The Committee have produced a set of procedures to cope with emergency medical and evacuation procedures.  Please find full details included in 'Our Documents' section under 'Our Society' tab.

The George Street Canteen Mural by Ant Steel

In the autumn of 2025 The Arts Society St Albans (TASSA) made a successful application to The Arts Society for a £1,500 Patricia Fay grant to sponsor Ant Steel, the local St Albans street artist, to create a new mural at the George Street Canteen at 9a George Street.

The artwork brings local history to life with a playful twist. Set against a Victorian-style backdrop of George Street, the artwork features a cheerful row of dogs proudly holding a string of sausages—an energetic nod to the site’s past as an abattoir whose famous sausage exports once supplied markets as far as London. Blending heritage with humour, the piece celebrates the city’s love of dogs and the lively community that gathers at the canteen today. Vivid, colourful, and full of character, the mural will also include a mounted plaque acknowledging the support of The Arts Society St Albans who helped make the project possible.

The dogs in the final work will have the faces of 'local dogs', including Dylan, the eponymous hound of the nearby restaurant, and the dog of the owner at the George Street Canteen.

TASSA membership is still below pre-Covid numbers, and this is the case nationally. We would really like to return to full membership but we do need your help if we are to achieve this.

Like me, I am sure that many of you are wary of joining social media platforms, but for a younger generation such digital noticeboards provide another way to gather information. Facebook seems to be the platform favoured by the middle-aged. Indeed TAS member research has shown that 33% of Facebook users in the UK are over 45 years old and that 55% of members use Facebook. TAS believes that by having a Facebook presence we can digitally spread the word about ourselves in our local communities and hopefully recruit new members through the platform.

Accordingly we have created a Facebook page which we are officially launching at the start of this new Programme year.

Our Facebook page address is: Facebook

To be successful, we need to attract ‘followers’ to our page. So we would encourage those of you who are on Facebook to ‘follow’ us, to engage with and ‘like’ our posts, and especially to ‘share’ our posts with your Facebook friends whom you think might be interested in learning about our Society.

Please help us make our page another successful recruiting tool.

We look forward to welcoming you to our lectures and other events during our 2024-2025 season.

Warmest wishes

Janice Blackstaffe
TASSA Treasurer - on behalf of the Committee

The Arts Society St Albans

Notice of the 2023 AGM

The AGM will be held at 10am on 11th October 2023 before the Lecture. Complimentary coffee and biscuits will be available. Please try to attend as we need a quorum to make the meeting valid.

Papers

The papers relating to this year's AGM can be found at the Our Society tab under Documents.  There are the following documents for you to review:

• Agenda
• Minutes of the 2022 AGM
• President’s Report 2023
• Treasurer’s Report and Income and Expenditure Report 2023
• Membership Report 2023
• Young Arts Report 2023
• Visits Secretaries’ Report 2023
• Beds and Herts Area Activities 2023

If you have any questions or objections to the proposals and reports, please let us know by email to susanbloomfield@talk21.com  or by post  to the Secretary, Arts Society St Albans, 107 Hazelwood Drive, St Albans, AL4 0UY by Friday 6th October 2023.

Thank you 
Sue Bloomfield

Secretary, The Arts Society St Albans

Arts Society Community Grant for the Company of Teens

In 2021 the Arts Society decided to help its Member Societies support the arts locally by offering a grant of £250 for them to donate to a local arts cause. The aim was to help Societies to connect with the arts locally and raise awareness for their ‘re-opening’ following lockdown. Our Committee applied for a grant for the Abbey Theatre’s Company of Teens, the youth section of the Company of Ten. We wished to support the Company of Teens as it rebuilds its membership of 13–19-year-olds, depleted during lockdown, and to re-establish our links with our host theatre as we returned to ‘live’ meetings.

We were delighted to be awarded the grant in January which we topped up with £50 from our branch funds. The money is being used to develop a production through workshops, open to non-members, which will be performed at the Theatre later in the year.

Sue Bloomfield

Young Arts Report - 2022

 It has been a great pleasure to be TASSA’s Young Arts Co-ordinator and such a rewarding relationship with Heathlands School, that started some 7 years ago when their new art block was constructed. 

Art, in its many forms, is a major focus for the school, from nursery age right through to GCSE classes.  With the students being unable easily to express themselves verbally, art is a very important outlet and their work is displayed throughout the school.

You will know how well our donations have been used, from the original purchase of the movie camera, then iPens, sewing machines for new textile classes and most recently contributing to a willow weaver’s visit.  The wonderful stag that resulted is pictured below.

I’m also happy to let you know that the Art@TheStation project has finally been completed.  This was interrupted several times by Covid, but the last frame of the students’ work was hung in July.  Please pop into the waiting room on platform 1 when you’re next at St Albans station and take a look.

I’m delighted that Jane Sayers is taking over my role.  She is very keen to continue this most worthwhile and fulfilling relationship with Heathlands School.

Ros Hedges

Dear All

 I first met with Andrew Chillingsworth, Community Rail Officer Thameslink, back in February 2020 to discuss The Arts Society initiative called Art@thestation, hoping to involve Heathlands School for the Deaf, who we've been supporting for some years.  Andrew was very receptive to the idea, particularly as the station was being revamped, with improved facilities and new buildings which could provide space for the students' artwork.

 As you all well know, since then we've been hit by Covid, with the school closing, and that, together with the terrible weather conditions over the winter, the completion of the building project was delayed.  However Monday 19th July proved to be a memorable day not only when England opened up, but also when the students' artwork was hung in the newly built waiting room on platform 1 at St Albans station.

 The talented students' artwork on display conveys a message about the perspective of those who are deaf.  Inclusion is an important issue for us all to bear in mind and this is an appealing and effective reminder in a public space.  Please make sure you take a look next time you travel from St Albans station, but if you're unable here is a link to some photographs.

 https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgIptaKitelBjaQSsy3jk9zGCLdzAg?e=WhDyBR

 The HertsAd have already featured the story on their website (they've apologised for our incorrect name!).

 My thanks to Andrew and Thameslink for supporting this project and to Caroline Barnes, Young Arts Area Coordinator, who made me aware of the initiative and helped me along the way.

 Ros Hedges

Young Arts Coordinator

The Arts Society St Albans

July 2021

https://youtu.be/W5NOrG888CI

Please look under lectures for details and a booking form for this virtual morning of special interest run by the Beds and Herts Area.

We are sorry to annouce the passing of Bridgit Moss, a long term member of our society.  Bridgit was an enthusiactic member who helped run the society for many years.  She served as Membership Secretary, Chairman, Vice President and President.  She also supprted many of the trips and holidays.  She stepped in to take charge of an Irish holiday, I was lucky enough to join, when our Chairman Pauline became too ill to travel.

Goodbye Bridgit and thank you for all your hard work.

DailyArt App

DailyArt is a free app for use with both Android and Apple tablet computers that can be downloaded by the usual methods.  The Google Store rating for the app is 4.8 * and there are over 1,000,000 users.

(This description is for the Android version of the app; the Apple version is similar).

In May 2020, Time Magazine declared it, ‘the must-have app for all art lovers.  Even if you already know the work, you may not know all the fascinating details the app serves up on the backstory of the art’. 

The DailyArt icon on the Home screen leads to a pre-selected work of art, usually a painting.  A tap on the image leads to one of better quality.  Pressure on the screen, preferably towards the centre, gives access to options of saving the image to Gallery or Download: it’s the policy of the site to use images that are free of copyright wherever possible.  Use of the return key leads back to the current days offering.

A swipe to the right leads to the painting for the previous day in the same screen format.  Continuing that action leads to the paintings for at least the previous two hundred and fifty days.  Swiping to the left leads to a notice that work is in progress for the following day.

At the top right corner of the screen is an icon that leads to a random choice of page from an earlier date.  Continued use of this icon leads to a further random choice of art in the standard format.  There appears to be no limit to use of this option.

At an interval of about one in five selections, an advert is superimposed on the art screen.  Often there is a time delay before the screen can be cleared; the relevant icon can be quite small and can be in one of many locations.

Care needs to be taken in the use of the return key.  When using the earlier days viewing option, the return key reverses through the previous days.  With the random viewing selection, use of the return key leads back to the offering of the current day.

In order down the main screen, there are:

·       the painting;

·       the date first displayed on the site;

·       the title;

·       the painter;

·       the date of creation;

·       seen and share options;

·       notes on the painting;

·       size of the painting;

·       materials used;

·       period to which the painting belongs;

·       host museum or gallery, and

·       a notice on copyright. 

The text for the painter; period, and host site lead to further information; similar leads are often included in the main text.

At the top left of the screen is a drop-down menu of additional features.  Some are available only through a £4.99 purchase that includes the removal of adverts from the main offering.  Purchase requires registering with the site.

The following description is for the purchased app and includes only those most relevant for viewing the site.

An Archive option leads to:

·       artworks in a sequence of their recent display on the main page;

·       a list of artists in apparently random name order, presumably to spark curiosity;

·       museums in alphabetical order;

·       a list for chosen favourites, and

·       an option to view artists, museums and works not yet seen.

There is also a standard search line.

A Get Lucky option is another way of obtaining a random selection.

The most useful feature of the Settings option is the ability to change the text size of the notes.  The standard option of medium text often results in such information requiring more than one screen.  At the expense of some strain on the eyes, the small text option removes that problem.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The DailyArt app offers the opportunity each day to view a good quality image and useful brief notes on a painting chosen by the site.  It doesn’t pretend to provide an in-depth source of information for serious study. 

The notes appear to be the work of Zuzanna Stanske, the creator of the site.  Based in Warsaw and launched less than ten years ago, the DailyArt app now is available in many languages with the support of many volunteers. 

In my view, Zuzanna’s notes give a useful East European perspective to viewing Western art.  In addition to the expected work of Italian, Spanish, French, and other Western European painters, the daily offering includes many excellent works of Eastern European origin.  For me, this is the most entertaining and invigorating aspect of the site.

It is probable that the most valuable contribution of this excellent and easy to use site is the opportunity for widening experience through paintings that would not normally be chosen as well as ‘the usual suspects’.

As an indication of the range of material offered, paintings over a recent two-week period were by: Francisco Goya; Caravaggio; Henri Rousseau; Firmin Baes; Jacopo de’ Barbari; Claude Monet; Peter Paul Rubens; Jacques-Louis David; Berthe Morisot; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; Paul Cézanne; Egon Schiele; Natalia Goncharova, and Lavinia Fontana.

The app appears to be aimed at and only available on tablet computers using Android or Apple systems with the offering of a single painting per day.  A complementary site for PC users from the same stable is DailyArt Magazine, www.dailyartmagazine.com; it has longer and wider-ranging items, often linked to recent offerings on the DailyArt app.

THE ARTS SOCIETY ST ALBANS

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Friday October 30th 2020 at 10.00 a.m. held on Zoom

This meeting was held to ratify the responses from members. All members had been sent the AGM papers either by email or by post. Comments and questions were requested by October 16th and votes for the resolutions by October 30th, due notice having been given in accordance with the Constitution.

The attendees at this Zoom meeting were Committee members.

The meeting was chaired by Jocelyn Stafferton, our President.

1.    Adoption of the Minutes of AGM 2019: The minutes were agreed by the 84 members who responded, and so adopted

2.    Chairman’s Report: The Chairman’s Report had been circulated to all members.

3.    Treasurer’s Report and Adoption of the Accounts: The Treasurer’s Report and Accounts for the period 1st May 2019 to 30th June 2020 had been circulated to all members. No questions have been received, and the report and adoption of accounts was supported by the 84 members who responded and so adopted.

4.    Appointment of Independent Examiner: Mrs Amanda Attree has kindly agreed to continue to audit our accounts.
Proposer: Peter Holloway
Seconder: Stefanie Weedon                                                        This appointment was agreed by the committee

5.    Election of Committee:
Nominations for committee members willing to stand for re-election, Mrs Valerie Bell, Mrs Sue Bloomfield, Mrs Cynthia Fletcher, Mrs Ros Hedges, Mr Peter Holloway, Mrs Tricia Milne, Mrs Jane Sayers,         Mrs Stefanie Weedon.
Proposed en bloc by the Committee.                                                    These members were appointed by the 84 members who responded

6.    Election of Officers:                                                                   Chairman: Mrs Stefanie Weedon,                                               Secretary: Mrs Jane Sayers                                                              Treasurer: Mr Peter Holloway                                                         These appointments were supported by the 84 members who responded

7.    It is proposed that the Accounts Year End is changed from 30th April to 30th June to bring it in line with the membership and programme year.                                                          Proposer: Peter Holloway                                                      Seconder: Stefanie Weedon                                                                A query was raised about this on email, and this was answered by the Chairman                                                                                 This resolution was supported by the 84 members who voted and so adopted

8.    Any Other Business at the discretion of the Chairman:          The subscription for 2020/2021 will be £30 for single membership and £60 for a couple. This reduction in the subscription rate is due to the current circumstances.                                                                Notice of the lecture programme was sent out by post in August.

The President closed this meeting at 10.10 am.

What you told us about the lecture

Great Railway Stations

Dear Members

I hope you are keeping well in these difficult times.

Our lecture with Ian Swankie was a great success and most of the feedback you gave was rated at outstanding or excellent with lots of very positive comments expressing great enjoyment.  Almost 120 of you tuned in on the day and over 120 viewed on YouTube.  With two people on some screens it means a higher viewing rate than we get at our actual lectures.  Many of you sent me lovely emails, particularly for putting the lecture on YouTube, and I thank you for these. I must point out, however, that although I always ask, it is entirely up to the lecturer whether they allow a recording to be made and shown after the event. 

I hope many of you will be able to join us for the next lecture at 2pm on November 11th. The lecture will be ‘William Morris – The life of Art and the Art of Life’ by Antony Buxton.

AGM Reminder
Our AGM this year is a mixture of email votes and Zoom. We sent out the AGM papers on the 26th September and they are also on the website under Our Society > Documents.  It you haven’t already voted to accept the proposals could you help us by sending your agreement in an email to our Secretary Jane Sayers at janesayers110@yahoo.co.uk.

Best Wishes to you all

Stefanie

YOUNG ARTS REPORT

 Our support to Heathlands School for the Deaf continued this year with a much needed donation to enable the School to enter the Arts Award competition, where they were previously unsuccessful in sourcing any of the limited funding available. This is a really worthwhile project for the School, giving the students a qualification which will prioritise collaboration, creativity and self-expression through poetry composition. The poetry will be developed first in sign language which is then captured on film to show how the students want their emotions to be portrayed. This is their first time that these students have entered the Arts Award project. it will help them to grow in confidence, enjoy and achieve as well as gaining leadership skills which they can share with each other. Our donation will be used for a MasterClass from a deaf poet, and the whole project would build on a previous TASSA donation, used by the school to purchase a movie camera, to record the process. Another exciting development at the School has sadly been temporarily put on hold, owing to the Covid crisis. As part of the Arts Society national Art@thestation project, we arranged, with Govia Thameslink, for the students' artwork to be shown on special boards in the new booking hall at St Albans station. We'd like to thank Govia Thameslink for their support to this project, which is expected to happen early in 2021.

Ros Hedges

The Arts Society St Albans – visits programme 2020-21

The Committee is aware how much some members are missing our group visits. Sadly it is still not possible to organise visits because of social distancing rules at venues and on coaches. At present venues cannot predict when it will be safe to offer group visits.

As soon as it is safe and practical to do so we will resume the visits programme. We plan to include the cancelled visits to Coventry Cathedral, Burghley House and Clarence House. Tickets for Coventry or Burghley will be offered first to those of you who originally booked

LETTER FROM THE COMMITTEE  10TH July 2020

Dear Members

We are missing you, and hope you are keeping well.  We are sending members this letter to update you about various matters concerning The Arts Society St Albans, and to send you the lecture programme for the year 2020/2021.

Subscriptions

Sadly we can’t meet together at the theatre this year, so the committee have reduced the membership fee to £30, now due.  Please pay this by bank transfer to the following bank account, and include your name as a reference: The Arts Society St Albans, 30 97 25, 00405477.   If you are unable to pay by bank transfer or you do not wish to renew your membership please get in touch with our membership secretary

Cynthia Fletcher, cynthia.fletcher@sky.com, 01727 857525.

Email addresses

As you are aware we do most of our communication by email now. With most of you I know this is fine, but a few of you have unsubscribed to our mailing list and our records show that quite a few of you don’t open your emails.  We will send an email out in the next week as a test and if you don’t receive it (please check spam) and would like to receive our newsletters (generally monthly), or take part in online lectures please get in touch with Stefanie Weedon, rsweedon1@gmail.com, 01727 858174.  Our emails will show TAS St Albans as the sender in your inbox.

Online lectures

We are pleased to include our new programme of lectures for 2020/2021.  At the moment our programme is showing our first 4 lectures as online.  They will be hosted with an introduction and Q&A Session at the end, provided by Zoom.  Many of you will have experience of Zoom during lockdown and know that you can access a meeting by clicking on a link and sometimes requiring a meeting ID and a password.  If you would like to take part in these lectures but are nervous about Zoom please get in touch with Stefanie Weedon as above and the committee will try and organise some sessions to help you. The links for these lectures will be sent by email.  We hope that in January we can start to use the theatre again but none of us know how Covid 19 will develop and the welfare of our members is very important to us.

AGM

We are hoping to hold an AGM in the autumn probably online.

The Committee

We would like to say a huge thank you to our retiring committee members Di Page and Joan Walton.  Our proposed new committee will be as follows

President – Jocelyn Stafferton,  Jocelyn.stafferton@icloud.com, 01727 811091.

Chairman – Stefanie Weedon, rsweedon1@gmail.com, 01727 858174

Treasurer – Peter Holloway, prholloway@ntlworld.com, 01727 766500

Secretary – Jane Sayers – janesayers110@yahoo.co.uk, 01727 85963 

Acting Membership Secretary – Cynthia.fletcher@sky.com, 01727 857525         

Programme Secretary – Valerie Bell, tulipfever247@gmail.com, 01727 853227

Visits Secretary – Susan Bloomfield, susanbloomfield@talk21.com, 01727 860798

Assistant Visits Secretary – Tricia Milne, patricia.milne41@gmail.com, 01727 62129 

Young Arts – Ros Hedges, rosandjohn.hedges@gmail.com, 01727 861164

Technical Services – Deryck Hannaford, deryckh@btinternet.com, 01727 862014

Notes

1         We are looking for help.  The following positions are vacant:  Vice Chairman, Study Day Co-ordinator, Membership Secretary, Assistant Membership Secretary.  Also help on an ad hoc basis for minor tasks would be welcomed.

2         Unfortunately there are no visits, trips, study days or ballets organised at the present time.  We hope to resume next year.

Opening up the art world

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52881862

View this email in your browser

Update from the Chairman

9th June 2020

Dear Members

I hope you are all keeping well, safe and happy during the lockdown. Your committee are working hard behind the scenes to bring a lecture programme to you from September. The Abbey Theatre remains closed at the moment and with our society’s age demographic we are very unlikely to be meeting there before Christmas. Our programme secretary Valerie is having a busy time finding suitable online lecturers for you.

Subscriptions become due soon and because of the disruption to our programme these will be reduced to £30. Once we have a lecture programme we will send details by post and supply bank details so that membership can be paid by bank transfer. We don’t want committee members to have to make unnecessary trips to banks at the present time or indeed be handling cheques.

We have used the present situation to change our accounts year end to the 30th June to bring it in line with our membership year. Accounts will be produced by our Treasurer Peter up to this date and accounts will be circulated by email and put on the website when they are available. There will be an AGM but we don’t have a date yet and it is possible it will be virtual or involve voting via our website. Unfortunately there will be no visits, study days or ballet arranged until we have more certainty. Coach travel is clearly not possible.

On a different subject we want to tell you about a very exciting development with Heathlands School for Deaf Children and Govia Thameslink. In addition to our donation, we have arranged for the students' artwork to be displayed in the new St Albans station booking hall in Ridgemont Road, showing that The Arts Society St Albans is supporting Heathlands School. Both the school and Govia Thameslink are very enthusiastic about this project and it will go ahead, now hopefully in the autumn.

Finally, as you will have realised, we are moving with the times and relying more on email and the website to keep in touch with you. So please make sure we have an up-to-date email address for you. Amazingly, we have found that some members do not open their emails! To help with this our sender name will appear in your emails as TAS St Albans to separate it from other Arts Society mailings. Also, please check your spam/junk from time to time. Do visit our website, particularly the News section.

With very best wishes to you all,

Stefanie

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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/raphael-s-last-work-goes-on-show-at-the-vatican-after-mystery-is-solved-hls90qjd0

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/20/national-gallery-acquires-jean-etienne-liotard-masterpiece

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/01/public-access-at-last-for-canalettos-painting-of-westminster-abbey

The above is 2 months old news, but still interesting for those who haven't seen it.

Plus this:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/13/portrait-studious-woman-revealed-millicent-fawcett-royal-holloway

And below is also 2 months old, but still interesting, as it allows you to curate your own collection from a huge online art collection:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/19/diy-curators-let-loose-on-huge-online-collection-of-british-art

Highly recommeneded is the Beyeler's digital exhibition of Edward Hopper's work.  He is an expert on capturing social isolation so very apt for these times.

The winners and runners up for the BP Portrait Award are available to view on the National Portrait gallery website.

You should receive a full version of this newsletter, with pictures and links, by email.

The Arts in Isolation Three
 

Well the weather isn’t as warm as when I was typing my last newsletter to you but the sun is shining and no rain is forecast for the next week or so with temperatures expected to rise too.   On top of this we can be outside as much as we want, see a member of our family or a friend (outside and socially distanced, of course!!) and I am now allowed to play golf!  What with that and my online bridge skills developing, life has a tiny bit of normality, although there is still a HUGE way to go.
I’m trying hard not to be in front of a screen too much but it’s very easy to sit and watch plays, opera and ballet, visit museums and listen to our wonderful lecturers.  How can one be bored?!   The hours seem to pass and with TAS meetings, bridge, lots of Zoom meetings with family and friends, daily walks with my husband and our dog (called …..Boris!), I haven’t yet found time for all the jobs I set out to do at the start of lockdown!  It’s much more fun to watch a lecture by Mark Hill or a play from the National Theatre than cleaning my kitchen cupboards!
Nest week I understand that our Chief Executive, Florian Schweizer, will be issuing an E-bulletin to all society committees with guidance for our 2020/21 season which I hope will be of a great help to societies.  I and my Area committee are of course here to help so please do not hesitate to contact me.  I plan to hold a virtual meeting of Society Chairs once we’ve received the Bulletin and society committees have had a chance to consider and discuss.
In the meantime, I hope the attached video helps to keep you amused, just click the image below to download it.
                                        

Keep safe and healthy.

Best wishes

Gill Burn
 
PS   Don’t forget to click on #STAYHOMEANDLEARN for a wealth of resources to The Arts

ART BITES
by Mary Alexander
 

For this week's Art Bites by Mary Alexander, we are off to France, well, the South West corner of France. As the shadows grow ever longer let's pour a glass of Jurançon, don't forget the nibbles and let's look and learn; today Raoul Dufy.....................

During these weeks of lockdown, many of us will be deriving some joy from seemingly mundane experiences - the sounds of birdsong and the colours of spring.
For me, colour has always been the ultimate mood enhancer. A view shared by Roland Dorgelès in his famous book written during the years of German occupation, Vacances Forcées (Compulsory Vacation)1.
The title is powerful and emotionally charged. Exiled from his beloved Paris during the years of German occupation, he describes his feelings of profound despair and hopelessness. Dorgelès and his wife Hania, had fled from Paris in May 1940, travelling south without a planned destination in mind, settling in Cassis for a time, but moving southwards again to the remote hilltop village of Montsaunes in Haute Garonne. These frequent moves were dictated by the speed of the German advance. As a veteran of WW1 and winner of the Prix Goncourt, Roland Dorgelès' literary fame in France and his writings for the underground press, made him a high profile target for the Gestapo.

Then suddenly in 1943, his mood is lifted by a surprise visit from his old friend Raoul Dufy "the magician of colour" who lights up a room with his sparkling blue eyes, his mischievous smile and animated conversation.
The mutual joy of the reunion is immediate - that rare sense of 'coming home' as in true friendship. Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) was already in the south of France when war broke out, seeking medical treatment in Perpignan for the first symptoms of acute polyarthritis. The physical exertion of his vast 600 square metre murals at the 1937 Paris Exposition 2 had taken its toll. He had returned once to Paris to check on his studio in Montmartre, but could not stomach the sight of Paris under the swastika flag. And so the two friends decided to share a house and work alongside each other writing and painting in companionship. Dufy rediscovers the pleasure of sketching intimate farmyard scenes - vignettes of ducks splashing in a pond, chickens and pigs in the courtyard, the harvest and granary in full flow. Dorgelès is amused by his city friend's amazement that good food and wine is still plentiful in rural France.

Donatello's range of inventive iconography and his diversity of materials throughout his life is remarkable. For me, he is the maestro of the early Florentine Renaissance. Always challenging technical boundaries, he explores the beauty of hard white marble to produce seemingly impossible shallow relief sculpture or relievo schiacciato (squashed reliefs). Check out the St George and the Dragon panel on the Bargello/Orsanmichele website  (as above)  to see the single vanishing point perspective disappearing into an infinite sense of pictorial space. Or nearer home, anticipate a future treat at the V&A in London, with The Ascension and Giving of the Keys to St Peter. Its beauty and technical virtuosity beggar belief.
 

On Liberation Day 20th August 1944, the two friends are celebrating in the small village of Aspet near the Spanish border, having been warned about a local informant and fleeing Montsaunes for safety. While others are dancing in the streets, Dufy is designing individual impromptu menus for the villagers, displaying the French tricolour flying once again from the Eiffel tower and below the little square and fountain in Aspet. Such a moving demonstration of the power of art to lift spirits and create joy in the midst of a very challenging time. And just look at the menu ingredients - so very French!

Dufy's watercolours shown here were translated into luminous woodcut illustrations which jump out from the pages of Vacances Forcées, published in 1956. Sadly Dufy never saw them. Following complications from medical treatment in the US, he died suddenly in Forcalquier, Provence in March 1953. Tragically, he had
seemingly made a good recovery, was working with renewed vigour and had recently won the Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale. It is Gertrude Stein who provides the most insightful account of Dufy's ability to bring pleasure (as opposed to hedonism) with the simplest of images ' ... a basket of eggs, a bowl of flowers, the colours of a fabric , a roast chicken ... those simple things in life which pierce the heart, bring joy and lift the spirits, especially when deprived of them in war... 3
This word 'pleasure' has been misinterpreted by some later art critics and historians as 'superficiality', especially in the post war years of fashionable 'cerebral' abstraction. But it is Gertrude Stein who really hits the spot "Funnily enough, it was seeing Dufy in Aix-les-Bains (in 1940) made me realise, painters do not paint the colours that their eyes see .. Think of Dufy, nobody calls him abstract but he is. He does not paint what he sees, he paints what he is, and it is certainly not what anyone else sees. And so this is what life is and it is a pleasure. Dufy is pleasure."
 

by Mary Alexander

1 Roland Dorgelès, Vacances Forceés, First edition, 1956, Éditions Vialety, with
Dufy's illustrations. There is no English translation available, but in French see
Editions Albin Michel, 1985, Paris (text only). Available from abe.com
2 The Pavilion of Light and Electricity murals are on permanent display at the Musée
de l'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. A 'must-see' in Paris. Metro: Iéna.
3 'Raoul Dufy by Gertrude Stein', Harper's Bazaar, USA, December 1949. She recalls
meeting Dufy on a sunny terrace in Aix-les-Bains in 1940 where he was undergoing
thermal treatment for arthritis. She was living in exile nearby, her American passport

did not provide total protection for her Jewish heritage

See the lecture by MARK HILL on the The Arts Society Connected
web site
The 1960's: Revolutions in Glass
Click the image below..........

Click here to see the Mark Hill lecture

LAST WORD

For this issue's LAST WORD I'd like to recommend this on-line lecture I found on YouTube. During these days of lockdown I admit to spending far too long on my computer searching for the interesting. I really miss our stimulating Arts Society lectures at Campus West. This is the nearest I've found in some time, a little longer than I'd normally include, but I hope you think it worthwhile.

Click here to view lecture
Erica Hirshler: Looking at John Singer Sargent

A Smithsonian American Art Museum Lecture

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Highly recommended is the Podcast A history of the World in 100 hundred objects.  Found on BBC sounds.  First broadcast in 2010 it is fascinating.

I hope you are all receiving the email from the Arts Society HQ with mini lectures and suggestions.  If not let us know your up to date email address.

ANOTHER LINK

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/17/hottest-front-room-seats-the-best-theatre-and-dance-to-watch-online

Quizs

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/may/04/great-british-art-quiz-laing-art-gallery-newcastle

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/28/which-world-famous-writer-is-this-take-the-great-british-art-quiz

VE  Day

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/contemporary-artistic-works-mark-anniversary-ve-day-imperial-war-museums

Book /reading choices:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/04/big-bold-and-brilliant-books-to-last-through-lockdown

Includes eg Les Miserable, but also some others. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/13/from-blyton-to-bryson-comfort-reading-to-enjoy-during-lockdown

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/may/04/the-big-book-weekend-a-literary-festival-in-your-own-home

The National Theatre is showing a changing programme of plays on a weekly basis, so if Frankenstein doesn't appeal, keep checking their site for other plays and performances. 

Other London theatres have performances on this link:

https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/west-end-features/five-theatres-streaming-productions-to-watch-at-home-for-free-in

I think that's enough for now! 

Valerie 

YouTube

David Hockney; his work and inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh:

https://youtu.be/vA_I0qwnh_w

Monet's Palette and Technique, from the National Gallery of Art ( approx 9 mins) :

https://youtu.be/0JTazf7tH44

Salvador Dali at the MoMA(7 minutes):

https://youtu.be/h7RIP2spwpg

There are of course endless clips on YouTube. 

There are plenty of online links to tour galleries plus Art programmes on BBC4, BBC2 and Sky Arts.  Here are some links for you to try.

Musical links

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/16/classical-music-opera-livestream-at-home-coronavirus

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/29/opera-song-quiz-rheingold-opera-critic

Art Quiz

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/30/from-which-building- as-this-view-painted-the-great-british-art-quiz

Titian

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/11/titian-love-desire-death-review-national-gallery-london

The British Museum

Interesting previews, articles and snippets online, for eg one on conservation work by a conservator on a particular object prior to inclusion in the museum exhibition : https://blog.britishmuseum.org/saving-saraha-conservation-of-a-tibetan-thangka/

The Arts in Isolation Two 

I’m typing this whilst sitting in glorious sunshine in the garden thinking, if we have to be in lockdown, then at least it’s not cold, wet and miserable although I’m aware this is exceptional weather for this time of year.
I hope that you, your family, friends and neighbours are all staying well and that you are managing to keep yourselves occupied.  There is a wealth of material available on websites and UTube to keep up our interests as well as on The Arts Society website and it’s new one, ‘The Arts Society Connected’, launched last week, which includes lectures by some of our well known TAS lecturers.  Please see Ian’s note below for further information on all the things available but don’t get too goggle-eyed!
One of the highlights for me this week will be the start of ‘Grayson’s Art Club’ on Channel 4 at 8pm on Thursday.   Grayson Perry is one of my favourite artists of our time and his programme is certain to be interesting and fun – and it includes encouraging us to pursue our own artistic interests.  Now I can’t draw at all but I have taken up embroidery again as per the photo above!   I wonder if I’ll finish it before we’re allowed out and about?   Why don’t you send Ian photos of your artistic endeavours or hobbies to be included in future bulletins?
Please keep safe and well and please feel free to pass on the information in Ian’s list to anyone who may be interested whether or not they are TAS members.  

Best wishes

Gill Burn

I'm sure that being stuck in isolation has its pluses and minuses. I'm probably spending too much time in front of my computer but, on the other hand, I've found so much of interest by looking at all the links that have been flying around. I've reproduce them below for your use, just click on #STAYHOMEANDLEARN. If any of you find anything special that I haven't included, please don't keep it to yourself; send me a quick em@il.... 

Until next time,

Stay home and keep safe

IanBurgess@Bengeoherts.co.uk

Art Bites by Mary Alexander

In this issue, for her Art Bites, Mary is taking us to Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence for one of her personal favourites, David by Donatello. During this currant pandemic we will just have to read Mary's description and think about our visit to Florence. . Once again we thank Mary Alexander for sending this, and other pieces for our Newsletter during this period of isolation.

DAVID By DONATELLO 

(See picture top right)

Some art stops you in your tracks - the impact is immediate and unforgettable. And so it was for me the first time as a young art history student coming face to face with Donatello's bronze David in the Bargello Museum in Florence*. Standing 158cm , 5ft 2" high, a slow walk around the figure throws light on its radicalism. The strikingly seductive pose of the youthful figure of David, naked except for his decorative sandal-boots and his large hat, is unprecedented. And that feather - sweeping up the inner leg from the helmet of the decapitated giant Goliath! The youth has slain the giant with a simple sling and stone which is resting in his left hand, in his right he holds Goliath's huge sword with which he has decapitated him. Analogies hint at good over evil, weak over strong, and a political symbol of brave Florence against more powerful enemies.
 

This raises the question as to who commissioned such a daring interpretation of a biblical subject? Certainly not the church. It was Cosimo de Medici the Elder - international banker, politician and ruler of Florence, but also humanist scholar and collector of classical gems and antiquities. Donatello's David would have stood in pride of place in the courtyard of the Medici Palace and would have represented the Renaissance artist's and patron's fascination with the 'modern' natural world. The bronze surface of the figure accentuates the modelling and curvature of muscles with its reflections of light and shadow. In fact David represents the cutting edge of such experiments in the 'lost wax method**, being the first unsupported freestanding nude bronze figure since the classical age. Donatello was later to push these bronze casting technical experiments even further with his huge equestrian monument of Gatemelatta in the main square in Padua.
 

Donatello's range of inventive iconography and his diversity of materials throughout his life is remarkable. For me, he is the maestro of the early Florentine Renaissance. Always challenging technical boundaries, he explores the beauty of hard white marble to produce seemingly impossible shallow relief sculpture or relievo schiacciato (squashed reliefs). Check out the St George and the Dragon panel on the Bargello/Orsanmichele website  (as above)  to see the single vanishing point perspective disappearing into an infinite sense of pictorial space. Or nearer home, anticipate a future treat at the V&A in London, with The Ascension and Giving of the Keys to St Peter. Its beauty and technical virtuosity beggar belief.
 

*www.musei del Bargello (includes Museo Nazionale del Bargello and other Florentine museums such as Orsanmichele)  See also the St George and the Dragon panel and sculpture. Website includes a virtual tour.
** Click here to watch the superb V&A You Tube 5 minute video 'How was it Made? Lost wax Bronze Casting' 
www.operaduomo.firenze.it - for early examples of Donatello and other early Florentine Renaissance sculpture for the Cathedral
www.accademia.org  Compare and contrast Michelangelo's later marble David as adult male classical hero

See more of david by checking out this YouTube Video

THE LAST WORD

Finally, for much needed light relief I leave you with the 'Chatter Pack' that is listed in the digital links in #STAYHOMEANDLEARN above. Just click on the graphic below and stand by to be astounded. I'm sure you will be able to spend an hour or so looking and surfing from site to site.........

Copyright © 2020 The Arts Society Beds Herts Area, All rights reserved.
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Art to Make you smile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pwZrUxCDLzkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=TWITL38Cyxk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWITL38Cyxk

Please note that the Abbey Theatre is closed until the end of May at least.

At present we have cancelled our April, May and June lectures but please keep checking your emails and the website for further updates.

Corona Virus - please take all appropriate hygiene measures and stay away from lectures if you feel unwell.  As yet no indication from the National Arts Society that lectures should be cancelled.

It is with great sadness that I have to let you all know that Julie Wreford died shortly before Christmas.  She was a member for many years and a former committee member and we enjoyed her company on the recent Lisbon Trip.

We re delighted to welcome the following new members who have joined for the 2019-20 Season:

Cristina Blake, Claire Booker, Miriam Carr, Kevin Doyle, Howard Field, Helen Imi, Denise Jackson, Barbara Jeffs, Douglas and Sandy Leedham, Meg MacPherson, Liz Matthews, John Mole, Mary Newberry, Mike Perkins, Lesley Rose, David and Pamela Samuelson, Stella Sidoli, Jill Taylor, Jill Wallis, and Paul Wallis. 

The 2019 AGM paperwork and Accounts can be viewed in the Documents Section.

Audience Ratings for the Arts of Islamic Persia

Quality of Lecture

Outstanding         10

Excellent             18

Very Good           14

Good                  10

Satisfactory          3

Poor                    1

 Total Votes - - 56

The full account  is under Documents