Art Appreciation
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Last updated 27th January |
This group usually meets on the second Friday of the month,
and our numbers have grown since it began so that we now have about
twenty active members.
We vary our programme between visiting exhibitions, watching
fine art DVDs, and visiting artists’ studios.
Our art appreciation group started with an excellent outing in
January last year.
We visited the Catstrand in New Galloway where there was an
exhibition by two artists, Anne Butler (left) who paints landscapes in bright bold
acrylics, and ceramicist
Urpu Sellar
(below right)
whose sculptures are quirky and fun.
We had the privilege of meeting both Anne and Urpu as they talked about their work, and we all enjoyed the informal and enthusiastic chats with them over coffee and lunch which gave us an insight into how they work, in very different ways but equally inspiring. Some of our group were inspired to buy so we look forward to seeing some of the art again in our homes.
Our February meeting was to suggest ideas for the year ahead, and we had some great ideas, still to be confirmed. Watch this space!
We
followed our discussions with a video about Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. She
talked us through her many different styles of art and medium, from
watercolour to oil, from botanical art to Japanese. She is 80 years old, and
in celebration, the National Gallery in Edinburgh exhibited many of
her works at their 2011 exhibition, which we visited in October.
Our
March outing was to Hazel Campbell's studio where she kindly demonstrated
her technique of using a bamboo shoot dipped in ink to create a couple of
quick works of art, and gave us time over refreshments to have a chat about
her work.
We then visited her exhibition at The High Street Gallery, Kirkcudbright and
this was made all the more interesting having just seen her working. We
found
her colours just delightful.
Our April visit to the exhibition of works by David Donaldson provoked some
differing opinions and comments, so it was an interesting visit. Not
everyone liked his work, although his portraits were good, and he had
varying styles for his landscapes. The life size self portrait of the nude
artist with a strategically placed rose brought the most amusement.
Our
grateful thanks to Angela Lawrence for the time she
gave to us when we visited her studio in Castle
Douglas in May. She made our visit interesting and
informative and her work was much appreciated; one
of her paintings is shown to the right. Her
website is
www.cliencestudio.co.uk. We also
visited the McGill Duncan Gallery where the friendly
owners kindly let us see the exhibition of Ayrshire
Artists which wasn't due to open till the next day,
and we all loved their choice of ceramics and other
art that they sell in their gallery.
We
had a very enjoyable day out to Bowhill House in June, the sun
shone so we saw the scenery at its best on our journey. We had guided tours
round the House, which was full of beautiful and very valuable porcelain,
and an unbelievable amount of paintings and portraits, from Canaletto to
Henry Raeburn. I think the favourite of all is seen here, entitled Winter
by Joshua Reynolds.
There was a most enjoyable outing to Kirkcudbright in July, where we saw a
new selection of paintings by The Glasgow Boys. There were many
artists featured in the exhibition, and we are grateful for the guided tour
around this wonderful display. I think we all felt fortunate to live in an
area where this art comes to our doorstep. We all had our favourites of
course and imagined the paintings on our own walls! Lunch was al fresco in
the sunshine and much enjoyed by everyone.
Our August outing was to The Mill on the Fleet
where there was an open exhibition of paintings on the
theme of The Five Red Herrings. The paintings
caused the group to ponder on the merits or otherwise of
both amateur and professional artists, and one in
particular where we tried to find the five red herrings
hidden in a clever circle of colours. Roselle ended the
visit by explaining about the wall hanging she had
designed and which was woven by the Stewartry Spinners
and Weavers. This was in the form of a circle, with the
triangular parts of the wheel portraying the sights of
Galloway. It was a beautiful piece of work and well
worth a look.
Our
September outing was to the Catstrand to see the work of
Pamela Grace and to meet the artist and in October we
visited The National Gallery to see an exhibition of
Elizabeth Blackadder in celebration of the artist's 80th
birthday.
Our next meeting:
Friday 10th
February - we plan to visit Stranraer Museum
to see an exhibition of James Fayed's paintings
and to follow this with a visit to the Waterloo
Gallery, also in Stranraer. We will meet at
the Riverside Car Park, Newton Stewart, for car sharing.
Times for these envents will be decided later when
details will be forwarded to members of the Group.