Visit to The Stradling Collection in Bristol

 We visited the Stradling Collection on 27 April and were give a guided tour of the three floors by Curator Tanya Martin seen here below on the first floor. We last visited as a Friends group 10 years ago. Here are the links to our previous connections with the Stradling Collection.

We had a fantastic time and I would thoroughly recommend a visit at the least, but a tour gives you so much more insight into the man behind the collection, Ken Stradling and the collections

I loved this glass vase made by Timo Sarpaneva one of Finland's most celebrated designers in 1991

Here Tanya is holding up the famous Rooster dish by Nicholas Vergette

I loved going into the cellar where the treasures are stored when not on display. Above I spotted a piece by Sam Herman who came to talk to us in 2018.

I have taken photos of some of the amazing things stored down there

I can't remember much about these two but they made the tour very interesting

Below Rosemary looking at many ceramic pieces

And below a couple of ceramic pieces by Kate Malone who has also been to talk to us

What an amazing visit, thank you once again Tanya for your fascinating insight into the collection of Ken Stradling. Sad to see after 113 years, The Guild where Ken spent so much of his working life closed last summer.

Remembering Ken Stradling

 On a recent visit to the RWA, as we passed the Ken Stradling Collection premises; a miniature Kettle's Yard, I thought about Ken Stradling, and how old he might be now. We visited the collection as a Friends' group in July 2014, during that visit, Ken showed us around and talked about how he had been MD of The Bristol Guild, which involved travelling round Europe buying delightful things, many of which he would buy for himself. Here's the blogpost from 2014, and a photograph of Ken from that post, among the ceramics and coloured glass he loved so much:

When I looked him up, I discovered he had died this year on 31 July, aged just over 100, and thought I would recall via this post how much we appreciated the visit, and what a special place the Ken Stradling Collection is. It's well worth looking at the website for more information on Ken Stradling. I have booked Cleo Saunders from the Ken Stradling Collection to come and talk to us about Ken and his legacy on 28 June. It's also worth reading his obituary in the Guardian

I'll add a few photos of  the building which anyone familiar with Bristol will recognise, it's 48, Park Row, BS1 5LH

Below a ceramic teapot

and the inside of the shop

a poster now out of date, the website will give you opening times and more information about visiting

I thought I'd also include the building which used to be His Master's Voice in Bristol with a carved dog above the doorway. The dog, called Nipper, was apparently born in Bristol

Lucy Abel Smith on Collecting

 For years I have been fascinated by the gardens at Quenington Old Rectory with interesting layout of different rooms and surprises round the corner as more sculptures appear. Rare Plant Fairs are held on the lawn, last year in spring when the Darmera peltata were flowering along the riverbank, they looked fantastic.  Lucy and David Abel Smith have lived in the Old Rectory for 37 years have developed not only the exterior, but also the interior as well in their own style. Lucy a self-confessed collector, is also involved in many projects, some outlined in the fascinating Guardian Interiors article in 2019. We have visited two sculpture shows as a Friends' group, and looking forward to visiting the 2024 show Lucy is preparing already. I was thrilled when Lucy agreed to give an illustrated Friends' talk via Zoom and having just returned from a book festival in Transylvania, the timing was not ideal. I took photos from the screen as Lucy talked and will try and fill in with some of the things covered.

Born in Scotland, Lucy was very aware of the Scottish colourists' work and her Father's collection of snuff boxes, seen above, and enjoyed handling them.

Above is a photograph of their east facing dining room in Quenington Old Rectory where the first thing they commissioned was a table designed by Fred Baier and chairs designed by William Burgess. Below the design of the archway fresco is based on the wonderful stone arches over the doors at the nearby Quenington Church, depicting the first coronation of the virgin.

This flatware set, below, was designed by Lucian Taylor

Lucy is a great collector of glass, and began collecting it aged 21, she mentioned Sam Herman, the great glass collector who talked to us in 2016: Friends of Swindon Museum & Art Gallery: Sam Herman in conversation with Graham Cooley  below you can see one of Lucy's pieces designed by Simon Moore

This bangle was designed by Wendy Ramshaw and held together with magnets, which must make wearing it quite difficult

This stained-glass piece is by Antony Newell and depicts Lucy and David, I think

Below is a photo of the drawing room where there is lots of inherited brown furniture

Here below is more of the glass collection

and then Lucy talked about the garden where there's a Loutro Bateman split bridge and the beautiful round library seen on the right of the photograph below designed by Michael Gold.  

Above is a photo of one of the seats in the garden, and below a tribute to Esme Bradburne who joined the gardening team aged 79and used her organic principles in the garden. The lettering says 'The soul of man resembles the water, the fate of man resembles the wind'. 

There are some lovely water sculptures in the garden, like this one below. 

My favourite is the large one in the centre of the river which I try and photograph every time I visit:

Lucy finished off by showing us some of her favourite small pieces:

Below is a glass piece by Angela Thwaite

and this ceramic piece is a Hans Coper

Thank you once again Lucy Abel Smith for such an extensive tour around your collections, looking forward to visiting the next Rare Plant Fair and of course the 2024 Sculpture show.