Visit to Chiswick House and Hogarth House on Wednesday 26th of June

 Our next Friends trip is on the 26th of June to Chiswick House and Hogarth House.
It promises to be a great day out. 
If you would like to go, please phone either Paul Ricketts  on 01672 539688 or email lindakasmaty@hotmail.com
We are sharing cars to get there because it will work out cheaper than hiring a minibus.
I hope you can join us.

Chiswick House and Gardens

Chiswick House is a magnificent neo-Palladian villa set in beautiful historic gardens in west London. A £12.1 million project has restored the gardens which were unveiled in June 2010.

Built by the third Earl of Burlington in 1729 to showcase his art collection and to enthral his guests, the house continues to display many spectacular works of art and provides a stunning venue for entertaining.

The gardens at Chiswick are the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement and have inspired countless gardens including New York's Central Park.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/chiswick-house/

Hogarth House


















Hogarth bought the house to act as his family’s country refuge, a weekend and summer home, away from the noise of his other home in what is now Leicester Square.
The Hogarths extended the house and enjoyed the fruit trees and nut walk in the walled garden. Stepping through the gate you will see the ancient mulberry tree - the Hogarths are said to have made mulberry pies for the Foundling children who stayed with them.
Hogarth had a ‘painting room’ at the bottom of the garden where he was working until a few days before his death.
http://www.hounslow.info/arts-culture/historic-houses-museums/hogarth-house

Talk by Bill King on Coleshill Secret Army

There was a record turnout for Bill's fascinating talk last night.It's always good to be in the presence of someone with passion and great knowledge and understanding of their topic, and approaches it with a sense of humour.
Bill scored 10 out of 10, and appeared unfazed by a wait for microphone batteries to arrive, or lights remaining undimmed due to a technical hitch with the lighting arrangements.
I knew about underground bunkers built in case of a WW2 invasion, but had no idea that Coleshill was the centre of operations, and that there was a large house on the site behind the large iron gates.
Here's the crowd:

 With ex Commonwealians on the front row, and Journal editor John Walsh a little way beyond them.

 And another  photo of the audience.

Maybe I can find a better photo of Coleshill House on the web.
And below Bill and Flora King.

The next talk is on Ashdown House and is on the 24th of May at 7.30pm in the Museum.

Spring 2013 Talks and Trips.

We are pleased to announce the latest talk s and trips for 2013, as follows:

Friday 26th April 7.30pm at the Museum and Art gallery
Coleshill Secret Army a talk by Bill King

The second one is on the Friday  24th of May at 7.30pm about
Ashdown House by John Farrow

The third talk is on Friday 28th of June at 7.30pm on
the the History of the Swindon Empire by Roger Trayburn


TRIP 1: MONDAY 13th MAY 2013 - 1.30 pm
AVEBURY MANOR
A local trip where we
plan for members to
make their own way to
Avebury (only 12
miles away from
Swindon & served
hourly on the No. 49
bus route) to see the
recently renovated
Manor House.

TRIP 2: WEDNESDAY 26th JUNE 2013 - 11.00 am
CHISWICK HOUSE
Chiswick House is the
first and one of the
finest examples of
neo-Palladian design
in England. Created by
the third Earl of
Burlington, inspired by
the architecture of
ancient Rome and
16th century Italy. We
will also visit the adjacent Hogarth House.

For details, phone Paul Ricketts on 01672 539688 or
e-mail paul.unhinged @macunlimited.net

Illustrated version tomorrow.

Station Square Exhibition of 12 paintings from the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery has now closed.

An update on this exhibition which is more thoroughly reviewed at:www.swindonopenstudios.blogspot.com
One of my favourite pictures was 'The Sights of London' by Jefferey Camp, 1986

There were unfortunately many ceiling lights reflected in the glass.

Latest updates not available yet because the meeting of the Friends we were due to have on Monday the 14th of January was postponed due to unforseen circumstances.
Our next meeting is now scheduled for the 4th of February, updates after then.

LS Lowry's 'Winter in Pendlebury' at an Exhibition in Station Square

For this week only, that is the 14th - 18th of January inclusive, some of Swindon's Collection will be on display in the town centre, including two paintings by LS Lowry:

'Winter in Pendelbury' by LS Lowry.
For more information please visit:www.swindonopenstudios.blogspot.com

Winter 2012 Journal Published

Happy New Year to all readers of this blog.

The latest edition of the Journal of the Friends of the Museum and Art Gallery has been published and should be arriving on your doormat soon, if it hasn't done so already.

This really useful magazine gives details of all sorts of diverse areas of interest, this edition includes:
Details of the Adan exhibition from the 14th-23rd of March at Artsite
Being a tree warden
Organists of Cirencester
Lucie Rie
Meeting Zoe Dennington
 a letter from the chair and an editorial.

Our next committee meeting is Tuesday the 15th of January, latest news from that will appear soon.

In the meantime, here's a photo from the cover of the excellent Pre-Raphaelite exhibition held at Tate Britain:

More on the visit at:www.swindonopenstudios.blogspot.com

'Drawing a Line in Space' the second of Mike Yates' Talks on Friday 9th November at 12.15pm

Mike started by showing us some pieces of pottery from his collection made at 2 local potteries- Cricklade Pottery and Ramsbury Pottery.
He has written excellent articles about both potteries- Cricklade Pottery in the Spring 2011 Journal and Ramsbury in the Winter 2011 Journal.
They are well worth reading to find out more about the legacy of these old potteries.
Here are photographs of Mike's pots:
First the Ramsbury ones:

And below some of the Cricklade pottery pots:

There are currently 25 pots on display in Cricklade Museum at 16, Calcutt Street, Cricklade.
Mike also quoted Bernard Leach: 'Very few people in this country think of making pottery as art'.
And Paul Gaugin: 'Pottery is a central art'.
Mike talked about the pots he had selected from the 100 fabulous pieces in the Swindon Collection, and encouraged the audience to engage with the finer points of the pots, particularly those made by Lucie Rie.
He is a very persuasive speaker, and certainly brings studio ceramics alive.

Next talks: Unlocking your House's Hidden History' Thursday November 15th 6pm - 7pm

'History of Swindon Viewpoint' 30th November 7.30pm( A Friends Talk)

'Blast from the Past' Thursday 6th December 6pm-8pm