Poole & East Dorset Art Society November 2014 ~Newsletter~

Poole & East Dorset Art Society

CELEBRATING 90 YEARS

November 2014

~Newsletter~

THE COACH DRIVER ON THE AMSTERDAM HOLIDAY FOUND THE ONLY TOILET IN BELGIUM.

POOLE & EAST DORSET ART SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER: NOVEMBER 2014

EDITOR’S NOTES

Welcome, once again to your November Newsletter. And what a newsletter! It’s really great to read all the interesting and varied accounts from our new contributors: Maureen, Linda, Lupita, Carol.

I would also like to slip in this latest snippet of news: PEDAS has booked a three week slot at the Lighthouse for June next year - this time using the top Floor Gallery and the Mezzanine area leading up to it. This is a great opportunity to exhibit particularly large and exciting work; so there’s no size restriction. Also, there’s a new member of staff at the Lighthouse - who is an exhibiting artist himself - he now organizes the art exhibition bookings for the Lighthouse and therefore understands our requirements.

As ever, the Newsletter wants to hear from members – ideas, exhibitions you have seen, outings, etc – so make a note of them while they’re fresh in your mind and share them with us. Email me...Sally [email protected] Next deadline date: 28 December

FRONT COVER by Dick Hewitson.

This painting is from his ‘Ledges’ series concerning the Kimmeridge Ledges which are partly covered by the sea at high tide. Dick is exhibiting with ‘ADDELPHI’ at the Gallery Upstairs from 27th November to 8th December.

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

I have a very exciting opportunity to tell you about this month. Only a couple of weeks ago we were approached by the Dorset Golf and Country Club with a proposal to display and sell our paintings at their resort near Bere Regis. Liz, Pam and I have now had two meetings with them and visited the Club to see just where they are proposing that our work would be displayed.

When I say ‘resort’, this is not just a golf club. They also offer golfing, bowling and self-catering holidays in their 16-room hotel, 2 separate houses and 12 luxury log homes (each sleeping 8 people). So to add to their 550 golf club and 170 bowls club members, they annually accommodate some 8000 visiting golfers and 4500 holiday makers for periods ranging from weekends to a week and have 1600 bowlers already booked in for this coming winter season. A 3

huge number of people to see our work, live with it for a few days and hopefully buy it to take home as a memento of their holiday.

The space we are being offered is the hotel/bowls club entrance hall plus all the houses. Each house has space for 6-8 paintings of all sizes though there is probably more scope for larger work. They are looking in the first instance for local views (Purbeck countryside and coast), primarily figurative though we think they may be open to more abstract interpretations. Framing would need to be appropriate to the spaces so should mainly be cream/neutral though light wood would be suitable for some of the walls (no gold, black, dark wood) and box canvases will also work well. We would suggest that you do not frame any new work until it has been accepted for display.

We should stress that the Golf Club will have final say on selection of paintings but you can rest assured that we will liaise closely with them to present your work.

Price range should be from £50 to £500 on which 10% commission would be payable. They would do the hanging, selling and administration and cover all work with their own insurance. Obviously, no stewarding would be required.

We are still at the preliminary stage but we wanted you to hear about it quickly. The logistics have not yet been finalised but, if you are interested in taking part in this new venture, please talk to or phone Pam, Liz or myself.

Val

COMMITTEE NEWS September/October 2014

Welcome to new committee members: Joy Gow, the new GUS Treasurer has been joining us at committee. Obviously she does not become an official committee member until AGM agreement but we welcome her involvement. We still have two places to fill for next year so if you are interested, have a chat with a committee member and come along for a taster if you want to.

How would you like to receive your Newsletter ? A few more members opted for an electronic copy of the Newsletter but a couple have reverted to paper. The choice is yours. Rest assured that the newsletter will still be available in print for those who want it. Email does save us some money.

Exhibitions/Events: PEDAS Autumn Exhibition has just finished and was well received. Many felt it was one of our most varied and high quality exhibitions for a long time. One issue, however, was that of the lack of sculpture, making the room appear a little open. Did anyone else feel that was a particular 4

problem? Sculptors find the Gallery not conducive to selling sculpture at a suitable price. It was agreed we need to find a way to encourage more sculpture. Ideas gratefully considered.

PEDAS Spring Exhibition 18/3 – 7/4/15: A vote in committee determined to alternate between a theme and no theme for PEDAS exhibitions. Whilst everyone liked to “do what I like to do”, most also welcomed the challenge, discipline and learning that resulted from a theme. After a long debate, the theme for Spring 2015 was agreed to be: “Chiaroscuro” (very arty, look it up). John Bowen has agreed to talk to us about the subject on a Thursday in the New Year.

We are contacting Lighthouse about future exhibitions there.

Publicity: The cost/effectiveness of so many flyers and posters was questioned, though no conclusion was arrived at this time. Need to monitor; (currently we distribute to libraries, hotels, bus stations, tourist information offices, Lighthouse, etc). We have decided to abandon the practice of inviting former buyers to exhibition PVs by letter. Postage is getting too expensive and the response is patchy. We will try from now on to collect emails.

Outings: The next coach trip is to be February 18, 2015, going to Bath for the Jeremy Gardiner exhibition. See details elsewhere in this Newsletter.

Treasurer’s report: Following our 90th Birthday events and “the summer of spend”, our finances are starting to recover. Our overall balance is down to just over £3K today and it has been noted that expenses are rising; postage, cost of speakers, hire etc. Our Treasurer feels there is no need to panic but we instigated a review of our expenses and outgoings asking, “are we able to live within our current budget without more income and without compromising quality of club activity” ? We’ll keep you posted.

The Gallery Upstairs News: Roger Brewer, the manager of Upton Country Park has invited members of PEDAS to a “workshop” afternoon on 5th November to talk about how the Park is progressing and what ideas might make it even better. There are 4 of us going so far. In the Walled Garden, a new sign board, including clip frame for display of the gallery exhibition should have been put up by the end of October. Underfloor heating work is still aiming for Dec2014/Jan 2015 for work on site at gallery.

Are we moving in the right direction? From time to time we contemplate such esoteric questions as “Are we getting it right? Should we be more ambitious? Is everyone happy with the how the club is developing? Should we look for more members?” John Bowen, our President, has previously run a brainstorming session with the Committee and it was agreed we might benefit from another, possibly in the New Year to welcome new committee members. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about the future of the club, let us know. Send us an email or speak to one of us on the committee.

Committee Member contacts:

Val Taylor (Chair) Liz Magee [email protected] [email protected] 623529 721423 Mary Smolaga (Treasurer) Caroline Robertson [email protected] [email protected] 761936 881179 Sally Holland Dorothy Fox sallyportraits @hotmail.com [email protected] 775304 731839 Pam Philip John Biggs [email protected] [email protected] 887826 770338 Plus Gallery Upstairs Management team: Barry Kavanagh 678676

THURSDAY EVENING PROGRAMME FOR THE NEW YEAR AT ST ALDHEMS ACADEMY Pat has organized two very interesting sessions to begin our programme for the New Year. The first two sessions on 8th and 15th January will be PORTRAITS. We will be drawing and/or painting from various portrait models : ‘FACES FROM AROUND THE WORLD’. Bring materials of your choice.

The full programme for the new term will be in January’s newsletter.

COACH TRIP TO BATH IN FEBRUARY

As we all enjoyed Jeremy Gardiner’s talk at our 90th Anniversary Dinner, the next coach trip will be on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, to see Jeremy’s exhibition: Jurassic Coast - at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. The form will be in January’s issue. This exhibition features the famous Jurassic Coast seen through the eyes of landscape artist Jeremy Gardiner, who lives in Bath and is well known for his unique portrayal of the British coastline. He has borrowed real specimens of fossils from the area - ammonites, plesiosaurs, brittle stars and plant-like forms called crinoids – all of which occur in the artwork.

PEDAS Spring Exhibition, 18 March – 7 April 2015, Theme – CHIAROSCURO

We’ll be turning our minds to the idea of ‘CHIAROSCURO’ which is Italian for light-dark. “It is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. Similar effects in cinema and photography also are called chiaroscuro.” -Wikipedia. John Bowen will talk to us about it in the New Year. 6

CAROLINE’S CREATIVE SUNDAYS

2nd November 2014 – Alison Board Workshop Love of the Countryside

Alison is a mixed media artist who experiments with a wide variety of materials to express her love of colour and texture. Based in North Dorset she uses the surroundings of her studio as a constant sources of inspiration in both her own work and in her classes.

The workshop will be based on seed heads/natural forms so members are welcome to bring actual subjects or photographs, whichever you prefer.

14th December 2014 – OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY

Please note we have access to the Church Hall from 1pm.

Enjoy the appetizing food supplied by the members; for your entertainment there will be quizzes; assortment of games and country dancing all in the style of a ceilidh gathering.

11th January 2015 Catherine Pitchford

Introduction to collage, stencils and mono printing

Catherine studied at the University of Wales for a degree in Art Education, followed by a PGCE in Art and Design at the University of Birmingham and has been an Art Teacher for over 21 years. Catherine has exhibited in many group shows, Bournemouth Arts Club, Poole Printmakers, North Dorset Art Group and is a regular exhibitor at Dorset Arts Week.

This afternoon will be an exciting way to enjoy and explore the mark making process by using stencils and found objects to reveal a printed design. A mono print only produces a single print direct from a plate whereas if you combined it will collage, foam sheets, stencils and colour overlays it can be repeated several times. It will be a very experimental, fun and creative process suitable for beginners to printmaking.

Print by Catherine Pitchford

MEMBERS’ PROFILES

An important part of the PEDAS website is the section on our members' profiles. Each member is able to write about their art, show a representative selection of their artwork and give links if necessary to their own website, Facebook page and email address.

Go to http://www.pedas.org.uk and click on Members to view some profiles. If you want to add your own profile, click on the red contact button and send a few paragraphs about you and your art. The whole process is quite painless!

Dave Hendrey

~CHRISTMAS PARTY TOMBOLA, 14th DECEMBER~

This year Carol Cox will be organising the tombola with the proceeds going to Forest Holme Hospice in memory of Pam. We are looking for contributions of BOTTLES and CHOCOLATES. If you can contribute would you please bring them in on a Thursday Night or bring them along on the day. Thank you in advance. Carol Cox Telephone no 01202 625627.

BRIAN’S BOX

“Oh to be in PENZANCE now that autumn’s here” – a famous quote said of a wonderful part of England, I believe… But on a more serious note, Shirley and I enjoyed a week in town recently despite a gale, high winds, rain and sunshine! There to enjoy the art world of NEWLYN and ST IVES. There are so many galleries tucked away in back roads with wonderful works on show, and while St Ives is best known for the PAINTERS of LIGHT I prefer the works of the NEWLYN SCHOOL. The TATE, ST IVES was a disappointment with an exhibition of photography – small prints of 3 or 4 inches square, over-framed in vast , white mounts to some two feet square. Once the town’s GAS WORKS, the gallery in very impressive, facing out to sea, and just a few yards away is the start of the footpath around the island, a rocky hill overlooking the town and the Atlantic ocean, a good short walk.

Once again we have seen the best of Cornwall from ART to LOCATION, the big towns and MOUSEHOLE and ST JUST, we never tire of our repeat visits especially the bus ride over ZENNOR MOOR. Why not go and see for yourself? Best Wishes, Brian

THE PEDAS AUTUMN EXHIBITION REVISITED by Lupita de Aish

It was wonderful to see the opening day - so many people attending in spite of heavy rain and the slip road being closed for gas repairs.

The exhibition has been particularly good and the works were stunning. The organization, as always, was perfect; it was a pleasure to see. You would wish to have a manor house in order to have your art displayed. The gallery is in mint condition - congratulations to Barry without whom the gallery would not be as beautiful and well cared for.

Mary Smolaga, 'Stair Hole'

To mention just one or two of my favourite works: one was Mary Smolaga’s gorgeous painting: ‘Stair Hole’, with its patterns of folded rock. It must have taken lots of patience and dedication; lovely to admire; a fresh treatment of a familiar scene. There were many, many delightful pieces. I liked the portrait: ‘Gary’, by Sally. She was explaining that he was a life drawing model but she concentrated on the drawing of his profile emphasising the peculiarities and individuality of that view. I especially admired Clare Hadley’s eco-dyed and stitched silk textile piece called ‘Summer’s Remains’, with its spiders and leaves. It was subtle, delicate and unique. So many lovely pieces; all in all, a wonderful exhibition.

Finally, the nitty gritty: We sold 12 paintings and two 3D works, from which the total commission was £120.50. This, added to the entry fees of £390.00, made a total income of £510.50. Expenses totalled £287.20, which included the printing of flyers, other publicity & private view, etc. The profit for PEDAS was £223.30.

AMSTERDAM ADVENTURE

Review of PEDAS trip to Amsterdam, September 2014 by Linda Addison

I’m a fairly new member, and this was only my second Pedas trip; by any standards, it was brilliant. The journey in the coach was long, but once across the channel, made interesting by the range of lorries from all over Europe, the graffiti on the walls and bridges, the occasional glimpses of flat Netherlands countryside, and, of course, the informative handouts from John Biggs and suggestions from John Bowen.

Highlights of the trip, for me, were the newly refurbished Rijksmuseum, and the Zaanse Schans windmill village; closely followed by Rembrandt’s house, the Van Gogh Museum, which was chronologically arranged, so you could follow his development from earliest beginnings to his amazing late paintings – and the meals at the hotel! On the free day in Amsterdam, many people took the opportunity to wander round the old city, to sample the bars and restaurants, or to take a boat trip. We chose instead to take a train to The Hague to see the Mauritshuis museum - also newly refurbished and well worth the journey, although the trip was more complicated than we’d expected.

Everyone was stunned by the huge size of the Rijksmuseum, with its original 1880 wall paintings and mosaic floors, now restored. An excellent guide led us through the main treasures, including the huge Hall of Honour, dominated by Rembrandt’s Night Watch at one end, and lined with bays with works by Vermeer, de Hooch, Steen and Rembrandt. After the tour, we were on our own to explore, but there was no way we could see even a fraction of the richness of the place in a single day, and everyone made their own selection.

The Rembrandt’s House museum is small, but filled with etchings, drawings and paintings by Rembrandt’s contemporaries, and it gives a real sense of life in 17th-century Holland. Upstairs, in the attic studio, visitors were trying their hand at etching, and there was an interesting talk and demonstration about Rembrandt’s materials – the preparation of canvases and pigments.

We came across Rembrandt’s pigments again in our visit to the Zaanse Schans, where windmills from all over Holland (and some local ones) have been collected and saved from demolition. They all work, grinding spices or sugar, producing oil or sawing timber. For us the most interesting was De Kat, which grinds pigments, and where Rembrandt, we were told, bought some of his pigments. We climbed up steep ladders to the balcony that gives access to the sails - and a couple of brave Pedas members sat down to sketch the stunning views across the river.

As for the hotel, the meals were not cheap, but they provided a stunning buffet, with every kind of fish - pickled, smoked or raw, including oysters - cold meat, raw meat and vegetables that you could have grilled or wokked while you watched; Chinese food, all sorts of desserts, and plenty more. Breakfasts were on the same scale - cheese, ham, a range of breads and pastries, fruit juices, bacon and eggs, jam, honey, cereals, yogurt ...

The planning and organisation of the whole trip was brilliant, with just the right mix of advance planning and free time. A huge round of applause to Val and everyone who was involved.

‘ADDELPHI’ ART EXHIBITION AT THE GALLERY UPSTAIRS

PEDAS members welcome at the Preview on Sunday November 30th 10.30 – 3.30. The three painters are former teachers who worked at Parkstone Grammar School for a total of more than 60 years.

David, of North Road, Poole was, for many years, head of art at the school. Today he is a professional artist and lectures on the history of art throughout Dorset and Hampshire.

Arnold, who lives in Bournemouth Road, Parkstone, was part of the design and technology teaching team, he is now a professional artist and holds art workshops and classes in Dorset and beyond.

And Dick, of Brook Lane, Corfe Mullen, was head of biology and science at the school. Today he is a full time painter who exhibits in Dorset and elsewhere in the south west.

“I suppose we should call ourselves the very, very old masters!” said David. “However, our work is all new and covers a range of subjects and styles, which we hope will have a wide appeal.”

The artists will make a donation from works sold to the Poole based children’s hospice charity Julia’s House.

ART IN MADRID by Val

I was fortunate to have the opportunity of spending a few days in Madrid in September, a vibrant and beautiful city that I had not visited for some 25 years. Everyone knows about the Prado and the Reina Sofia Museums but I suspect that not so many are aware of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

The Thyssen, as it is known locally, opened in 1992 and is housed in the Palacio de Villahermosa after the building’s conversion into a museum. The permanent collection comprises nearly one thousand works of art covering the period from the 13th century to the late 20th century and was once the second largest private collection in the world.

Two generations of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family started the collection in the 1920s. The wife of the second Baron began collecting in 1987 and her collection of over 200 works, covering the 19th and early 20th centuries, has its own identity in the museum.

These collections complement the art found in the Prado, the taste of the two Barons being for portraits and landscapes in contrast to the predominance of religious and historical subjects found in many other Spanish museums. As well as representing early European painting, the museum also features works from some movements not represented in Spanish state-owned collections such as Impressionism, Fauvism, German Expressionism and the experimental avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. In addition, it boasts an important collection of 19th century American painting not found in any other European museum institutions.

Not exactly local to Poole but well worth a visit if you are looking for somewhere a bit different for that city break! __oOo__

Peter Greenwood Exhibition

Peter’s exhibition is upstairs at the Hatch Gallery, 7a Church Street, Christchurch BH23 1BW from Sat 8th November until Friday 21st November.

There will be original paintings on display with prints of the works for sale. He will be at the gallery on Sat 8th and Sat 15th. Visit: http://www.peter-greenwood-art.co.uk/

CITY SIGHTS & DELIGHTS On Wednesday 15th October PEDAS descended on London. No one particular exhibition was the intended destination, so members all did their own thing. Here, Carol and Barry share with us their own experiences, and the artworks that had significance for them. Carol Cox’s Day in London “A luxury coach deposited us at the V&A where I couldn't resist a quick visit to the medieval galleries. There I found the amazingly preserved, pale (not black), wooden framework of a London house front of 1600 with decorative carved edges and corbels. It was three storeys high with full height bay windows and shields carved on panels below each window. There was also a three storey wooden spiral staircase of 1520 from France with galleried landings. The central post was carved like feathers interrupted with religious figures. A diagram showed it in the central hall of a private house; a very impressive place. Also there was a huge stone monument of 1430 from Verona - a life size mounted military commander revealed between 'curtains' held back by Roman looking soldiers. From there, in solid traffic, a slow bus took me to Piccadilly where I headed off down Regent Street to the Mall Galleries and 'The Society of Marine Artists' exhibition. Here I enjoyed the wonderful paintings of the sea and beaches, with their beautifully observed reflections on flat wet sand in various lights. I never tire of these. I was less keen on the umpteen detailed paintings of boats - though they were probably very accurate! There were so many styles with finely detailed textures of ropes and nets, and fabulous splashing of froth on rocks. I especially loved a huge, sepia-coloured woodcut print by Pine Feroda (group of artists), see example below: http://www.pineferoda.co.uk/gallery.html .

Also there were colourful Caribbean pastels and interesting seaweedy floats which were lovely. One of my favourites showed children playing on a beach, the tide having gone out leaving reflective rock pools below a green sea wall. I was also impressed by a boatyard in a quiet backwater in Venice, not an obvious choice given the location, but beautifully captured buildings and light on the water. Margaret Heath paints the most perfect, clear, bright, detailed watercolours. In the back gallery, too hot to linger in, there was exquisitely detailed work by the miniaturists and engravers - where I met our member, Pauline Gyles. I then ventured on to the National Gallery, but staffing issues had closed the Impressionist gallery where I had hoped to see a new grouping of Monet's garden works. About to skip down the stairs and out, I spotted a Frederic Lord Leighton painting of a procession of people. Called ‘Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna', it reminded me of a similar colourful painting in Bournemouth library.

Frederic, Lord Leighton, ‘Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna' 1853-5 (National Gallery)

Nicholas Charles Williams, 'Adoration of the Sea' 1994-9 (in Bournemouth Library)

I was tempted by the special offers in nearby Cass Arts but resisted with my usual mantra 'use what I've already got'. So I continued up the rather down-at-heel Charing Cross Road through the hoardings to a tube station for a faster return to Knightsbridge.”

Barry’s Day in London “Um…..Where to go in London? Poppies at the Tower; the V&A; the Tate Britain; the Mall Galleries or the RA?

Well, as it turned out we took the short journey to Green Park and the RA housing the Anslem Kiefer exhibition – and what a wise decision it was. I could hear Basil Fawlty standing behind me saying “Don’t mention the war”, but that‘s what the exhibition was all about. Twelve rooms of monumental paintings, installations and sketchbooks. It is no surprise that it coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Berlin wall coming down. Translated from German, Kiefer means ‘Pine Tree’; with this he felt an affiliation with the forest. One of his masterpieces depicts a ‘Path through the Teutoburger Wald’ – an area I know very well. The Third Reich was reflected throughout the exhibition. In all, his work, an anti-war message was shouting at the viewer. In the ninth room hung a colossal sheet of lead studded with real diamonds. ‘A diamond is part of the earth in the true spirit of Alchemy’ His idea was that lead is the only medium heavy enough to

support Art. I would have called it ‘diamonds on the soles of her shoes’ after Paul Simon.

The painting ‘Orders of the Night’ tells us there is a connection between earthly and celestial – the reason sunflowers follow the sun. He commented ‘When I look at ripe, heavy sunflowers bending to the ground, I see the firmament and the stars’. His sunflower works, not surprisingly, were influenced by Van Gogh. Walking through a huge forest in the last room, a sign is written on a tree: Der unbekannte Maler (to the unknown Painter). Is that us? P.S. Bad translation by the RA…...should have read: ’Unknown Artist’. “

THE SVEN CONNECTION by Maureen Franklin

A couple of weeks ago, I and three other members of Pedas, Caroline Robertson, Teresa Senior and Kay Compiani spent a few days in St Ives.

Sadly the gallery of Tate St Ives was closed as they were hanging a new exhibition but Caroline and I did visit Barbara Hepworth’s garden which was very inspiring despite the showers.

There are innumerable galleries to visit in the town, including the St Ives Art Club. The Waterside Gallery had some beautiful still lifes by Terry Wybrow and the Belgrave St Ives was exhibiting some very interesting semi abstracts by Ffiona Lewis. I think we all agreed that the best modern art gallery was the Porthminster Gallery which had a very wide selection of contemporary art including works by Sandra Blow. One oil painting that made an impression on us was “Shifting Yellow” by Nick Bodimeade, the way he applied the paint gave an impression of figures on a beach in shimmering sunlight, very clever.

We also visited Penlee House in Penzance, Kay’s suggestion, it was well worth a visit, the gallery has a permanent collection of paintings covering the late 19th and early 20th centuries and featuring some of the Newlyn School of artists. We saw some stunning large watercolours by Walter Langley of the ordinary people in the fishing community.

Portraits by Leonard Fuller who was the founder of The St Ives School of Painting, were currently being exhibited there, many of the notable characters painted by him included his wife and fellow artist Marjorie Mostyn, Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon and a young Sven Berlin.

I remember seeing Sven Berlin in Wimborne, a flamboyant bearded figure who always wore a large silver dragonfly brooch across the front of his waistcoat.

Sven Berlin was a St Ives sculptor, painter and writer. He was obliged to leave Cornwall after his book “The Dark Monarch” was published in 1962. It contained thinly disguised unflattering descriptions of his fellow artists, “the St Ives colony with the lid off” and was hastily withdrawn following a flurry of libel actions against him. “The Dark Monarch” has now been re-published, the last of the litigants having passed away. He moved to the New Forest with his wife living in the company of the gypsies and his good friend Augustus John. Sometime after his wife left him he met and married Julia who was considerably younger than him and they eventually lived in a gamekeeper’s cottage, where he carried on working in his studio, at Gaunts Common. He died aged 88, his widow is the custodian of his work which is still exhibited in St Ives and London. 20

Biggsy’s places an occasional series of articles on places worth making a detour for. 6. Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh, Suffolk

This is easily the most paintable country church I know. Situated on the A12, midway between Saxmundham and Lowestoft, it proudly sits, like a great towering ship, in the broad flat expanse of the mudflats and reed beds of the River Blyth. It doesn’t come as a surprise to hear that it is known as “the cathedral of the marshes”. There are lots of paintings and sketches of this church and this one by local artist Glynn Thomas, is better than anything I could do.

It is a working parish church, dating from the mid-15th century and the massive length of its nave reflects the wealth of the wool and cloth trade in East Anglia at that time. It now dominates the small hamlet of Blythburgh. You can get a good view in a small layby just to the south but the best views to paint or sketch can be found walking the paths along the estuary to the north.

As you approach, the sandy-coloured stone and knapped flint walls give it a lightness that is enhanced by the tracery in windows and in the decorated parapet of the aisles. Large clerestory windows north and south make it possible to see right through the building to sky on the other side, adding to its mysterious delicacy. Inside, the austerity of decoration and the intense light from the high level windows serve to emphasise the sense of height and space. The refreshing lack of lavish decoration is a result of a combination of Cromwell’s reforms, the grinding poverty of the rural area since the 17th century , and its protection from Victorian “restoration” by William Morris and his Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). 21

The plainness, however, belies a plethora of artistic gems, from the ancient doors and floor to the towering angels in the roof and the quirky figures, from the 19th century, carved in the bench ends.

You can park in the church car park, a small turning, left off the A12, just before the pub. And you can see more on http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Blythburgh.htm

You might also want to take a look at Aldeburgh and Snape Maltings, home of Benjamin Britten’s music and now Maggie Hambling. Southwold, origin of Adnam’s beer and beloved of Stanley Spencer and Michael Palin, is just down the road.

TOP FLOOR GALLERY & MEZZANINE www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/visual-arts GALLERY- ART SPACES TO HIRE The Lighthouse Poole is pleased to announce the launch of a new way of working with our Visual Art Spaces. The TFG (Top Floor Gallery) and Mezzanine Gallery promote the best of local regional artistic talent. We welcome submissions by individual artists and artists groups working in all media. This opportunity is open to all artists both regionally and nationally. We are always keen to see new work submitted for consideration. The spaces have good natural daylight augmented by down lights and ceiling lights. Option Two has a lower hire fee. Support for Exhibitors includes private view, brochure listing and website entry, as well as free hanging of work. For more details please email Stephen Bishop the Visual Arts Co-Ordinator [email protected] www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/visual-arts 22

Memories of Pam Hardeman

Contributors: Anita, Sandy, Suki, Jeneta.

Though we are all so sad that Pam is not with us anymore, our memories of her will always be about having fun; she was always such good company. Jeneta did a yoga class and went on walks with Pam, they joined a portrait group together and Suki and Pam both did an Italian class together. She loved cooking the Italian way.

She had lots and lots of friends and made people laugh. She particularly enjoyed her trips out during Dorset Art Weeks visiting all the local artists’ studios. She loved all the PEDAS people and treasured the trips to London and abroad. She was a good artist herself and had a real interest in art and the history of art.

Just after she was diagnosed with cancer Pam said: “I’ve been a b*****y fool”. She said she had waited and put off doing so many things until she retired, and then it was too late. She was a very kind person and wanted others to learn from this. In her working life she had been a residential care worker, visiting people and looking after them.

Pam loved her garden and it was a real pleasure for her to take her first cup of tea of the day out into the garden so that she could sit there listening to the birds and enjoying nature. The church was full at her funeral - Franco was really touched. She died on September 23rd and we all sang and celebrated her life, as Pam had wanted us to.

__oOo__

Point of View

“Well done for all the interesting content in the Newsletter. A thought, if we do want to save money - and possibly postage costs - how about using a cheaper lightweight paper?

However, I really would like to correct the statement that the Canford School session on 14th August was a complete washout. It wasn't a great summer evening as there was rain earlier - but I got there around 7pm and met Brian, Joy and a few others including Suki who was working on a very complicated architectural drawing. The friendly security man didn't allow photos of the school but I did get some good photos of the church. Maybe I'll work these into a painting one day. I prefer evenings to days as they're quieter. Perhaps we could put Canford on the list for next year?

Best wishes, Anne Peterson“

Thanks Anne. We will look into your suggestions and will make sure that Pam Philip bears Canford School in mind for next year. Sally 23

The PEDAS Christmas Party 14th December, 1 o’clock.

Christmas starts here!

As always please bring along some food to share and one significant other - also knife, fork, spoon and plate. PEDAS will supply drinks. Entertainment includes quizzes, games and country dancing.

On previous occasions Pam Hardeman and Norma have supplied and served the home-made soup. This year, however, neither can be with us so we are asking if anyone would like to do this for us?