A Paradise Garden: The Meaning of Medieval Plants in Art

The Nature of the Beast: Animals in Medieval Art

SPECIAL INTEREST MORNING
FEBRUARY 26TH
CANCELLED
After our very successful Special Interest Morning with Matthew Denney in November, I will again be selling tickets before the January meeting, for our February 26th  SIM.

Our lecturer is Caroline Holmes who will be talking about the very talented Sir Cedric Morris born in 1889 and known for his paintings, travelling, gardening and all that encompasses. He specialised in portraits, flower painting and landscapes and had numerous famous friends including Munnings, the Nicholsons and Barbara Hepworth.

The cost for the two lectures and lunch will be £25.00 as usual.

Cynty Ogborn

Tickets on sale from 18 September
Click here for details

Chloe will be introducingus to the lives, religions, art and textiles of the Aztec and Mayans in ancient Mexico.

The two lectures with a comfort break in between will be followed by a light lunch with wine at approximately 1.00pm  with the day finishing at 2.00pm

The day starts at 10.00am with coffee and a Danish, first lecture at 10.45.

Since the experiment of two lectures only was very popular, we will continue at the reduced cost of £25.00

Organiser: Cynty Ogborn 01737 832543

Tickets on sale from Sept 21

February 22nd 2024 (Thursday) Study Day

Three lectures, Danish pastry and coffee to start from 10.00, first lecture at 10.45, ten minute break, second lecture, light lunch with wine. Last lecture finishing approximately 3.00pm.

Tickets £30.00 on sale 21st December 2023

An exciting day, digging deeper into Pompeii with Gillian who has excavated at Oplontis in the Pompeii region.  Find out what it’s like to dig at these remarkable sites; learn how to be as welcome, familiar and at home as Romans were in towns like Pompeii & Herculaneum; and explore a 2,000 year old way of life as we take a lecture tour around the astonishing and varied sites of the region; Pozzuoli’s amphitheatre, sacred Cumae, party homes for the rich at Stabiae and the imperial villa at Oplontis, next door wine processing sea-front warehouses and Naples’ underground markets and the great Archaeological Museum.

Gillian Hovell “The Muddy Archaeologist “

BA (Hons) Latin and Ancient History, Exeter University, and then branched out into archaeology. Ex-BBC, lecturer for British Museum and York University, an award winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives, in person, in the field, on line and in the media (most recently on BBC News Channel, Radio 4 Today programme and BBC World Service). Publications include Visiting the Past: A guide to finding and understanding Britain's Archaeology and Roman Britain. Forthcoming Latin Yesterday, Today and For Ever, and A Mediterranean Tour: Not just a Load of Old Stones. 

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

November 2nd (Thursday)Study Day

Music, romance and comedy in Hollywood films.

Dr. Colin Shindler

Special Interest Day 2nd November 2023

Colin has recently received an outstanding from another local Society and will enthral us with the magic of Hollywood. There will be three lectures comprising, Arthur Freed and the MGM musicals, Hitchcock and the Ice Cool Blondes and finally the Jewish origins of Hollywood comedy like Mel Brooks.

These lectures should bring back many happy memories of younger years to ponder over.

The day starts at 10 am for 10.45 with coffee and a danish. Followed by a light lunch including wine at 1pm ending at approximately 3 pm.

The session will be at the Riddell Hall as usual and the cost is £30.00 .

Organiser Cynty Ogborn 01737832543

Tickets on sale from 21st September, 2023

Tickets on sale from 15 December, 2022

ENGLISH LANDSCAPE GARDENING and the Classical Picturesque

Our lecturer, TOM DUNCAN is returning to us after receiving an “outstanding” vote for his talk entitled “40 Shades of Green”. This time he will be covering English Landscape Gardening  in his usual informative and amusing way.

TICKETS are available from the December  meeting at £30. 
This includes coffee and Danish to start, three lectures and a light lunch with wine.
It starts at 10.00 for 10.45 finishing at approximately 3.00 at the Riddel Hall.

Organiser Cynty Ogborn 01737 832543 (with lots of help from Jill Mantle as Cynty is away for some of that time.)

EAST SURREY AREA

Friday 11 November 2022

The latter part of the 19th century was a time of great technological innovation and one of the most significant development was the emergence of the motor car. 

From the Art Deco inspired cars of the Great Gatsby era to the exotic Italian supercars of the 21st century, some of the most beautiful cars in the world have been influenced by art movements. 

Lecturer Roger Mendham’s Special Interest Morning will follow the evolution of car design from the earliest ‘horseless carriages’ through the exotic cars of the late 1920s & 1930s - the golden age which included some of the most fabulous cars ever built.

Over time, priorities in design have evolved. The economic realities of the post WW2 period meant that cars in the UK tended to put practicality ahead of design whilst in America, the ‘jet age’ influenced streamlined shape and the classic fins at the rear of cars.

Expect some wonderful images of fabulous mobile works of art.

PROGRAMME FOR THE MORNING:

10.00 am    Registration and Welcome (coffee / tea available)

10.30 am    Lecture I

11.30 am    Break for coffee / tea and biscuits

12 noon      Lecture II

1.00 pm      Approximate end of Special Interest Morning

TICKET COST: 

£20.00 per person (two lectures, coffee / tea on arrival and during the interval). 

VENUE:  

THE MENUHIN HALL

Cobham Rd, Stoke D'Abernon, Great Bookham, Cobham KT11 3QQ

TO BOOK:

EVENTBRITE: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-art-of-the-automobile-tickets-332910092047

CONTACT:

Jo Edna Corbyn     

Area Coordinator for Education

The Arts Society East Surrey Area

Email:  esaartssociety2020@gmail.com

Tel.: 01737 932274

10am to 3pm, including coffee and a pastry, light lunch and a glass of wine.

DANIEL SNOWMAN a writer, lecturer and broadcaster, who we have enjoyed before, will be coming to give us three interesting lectures on THE COVENT GARDEN PIAZZA.

This will cover the PIAZZA, the Palladian church by INIGO JONES , tracing the development through four centuries encountering Pepys, Nell Gwyn, Handel, Hogarth Garrick, and many others. The famous opera house which  burned down twice, Bow Street and Bernard Shaw’s Eliza Doolittle. Throughout history, Covent Garden has embodied all that is British cultural life, so come and hear our fascinating history. 

Tickets on sale at the September meeting, the cost  just £25.00.

Organiser Cynty Ogborn whose phone number is on your programme card.

Then on the 24th February 2022 we have Viv Lawes a lecturer who we have enjoyed before 

talking on "So what have the Huguenots ever done for us" that large population of

skilled workers who lived outside the city walls producing amongst many beautiful things

exquisite woven silks.  

We have booked Marc Allum from the Antiques Roadshow coming to us on the

4th November 2021 for a Special Interest Day event. He will be giving object analysis

and the psychology of collecting including references to The Burrell Collection seen 

by some members during our Glasgow trip. 

A Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment. He has in excess of 25 years of working and living in Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories. Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank.

Details from Cynty Ogborn, tickets on sale  from Dec 2019

Details from Cynty Ogborn - tickets on sale from July 18

Julia Korner is a specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings, sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art. Julia trained in art history, sculpture and graphic illustration in Cambridge, England. Then, for twenty years, she worked for Christie's as a paintings specialist, building extensive knowledge of Old Masters, and of British, European and American paintings from the 1700s onwards. She set up Christie's Maritime Department in 1987, followed by the Frame sales, the Aeronautical, Exploration and Travel and the Polar sales. Julia was elected Huntington Fellow of the Mariners' Museum, Newport New, Virginia, USA, in 1997. A seven year commitment saw her catalogue this collection and of its sister organisation, the South Street Seaport Museum, New York. Julia has worked independently in her own studio in West London for almost twenty years. Here, she and her small team give specialist conservation work personal and expert attention. Damaged paintings, polychrome statues, frames, over-mantles, traditional gold leaf and gesso frames all emerge restored and transformed under her expertise, knowledge and care. Julia acts as an advisor, valuer and exhibition curator for public and private collections, in the UK and abroad. She also gives illustrated talks and lectures. She is an elected member of The British Antique Dealers' Association, (and exhibits at the annual exhibition), The British Association of Paintings Conservator Restorers, The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, The International Institute for Conservation, The Fine Art Trade Guild, The Maritime Information Association, The Museums Association, and The Conservation Consortium.

Organised by Cynty Ogborn

Tickets on sale from December 20

Organised by Cinty Ogborn

Tickets on sale from September

NB Tickets will first go on sale at 9:45 am on 21 December  2017 - price £25

The day starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 & 10:45am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

On your Programme Card we have billed a day on The Burrell Collection with Morna Mathers who we met during our GLASGOW 2016 Tour. Unfortunately Morna has had to call off for family reasons.

Instead we are very pleased to welcome Susan Rumfitt, who is known to many of us as one of the specialists on BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow, who will talk about "a passion for Rubies". We will post more information about this Special Interest Day soon. (David Tnkler - Website Co-ordinator 3/10/2017).

Susan Rumfitt is an independent jewellery specialist based at her Gallery in the heart of Harrogate and one of the team of specialists on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow. Susan spent the early part of her career working for Christie’s auctioneers and then moved to Phillip’s in London where she ran one of their jewellery departments.

Although based in Harrogate, Susan travels extensively for her business which involves the valuation, selling and acquisition of jewellery on behalf of clients. She is an accredited lecturer for the The Arts Society and lectures for a large number of organisations including, Goldsmith's Hall and the "Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum", as well as holding her own jewellery courses in Harrogate and throughout the UK. Susan also writes for Homes and Antiques and Antique Collecting magazines.

Tickets first go on sale at 9:45 am on Thursday 21 September 2017 - price £23.00 pp

The day starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 & 10:45am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

This should prove to be an unusual and fascinating Special Interest Day.

The morning sessions outline the history, explore the terrain and examine the buildings which will include Anasazi Cliff dwellings, Spanish churches and elaborate Victorian buildings as well as Frank Lloyd Wrights' Taliesin West.

The art will principally include Thomas Moran 1837-1926 "The Turner of the American West" who emigrated from Lancashire and explored and painted the extraordinary places like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. His paintings were purchased by Congress helping the Americans to appreciate the grandeur and colour of their heritage

We will look at figurative painters and sculptors like Remington and Russell and move on to landscape painters like Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) and Thomas Moran (1837-1926). For once the word epic is fully justified. Explorers as well as artists, their paintings do justice to the extraordinary landscapes of the West. They are great names in American Art but hardly known on this side of the Atlantic.

Roger Mitchell studied History at Oxford and Fine Art at Leeds. Awarded Churchill Fellowship to travel and study in USA. Former College Vice-Principal who now lectures for University of Liverpool and for Adult Residential Colleges. Organises and leads country house study tours, and tries to find time to do...

Tickets - £20.00 pp - will first go on sale at 9:45 am on Thursday 15 December 2016

The day starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 & 10:45am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

The story of enamelling – the ancient art of fusing powdered glass with metal to make exquisite jewellery and metalware – spans continents and ages;  but what unites these miniature masterpieces is their status as exquisite works of art? 

Today we'll examine the materials, techniques and history of enamelling, with examples drawn from Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, the 18th & 19th centuries, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau and more contemporary design.

Everyone attending will also have the opportunity to handle museum quality enamelled jewellery and metalware as part of the day and of course you are welcome to bring along special pieces of enamelware of your own to share with others and for Sally Hoban to comment on in general session.

Dr Sally Hoban is an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Birmingham and has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques throughout the UK. Sally has broadcast on BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 4 and her publications include Miller’s Collecting Modern Design. She has an Honours certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design from The University of Birmingham.

Tickets - £20.00 pp - will first go on sale at 9:45 am on Thursday 15 September.

You may have noticed a slight change to the wording of this Special Interest Day from that shown on your Programme Card; our apologies for that but the new title is felt to be more logical.

The day starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 & 10:30 am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

Ancient Greece from Mycenae to the Parthenon

Over one thousand exciting years of Greek Civilisation will be covered during this Special Interest Day, and divided into three themes:  

The World of Homer’s Heroes: here we will look at the powerful kingdom of Mycenae revealed through its Cyclopean masonry and the gold and treasure discovered by Heinrich Scliemann in the Shaft Graves, before following the Trojan War and adventures of Odysseus.

Magna Graeca - the Impact of the Western Greeks: we can marvel at the legacy of the bold and enterprising Greek Colonists as witnessed by the impressive temples at Paestum in Italy and at Agrigento, Segesta and Syracuse in Sicily.

Athens and the Golden Age of Classical Greece: where we reach the zenith of Greek culture with a detailed look at the superb sculptures of the Parthenon. 

 ____________________________

George Hart is a well-respected speaker, so this should be a fascinating day and as the subject is an area which will probably be unfamiliar to many of us, we should all derive a great deal from what he has to say.

Do join us.

George Hart graduated with degrees in Classics and Egyptology from University College London and spent over 30 years on the staff of the British Museum, lecturing and running courses on Ancient Egypt.  He is a Trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society and is a member of the editorial board of its bulletin Egyptian Archaeology.  He has written books on Egyptian religion, mythology and the monuments of the Pyramid Age, has led tours to Egypt for the British Museum and Swan Hellenic, and has directed courses for BSS.

Contact: Mary Hooper Tel: 01737 844406

e-mail: maroula@tiscali.co.uk

Tickets £20.00 pp first went on sale on 17 December 2015.

The meeting starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 and 10:30 am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

A personal ‘virtual’ tour in which we unashamedly cherry-pick the artistic highlights and icons of New York. We will consider the influence of ‘new money’ on art patronage and track the move of fashionable society from Washington Square, so beloved by Henry James and Edith Wharton, in the relentless move uptown. Digital photography will be used to full effect with visual collages and exquisite details to re-create the atmosphere of the brownstones and high society clubs of Gramercy Park, the Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, the grand hotels and nightclubs, the 21 Club and the Speakeasy, the building of the great art collections including the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim

Whether you know and love New York or maybe have never visited, you'll have fun with Mary Alexander discovering more about the personalities of the artists, designers, patrons and social climbers who shaped this extraordinary and ever-changing city. The aim will be to create the sense of ‘being there’ and to capture the vibrancy and energy of the city!

Mary has 30 years experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History & History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Her experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London, museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume, Manchester. Now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies. She also worked in Pentagram design consultancy in London and New York, organising conferences and special events. Author of various articles on design and visual awareness issues, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills. She lectured for ADFAS Australia and New Zealand in 2011 & 2013. Mary is an enthusiastic member & Vice President of Glaven Valley DFAS.

Contact: Mary Hooper Tel: 01737 844406

e-mail: maroula@tiscali.co.uk

Tickets - £20.00 each will first go on sale at 9:45 am on September 17th.

The meeting starts with coffee/tea & biscuits served between 10:00 and 10:30 am. It includes a light lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee, and should conclude around 3:00 - 3:30 pm.

Eric Knowles is well known to most of us as a longstanding member of the BBC's ANTIQUES' ROADSHOW, and we are very pleased to have him with us again so soon, this time within the more in depth context of a Special Interest Day. He will cover two main areas:

Victorian and Edwardian Art Pottery

Here he will chronicle the development of decorative ceramics in the British Isles from the initial impetus of the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in London’s Hyde Park.

The importance of Henry Doulton’s introduction of hand decorated stoneware at his Lambeth works will be considered alongside the contributions of his contemporaries including the celebrated Martin Brothers in Southall and William De Morgan in Chelsea and Merton Abbey.

Other makers outside London will be discussed, including Burmantoft’s of Leeds, Pilkington’s near Manchester, Brannam’s of Barnstaple and William Moorcroft in the Staffordshire Potteries.  

Clarice Cliff and British Art Deco Ceramics

In this talk, Eric will discuss Clarice Cliff’s rise in popularity during the early years of the Great Depression and the reasons for her ultimate success.

The competition in her native Staffordshire will be covered, including the output of the other two ‘Pottery Ladies’ - Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead.

Tableware by Shelley and bone china figures modelled and produced at Royal Doulton’s Nile Street factory in Burslem will feature too.

The modernist pots designed for Wedgwood by architect designer Keith Murray during the late 1930’s offer a stark contrast by virtue of shape and monochrome glazes

On the south coast of England the distinctive colourful stonewares made at the Poole Pottery of Messer’s Carter, Stabler and Adams will also come under scrutinity.

Consequently the lecture offers an overall view and understanding of Jazz Age Britain whilst also including a few examples of the overseas competition.

Please note that each member attending is welcome to bring along one piece of ceramic work for Eric Knowles' perusal.

Eric has over twenty-five years experience lecturing to museums and galleries around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Art Deco Society of New York, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and the South African Antique Dealers Fair, along with countless antique societies in the UK. He hosts Fine Art, Antiques and Architectural trips in the UK, USA and Europe, and has broadcast for thirty years with the BBC's 'Antiques Roadshow'.

The picture above depicts Hiroshige's Kyobashi bridge 1856-8 together with Whistler's Old Battersea bridge 1872.

Contact: Mary Hooper Tel: 01737 844406

e-mail: maroula@tiscali.co.uk

Tickets first went on sale  at 10:00 am on Thursday 18 December (Christmas Lunch day), and are now sold out (2/15).

The Special Interest Day meeting starts with Coffee & Biscuits between 10:00 and 10:30 am, with the formal proceedings beginning at c 10:45 am. A light lunch with wine, coffee and mints is included, and we aim to finish the day at around 3:00 pm.

Cross-cultural encounters between Japan and the West from the mid-16th century onwards produced fascinating artistic results. At first, Europe influenced Japan but by the mid-19th century, the movement was reversed and Japanese art had a revolutionary impact on the West, known as ‘Japonisme’. The day includes 3 digital presentations, display of objects & discussion of DFAS members’ treasures. Session 1: European Influences on Japan in the 16th century The Art of the Southern Barbarians In 1543, three Portuguese sailors were stranded on one of the Southern islands of Japan. The Japanese named these first Westerners and those who followed ‘Southern Barbarians’. On the other hand, Western art was admired and imitated because it created an illusion of reality never seen before. Nevertheless, European-style came to an end when the ‘Southern Barbarians’ were expelled in the early 17th century because of their interference in Japan’s political and religious affairs. Only the Dutch, the ‘Red-Heads’, were allowed to stay. Session 2: European Influences on Japan from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The Art of the ‘Red-Heads’ and Japanese Aesthetics The period of virtual isolation following Japan’s closure to the outside world in 1639 saw a unique development of the arts, specially ukiyo-e, the popular art of Japanese prints. Knowledge of Western art was limited to imported books but cross-cultural influences in the use of shading and perspective produced novel results. Session 3: Japanese Influences on Western Art in late 19th century From Japanese Prints to Art Deco: How ‘Japonisme’ revolutionised Western Art When Japan was forced open to the outside world in 1854 after two centuries of virtual isolation, the fashion and passion for everything Japanese swept over Europe. Japanese popular prints, imported by the thousands and collected by Manet, Whistler, Lautrec, Bonnard, Klimt, among others, brought about a revolution in Western art. The new treatment of space, line and colour seen in Japanese prints freed Western artists from academic shackles and inspired them to try new approaches. Japanese influence on European arts and crafts, known as Japonisme, itself led to Art Nouveau , the Viennese Secession and Art Deco.

Marie - Therese Barrett has a BA & MA in English, Toulouse University; BA in Oriental Art, Sophia University, Japan. MA in Art History, Maryland University, USA. She was course organiser and tutor in Japanese Art History, Temple University Japan (1990-1999). She is guest lecturer for the College Women's Association of Japan, Sotheby's, Christie's, V&A, Asia House and the Japan Society. Finally, she was Chair of the Japan Society Art Circle (2003-2007), and course tutor for the Diploma in Asian Art, British Museum/School of Oriental and African Studies (2002-2008).
 

Contact: Mary Hooper Tel: 01737 844406

e-mail: maroula@tiscali.co.uk

Tickets - £18.00 per person (includes light lunch and refreshments) first went on sale 18 September.Coffee: 10.00 am Start: 10.45 am Finish: 3.15 pm (approx)

An old friend of ours, Peter appears in the UK and abroad as musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Nowadays, he also takes groups to Europe.

This Special Interest Day will consist of a variety of fun and stimulating activities for everyone to participate in. Activities will involve pulling pictures apart into colour, light, composition, form, line and subject matter. Your critical faculties will be stretched in all directions but by the end of the day you will be far more aware of the visual language that artists use. You do not need to be an art historian or an artist to enjoy this day. You just need a love of art and a playful temperament! _____________________________________________________________ Lexa Drysdale gained a First in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art and an MFA from Cambridge School of Art. She is a professional artist specialising in sculpture and live performance. Her lectures combine art historical knowledge with personal expertise in aesthetics and artistic techniques.

Judy Rudoe will introduce Victorian jewellery both as personal adornment and as an art form in its own right. She will demonstrate how jewellery reflected the preoccupations and aspirations of its wearers, as well as echoing changing tastes in other branches of the decorative arts. Her talk will also reveal the astonishing diversity of styles, materials and techniques, at all levels of society, with examples taken largely from the collection of Mrs Anne Hull Grundy, a fascinating and eccentric collector. ___________________________________________________________ Since 1974 Judy Rudoe has been a curator at the British Musuem, specialising in jewellery, and in 19th-20th century decorative arts. She is Author of Cartier 1900-1939 (BM 1997) and organiser of the Cartier exhibition at the BM, co-author of the Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift of Jewellery (BM 1984), contributor to the Catalogue of Micromosaics in the Gilbert Collection (2000). Her latest book, Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria, co-authored with Charlotte Gere, was published in 2010 and won the 2011 William Berger Prize for British Art History. Judy is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY 10.00 Coffee & biscuits 10.45 First lecture: Lutyens and Jekyll and Arts and Crafts Gardens The last two decades of the nineteenth century reverberated with the row between William Robinson and Reginald Blomfield as to the pre-eminence in the garden of the architect or the gardener. At a stroke, the problem was solved by the partnership between Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, so that a house by Lutyens with a garden by Jekyll became an Edwardian ideal. Together they designed gardens with a strong architectural background, softened by luxuriant planting in the natural style advocated by Robinson..... 11.45 Break 12.00 Second Lecture: Informal and Formal Gardens Two styles of gardening run through the 20th century, each springing from the influence of Lutyens and Jekyll. The informal plantsmen’s gardens, from Hidcote to Great Dixter, where a passion for plants is the key to the garden derive from the centuries old English obsession with collecting plants and growing them well,......... 13.00 Lunch 14.00 Third Lecture: Twentieth Century Women Gardeners Gardening in 1900 was, for the majority of women, a polite affair involving little more than dead-heading roses and instructing the gardening staff. Great changes were made in the role of women in horticulture by great gardeners like Ellen Wilmot, Margerie Fish, Vita Sackville-West and Nancy Lancaster. By 2000, designers such as Penelope Hobhouse, Arabella Lennox-Boyd and a whole host of more or less well known, but no less professional, women are creating wonderful and challenging gardens. ________________________________________________________________ James Bolton set up his garden design business in 1992, following two years as head gardener at the Old Rectory, Farnborough. He had previously trained with the Direction des Parcs et Jardins in Paris. James Bolton lectures extensively on garden history. He has set up and administered courses for the Inchbald School of Design, the Art Fund and NADFAS. He now runs Border Lines, the leading tour company to private English gardens, and Border Lines Abroad for tours to the finest gardens of Europe. He has written a number of articles on gardens and a book on garden ornaments, called Garden Mania which was published by Thames and Hudson.

The meeting starts with coffee and biscuits served between 10.00 and 10.30 a.m, includes a light lunch and concludes around 3.15 pm. _____________________________________ “Drawing on a rich multiplicity of images, Daniel Snowman examines the changing iconography of the two ‘V’s’ against the background of the wider cultural history of their respective nations.” “Queen Victoria and Giuseppe Verdi died within a week of each other in January 1901, two octogenarians widely revered as the embodiments of their respective nations. They had much on common: Victoria learned Italian and loved music and opera, while Verdi cared deeply about the politics of Italian unification. Both achieved immense celebrity and both later ‘retired’ from the public eye, thereby attracting some resentment… before becoming national treasures again in old age, their names and images known around the globe. And both became encrusted in layers of mythology, during their lifetimes and thereafter, as British and Italians alike refashioned their past in the service of an ever-shifting present." ____________________________________ FURTHER DETAILS TO FOLLOW

RICHARD BOX- Freelance artist (drawing, painting and embroidery), lecturer, teacher and author since 1985 (previously Head of Art at Avery Hill College of Education). He has taught in all schools from Nursery to Secondary. He presently teaches and lectures to adults at Education Centres and independent organisations. He exhibits his work regularly at various galleries throughout the country. _______________________________________________ PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY 10 a.m. Coffee 10.45 One hour lecture with slides 11.45 Comfort break 12.00 Surprise Practical Experiments 13.00 Lunch 14.00 Concluding Lecture & Practical exercise ______________________________________________ * Price includes: Morning coffee & biscuits, a light lunch with a glass of wine, and coffee.

This is the programme for our Special Interest Day on The Amish: MORNING: 1. Introduction to the Amish - A discussion of their clothes, houses, farms and history. 2. Amish Religious services and hierarchy, weddings and (if time allows) education. ## Lunch ## AFTERNOON: Amish Art - a look at Amish quilts using about 25 real Amish quilts from old, traditional to modern. __________________________________ * Price includes: Morning coffee & biscuits, a light lunch including a glass of wine and coffee.

Ann Wickham is curator of the treasury at Guildford cathedral.

Ann Clements Graduated from the University of Manchester with an Honours Degree in the History of Art. She started her career as a Research Assistant at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, cataloguing their distinguished collection of English watercolours and drawings. She then became Research Assistant with the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art. She collaborated with Denys Sutton on 'An Italian Sketchbook’ by Richard Wilson, which was published by the Paul Mellon Foundation. Today Ann is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Surrey, lectures in Adult Education, runs day and summer schools and residential courses at the Maryland College in Bedfordshire, lectures for NADFAS and has led study tours in France.