free weekly lessons to young people who are no longer in education and have complex support needs. They get the opportunity to enjoy highly skilled artistic workshops across a broad range of artforms, supported by family/carers. Our small contribution (along with other donors) will enable the project to run fully this year. Yahhh ?

Our original Freefall group has been running for 12 years and currently provides weekly sessions for 14-16-year-olds.In 2018, we launched a new strand of this project, Freefall+, which runs weekly sessions for young people who are no longer in education and have complex support needs, plus their family members and carers.

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Finding Joy this month...

Southernhay Church Exeter free Coffee Concert on Saturday November 12th  - from 10.30 am (starts 11am) Clarinet and Piano. Delightful way to start a Saturday and I will see you there. 

An exhibition of Cezanne at the Tate Modern -  his quote: 'With an apple I will astonish Paris'. Note how his apples seem about to fall off the table in the image below, and look out of kilter somehow. The film of the exhibition is on at the Exeter Picture House November 29th at 18.15pm  (as members of Arts Society Exeter we get a reduced priced ticket of £12.50).

If you want to join me in London - we are going to see the Cezanne exhibition on Monday November 21st on the 7.52am ? train via Paddington. Book your own train tickets and entry to the Tate - we are on the 12.15 timed slot. Meet on the platform at St David's Exeter.

Around the World in 80 days – you can still watch the video links to that – some fascinating places, all without needing to leave home (no elephants or malaria tablets needed!)  - you may have to sign up for it (it's free). Great for those cold wet afternoons and evenings....

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Christmas (apologies for using such a rude word so early)

I know you will shudder when I mention Christmas BUT what a lovely Christmas present  ? to give - membership to the Arts Society Exeter - £33 for someone joining from January (as we still have 6 talks left till June) and they get all the benefits... ?  We provide a lovely hand made arty gift card for this. 

Also, we were thinking of organising a Christmas lunch as we have no talk in December (the Panto takes over the Phoenix) and wondered if you would be interested? Thinking of Cotes Brasserie at £34.95 for 3 courses see info here  - click  on Christmas - let me know if interested and we can book tables on the first or second floor. 

Did you know....  Bob Dylan, Ronnie Wood and Jonny Depp all paint and sell their paintings? I saw some at the Castle Fine Art Gallery in Exeter! Not sure they will ever grace the National Gallery, but even so.....?

Kindest regards
Susie 
The Arts Society Exeter           Enjoy life more with the Arts

Image above by Cezanne : Landscape Study after Nature (image courtesy commons.wikimedia)
Image below  by Cezanne : Still Life with Apples (image courtesy commons.wikimedia)

Hello. Just in case you don't recognise them, I use a lot of hyperlinks in my newsletters - these show up in blue and underlined - if you click on them or touch them, they take you to another page that gives you more information. 

I do hope you can pop into our Coffee Morning on Wednesday 5th October at St. Stephen's Church anytime between 9.30-11.30am (in the High Street, opposite the White Company) and say helloooo.

Then after the talk at 2pm (and tea), you may like to join me on a free short guided tour of the Exeter Contemporary Open Exhibition at the Phoenix with Matt Burrows, the curator at 4pm. You can of course also visit this exhibition for free in the rooms next to the foyer entrance - an eclectic mix of modern art in various mediums. However, I find I often need the works explained to me to appreciate them and get that 'ohhh' moment. Let me know if you want to join me. Places limited. No charge.

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Wednesday 19th Pencarrow House Visit 

Still some places left to join us on a coach to see the house and gardens and have our own guided tour inside (see picture above) of the building, history and art. Info and Application form here.

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Finding joy - 3 exciting things to do this month

1. Sarah Dunant is giving a talk about the Borgias, on Thursday October 13th at the Teignbridge Arts Society in Newton Abbot held at 10.30 am. You can attend - either in person or by ZOOM link both at £10 per person. To ZOOM, please email Daphne in advance for a link.

2. I have negotiated a special deal with Exeter Picture House Cinema for members to their Exhibition On Screen (EOS) films. 
The first one is about Edward Hopper on Tuesday October 18th at 18.15pm.
Here is the link to their (tricksy) website - for an easier life, you may prefer ringing 01392 285960 or pop in to book.

3. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra start their concert series on Thursday 13th October at the Great Hall in Exeter. 

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Meanwhile in London.... Cezanne at the Tate Modern opens on 6th October (until March 2023). I shall be organising a visit by train possibly in November to this and the Tate Britain to see Hew Locke's The Procession (see image below) on until January 2023. If we stay one night (eg: a Premier Inn) we could also visit the National Gallery for the wonderful Winslow Homer till January 2023. I'll keep you posted. Let me know if you're vaguely interested and want to join me.

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Our great membership offer to you is still on.
As most of our current and new members heard about us by word of mouth, please do continue to drop our outstanding talks into conversations with friends and acquaintances over coffee, lunch and dinner and bring a guest or two along anytime. We need to get back to our pre 2020 numbers of 230 members (currently 185) over the next 3 years. Our goal this year is 25 new members by Christmas - so - every new member you introduce by then, we will give you back £10. Thank you.

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I am often asked about Art and Painting Courses around Exeter. Well, here are two: Watercolour for beginners and improvers with the WEA (Workers' Educational Association) and general painting classes on Mondays at America Community Hall, Pinhoe. Email the teacher John Howells for more info.

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Finding musical joy in November
If you are a music lover you might be interested in the Torbay Music Festival, a feast of music, food and talks at the Grand Hotel, Torquay. 18th -20th November. 

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October's talk: I am looking forward to Dr Christopher Herbert's (retired Bishop of St Albans) talk next week about the frescoes in the Basilica at Assisi. For instance, did you know the building of the Basilica (started in 1228 just two years after the saint's death) is a UNESCO world heritage site? Neither did I! The older I get, the more I realise how little I know...?

Hope to see you there.

Kindest regards

Susie
The Arts Society Exeter       Enjoy life more with the Arts
Hew Locke's The Procession below 

This form is now available on this website under Our Society/Documents

Please note this year’s programme: starts in September 2022 (not October as in
previous years); the first three lectures are on the first Wednesday of the month; there
will not be a lecture in December; and, it reverts to the second Wednesday of the
month from January 2023.

For those who like to plan well ahead, next year's lecture programme is now available in the appropriate section of this website. You will note that it starts in September 2022 (not October as in prevoius years); the first three lectures are on the first Wednesday of the month; there will not be a lecture in December; and, it reverts to the second Wednesday of the month from January 2023.

Our monthly lecture last Wednesday was unusual in so many ways: the venue was changed to The Exeter Golf and Country Club on the Topsham Road, the speaker was changed, as was the topic and Trevor Wrixon chaired the event on my behalf. It was rather a treat for me to sit in the audience, to be relaxed and able to chat with so many members as they passed by. There was a very good attendance, as good as we have been having this year at The Phoenix and it seemed that all were rather enjoying the change of scene. I do hope that was the case and so thanks to Trevor, who chaired the meeting, and Catherine, who arranged the change of venue, as well as finding a lecturer for us at the last moment when Ian Swankie telephoned to say that he had tested positive for Covid . Catherine took it all in her stride.

Gavin Plumley, whose lecture was titled ‘The Art and Culture of late Nineteenth century Vienna’, spread his lecture very widely across so many topics, music, opera, writing, art as well as architecture. Indeed we were treated to images of some wonderful buildings in a variety of styles. Indeed there was so much detail trotted out that we were stretched to keep up with this lively speaker. When I chatted with Gavin afterwards he was most complimentary about his audience that afternoon, so we clearly came up to the mark…

Of course, it says much about our committee, who work well together and seem little troubled by the unusual. I’m very grateful that two of our members have come forward to join them , Claire Withnell and Niki Thomas, both of whom you will have seen this year at the Welcome as you came into The Phoenix. I know that they will be an excellent addition to our team. We still have one vacancy and so, perhaps encouraged by what I have reported above, another might step forward? Please chat to me or Susie if you think you might be able to help.

It seems unbelievable that we have only three more months of this year’s season to go, three lectures, of which the lecture on 13th April has been changed from the Sculpture of Donatello & Michelangelo to ‘Courtly Life in Mantua; Hunchbacks, Dwarves & Giants’ by lecturer Daniel Evans. I was sorry to lose the Donatello but clearly we will still be in Renaissance Italy, where Pisanello, Andrea Mantegna and Guilio Romano will give us a stimulating mix of courtly life, trendy Mantua and the ribald tastes of the Gonzaga Duke!

Our Study Day at the Cathedral on Tuesday 15th March, was a very full and informative day. The twenty eight of us who met in the cathedral that morning were divided into three groups giving each of us three tours of different aspects of the cathedral’s building. These consisted of the Stained Glass, the Archives and Library and the Monuments, each being led by an expert in each field, and they certainly were experts too, even the Stained Glass workers who helped by showing us one of the restored panels waiting to be inserted again. The cathedral had chosen very well for us and the amount of information we gained in all three tours was impressive and again, I had a job to keep up with it all. Luckily we were given good notes and a small guide enabling us to revisit in the future. Thanks to the cathedral and to Linda for organising this memorable Study Day Visit.

In the summer we can look forward to our Visit to Mapperton House & Gardens on Wednesday 25th May, where there will be three guided house visits staggered over the lunch time. This glorious Jacobean manor overlooks its large Italianate garden, with orangery, fountains, statues, herbaceous borders, bold topiary and grottoes. Then there is an informal lower garden, with colourful shrubs and rare trees, a spring garden and woodlands, as much to see as befits your energy! A variety of lunches will be available in the stable block, as well as coffee on arrival and you should receive booking forms for this at the end of March.

There has been very little interest in our Autumn tour to Cardiff and South Wales, perhaps it is so near that many members have already visited or perhaps it does not sound very exciting? If you had been considering this and have not yet made up your mind, please get in touch very soon, before I need to cancel the arrangements with the tour company. I am visiting Dublin in the Autumn to prospect for an Arts Society tour there in 2023, and perhaps there may be more interest in this, I think we may even be able to include a visit to a chateau of a friend of mine’s sister, not far outside Dublin!

Meanwhile, all good wishes for the rest of the season and you should know that our AGM will take place on Wednesday 8th June, immediately before the lecture. We will be voting in new committee members then, so it would be good to have your support  but remember, by tradition, such meetings barely last more than ten minutes!

Paul Holmes, Chairman
18th March,2022

The Phoenix Theatre has advised us that the theatre is not available to us for our lecture on the 9th, which to say the least is disappointing.

The lecture has now been booked at the EXETER GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB for the 9th March, 2pm.

Free Car Parking is available.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Contact by email (catherinebech10@gmail.com) if you wish any further information.

This event will take place on 15th March. It is fully booked

Sadly, Shirley Smith, who was to talk to us about Donatello and Michelangelo, has bhad to withdraw because of ill health. Her place will be taken by Daniel Evans who will give a lecture on Courtly Life in Mantua: Hunchbacks , Dwarves & Giants. More information on Daniel and his nsubject can be found on this website under "lectures

The Dawlish Hoard forms part of a new display of Bronze Age finds

The Dawlish Hoard was discovered in 2017 by metal-detectorists in a boggy field near Dawlish. It had lain buried for about 3,000 years, since the late Bronze Age. The treasure consists of four gold bracelets, eleven fragments of bronze ingot, two small tin nuggets, two fragments of axe and a section of bronze sword.

This new display was made possible thanks to generous donations totalling £12,000 from over 200 individuals. Local people and organisations rallied together in 2018 to save the Dawlish Hoard to ensure that it can be enjoyed by the people of Devon and beyond for generations to come. These donations have funded purchase of the hoard and specialist cleaning and stabilising by RAMM’s conservation team.

The other finds on display show how unique the Dawlish Hoard is; its combination of gold and bronze objects is different to the groups of bronze objects more often found. All of the finds, however, show the pattern of metalwork being chopped up or deliberately damaged prior to burial.

RAMM’s Assistant Curator, Thomas Cadbury says:

“RAMM is all about making the heritage of this area accessible to local people. The display of the Dawlish Hoard gives visitors an intriguing insight into Bronze Age culture and societies; communities that are not only remote in time to our own, but display fascinatingly different attitudes and values.”

The museum extends its thanks to the Headley Trust, Victoria and Albert Museum, Devon County Council, Refinitiv, the Friends of RAMM and Erin Cox Jewellery who made generous grants. Thanks also to local groups, including the Friends of Dawlish Library, Newton Abbot District Metal Detecting Club and the Devon Archaeological Society and the many individuals who contributed to the campaign to save the Dawlish Hoard.

The Dawlish Hoard can now be seen on display in RAMM’s Courtyard 

The new display is part of Here’s to Thee, a joint commission between RAMM and University of Exeter Arts & Culture, led by internationally renowned artist Simon Pope

Collaborating with a team of creative practitioners and academics, Pope’s fascinating project explores the complex ecology and cultures of cider-making.

On display in the Core Wall in the centre of the museum are (sic) a selection of communal drinking vessels from RAMM’s collections, alongside contemporary works made in response to wassailing events held at Gray’s cider farm in Halstow in 2020 and 2022. Wassailing is an ancient ritual which includes walking in between apple trees, singing the wassail song, and drinking cider from a communal wassail bowl.

The contemporary bowl on display was thrown from Dartmoor clay found at the Gray’s farm, by ceramic artist Abigail North. It was used as a traditional communal drinking vessel in the first Halstow wassail in January 2020.

Photography by Robert Darch and a new film by Bevis Bowden are also displayed, both of which record the second Halstow wassail in January 2022. They show the ancient rituals carried out to ensure a good harvest of apples in the coming year, including the performance of a new wassail song written by Jim Causley and performed by shanty singing group Mariners Away.

Simon Pope describes the Here’s to Thee commission as a ‘multi-disciplinary and participatory art project that experiments with our relationships with the many non-humans – especially the microbial life – involved in cider-making, and explores the ways in which our social worlds are formed in relation to them.’

Here’s to Thee is commissioned by RAMM and University of Exeter Arts & Culture in partnership with Gray’s Devon Cider, supported by Arts Council England and Canada Council for the Arts.

The Here’s to Thee display can be viewed in RAMM’s Core Wall from 31 January 2022.

[NB: the system allows only one picture to be uploaded for each news item; the email version of this newsletter, which most members will have received, contains all of the images to which the chairman refers]

A very Happy New Year to you all and I hope that the various public safeguards, now so widely being put in place, might tempt you out to see some fantastic Art currently being exhibited. Setting my own modest example to you, I ventured up to London for four days early this month as the galleries seemed to have so much on offer. I managed to pack in visits to Tate Modern, The British Museum, the refurbished Courtauld, as well as ‘Durer’s Journeys’ at the National Gallery, ‘Late Constable’ at the Royal Academy, and ‘Hogarth and Europe’ at Tate Britain. I can especially recommend these last three, though NOT on a Saturday, and they are on until 27 February, 20 February and 20 March, respectively.

Further thoughts: As time was on my side, I managed to walk to all these galleries, deeming the fresh air would keep me safe from COVD. The subsequent Flow Test seemed to prove that to be the case, whilst everyone wore masks in the galleries and safely distanced themselves. The buses also looked safe having rather fewer passengers than usual. I see that four new exhibitions are on the horizon: Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, at the National Gallery, 25 January-15 May, a picture that has not been seen in this country since 1922, as well as ‘Raphael’ 9 April-31 July, ‘Whistler’s Women’ at the Royal Academy, 26 February-22 May and ‘The World of Stonehenge’ at the British Museum, 17 February- 17 July.

Nearer at home our own Museum Gallery, RAMM, has two exhibitions coming up: ‘In Plain Sight’ about Transatlantic Slavery and Devon, 29 January-29 May and ‘Funded with Thanks’, a year-long exhibition to showcase the fine art acquired by RAMM with funding support from Friends of RAMM and others, 8 February-17 July. Such funding support during the recent restrictions has clearly been especially vital.

Future Events: I gather that places on the Study Day Visit at the Cathedral  on Tuesday 15th March are now fully booked. You could ask to be on a waiting list however, so do send in the Application Form or contact Linda Hyde, thehydes@btinternet.com . When we last did a similar visit it was well-organised by the cathedral who used knowledgeable volunteers to guide us in some detail round very specific parts of the cathedral. I hope that you have the Visit to Mapperton House and Gardens in your diary, Wednesday 25th May, application forms will be circulated in due course. Meanwhile I hope that some of you will just be starting the virtual Tour of Italy with The Arts Society. It is certainly covering more ground than one could ever manage in a real tour!

Our Committee: have worked very hard during these difficult months to maintain an interesting programme of events and the recent lecture, with its unusual title, ‘The Dark Side of the Boom, The Mass Faking of Russian Avant Garde’ drew an unexpectedly large audience to The Phoenix. We were rewarded with a lively and rather unusual lecture but it is also most encouraging for our committee that members have supported the programme so well. Thank you. However you should be aware that many of the current committee are now looking for some respite. Please do think carefully whether you could offer yourselves for one of these roles: Committee Secretary, Visits Secretary, Website Manager, or Vice-Chair. It is worth remembering that our committee meets only four times a year, so none of these roles are onerous, but you would thus be ensuring the future of our society. Alternatively if you know of a member who might fit one of these posts , do encourage them.

Reflections: The image on the first side is by Albrecht Durer, ‘St Jerome and the Lion’, set in Jerome’s study, where the lion rests on the floor as Jerome works at his desk. In case you are not aware of why the lion is so tame as to sit quietly in his study, Durer has another image showing how Jerome removed a thorn from the suffering lion, gaining thereby his future devotion.

As if this isn’t enough, I was pleasantly surprised to see another image of St Jerome working in his study by Hendrik van Steenwyk the Younger, in the refurbished Courtauld Gallery. “Where is the lion?” I wondered… and sure enough I found it eventually, sitting on a ledge in a doorway, alongside what might be the Cardinal’s hat and above Durer’s desk! Of course one needs time and inclination not to rush past the pictures, where the real interest is so often in the detail?

Conclusion: After that rather unexpected digression, I commend the remainder of our very varied lecture programme, surely there will be rather more in this than one might expect? A programme that has Giles, Picasso and Stanley Spencer should prevent the slightest nodding of the head? Furthermore it seems as if some of the various restrictions may be lifted by then though if you feel safer continuing to wear a mask to the lecture then I recommend you do so, I expect to be continuing mine for a while…

Very best regards

Paul, Chairman, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

COVID, One of the unexpected bonuses of the Covid epidemic restrictions about large gatherings has been ‘on-line’ activities, Zoom comes immediately to mind. However a recent email from The Arts Society advertised its on-line ‘Artvent Calendar’, which looks as if it might have something interesting to tell us as we move towards Christmas. Another innovation that I have been encouraged by a friend to take up has been the National Gallery’s ‘Talk & Draw’, where a picture from the Gallery’s collection is posted on-line. Several of the enthusiastic staff then take one through the process of how to draw one’s own copy of the famous picture. And one needs almost no artistic skills to take part and, however badly you think you have done, no-one else sees your attempt and gradually one sees how to gain so much more from looking at a picture. The next free session is on 17th December, 4 – 5pm.

EXHIBITIONS. There seem a lot of London Exhibitions to recommend to you: The Royal Academy, ‘Late Constable’, until 13 February, but bookings are going fast; Tate Britain, ‘Hogarth and Europe’ until 20 March; National Gallery, ‘Durer’s Journeys’ until 27 February and Gainsborough’s ‘Blue Boy’, 25 January until 15 May; British Museum, Peru: A Journey in Time’ until 20 February and ‘The World of Stonehenge’ 17 February until 17 July.  The Courtauld Gallery, open again after a period of extensive renewal, has an opening display ‘Pen & Brush’of highlights from its British Drawings and Watercolours, until 27 February. Meanwhile the RAMM are advertising Todd Gray’s ‘Christmas and Elizabethan Devon’ by Zoom on Wednesday 8th December, 1.30-2.30pm.

CATHEDRAL, I expect a number of you receive the Cathedral Dean’s Letter each week? A recent letter caught my attention, as there were various quotations he wished to share with us. These included If a jobs worth doing, it’s worth doing badly, not what one expected to read, it seemed all wrong somehow, or Voltaire’s Perfection is the enemy of the Good, equally surprising and difficult to understand, which the Dean then interpreted for us as Setting our standards too high can be forbidding. Of course, in The Arts Society we certainly expect the lecturers, whom we engage each month, to deliver their lecture to a high standard and that has been true of this season already, where the new year has got off to a ‘flying’ start.

COMMITTEE. This same high standard has also been true of our hard-working committee this last year and into this year, but it should not deter others amongst you from volunteering for one of the vacant roles. A willingness to be involved, from time to time, in the running of our society is a much more vital quality than a high standard in any particular role. Most of us have learnt our roles actually on the job, supported by other members of the committee, often being surprised how pleasant it can be to be part of a team. As a result we have benefitted from several committee members this year who had held office previously but who perceived the need and were willing to stand again. At present we have vacancies occurring for Website Manager and Vice-Chair, but I think that Society Secretary and Visits Secretary posts might be becoming vacant too, so do consider whether you might be able to volunteer, please. You will find a lively and friendly committee to work amongst.

TOURS. Many of you who came to East Anglia in September have asked whether there is another tour being planned for the future. Well, of course there is and I have recently asked Tailored Travel, our excellent Tour Company, to prepare possible tours to Yorkshire or Cardiff for September 2022 and Dublin for 2023. Yorkshire might include such places as the City of York and its Minister, Harwood House, Castle Howard and the Wakefield Gallery, whilst Cardiff might include the National Museum of Wales, The Mint, Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch. These would be five day tours as with East Anglia. Some of you might opt for the Cardiff tour as being rather nearer than Yorkshire but if you have an interest in either of these tours do speak to me over the next few weeks. Regarding a possible Dublin Tour, I shall be visiting the city myself next October, which will enable me to judge what places we should be visiting. If you know Dublin yourself I should be glad of advice.

INSTAGRAM. We now have an Instagram account, called 'artssocexeter' , which you could use to 'follow' us. If you need further information on this, I’m sure Susie Peat would advise you at our next meeting, or even via her website.

FURTHER EVENTS. Cathedral Special Interest Day, Tuesday March 15th, spaces limited to 30 places for 3 guided tours (10 people on each tour) of 1 hour on: Medieval stained glass, the Library to include the work of the archivists and notable manuscripts and books, and notable tombs and monuments An application form will be ready for early January distribution.  And on the Summer Visits programme again, is Mapperton House and Gardens, third time lucky perhaps, the provisional date being Wednesday 25 May. Do pencil it into your diaries, a most worthwhile visit.

MEMBERSHIP. Trevor Wrixon, our Membership Secretary, who has worked hard to bring the membership back to pre-COVID numbers, is pleased to report our membership has now climbed to 177. A good number of the additional members are new members and if these are due to your efforts, THANK YOU. Please continue inviting friends and neighbours to a meeting as your guest.

Meanwhile, my best wishes for a Very Happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing many of you again on Wednesday 12th January 2022.

Paul Holmes, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

Dear members

Following the government introduction of Plan B, we would like to update you on the changes made by The Phoenix to their Covid measures and guidelines below:

·        Mask wearing is required in all communal areas at the Phoenix (unless medically exempt).

·        Masks are required for all seated events unless eating or drinking (unless medically exempt).

·        The Phoenix will be continuing with their increased and enhanced cleaning regimes.

·        Hand sanitiser units will be in place throughout the building.

·        Airflow will be maintained & monitored to ensure optimum ventilation.

·        Please do not attend events if you have Covid symptoms or have been in contact with anyone who has.

We look forward to being able to go ahead with the live lecture on the 12th January and seeing as many of you as possible.  Please follow the directions from members of the committee who will be asking people to spread out in the auditorium.

And, in the meantime, we will follow events and make decisions regarding future lectures as information becomes available - Zoom webinars are always an excellent alternative if necessary. 

Our very best wishes to you for a Happy New Year,

Catherine Bech, programme secretary.

Chairman’s Letter, October 2021  (updated version)                                                                                                                                                                    
Summer Holidays: My last letter was in July, wishing you a happy break during the summer. We seem to have had some very good weather and plants in the garden have grown rather more than usual. If you have been away, as I have, I hope that your trip went well. We were delighted to get to East Anglia, after the disappointing postponement from last year, and there proved a lot to see at the varied locations. We saw an impressive mixture of Country Houses, Blickling, Churches, Long Melford and Art, Henry Moore & Alfred Munnings, to name a few, as well as a guided tour of the medieval centre of Norwich. We seem to have a good number of events planned for our Arts Society this year, so I hope that they will appeal to you.                                                                                                                                                                                   
Friday 15th October: This is the date of our first lecture, a most unusual day and at the unusual time of 11.00am. I hope that you noticed this change earlier and that it will not prevent you from attending? The title is slightly provocative, so those of us who know something of Caravaggio’s work, especially those with his striking use of lighting , will be interested to see how the lecturer justifies her title.                                                 
Wednesday 3rd November & 1st December: These are the dates of the remaining two lectures in the Autumn and I highlight them as they occur on the first Wednesday of the month, and not our usual second Wednesday. You may remember this from last year and I believe it allows rather more flexibility for The Phoenix as we get nearer Christmas. The December lecture is given by our old friend Mark Cottle.                               
Tuesday November 23rd, sees our first Study Day of the season, on ‘The Shakers of North America, their beliefs, artefacts and architecture’, with John Ericson at Exeter Central Library. Further details and a Booking Form will be with you shortly.                                                                
Visit to Plymouth: Our visit to Plymouth’s major new museum, The Box, on Thursday 21st October, looks quite fascinating. Please note this is a slight date change as well, from Wednesday to Thursday. Not surprisingly there is much on its dockyard and naval history, including The Mayflower 400 Exhibition, but also sections on natural history and local villages. The convenience of a large coach and an interesting lunch menu at the museum makes this a comfortable day out for us. You should have received a booking form for this event already, I commend it to you.                 
Vacancies: There are currently two vacancies for members of our committee, which, in normal times, meets just four times a year, A Vice-Chair and a Website Manager. Our committee has worked steadily and most efficiently through the challenges of the last eighteen months, and so some of them will now need a ‘break’. We are however hoping for a ‘quieter’ time now, so please consider whether you might be able to offer your help with either of these roles. Normally officials stand for three years. The Vice-Chair makes The Phoenix Bookings ahead, welcomes us to The Phoenix for the lecture and arranges lunch for the lecturer, when this is required. The Website Manager uploads the various events onto the website and keeps it up-to-date, most of the technical work being done by Airedales.                                                                                                             
Coffee Morning: Once you receive your card Calendar, this year being given out on the first lecture date and thereafter by post, you will notice that our annual Coffee Morning is on Wednesday 3rd November, 10.00 – 12.00am. This is at our usual location in St Stephen’s Church Exeter in the High Street, a well-maintained church now less frequently used for services, but well worth a visit if you don’t already know it. It is a good opportunity to meet other members as well as committee members, who would welcome your views on our programme and to hear any ideas for future events.                                                                                                                                                                                                
London: I’ve just discovered Premier Inns, who have three hotels in the Waterloo area, and whose rates are about half the cost of the usual hotel. This makes a few days in London that much less expensive and quite justifiable, when one’s main interest is The Arts! So the following  exhibitions might just tempt you to a few days in London: ‘Late Constable’, 30 October to 13 February at the Royal Academy, ‘Poussin and the Dance’ 9 October to 2 January, ‘Durer’s Journeys, Travels of a Renaissance Artist’, 20 November to 27 February, both at the National Gallery and ‘Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution’ 20 November to 8 May at the V & A, whilst you might just squeeze in ‘Nero : the man behind the myth’, as it finishes on 24 October, which would be well worth your while if you are in London.                                                                                                       
I look forward to seeing you all again very soon and hope very much that you will enjoy this year’s programme of events.

Paul Holmes, Chairman.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hendrick ter Brugghen, ‘A Man playing a lute’ 1624, The National Gallery.

Summer Holidays: This ‘Newsletter’ really marks the end of a most extraordinary year. When we began last October we had survived the first ‘lockdown’ and a few summer months where we had been able to move about freely. Indeed I had managed a fortnight in Florence in the first two weeks, and we were able to have our Autumn meetings at The Phoenix, though a number of you were nervous of crossing Exeter High Street! From January we followed many other Arts Societies in zooming our monthly lectures, we all got rather used to this novelty and our lecturers were rather adept at lecturing from their own homes. The majority of our members continued an active membership, such an encouragement to our hard-working committee, thank you. Mark Cottle’s lecture on Churchill earlier this week was an extra lecture by way of thanks to you all. Now perhaps Downing Street will allow us to enjoy our summer holidays without too many restrictions?

Keith Mitchell: Who had been an Officer of the society, ie a committee member as well as Chairman, and our President for a number of years, died a couple of weeks ago. He had led a busy life as a solicitor in Exeter, where his efficiency and care for his clients ensured him much respect . Appropriately, his first ‘date’ with his future wife, Gillian, was in the cathedral, where they both became regular worshippers and Keith a steward. He was also an active member of a number of other organisation, including Rotary, and chairman of some. Not surprisingly his funeral, in the cathedral, was full to capacity and he was given a moving farewell, with organ music, choral music, tributes from the family, as well as clergy, readings and prayers. It was a fitting tribute to a committed Christian, and one who had given much to his community.

Mapperton: We were all very disappointed that the visit to Mapperton House had to be cancelled last month. This had been rearranged to fit in with ‘lockdown’ restrictions, which were then extended so that the House could not allow large party visits. Judy Lloyd had worked hard to no avail and, at this stage, there are understandably no plans to try a third time for a visit. Our thanks however for Judy, who has however other excitements for next year.

Molly Todd: officially retired from her role as Study Day Secretary at the AGM. We would normally have bid her ‘farewell’ at our final lecture, which now has to be done via the newsletter. Molly has been Study Day Secretary twice, as well as Vice Chairman, so her contribution to TAS Exeter has been considerable. In particular, her range of study day topics has been wide and interesting, with first-rate speakers. We are grateful to her for all this and wish her a well-deserved ‘retirement’.

Veronica Rossignol: was well-known to you all through her cheerful welcome as you came through the doors of The Phoenix for our monthly lectures. She had volunteered this simple service, at the suggestion of her husband, only to discover later that attached to it was the role of Vice-Chair. Undaunted she made that role very much her own, organising bookings with The Phoenix, our Coffee Morning and the Visiting Lecturer’s lunch, all with dependable efficiency. She bade the committee farewell by entertaining us to lunch after our final committee meeting of the season. We thank her for her contribution to our well-being and wish her and Lionel well.

The Website: David Fantarrow wishes to step down from his role as manager of this for many years and those of you who have computer skills might like to consider this job.  It consists, largely, of adding the various events to our website, from time to time, with the overall management of the site being left Airedales, to whom you would have access. It was set up a number of years ago and more substantial changes are made from time to time by Airedales. David has kept it all up-to-date in an admirable way and would be happy to discuss this with anyone.  Please let us know if you will be willing to help in this capacity.

East Anglian Tour: Those of you booked on this tour will have the dates carefully marked: departing on Thursday 30th September from Exeter, returning on Tuesday 5th October. Tailored Travel will send us details of ‘pick-up’ points nearer the time. Meanwhile please remember that the balance of your payment is due with Tailored Travel by 5th August.

London Galleries: Members might be tempted by the following exhibitions at London Galleries: ‘Turner’s Modern World’, until 12 September at Tate Britain, ‘The Making of Rodin’, until 21 November at Tate Modern, ‘Thomas Becket, murder and the making of a saint’, until 22 August, at the British Museum and from 22 July, Bellotto, ‘The Konigstein Views’, five stunning views of a Saxon castle in Germany, at the National Gallery. This last is free, but of course all the exhibitions need to be booked in advance.

Next Season: Membership Renewal Forms will be sent out towards the end of the month, please deal with these as soon as convenient. It will include the calendar of events for the forthcoming season. Such correspondence has an uncanny habit of quickly disappearing under later paperwork so Trevor would value the encouragement of rapid membership certainty. Thank you. Our first lecture is on Friday 15th October at 11.00am at The Phoenix, without zoom alternatives and I very much look forward to seeing many of you again at The Phoenix then. There are two other ‘live’ events in the Autumn: Wednesday 20th October, Visit to The Box, Plymouth and Tuesday 23rd November in Exeter Library, Study Day on ‘The Shakers of North America’. Details of both these will be sent out in due course, but do mark them in your diaries now. 
Meanwhile, ‘Happy Holidays’, and no prizes for guessing which town I hope to be visiting…
Paul Holmes, 9th July, 2021

Postcript: Our Secretary, Carol Cathcart, has asked to be allowed to advertise a course that she is organising in the Autumn. It is in no way in competition with our own events but you will see some rather useful overlap and so justifies inclusion here:

DECODING HISTORY’S ART
Programme: November 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, December 2nd, 10.00 am to 3.30 pm
This 5 day course is open to both regular and new attenders.  It will cover the birth and flowering of the Renaissance Period from Duccio in early 14C Sienna through to the Elizabethan period in the 16C, covering France, Germany and England.  Also are included are lectures on Fifty Shades of Blue and Mass & Form – an investigation into sculpture from Rodin to the present day.
Tutors:   Geri Parlby and Jeni Fraser
For information contact Carol Cathcart:  ridge.farm@btconnect.com

Sadly the extension of the lockdown period has meant that this visit has had to be canceled

Dear Members: What a joy to be in June at last and to have enjoyed some real summer weather over the Bank Holiday weekend, rather unusual, but so welcome. Perhaps this a good omen for the times to come. Next week we have what is normally our last lecture of the season, when Jane Angelini will talk to us about ‘The Kingdom in the Sun’. This will be zoomed, as will be our usual very short AGM which, at 1.55pm, precedes the lecture. However you should not forget an extra lecture on Wednesday 7th July, when Mark Cottle will speak about Churchill, starting at 2.00pm. This is by way of thanking those members who have maintained their membership despite the uncertainties of a year of ‘lockdowns’. This has enabled the society to remain financially solvent and your committee are grateful for your support in this regard.

 Our President, Catherine Heath, echoes various emails we have received from you, in the following message she sends you all: “On behalf of you all I am writing to thank Paul Holmes and all the committee who have done marvellous work to keep our society up and running during the last eighteen months. They have taken on board all the new knowledge required in order that we have been able to enjoy some interesting lectures and which has given us food for thought, when perhaps we needed it. We have a visit and a trip to East Anglia to look forward to and a programme beginning in the Autumn. I know we will enjoy meeting up with old friends and meeting new members. So, thank you committee for all your hard work. Best wishes to you all, Catherine Heath.”

 The Committee, loses several of its members at the AGM, Molly Todd, Study Days, and Veronica Rossignol, Vice-Chair, both of whom thoroughly deserve their ‘retirement’ after a number of year’s loyal and unstinting hard work for our society. It has been Molly’s second stint of service and Veronica’s unexpected service as Vice-Chair, when she thought she was volunteering to Welcome members each month. We shall greatly miss their lively efforts on our behalf.

 Membership, In the next few weeks you should be receiving forms for renewing your membership of the society. I very much hope you will feel inclined to take this up again, the lecture programme looks interesting and varied, whilst we have plans to renew Visits and Study Days. We expect to be back again at The Phoenix, though please note a change of date and time for the first lecture: Friday 15th October at 11.00am. Your help in recruiting new members will also be invaluable, in the way that some of you have brought guests to recent zoom lectures. They will have one free entry as guests, to enable them to see whether joining us will interest them.

 RAMM were delighted to re-open on Tuesday 18 May, and to welcome their wonderful visitors back into the museum. There are several exhibitions this summer worth visiting: 100 First Women Portraits, until 20 June | Gallery 20. Anita Corbin's inspirational photography exhibition, featuring one hundred powerful images, celebrates the achievements of British women over the past century. Visually stunning, the exhibition features a fascinating mix of celebrities, famous personalities, dignitaries and unsung heroines from across the decades.  Seedscapes opens on Saturday 3 July, bringing together five contemporary artists exploring global efforts to safeguard plant species from extinction through photography, moving image and sculpture.

 The Victoria & Albert Museum, in South Kensington, has been much in the Arts news this year with its need to reduce costs by £10 million. Huge reduction in staffing both in the National Art Library, housed in the Museum, as well as in other departments brought 10,000 signatures to a petition. As a result, and with the extra funding produced by the extension of the Govt Furlough scheme, the Museum has paused in its proposals and set up a review led by one of its senior librarians. Some of you will know the museum well and may have done research in the very extensive library, so we have to hope that extra funds may be forthcoming… The museum was due to re-open at the end of May.

 Dates to remember: Wednesday 23 June, Visit to Mapperton House and Gardens; Wednesday 7th July, lecture by Mark Cottle; Thursday 30th September, Tour of East Anglia; Friday 15th October, 11.00am, Lecture.

All good wishes,

Paul Holmes, Chairman

Drumroll please...

RAMM is back!

We’re excited to be able to finally welcome our visitors back into the museum from tomorrow, Tuesday 18 May.

We've missed you

We’ve been open for just 31 days during the last year, and we know the news of our reopening will come as a relief to our many regular visitors, as well as those of you who have missed getting your culture fix during lockdown. 

Our café and the Shop at RAMM will also be reopening, so you can refresh, refuel, and browse during your visit.

There's no need to pre-book your visit, and we will be closely monitoring numbers in the museum. We were able to introduce robust Covid safety measures to the museum building in between the last few lockdowns, including a one-way system, hand sanitising stations and a new entrance and exit.

Find out more about our Covid measures

Back with a bang

We're excited to welcome you back with a brand new exhibition, Léonie Hampton: A Language of Seeds. We're also delighted to be hosting Anita Corbin's photographic series 100 First Women, and Anna Grayson's café exhibition, The Photographic Art Thief.

Léonie Hampton: A Language of Seeds
Gallery 21 | 18 May - 5 Sep | Free
Devon-based artist Léonie Hampton engages directly with the ecological crisis through a series of photographs that celebrate her vegetable garden, her family, and the seeds in the collections at RAMM.

Anita Corbin: 100 First Women
Gallery 20 | 18 May - 20 Jun | Free
One hundred powerful images by renowned photographer Anita Corbin celebrate the achievements of British women over the past century.

The Photographic Art Thief
Café | 18 May - 18 Jul | Free
Challenge your knowledge of art history with a visit to this exhibition, as the artist uses photography to recreate famous works of art.

Much-loved collections

You will also be able to visit our fascinating permanent collections once more; explore ancient worlds, nature and geology, Exeter's local history and far-flung locations... what will you discover this time?

We look forward to seeing you soon!

RAMM is open Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 5pm
Last entry 4pm
Closed bank holidays and Mondays

Friday 14 May 2021

Major art project coming to Exeter: Museum at Large to take over the city centre in October 2021

Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) has announced an ambitious and adventurous new public art project which will take place in Exeter city centre this autumn.

Funded through an Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant, Museum at Large will see museum objects transformed and transported onto the streets of Exeter. Artists, creative collaborators and museum professionals will create a vibrant programme of activity, culminating in four temporary outdoor art commissions on show in the city centre from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 October 2021.

Rob Bowman has been appointed Creative Producer for the project. With extensive experience as a curator and producer of internationally-recognised public realm art and culture projects, Rob has held senior roles at Arnolfini and Artangel, amongst others.

Rob said, “This inspiring event will seek to celebrate RAMM’s rich collection and reconnect communities to their museum. RAMM will seek proposals from artists who specialise in uplifting, engaging and surprising work using light, sound and interactive technology, media all suited to being experienced outside.”

Councillor Amal Ghusain, Exeter City Council’s lead for Communities and Culture said, “Museum at Large uses culture and creativity to help our city and communities recover from the impact of Covid-19. It will provide a positive experience and create a memorable, shared moment in the year as well as helping to drive footfall and economic growth for Exeter city centre. This project is made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and we would like to thank them for their support.”

Phil Gibby, South West Area Director for Arts Council England, said, "We're extremely pleased to support Museum at Large through our Project Grants funding programme, thanks to investment from the National Lottery. The project will offer valuable employment and commissioning opportunities for freelance creative practitioners after what has been an extremely difficult year. At the Arts Council, we know that investment in cultural activities brings people together, creates good jobs, attracts visitors and develops a sense of pride, which is why we are so thrilled to support this project from RAMM".

Expressions of Interest for the project are sought from artists across the UK; details will be available shortly at rammuseum.org.uk/MuseumatLarge

Ends.

Dear Member,

HOPE: Well done to those of you who recognised the garden photograph in last month’s Chairman’s letter. It was, of course, the Easter Garden at the west end of the Cathedral nave several years ago, which showed the stone rolled away from the cave where Christ’s body had been laid. We have had a spectacular April with day after day of sunshine and so the gardeners amongst us have been able to get well ahead with preparing our gardens for the summer. Similarly your committee, now so used to zooming, have continued to meet every month and have been busy planning the next two season’s programmes. In previous years we have met only four times a year, this season we’ve had to meet every month in order to deliver the programme in the lockdown situations. Thank you to those of you who have emailed your thanks to us for keeping things going.

TWO IMAGES: rather haunted me earlier in April, connected with the Easter story and many of you may know them as well. The first is Graham Sutherland’s ‘Noli me Tangere’ in Chichester Cathedral. Some of you will have seen this on our Kent and Sussex Tour a few years back. Mary Magdalene, outside the tomb, is suddenly aware that the man she thought was the gardener is in fact the risen Christ. Christ urges Mary not to touch him as he is on his way the Father, pointing out the way to her also. There is surely a wonderful message of Hope for Mary here, as surely there is also for us? The second image was painted by Duccio in 1308, ‘The Road to Emmaus’. Here two disciples have walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus, accompanied by a stranger, who was able to explain to them much of the teaching of Christ, whom they think has now abandoned them. One of the two disciples is pointing the way they plan to go, asking the stranger, the risen Christ, to accompany them and, as the saying goes, ‘The rest is history’.

DATES: Meanwhile our lecture dates continue to be subject to The Phoenix Theatre being available for us on the second Wednesday of the month. After so many months of ‘lockdown’ inactivity, there is an urgent need for them to have as full a programme as possible and this has affected the date of our first meeting of the next season. This will now take place on Friday 15th October at 11.00am. Actually, this will help some of us who return from the East Anglia Tour on Tuesday 5th October, which would have been the day before the second Wednesday of the month. The Phoenix’s technician, Jack, has continued to help us in providing our current lectures as zooms, which has enabled the lectures to be delivered to our sitting rooms.

WEBSITE MANAGER: David Fantarrow, who has been the society’s projectionist in the Library days and, more recently, our Website manager, is stepping down from this role at the end of the current season. We are therefore now looking for someone who would be willing to take on this task, which mostly consists of keeping the website up-to-date with our various activities. Obviously this needs to be someone with computer skills as well as familiarity with websites. The technical side, however, is managed by Airedales who set up the website for us some five of six years ago. If you would be interested in helping here, please contact David, 01392 667305, fantarrowd@gmail.com

PROFESSOR EDIE ABEL, CBE, FRSC: The Telegraph on Saturday 24th April, announced the sad news of Edie Abel’s death on 19th April, at the age of 89. Edie, who lived up at Pennsylvania, was a member of NADFAS in the 2000s and our Membership Secretary, following on from Catherine Heath. The society met in the Music Room of the Library, in those days, and Edie welcomed us as we checked in for each lecture.  He was a much respected committee member, popular and always encouraging of new and younger members. In his professional life, Edie was a most distinguished chemist, President of the Royal Chemical Society, and Professor at Bristol and then at Exeter, where he was a colleague of Alan Leadbetter, David Ganderton and Wojtek Krzanowski.

MAPPERTON HOUSE: It was good to have the details of this visit and the booking form recently. There does seem a lot to explore both in the house as well as in the garden and we will need all of the five hours there in order to do it all justice. I thoroughly recommend this to you even, if like me, you have been before. And how good it is to have an outing on the horizon after so many months of lockdown? I look forward to seeing a good number of you there, I’m sure you will be very safe.

GALLERIES: The National Gallery has a number of Free Talks being advertised: ‘Life inside the Hay Wain’, where one may discover the world of Constable’s iconic painting through the works of artists, writers and curators, Friday 7 May, 6pm; as well as ‘Consuming Impressionism’, from Monet to Pissarro, which uncovers forgotten histories of Impressionism and finds new ways of experiencing this out, Thursday 27 May, 1pm.The Arts Society: currently advertises Roger Butler leading a virtual tour of ‘Our Historic Canals’, which has some splendid images as one reads through this ‘tour’.

MARK COTTLE: I hope that you have registered the ‘bonus’ lecture that Catherine Bech has organised for us on Wednesday 7th July. Mark Cottle will speak on ‘Churchill: An inspirational life in photographs, words and paintings’; see the full details on our website.  Mark is an old friend of TAS Exeter, so we wait eagerly for another of his first-rate talks, via Zoom at 2.00pm.

NB:  12 May, Edouard Manet: A Rebel in a Frock Coat;  9 June, The Kingdom in the Sun.

Best regards

Paul Holmes, 3 5 21

Dear Members,

HOPE was recently described to me as ‘a piece of work’. As I work in the garden during the afternoons I see so many examples of this kind of Hope: birds nesting, the buds on trees and shrubs swelling, the tops of hedges greening-up and even my own tidying of paths and edges. All are working to fulfil their Hope in the coming of Spring. As I see various members of our committee working in the preparation of various events with The Phoenix, Mapperton House and Tailored Travel, I feel their ‘piece of work’ is indeed an example of Hope. This April sees the arrival of the second of the Prime Minister’s dates, April 12, thus their Hope now seems more than ever justified, so I summarise these dates for you at the end of this letter.

A NEW DATE has recently been arranged by Catherine Bech, our Programme Secretary. As a ‘thankyou’ to you, our loyal members, who have supported our Society during this strange year, we are offering an extra lecture by our ‘old friend’ Mark Cottle. This will be zoomed on Wednesday 7th July at 2.00pm, the title to be confirmed in due course. This will be zoomed just to Exeter members, as Exe’s April lecture was just for them, due to the discrepancy of dates and the different lecturers.

OTHER EVENTS: The Arts Society is continuing its ‘Lectures at Home’ series: “Enjoy the arts at home with a series of films by Arts Society Accredited Lecturers, clicking on the thumbnail to watch the videos.” These vary in length from fourteen minutes to thirty five minutes and are of a wide range of topics. I watched the ‘Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fit of Rage’, about his third symphony, the Eroica, recently, with the lecturer at the piano in his own home! There are fourteen of these shorter talks currently available and all well worth watching: www.connected.theartssociety.org .The National Gallery, appears to have rather a lot on its website but its Ten Minute Talks, under ‘Our latest Stories’ have interesting talks, including ‘Holbein’s Ambassadors’, whilst ‘Behind the scenes in conservation’ includes a five minute talk on Restoring Botticelli’s ‘Adoration of the Kings’ at just five minutes. They are also running a series of talks on ‘The Stories of Art’, following the dramatic changes across 18th century Europe, Wednesday evenings from 14 April, though the six sessions will cost you £75. So there is a good range of interesting material here to watch, though I often find their site difficult to navigate around. www.nationalgallery.org.uk 

EAST ANGLIA TOUR: Tailored Travel has informed us that there are now twenty five members signed up for this six day tour to Norfolk and Suffolk in early October. This is a good number, financially viable yet small enough for us to enjoy each other’s company and not too large in visiting galleries, houses and churches.  Indeed we are now at the maximum number, though I am advised to start a waiting list for any others who might be interested, often hotels have cancellations as the weeks flow past!

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE, FLORENCE: I’ve mentioned this source of interesting lectures before and it is worth noting that they have weekly lectures on a variety of art topics, usually related to the Renaissance in Florence and Italy, so very specific and relevant to Arts Society members. One just makes a donation for these. Recent ones that I have watched have included: Baroque Architecture in Florence, Florentine Painting from Giotto to Caravaggio, Bronze Casting in the Renaissance, the Birth of Opera in Renaissance Italy and next week’s is ‘Writing, Collecting & Gardening’ at the Villa La Pietra, overlooking Florence. www.britishinstitute.it

LECTURES: It doesn’t seem possible that there are now only three more lectures of this season’s programme remaining, this coming Wednesday 14th April, when Jonathan Foyle will talk to us about Exeter Cathedral, giving us a rather different approach to the cathedral’s history. This is replacing the lecture on your calendar, which cannot be delivered via zoom, so we hope to have that at some future date. The final two have fascinating titles: A Rebel in a Frock Coat on 12 May and The Kingdom in the Sun on 9 June, after a very short AGM! They should both be zoomed, so I look forward to seeing you all then.

SUMMARy OF DATES _________________________________________________________________________________                            9th June, AGM & ‘The Kingdom of the Sun" lecture; ____                                                                                                                                    23rd June, Visit to Mapperton House; _____                                                                                                                                                            7th July, Mark Cottle lecture; _____                                                                                                                                                                            30th September – 5th October, Tour to East Anglia; _____                                                                                                                                       6th October, Coffee Morning & lecture.

COMMITTEE VACANCY: After our June lecture Molly Todd will be stepping down as our Study Day Secretary, which has been her third role on the committee. Molly has organised an interesting series of Study Days, Mark Cottle’s on ‘The Court of the Virgin Queen’ being one of particular interest to me. In recent years we have had just two Study Days each year, though this is not cast in stone. If there is a member who would be willing to take on this role after Molly, we would very much like to hear from you. Molly is willing to talk you through this role, mollytodd41@icloud.com

Best regards,

Paul Holmes, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

Dear Members,

THE PRIME MINISTER’S recent datelines have determined much of the remainder of our Society’s programme. The Phoenix cannot reopen for the next few months, so future lectures have to continue as Zooms. I should apologise for this, except that many of you are now quite used to this. The April lecture, ‘Musical Adventures in Russia’, however is impossible as a Zoom, depending as it does on the musical instruments being played live, so this lecture has been cancelled. However Catherine Bech has been fortunate to book Jonathan Foyle to take this April slot for a talk on Exeter Cathedral. Jonathan’s new book about Exeter Cathedral has recently been published, with quite stunning photographs, so it will be interesting to have a new ‘view’ of our cathedral. It could be that when our postponed Study Tour of the cathedral takes place Jonathan will be one of the guides. This means that our April, May and June lectures will be Zoomed.

MEMBERSHIP: We continue to be grateful to so many of you who have remained as Exeter members, and for the very many positive emails you have sent about the lectures, thank you. However our numbers have been between 60-80 less than previous years, though this seems pretty typical of the SW Area societies. We expect that quite a few of these ‘lapsed’ members will re-join in the Autumn and we will make them very welcome, of course. Fortunately, recent Treasurers have kept a tight control of our budget, so we have had a small surplus most years, and this is carrying us forward this year.  However, we will need all our current members to help recruit new members, so please consider again your various neighbours as visitors to a free lecture in the Autumn, or indeed to free zoomed lectures, using your link, in the remaining three months. Experience shows that many of these visitors become members. Do contact Trevor Wrixon if you wish friends to be invited or need membership forms, trevorwrixon@gmail.com

THE FEBRUARY LECTURE: I know from the many emails the committee received, that most of you thoroughly enjoyed ‘Hammershoi & the Life of Interiors’, though the lecture was in some ways rather more academic than the highly entertaining December & January lectures. It was disappointing to learn that Americans had rather captured the market for his paintings, so that there are only two in London. I contacted our Travel Company, Tailored Travel, about the possibility of a tour to Denmark in order to see more of Hammershoi’s paintings, but their response was that Denmark is too expensive for our normal  four or five day tours. So it’s a case of planning your own tour. Alternatively, you could treat yourself to seemingly the only book in English on this subject: ‘In another light: Danish painting in the nineteenth century’, by Patricia G Berman, beautifully illustrated, which I was able to purchase on-line through Abebooks.

RAMM lectures: I hope that some of you heard Professor Sam Smiles’ lecture ‘Girtin in Devon’ last month? Professor Smiles is an experienced lecturer, well able to make any topic of interest to an audience and lectured to us in 2013. His survey of Girtin’s Devon watercolours showed them to stand up well in comparison to those of his contemporaries. Many of them appealed to those of us, who know the landscapes first hand, as views that lend themselves to the medium of watercolour. Other monthly lectures at RAMM include: Seedscapes: botanical photography, 18th March, Liz Wells; Finding the Thread, 15th April, Todd Gray

OTHER INSTITUTIONS: Currently The British Institute in Florence, which runs Art History courses, especially on the Renaissance,  have a weekly Wednesday evening zoomed lecture, which might be of interest to some of you, last week’s was on Public Sculptures. They also send out a Weekly News Sheet of events every Monday, all they ask is for a donation from time to time, as indeed most galleries are doing now. However these lectures are widely viewed, sometimes the total participants exceeding 100, with quite a few from the UK, so you could well find something to interest you here. (The image you see here is, of course, the Uffizi, rather than the British Institute!) www.britishinstitute.it  “The National Portrait Gallery Collection is about people and for people. Our portraits let you meet the men and women who have shaped our world and make personal connections to your own life. We show how, as individuals, we are part of something bigger but also how, as individuals, we can make a difference. Now, more than ever, we want to continue to share remarkable portraits and stories from our Collection online.” This is their description of what they do and their current on-line exhibitions and commentaries tend to be rather startlingly different, www.npg.org.uk

FUTURES EVENTS: The Mapperton House visit has now been moved to 23rd June, by which time we expect Mapperton will be open for us. This would be a most appropriate way to celebrate the beginnings of a return to normality, Judy will be sending out invitations for this shortly.  Our AGM, postponed from April, has now been re-scheduled for our final lecture date, 9th June, for the usual five minutes or so at 2.00pm. Notices about this will sent in due course. Our Coffee Morning has also been re-scheduled by the Prime Minister’s date-lines and is now to take place on the morning of our first new season lectures, Wednesday 6th October. The East Anglia Tour, Thursday 3 – Tuesday 5th October, has been re-booked by Tailored Travel and participants will have had a confirmation invoice, last September, stating that the balance of payment will be due by 5 August 2021. I’ll be in touch with them to confirm all this shortly, now that we have permitted dates from Downing Street. Reminders of all these new dates will be sent again.

Meanwhile, please see what you could do to help increasing our membership for next year, keep safe and enjoy the rest of our lecture programme.

Paul Holmes, Chairman,  paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

Sadly we have had to reschedule Graham Griffiths' lecture in April to the 2022/23 programme; Graham's lecture/recitals are only suitable for live performances and we look forward to seeing him at the Phoenix in the future.  Jonathan Foyle will give us our April lecture - full details under 'Lectures'.

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER, February 2021

Dear Members

THANK YOU to those of you who have written, out of the blue as it were, to express delight in the last two lectures, as well as to express your thanks for what members of the committee have been doing to keep the society very active. The committee has been working hard and so your thanks are a very real encouragement to us, especially as they are in no way expected. Of course there has been extra work for the committee: establishing Zoom and recorded lectures, making the technology of Zoom available to you all as well as keeping you up to date with it all. We have met every month since last April, unheard of in recent years, but no-one objected to this and it enabled us all to share the various ways forward.

SHARED LECTURES: this is a new initiative, about which you should already have had notice. It will enable you to view Topsham’s lecture on Thursday morning by the same lecturer you will have heard the day before, but a different lecture, of course. Why didn’t we think of this before you might say, but it so happens that for the next few dates the lecturer is delivering a different lecture, whereas it might previously have been the same lecture on both days. So another good initiative from our committee!

ART HISTORY COURSE: Some of you will know that our Secretary, Carol Cathcart, has for some years organised an Art History course, delivered by some of The Art Society lecturers that we have met at our own lectures, from time to time. I recommend this course to you and the details are below: Decoding Art - ~A Guide to Art History: This 5 day course is open to both regular and new attenders. It will cover the birth and flowering of the Renaissance Period from Duccio in early C14th Siena through to the Elizabethan period.  Also included are lectures on Fifty Shades of Blue and Mass & Form – an investigation into sculpture from Rodin to the present day. We are hoping to be able to hold this day course on 30 April, 7,14, 21 and 27 May – Covid permitting.  We meet in the Exeter Central Library, from 10.30 – 3.30 and the tutors are Geri Parlby and Jeni Fraser. The cost for the course is £130, no payment required yet.  Application forms will be sent out in due course.  For further information or to reserve a place, please contact Carol Cathcart on ridge.farm@btconnect.com

RAMM LECTURES: Recently John Allan talked about Girtin’s watercolour of Exeter Cathedral, a fascinating and well-informed lecture as one would expect from John. Future lectures, all zoomed, include the following: Girtin in Devon: Sam Smiles, Thursday 18 February, 1.30pm; Seedscapes: botanical photography, historically and now: Liz Wells, Thursday 18 March, 1.30p; Finding the Thread: Exeter's Georgian carpet and cloth industries: Todd Gray, Thursday 15 April, 1.30pm. For booking these you need to search on the museum website under ‘online’.

FUTURE EVENTS: A warning well ahead that our April lecture, Musical Adventures in Russia, on 14th  April will be a ‘live’ lecture at The Phoenix only, provided of course that The Phoenix is open by then, please note that on your calendar. Meanwhile February and March lectures are being zoomed as well as recorded, whilst we hope to be back to normal at The Phoenix in the summer. That goes for the visit to Mapperton House on 19th May, for which the coach is already booked. This is a fascinating house and well worth visiting even if, like me, you have already visited it. Perhaps the visit might well be a ‘celebration’ that things are getting back to normal? If that seems likely I take this opportunity of reminding you that our East Anglia Tour has been re-scheduled for 1st – 5th October. I daresay most of you have not yet had the courage to book any holiday this coming summer, perhaps you should make this your first? I have tested the fates by booking my next trip to Florence for September… as Chelsea has been re-scheduled for September I thought I was in good company!

ZOOM: Chatting to some of you on the telephone recently, I’m impressed to hear how many of you are now becoming familiar with Zoom and so able to watch those lectures that are zoomed.  If you are still not comfortable with it, please do not be shy of asking for help, Susie Peat will be very happy to talk you through it, her telephone & email are on your calendar. I believe you can only use it on a computer, ipad or smart phone, but it is so easy once you have it on your system.

Finally, I do hope that you have all kept safe so far and that many of you are now being called for the vaccination. I expect, like me, that you are receiving a lot of ‘material’ for your entertainment and interest during these lockdown periods, but I trust you will find time to keep up with our lecture programme. Knowing little about ‘Hammershoi’, I am looking forward to some serious learning myself and very much hope to see you there, Wednesday 10th February at 1.45pm.

Very best wishes

Paul Holmes,

Chairman, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

The lecture detailed below will be delivered by ZOOM at 11.00am on Thursday 11 February 2021. It is being shared with us by the Arts Society Exe which will have enjoyed our lecture on Wednesday 10th. Joining instructions will be sent by email in due course

BEFORE IMPRESSIONISM, SKETCH AND FINISH IN 19C LANDSCAPE PAINTING EN PLEIN AIR

Art history is replete with myths. Among them is the idea that outdoor painting – or painting en plein air – was invented by the young Impressionists during the 1860s and 1870s. This lecture considers artists who were painting outside from the motif well before that point. John Constable, Camille Corot, Charles Daubigny and Frederic Edwin Church are just some of the artists who led the way during the early and middle years of the 19th century, laying the groundwork for the later achievements of Impressionist painters like Renoir and Monet. This lecture considers the motivations for artists to paint en plein air, the emergence of an international vogue for naturalist landscape, as well as the techniques and materials used in outdoor painting.

Kathleen McLauchlan is the speaker for this lecture.

Dear Fellow Members

I trust that you have all survived a very strange and unusual Christmas and that you have been able to see some of your family or friends? I send you my good wishes for :

A very Happy and Healthy New Year!

December Lecture: ‘Thank you’ to all who were able to attend the November lecture on ‘A Medieval Christmas’. Sarah Deere-Jones treated us to a sparkling lecture, illustrated by her unusual display of early musical instruments: small harps, hurdy-gurdy, dulcimer, psaltery & gemshorn, which she played as she sang a variety of medieval carols. If you didn’t attend in person, I do hope you were able to watch and hear the very professional recording that Jack, of The Phoenix, made for us during the lecture. We have been one of very few societies providing ‘live’ lectures during this time, both for supporting lecturers as well as The Phoenix, and for most of our lecturers it has been their only ‘live’ lecture so far and, therefore, particularly appreciated. My apologies to one or two of you who came to The Phoenix on 2 December, the cancellation had been announced in the November Newsletter.

January Lecture: Regrettably, because of the Tier Four strict restrictions covering London, Tony Faber is unable to travel down to give his lecture on Faber & Faber. However it will be delivered by Zoom, which means, of course, that you will be able to watch it in your own homes, but only at 2.00pm on January 13th, ie there will be no recording of this lecture. Trevor Wrixon will send you an email in due course with the necessary link for this, so please do not turn up at The Phoenix for this lecture.

The Phoenix Grant. Our Society was able to support The Phoenix this year with a grant of £500 towards their Freefall activity with 11-15 year olds, which forms a Young Arts contribution on our part. It is a practical activity, once a week, which seeks to inform and engage youngsters in creative art. When The Art Society HQ heard of this activity, and were sufficiently impressed to match our grant with a further £500, thus saving The Phoenix from further sourcing of funds.

November’s Study Day: Mark Cottle gave us a splendid Study Day on The Antarctic. Mark seems to lecture so enthusiastically whatever his topic that we have come to expect such an approach. Indeed he might almost have been one of the team of explorers, so vivid were his descriptions. Apart from the many superb black and white photographs taken by Ponting and Hurley, art works in their own right, Mark showed some of Edward Wilson’s beautiful watercolours that captured the atmosphere of the Antarctic landscapes. They enabled us to grasp just what an achievement it must have been to work outside in those sub-zero temperatures for even a few minutes.

March’s Study Day, ‘The Shakers of North America’ has been cancelled due to John Ericson’s ill health. We are hoping that it may be possible to run a Study Day in the Cathedral but at a later date. In the present circumstances it is impossible to forecast when that might be, but it had reached beyond planning stage in the Spring 2020, so should be quite possible once the cathedral can give us a date.

The Coffee Morning: The November Chairman’s letter alerted members to the postponement of this event, until the morning of our last lecture, Wednesday 9th June. One prays that, by that time, the present ‘restrictions’ may have given way to some normality that will allow us to meet friends again to share and celebrate? As on the calendar: St Stephen’s Church, Exeter, 10.00am.

News from the National Portrait Gallery: who announced that the winner of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020 was Alys Tomlinson for Samuel, Jack and Jameela from the series Lost Summer.  “Alys’ series was born out of her frustration at not being able to travel for work. She decided to photograph local teenagers whose proms were cancelled, dressed up in what they would have worn, but captured in their gardens, backyards or local parks. There is a quietness to the images and they represent a loss and longing, but also celebrate each teenager as an individual, navigating this extraordinary time.” Although the Gallery is closed for the time being and, as yet, no indication of its opening, it does have a variety of on-line exhibitions, particularly ‘Hold Still’, a hundred portraits chosen by the nation. RAMM seems to be open again, Tuesday – Sunday, with the entrance now round the back, as if going to The Phoenix. No booking in advance is required and there is an ‘Exeter Living Art Show Exhibition’ showing until 17th January.

Although The National Gallery is currently closed it has transferred its current exhibition, Artemisia, to an on-line curator-led tour, a film lasting 30 minutes, at a mere £8, surely another way of supporting our galleries at this time. As many of you will know, Artemisia Gentileschi was a 17th century Italian painter who worked in Florence. Here she had the Medici as patrons and was the first woman to be elected to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. Her work can be seen in the Pitti Palace(Judith and her maidservant) and the Uffizi. Some of you may also have read the historical novel by Susan Vreeland, ‘The Passion of Artemisia’. The Arts Society Connected seems to have finished its excellent series of Lectures at Home and its new programme has yet to be published.

I hope some of the above appeals to you but perhaps, like me, you are using the extra time provided by the current lockdown in catching up with various art and gardening magazines? I hope you will however ZOOM with us on Wednesday 13th January at 2.00pm. In spite of some possible reluctance, it would be good to see each other’s faces again?

Yours sincerely

Paul Holmes, 1st January 2020, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

Release
26 November 2020

Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery to re-open on Thursday 3 December

Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) has announced that it is planning to re-open to the general public from Thursday 3 December 2020, following the government announcement that Exeter will be moving to tier 2 restrictions. 

The museum closed its doors during March in response to the pandemic and re-opened in late October; ten days after re-opening the doors were closed once again following the announcement of the country’s second lockdown. 

Having previously prepared new coronavirus measures to ensure that guests are able to move around the museum safely and in accordance with government guidelines, RAMM staff are ready for a smooth reopening, and are looking forward to welcoming visitors once again.  

The museum’s timed ticketing system, which allows RAMM to better manage the flow of visitors through the museum, continues to operate. Tickets are free, but all visitors are encouraged to book theirs online prior to their visit in order to guarantee entry. Tickets are available to book on the RAMM website from Thursday 26 November at rammuseum.org.uk/entrytickets

The recently-introduced one-way system is still in operation; visitors will enter at the museum’s Garden Entrance to the rear of the building, and exit through the Queen Street doors. Visitor numbers will be reduced, screens have been introduced at key visitor/staff contact points, there are clear physical distance markings on the floor inside and outside the buildings, and there will be frequent cleaning of key touchpoints throughout the museum.

Visitors are also asked to do their part to help protect others by not entering the building if they are feeling unwell, wearing a face covering, keeping their distance – a giraffe’s stride apart! – and using the hand sanitiser provided.

Cllr Amal Ghusain, Exeter City Council’s lead Councillor for Communities and Culture, said, “We are delighted that RAMM will be reopening its doors next week. It remains a vital part of Exeter’s cultural offering, and I know the people of Exeter will be excited to return to the museum, with all of the Covid precautions that are in place.

“With Christmas fast approaching RAMM provides a haven in the heart of the city offering its visitors a chance to relax, reflect and discover something new.”

The museum’s new online shop will also be open from Sunday 29 November, allowing guests who are unable to make it to the museum to do their Christmas shopping from home. Offering a wide range of beautiful and unique items, the online shop at RAMM is the perfect place to find inspirational, locally-sourced gifts, 24 hours a day: shop.rammuseum.org.uk

During the second lockdown, the museum has continued to deliver events, activities and information online via its website and social media channels. RAMM Lates: Online, a virtual version of the museum’s popular Lates event, attracted an audience of around one hundred people who were treated to virtual tours, talks and artist Q&As, alongside activities and discussion across social media. In response to the ongoing restrictions on in-person events across the country, the museum is currently planning its next virtual Lates event.

The museum, including the shop at RAMM and the museum café, will be open from 10am to 5pm from Tuesday to Sunday, from Thursday 3 December onward. For more information about the reopening and the new safety measures, and to book free timed tickets, visitors can head to rammuseum.org.uk/visiting-us

Ends

Notes for editors
for more information, please contact:
Nicki McCaskie, RAMM Marketing and Communications Officer 
(t) 01392 265317
(e) nicki.mccaskie@exeter.gov.uk

About the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
RAMM is Exeter’s world-class museum, a place of discovery which encourages everyone to be curious. Its stunning displays reveal Devon and Exeter’s rich history and global connections. Visitors are delighted by exotic animals, birds and insects and a changing programme of exhibitions and events inspired by the museum’s collections. 

These displays of extraordinary objects also inspire artists to create new work and provide a rich context for an engaging contemporary art programme that includes new commissions, interventions and exhibitions. 

Welcoming 250,000 visitors each year, RAMM has a proven track record of making its collections accessible to visitors, both physically and online. In 2012 RAMM won the much coveted Art Fund ‘Museum of the Year’ award in recognition of the innovative and thoughtful way the collection was redisplayed. When presenting the award, Lord Chris Smith described the galleries as, ‘some of the most intelligently considered displays on view in any museum in the UK’. RAMM’s World Cultures collection and part of its Natural Sciences collection are Designated, a mark of distinction which recognises their national and international significance.

A flagship Exeter City Council service, RAMM attracts funding from other sources and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It aims to use its local and global collections to connect people to the world and inspire them to shape a better future.
rammuseum.org.uk

Dear Members

Having been absent for the October lecture, I was thrilled to be present at Richard Whincop’s lecture at The Phoenix last Wednesday. It was also good to see an enthusiastic audience there too, thank you to those who were able to manage this, it has been an encouragement to our committee who have worked hard to make our programme possible. It was also an encouragement for Richard Whincop, whose first ‘live’ lecture it was since February. Richard gave us a detailed overview of a good number of Poussin’s works and some memorable quotes: “It is not possible to look at Poussin’s paintings quickly” and Bernini of Poussin’s work, “What a great story-teller.” I hope that others of you managed to watch the recording that Trevor Wrixon sent you.

The third lecture, ‘Sing We Yule’ by Sarah Deere-Jones, now appears to be within the current lockdown, so has been re-scheduled for Tuesday 15th December. I gather this will be a real ‘musical’ portrait of a medieval Christmas, so it will be good to see as many of you who feel able to attend. Masks are required in The Phoenix, though may be removed during the lecture. I found that I was able to avoid the High Street in getting to The Phoenix, this is certainly the busiest part of the city and to be avoided where possible. It will be recorded again.

I have enjoyed talking to a good number of you over the telephone in the last couple of weeks, though I think it was a surprise to some of you! However it enabled many of you to see how anxious we are to maintain our membership numbers so that the Society remains a viable organisation. However I was struck by the number of you who have renewed your membership in spite of being unable to attend lectures in person and that is appreciated, thank you. If you have been sent another Renewal Form recently I do urge you to complete that and return it to Trevor Wrixon, our Membership Secretary.

My conversations with you enabled me to hear views on the society, how much the quality and range of lectures is appreciated as is the social contact on a Wednesday afternoon, and that The Phoenix is now a popular venue with you. I was also struck by the fact that quite a number of you are a ‘good age’ and that I was even talking to a few ninety year-olds, who are still active members. Indeed our President, Catherine Heath, told me recently of a member who is 98 and still an active member, terrific!

You should all have received your TAS Exeter Calendar by now and will see the usual full programme, in spite of the virus restrictions. We have been fortunate to have recordings of the lectures made by the technicians at The Phoenix, so that no-one should miss out. We are indeed fortunate in the facilities at The Phoenix and The Phoenix is one of the reasons we are determined to keep ‘live’ lectures going. So your membership is vital and will enable you to take advantage of the lecture programme, live or recorded. Surprisingly  there still appear to be one or two members who are not quite sure of The Arts Society programme, and the various Virus restrictions may account for much of this doubt. Your new calendar has the telephone numbers and email addresses of  committee members, do make use of them if in any doubt about what is happening. We will always be pleased to hear from you.

Mark Cottle’s Study Day on 24th November in the comfort of your own home is almost upon us. It is by ZOOM which is an easier delivery than it seems as all one really has to do is click on the link that is sent as an email. There are still spaces for this talk. In fact I attended a ZOOM lecture yesterday where there were 160 people ‘zoomed-in’, amazing…

The Coffee Morning, which had been re-scheduled for January, is now to be moved again, as January still seems too near the various Virus restrictions. We anticipate the new date to be on the morning of our last Summer lecture, Wednesday 9th June, perhaps as a celebration for getting through this rather difficult year. We’ll confirm the date in due course.

Finally, a few highlights from our museums, which although closed at the present, are still providing us with on-line viewing. The National Portrait Gallery: The Taylor Weassing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020, from Tuesday 24 November; The Royal Academy of Art: Explore the Summer Exhibition from home, free; The British Museum: Virtual Tours of the galleries, Egyptian Sculpture, Africa, Medieval Europe 1050-1500, & The Enlightenment; The National Gallery: Renaissance Masterpieces, Sainsbury Wing and Virtual Tour 2011, this latter I found most like walking round oneself! I know that some of you have been watching the ’lectures at home’ from The Arts Society: 27 November, The Story of Indian Modern Art, 18 December, The History of Great Exhibitions; theartssociety.org/lecturesathome. That should be sufficient to keep most of you occupied at home!

Best wishes

Paul Holmes, Chairman

01769 580723, paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

Dear Fellow Members,

Wednesday 14th October was clearly something of a milestone for TAS Exeter. At least it seemed so for those who were able to attend the lecture by Jeremy Black at The Phoenix and perhaps those at home who have been able to watch a recording? The committee worked hard to bring this about and we were grateful to Jeremy Black for adhering to the engagement as well as to those members who felt able to attend in person.  Recording this lecture was an attempt to provide an alternative for members, it was a new idea for the technician at The Phoenix, and we are grateful for their expertise. As a first attempt, however, it will need a certain amount of readjustment.

Much the same arrangements will be in place for Wednesday 4th November when Richard Whincop will talk about ‘Nicholas Poussin – Rebel & Philosopher’. We hope very much that you will feel able to attend the lecture, do remember that this, and the December lecture, is on the first Wednesday of the month.

Meanwhile we have the Study Day coming up shortly, Tuesday 24th November, when our friend, Mark Cottle, will be talking on ‘Tragedy and Triumph: The heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration’. Three famous explorers dominate the story of Antarctic exploration:  Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. The focus will be on their expeditions from 1902-1912, including the race to the Pole between Scott and Amundsen.  Herbert Ponting’s photographs and Edmund Wilson’s water colours provide a visual and evocative record of this frozen world and these early pioneering expeditions into the unknown. I was fascinated by this story as a teenager and read everything I could find on the topic so I am looking forward to this event enormously. If you like English watercolours, as I do, you will be enchanted with Edward Wilson’s paintings, which were very much sought after at one time. The Cheltenham Museum has a good collection, as it was Wilson’s home town and I see the Museum is just open again, several days a week.

You will have received the booking form from our Membership Secretary recently and I noticed that recent changes have meant that a Study Day now has just one lecture in the morning and one in the afternoon. Do submit your booking, if you haven’t already done so and if you are not familiar with ZOOM do seek committee help from one of us.

I notice that RAAM is due to re-open on Saturday 24th October, but for timed bookings only. Hurrah! It has seemed a long time since we were able to visit our own Exeter Museum and I’m sure it is going to need our support in the coming few months. Do book your tickets for a visit, their website gives details of this as well as their new programme. I was saddened to read in a September Telegraph a report, ‘No Michelangelo, no Royal Academy’, that the Royal Academy is having to think seriously about the need to sell its ‘Taddeo Tondo’ by Michelangelo, of the Madonna and Child. These forms of sculpture or paintings are rather special and the Michelangelo one in particular, so that the loss to the RA would be enormous. I have been seeing a variety of these Tondos in the Uffizi Gallery recently and Botticelli’s ‘Madonna of the Pomegranate’ was one of my favourites. I would be very upset if the Uffizi was forced to sell any of these paintings, even though it’s Renaissance collection must be second to none.

Trevor Wrixon, our Membership Secretary, has been busy processing your Membership Renewal forms recently. If you have not got round to this just yet, perhaps I might urge you to do so shortly. You will have seen that the usual full programme has been organised and whether you access this by ZOOM, a recording or at the theatre itself, the costs in setting up the programme are the same. The committee was determined to proceed with a full annual programme this Autumn, whilst a few of our neighbouring societies decided to start their new programme in January 2021. ZOOM may not be everybody’s preferred means of viewing a lecture or Study Day but, in the circumstances, it is certainly ensuring that our Society continues its existence. Please do not wait until a ‘normal service’ is resumed, that may be longer than we had originally hoped, before renewing your membership.

Best Regards,

Paul Holmes, Chairman

TAS CHAIRMAN’S LETTER, September 2020

Dear Members

This will be a short letter this month to share with you the good news that, all things being equal, The Phoenix is expecting us back in their Theatre on Wednesday 14th October. This will be for Jeremy Black’s lecture on ‘The Art and Meaning of Maps’. Four of the committee met with The Phoenix earlier in the week to discuss the provision of our Autumn lectures. Although the building is not open at present, the staff is working hard on ways of interpreting the Government Guidelines on Social Distancing for the whole variety of their events.

Once this is complete two of our committee will meet with them to carry out a Risk Assessment, ie to establish how our lecture will be delivered safely. We will have a booking system for those who wish to attend and those details and application will be sent to members a week or so before. For those who do not wish to attend at this stage, we expect The Phoenix to be able to record Jeremy Black’s lecture so that it may be accessed afterwards and details of how that will happen will be sent to you in due course. Naturally all this is dependent on there being no further restrictions from the Government .

It is obvious that The Phoenix is very keen to welcome us back in October, when we will be their first major event! They have been appreciative of our support during these summer months and for our patience, when their future must have been rather uncertain. We are much looking forward to seeing you again and enjoying, with you, the start of what promises to be an interesting season.

Meanwhile, I hope that you are sending in your Renewal Membership forms if you have not done so already and that you are considering the zoomed Study Day lecture by our old friend Mark Cottle on the Antarctic Explorers’ most evocative art’, which should be quite spell-binding?

Best regards

Paul Holmes, Chairman

It seems a very long time since early March when we slowly became aware of the implications of this new virus. We enjoyed Susie Harris’s lecture on Pevsner in Devon, where many places we knew quite well, received a mention. The Arts Society HQ suggested that members should be encouraged to wash their hands thoroughly and more often and that we should drink more water, and that was all! So, the day after, I departed for France with friends to spend a fortnight in their house in the Dordogne region.  We had a splendid two weeks walking in the fantastic countryside, whilst in England I was aware that our Committee swung into action as the scale of the Corona-virus became very obvious. Sensibly your committee negotiated with the remaining three lecturers of the season the postponement of their lectures and members were notified accordingly.

 A confident Vice-Chair kept me regularly informed, thanks to the invaluable ‘smart-phone’ at the end of which we motored back on empty motorways to Dieppe to find it the only ferry crossing in operation. Our pre-booked tickets were accepted and we had a very quiet crossing!

Once into April your committee met to review the situation; Catherine Bech, our Programme Secretary, negotiated the postponement of the remaining three lectures without any financial penalty, we reviewed the Autumn programme as well as other events, whilst visits, including the East Anglian Tour, became casualties of Government regulations. We met every month, via ZOOM, to keep abreast of developments and a monthly Chairman’s letter was circulated to keep you informed of progress as well as the various on-line alternatives to the cancelled lecture programme. The committee sent a donation of £250 to The Phoenix as a small contribution in recognition of the loss of revenue from the cancelled summer lectures. The Phoenix appeared much encouraged by this support.

 In July Trevor Wrixon, our incoming Membership Secretary, circulated Membership renewal forms along with a draft programme of lectures for the coming season. The Vice-Chair maintained contact with The Phoenix and re-scheduled our annual Coffee Morning for Wednesday 13th January, at St Stephens. During these summer months the committee received regular bulletins from the London Headquarters as well as the SW Area committee, all of which was encouraging and helped our planning considerably.

And so to August, when you might have expected an increased ‘dormancy’ of your committee. .. Instead we found ourselves enjoying a ‘live’ meeting at which we began drafting the detailed ‘ground-plans’ for the Autumn programme at The Phoenix, and reviewing the need for a detailed Risk Assessment of procedures for each lecture meeting, welcome, spatial-distancing, reduced attendance numbers, masks, exit, etc. We considered the need for a booking system for each lecture, the recording of each live lecture and a ZOOM lecture if the theatre should prove unavailable in October. Meanwhile the remaining other events of the year were notified as booked: 24th November 2020 Mark Cottle on ‘The Antarctic’ as shown through contemporary photographs and watercolours, as a ZOOM, 4th March 2021, John Ericson,‘The Shakers of North America’, both as Study Days;  19th May 2021, Visit to Mapperton House,  20th October 2021, Visit to The Box, Plymouth; as well as 30th September – 5th October, 2021 for the postponed  East Anglian Tour. Sadly the cathedral Study Day visit has had to be postponed for the time-being. Once the cathedral is able to allow guided tours for groups we will endeavour to re-arrange this event.

By late September we expect to be able to send you the detailed arrangements for our first few lectures, including their required booking arrangements, as well as those for the Study Day. Whilst you continue to enjoy the remainder of this unusual summer I hope you will find the Update above sufficiently encouraging for you to renew your membership for the coming season, if you haven’t already done so.

Paul Holmes, Chairman.

Dear Members

Welcome. I hope that this finds you both safe and well? Many of you will have begun to meet family members again as well as some of your friends, though a good number of precautions need to be maintained to keep us all safe. At the Cathedral’s Sunday Services the government’s various requirements are sensibly and carefully prepared. In spite of the joy at being there again, the Nave looks slightly sad with people very spread out, though many stopped to chat to each other afterwards outside the west front doors. The service had begun hauntingly with a cantor intoning verses from Psalm 74 that seemed particularly apt:

“Look, O Lord, to your covenant and do not forget the souls of your poor forever. Arise, Lord, and defend your cause, and do not ignore the voices of those who seek you.”

How encouraging that some psalms have the ‘cheek’ to tell God what they think he ought to be doing for them and after five month’s lockdown I think King David himself would have felt quite capable of telling God just what he felt about it all.

Museums: It is good to know that a few of these are beginning to re-open. The British Museum tells us: “we'll be able to welcome visitors back to the Museum from Thursday 27 August. We've been working hard to create a safe and welcoming environment – we will be introducing a new timed ticket system to limit numbers in the Museum and ensure visitors can keep a safe distance.
Tickets will be available to book in advance from Wednesday 12 August – entry is still free, with a one-way route along the Ground floor galleries that leads you on a journey through two million years of human history.” The National Gallery claimed to be the first gallery to re-open, daily 11am – 6pm but via advanced bookings. Their current exhibition is Titian: Love, Desire, Death, until 17th January 2021. The National Portrait Gallery is still not open however but has some fascinating exhibitions on line, especially, Sculptures & objects in 360?. I thought the full-length portraits of Disraeli & Albert Ball especially impressive, but Lucian Freud somewhat alarming and Queen Mary very severe! Locally RAMM remains closed but Barnstaple Museum hopes to re-open on 12th August on Wednesdays & Fridays, 11am-3pm, advanced books only.

Your committee has been working hard recently in making the necessary arrangements for the new season. After four month’s committee meetings via ZOOM, we were delighted to see each other again at our August meeting in Judy Lloyd’s garden. TAS HQ has provided us with some basic ZOOM training so we can have ZOOM Study Days or lectures should the need arise.. . Trevor Wrixon, the Membership Secretary, sent you the Membership renewal form last month and has had about half the renewals so far. Your committee has also discussed the probable procedure for attending lectures at The Phoenix: an advanced seat booking, entry from 1.40 onwards, through a specified door, checking of names, wearing a mask, being conducted straight to marked seats. After the lecture is over we will expect members to depart, having any greetings with friends outside the building. We will confirm these details by email at the beginning of October, once we have made an appropriate Risk Assessment with The Phoenix, so that all the insurance safeguards are in place.

The new Season: We are awaiting The Phoenix to confirm our Autumn bookings and whether they will be able to record these three live lectures, so that members who do not attend at The Phoenix may watch a recording at home. The whole programme now appears on our website, www.theartssocietyexeter.org.uk. Here are the completed dates of events other than the lectures: 24th November 2020 Mark Cottle on ‘The Antarctic’ as shown through contemporary photographs and watercolours, as a ZOOM, 4th March 2021, by John Ericson,‘The Shakers of North America’, both as Study Days;  19th May 2021, Visit to Mapperton House,  20th October 2021, Visit to The Box, Plymouth; as well as 30th September – 5th October, 2021 for the postponed  East Anglian Tour. Sadly the cathedral Study Day visit has had to be postponed for the time-being. Once the cathedral is able to allow guided tours for groups we will endeavour to re-arrange this event.

Best regards and continue to keep safe,

Paul Holmes, Chairman

The Arts Society Exeter

Dear Member

Lecture Season 2020/2021

None of us have escaped some form of restriction due to the current pandemic including your society.

Your committee has discussed the way forward for 2020/2021. In principle we believe that we should continue with the normal lecture programme plus alternatives.

 What does your renewed membership offer?

1.       Lectures starting in October subject to the Phoenix Theatre opening with social distancing and safe practice. Seating capacity needs to be restricted and members may be required to pre-book seats.

2.       The Arts Society (London office) is advising lectures can be recorded and available through the internet or alternatively can be watched live through Zoom

3.       The Arts Society also continues to support members with, Newsletters, The Arts Society Magazine, Online seminars, Forums and The Arts Society online lectures.

4.       The usual programme of Study Days and Visits as well as supporting some activities of our local Art Galleries, this year The Phoenix

Your committee will continue to examine all options available to provide members with a programme of lectures to enjoy at the Phoenix or on-line.  We all look forward to a time when our lectures can return to normal, in the meantime, our sole aim is to support our members and protect The Art Society Exeter for the future.     

Looking forward to your continued support.

Yours sincerely

Paul Holmes - Chairman

THE ARTS SOCIETY EXETER: CHAIRMAN’S LETTER, JULY 2020

Dear Members

Welcome. Are you one of those people who have, much to your surprise, found yourself busier during the recent ‘lockdown’ than ever you could have believed? Of course one balances such a situation by realising that many of us have found ourselves completing those jobs which we had been intending to do for so many years, like the ‘garden shed’? I was reminded of the following ‘saying’ recently, whilst dealing with my garden shed:

“Work is like old age: the worst thing in the world, except for the alternative…”

Work seems to me to have been with us during these last four months, in spite of empty diaries? Many of us have taken the opportunity to spend much more time in our garden, others have caught up with reading, whilst many of us have had the time to watch some interesting programmes on line. I have spent many weeks researching Botticelli’s ‘Annunciation di Cestello’, on view in the Uffizi, in Florence and placing it in the development of the Italian Renaissance. Perhaps a lot of this is hardly defined as work, though much of it is sufficiently challenging to remind us of ‘work’.

Your committee has been working hard this last month in making the necessary arrangements for the new season. We have continued to have our monthly committee meetings via ZOOM, which enables us to see each other as the meeting proceeds. TAS HQ has provided us with some basic ZOOM training so that we are aware of how it all works and even might be able to have Study Days or Visits via ZOOM. What a different world we are entering! Of course we have a new committee member in our Membership Secretary, Trevor Wrixon, who many of you will remember as our previous Secretary. He will shortly be sending you the Membership Renewal Form for next year as well as the provisional ‘Calendar’ for next year’s events. The attached letter will remind you of how much your membership provides, a great deal more than a lecture programme, and these will come via email.

The new Season: We think that The Phoenix will be able to record the three Autumn lectures live on each of the Wednesdays, so that those members who are unwilling or unable to attend the lectures themselves, will be able to watch it in their own time, once the link has been emailed to them. It will seem as if you are watching it live, but without the facility of being able to ask questions! The whole programme now appears on our website, www.theartssocietyexeter.org.uk  The East Anglian Tour in September had, inevitably, to be postponed until next year and the new dates are 30th September – 5th October, with exactly the same programme. I expect there to be two or three spare places on this Tour, so if there are other members who would like to join us they will be most welcome.

The Arts Society has continued to see us all through these uncertain times, with training for committee members and monthly Bulletins for us all. As Chairman I’ve had several telephone calls from Head Office and the SW Area, whilst the committee have been advised of various ongoing discussions, all of which has been considerable help. Their ‘Lectures at Home’ programme continues with Sandy Burnett’s ‘Beethoven’s Fit of Rage’, Irving Finkel’s ‘Rescuing Unwanted Diaries’ and Viv Lawes’ ‘Chinese hand-painted export silk’, just click on www.connected.theartssociety.org  We are thankful to have this hard-working institution behind us, they work very hard for us.

Amongst other Art  I discovered the other day an interesting series of short talks on Fra Angelico in the Convent of San Marco, Florence; Caravaggio: His life & style in three paintings of the NG London; and Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece, all available on YouTube. Also on YouTube you might find Philip Mould’s “Art in Isolation” a rather different presentation, in six sessions, whilst others might be interested in, or recognise www.thenewtinsomerset.com . The National Gallery, London, has three Virtual Tours of parts of its collection; and The National Portrait Gallery has the BP Portrait Award 2020 as well as Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things, on line.

Exeter. Some of you will belong to Friends of RAMM and Friends of the Cathedral, both of whom are working hard to re-open as safely as they can and, as recent mailings from them both suggest, are going to need our support to make up for months of suspension of their activities. Our very own Phoenix will be no exception here of course and  I was aware of this on a visit to Waterstones last week;  the store seemed quite empty and the lonely assistant seemed very pleased to see a customer!

“Every man should be lonely at heart.”

was a quotation I read recently in John Buchan’s short story ‘A Reputation’ and, after four months of self-isolation, I felt this to have been true of my own life and probably a feeling shared by many of you?  It was therefore a real joy to be in Exeter for a couple of hours last week and, as our horizons begin to lighten at last, perhaps we should give thanks for a future.

Best regards

Paul Holmes, Chairman

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER, JUNE 2020.

Dear Members

GREETINGS: Our Treasurer sent me a mail-chimp circulated article, begun as below:

“Loving the Rituals”
Loving the rituals that keep men close
Nature created means for friends apart:

Pen, paper, ink, the alphabet
Signs for the distant and disconsolate heart.
**

Palladas (4th Century AD) Translated by Tony Harrison
How that speaks to us across the centuries, email might be more common than pen, paper and ink, but a personal letter falling with a whisper onto the mat is valued and treasured.
 

Like all these things it set me thinking…. the whisper, especially at these times? Of course the equivalent is very different today, endless emails and increased numbers of telephone calls. Does anyone have a proper letter these days or indeed write one, even with our increased leisure? I have just one friend who writes a real letter every three or so weeks, always two full sides, sometimes four and that needs time to respond. Surely, if done properly, this is an art form in its own right?

GALLERIES: Meanwhile I expect that you have read various newspaper reports about the need of the Arts to have government support if theatres, concert halls, galleries and museums are to survive on reduced people through the doors and correspondingly reduced business sponsorship. Galleries on the continent are open again, but with timed entries and social distancing. In an interview recently the Uffizi’s Director, Eike Schmidt, reported that its museum had lost €10m in revenue during the closure though it had given staff time to work on digitisation projects. Perhaps once we are able to visit such galleries again we may not be jostled by crowds but be able to stand alone in front of a Giotto, a Botticelli or a Raphael and contemplate the artist’s work? 

ART ONLINE: Meanwhile we have to console ourselves with Art online. A current survey of British Galleries suggests that our local regional galleries are doing somewhat better than the bigger national galleries. The Bristol Museums have an interesting selection of Japanese Masters prints, bristolmuseums.org.uk, The Cheltenham Museums & Art Galleries have a couple of virtual exhibitions, Colour-Ways and Sisterhood, cheltenhammuseums.org.uk the Plymouth Museums & Art Gallery have a detailed description of four prints in their Show Stopper-Category, plymhearts.org, the RAMM has a variety of online activities and the Pallant House Gallery has several interesting exhibitions: ‘Church Patronage in Post-War Britain’ and ‘Our Art’, pallant.org.uk However the National Portrait Gallery has an interesting 3 minute YouTube tour, ‘Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things’, npg.org.uk whilst The National Gallery boasts “Welcome, our doors may be temporarily closed but our collection and stories are open to explore”! I viewed 30 paintings out of their 2,652, so there is certainly much on offer there, nationalgallery.org.uk Of course The Arts Society continues a whole variety of on-line activities for us, www.connected.theartssociety.org. There are two upcoming lectures shown: 16 June, Aboriginal Art & 30 June: Beethoven’s Fit of Rage, his 3rd Symphony, whilst four of the previous lectures still appear on line.

OUR WAY AHEAD: Actually the Arts Society Headquarters produced an extremely well thought-out and clearly expressed document: ’Planning Guidance for Member Societies’ and, although it was a 40 page document, all the committee have read through this carefully. We had a recent ZOOM committee meeting a week or so ago to agree and plan a way forward for the society. Of course this will depend on a number of factors that are not clear or accessible at this stage, but we thought you would like to know that we hope to offer:

i) Live lectures on 14 October, 4, November and 2 December at The Phoenix, as usual, titles of which will be sent to you with a Renewal of Membership form in July.

ii) Simultaneous on-line lectures, as all three lecturers are able to deliver their lectures this way. We are investigating this as well as the possibility of recording the lecture, for the benefit of those of you who are unsure about attending at The Phoenix just yet.

We hope to know more about these possibilities in the next few weeks but all will depend on the government restrictions being lifted, lecturers being willing to travel and The Phoenix being open, by October. The Phoenix has already reassured us that it can organise ‘social distancing’ and Vice-Chair Veronica is keeping in close touch with the people there. They were quite thrilled to receive the donation that our Treasurer sent them last month. It seems too early to make any predictions about a Study Day in November and it might prove more sensible to move this to February or March. Perhaps by January we may be back to normal? Meanwhile enjoy all the art streamed direct into your own homes as well as your own gardens, for those of you who are so fortunate and continue to ‘keep well and safe,’

Paul Holmes, Chairman.

THE ARTS SOCIETY EXETER, Chairman’s Letter, May 2020.

Dear Members

Greetings! And I hope that this finds you well and coping with our daily restricted routines. Many of us seem to be enjoying empty diaries that have enabled us to tackle jobs that we have been meaning to do for a long time, both indoors and in the garden. Those of us with gardens are particularly fortunate but the widespread response of neighbours to the welfare of those around them has been most encouraging and I hope that some of you have benefitted from that yourselves. Perhaps like me you have been heartened by Her Majesty’s message of Thanks and Hope broadcast on VE Day and by much the same message by Bishop Sarah & Rowan Williams in Sunday’s Morning Worship on Radio 4.

Thank you to those who have sent in responses to my April letter, particularly your views on a reduction in next season’s subscription and the idea of supporting The Phoenix financially. There seems a feeling that we should not reduce the subscription at this time and that whatever we have saved this season should allow us to support The Phoenix instead. The committee has authorised a small subsidy of £250 by way of an encouragement which was sent last week. Their response was immediate: “thank you so very much for the donation, it’s so generous. The support we’ve received from The Art Society has been incredible, we are so grateful. Not only a financial boost but a real morale boost for the team too.” 

Clearly we need The Phoenix to be there for us when we start again, at the present most of their staff are on furlough, just four remain working at home setting up a programme for their next season. We plan to be part of their programme. Several years ago Trevor Wrixon and I did a survey of all the various halls in Exeter that we might use when The Phoenix was not going to be available and we discovered that there was nowhere that even approached The Phoenix in the facilities provided. There are ways in which financial support can be offered for The Phoenix, some of you might be interested to see what these are. The following link will take you there,  https://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/how-you-can-support-exeter-phoenix/ the one that caught our eyes was that of sponsoring a chair and our £250 would purchase two chairs for them. I commend this idea for your consideration if you find yourself in funds at the end of this unusual time.

Our Treasurer, Susie Peat, has provided the committee with a statement of accounts for the year about to end and the finances look in good shape, as they have been for the last few years. I asked her to produce a ‘budget estimate’ for next year, but what an impossible task to produce at this stage? She did produce figures to reassure us that The Arts Society Exeter will be in business next season, even though we cannot know what the future holds at this early stage?

Meanwhile the committee has put together as wide and varied a programme as normal. You will be able to see this on our website: a full lecture programme for the whole season as well as the usual two Study Days, The Shakers of N America & Exeter Cathedral and two Visits, The Box at Plymouth & Mapperton House. All these can only be provisional at this stage, of course.

Our Membership Secretary, Trevor Wrixon, will be sending out membership renewal forms in the next few months with a copy of our planned programme for the next season, so that you will see we have indeed a full programme ahead. You may have some uncertainty about being back to normal by October… but we have a programme planned for as soon as we are allowed & enable to begin. And I for one miss seeing so many of your friendly and encouraging faces, by October many of you will also be looking forward to meeting old friends again?

I wonder how some of you have found the various alternatives provided so far, The virtual lectures provided every fortnight by The Arts Society or the live plays provided by The National Theatre each week? These begin each Thursday, an arresting Antony & Cleopatra, 14 May, Barber Shop Chronicles, & 28 May, This House all promise well, www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/nt-at-home The Arts Society continues to provide a lively programme: www.connected.theartssociety.org will provide you with their ‘lectures at home’ series which looks excellent as well as a ‘GALLERY: Inspiring Talent’, a virtual tour of 41 pictures, which I’d recommend. You might also be interested to see the results of the National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award 2020, just announced. Enter www.npg.org.uk  then Winning Artists and just follow the instructions, by right clicking you can view each portrait close-up. Of course you may have found Virtual Tours at other galleries well worth looking at.

Our own committee met recently via ZOOM, which was a new skill for some of us… and we will be meeting again in early June, they all continue working enthusiastically. We are also in touch with the Arts Society central committee in London who are meeting shortly to see what else they may be able to offer centrally as well as how the future might be managed. Do be in touch with any of us if you have questions or points to make, you have contact details on your Membership/Programme card.  As well as this, do visit our website, www.theartssocietyexeter.org.uk, which is being rapidly brought right up to date. Meanwhile I would be grateful to know of any member who happens to be an artist and, as the saying goes, ‘stay safe’!

Yours sincerely

Paul Holmes

paul.s.holmes@fhsmail.co.uk

THE ARTS SOCIETY – EXETER

 The Annual General Meeting was held on 11th March 2020 in the Phoenix Theatre.

1.      Apologies for absence were received from Mrs.W Krzanowski, Mrs M Nesbitt, Mrs C Heath, Mrs H Todd, Mrs G Davis.

2.     The Minutes of the AGM held on 13th March 2019 and Matters Arising were approved.

3.     The Society’s Accounts were approved.

4.     The Appointment of the Examiner of Accounts, Professor Krzanowski, was approved and the Chairman thanked him for his assistance.

5.     Election of Officers:-

(a)  Re-election of Officers –

      Paul Holmes                         -           Chairman

      Vanessa Rossignol            -           Vice Chair

      Susie Peat                             -           Treasurer

Carol Cathcart                     -           Secretary

(b)  Re-election of Committee Members

Judy Lloyd                            -           Visits Secretary

Molly Todd                           -           Study Day Secretary

Catherine Bech                   -           Programme Secretary

David Fantarrow                -           Website Manager

©        Proposed new Committee Member -       Trevor Wrixon, Membership Secretary, proposed by Paul Holmes, seconded by Dr Laurie Burbridge.

                        Dr Burbridge is not standing for re-election

6.     Committee Members’ Reports:  These have been circulated previously, and were unanimously approved.

7.     Any Other Business:  The Chairman, in the absence of the President, thanked the Committee for their very hard work, in particular the retiring Membership Secretary, Dr Laurie Burbridge.

8.     Date of the next AGM:   14th April 2021

Link below takes you to a clever and rather poignant connection of famous paintings to our current world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keXvCkm0FIA

THE ARTS SOCIETY EXETER, Chairman’s Letter, April 2020

Dear Members

LECTURES, What a lot has happened since we last met at The Phoenix to hear Susie Harris describe ‘Pevsner in Devon’. And what a disappointment it has been to have our next three lectures cancelled by the  Coronavirus, but Catherine Bech, our Programme Secretary, is re-scheduling all three in the future. Some thought was given to re-imbursing the lecturers for this cancellation but all were happy just to have a future date arranged. Our cathedral visit this month also had to be cancelled and your cheques returned, we plan to re-schedule this event too. Various members of our committee have been busy with all these arrangements, especially the Programme Secretary and our Vice- Chair, Veronica Rossignol, our thanks to them all.

We have been giving some thought to possible re-imbursements, both to members for losing a third of the year’s lecture programme and to The Phoenix who have lost three significant hiring fees from us. The Phoenix come under the ‘umbrella’ of the city council but receives only 10% of its funding from them, so might be in a particularly vulnerable financial state come September. Veronica is in close touch with them and she will be looking at possible ways we might help them. The committee is proposing to offer current members a reduced membership fee for next year, once our Treasurer Susie Peat, has the final accounts for the year next month, though it may not be a lot. We have also agreed to support The Phoenix, if and when the need arises, we could not afford to lose such a first-rate lecture theatre.

NEXT YEAR’S PROGRAMME: We are proceeding with next year’s programme in anticipation that some kind of normality will be in place for the Autumn. The East Anglia Tour is fully booked and no cancellations have been offered by Tailored Travel but we await Government policy so far ahead. The lecture programme is fully arranged through to next June whilst other events planned include A Study Day on Thursday 26 November by John Ericson “The Shakers of North America”, in February a visit to The Box, in Plymouth, in March the postponed Study Day in Exeter Cathedral and in May the postponed visit to Mapperton House. Of course the last three are, at this stage, just proposals which will need confirming in due course.

MEANWHILE,   Many of us I suspect are quite enjoying having empty diaries, something we have probably not experienced since we were teenagers? However some of you may have finished reading the Telegraph or Guardian by 10.00 and are at a loss for some mental exercise. Here are some ideas, the first came from Wendy Krzanowski, our former Vice Chairman. She spotted an interesting quiz: The great British art quiz: set by Pallant House Gallery, Chichester which some of you will doubtless remember from our Kent & Sussex Tour a couple of years ago, a gallery of modern art founded on the collection of a former Dean of Chichester, Walter Hussey. Click on the link and test your knowledge?
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/06/the-great-british-art-quiz-set-by-pallant-house-gallery-chichester The second came from the Arts Society who send out regular emails and April’s Highlights included an online lecture, which I think some of you have already discovered. The first this month is delivered by Dr Jacqueline Cockburn on Les Merunas, the others come every fortnight: 21 April – Sarah Dunant, 5 May – Mark Hill, 19 May – Nicola Moorby and so on. Just google the Arts Society link: www.connected.theartssociety.org/  One last idea: my favourite London gallery is probably The National Portrait Gallery, which many of you will know has now closed for re-furbishment, probably for three years or so. But they seem keen to keep their supporters informed of what is happening and to share their collections online. Click on this link, https://www.npg.org.uk/, to open up some Virtual Tours, Interesting People, Room 29 collection etc, all very well laid out.  I hope you find  these worthwhile. We will keep you informed of others as they come in, the committee members are pretty sharp at spotting interesting items but if you have others, do send them in.

MONTHLY: I will endeavour to send you a Newsletter in May and June, so if you have comments, views or ideas do communicate with us, so that we keep in contact and make something positive of this imposed isolation. I trust you are keeping yourselves safe,

Best regards

Paul Holmes

Members are advised that our Annual General Meeting will be held at The Phoenix on Wednesday 11 March 2020, at 13.55. An agenda will be emailed, or posted, to members shortly. It normally does not last more than ten minutes so will not delay our lecture unduly.

8 Feb to 31 May

A celebration of Devon’s lace industry through the eyes of Devon lace-makers past and present, including those who made lace for the royal family.

The exhibition includes replica of Queen Victoria's wedding dress and lace, worn by actress Jenna Coleman in the ITV production 'Victoria' and portraits and photographs of Queen Victoria lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II from the Royal Collection.

At Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery