Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Relocation Plans in the News

You may have seen Monday's Telegraph piece:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11807087/Swindon-bids-to-become-Britains-new-cultural-magnet.html on Swindon's bid to build a new museum and art gallery in the cultural quarter.
Then Tuesday's piece in the Times:

 on Swindon's plan to become a cultural destination, and today in the local paper, the Swindon Advertiser, a further piece on this theme:http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/13611053.Former_High_Sheriff_throws_his_weight_behind_Swindon___s_bid_for_culture_centre/?ref=mmsp
But why the negativity about the place?
People do choose to live here and enjoy living here.
And FLIC Wiltshire's response with a good piece by Angela Atkinson:
http://www.flicwiltshire.com/News/General/Swindon-hits-the-national-headlines-once-again.aspx
I will also include a flyer by Mark Worrall who is taking part in this years Swindon Open Studios:

 

FLYER for TALKS and TRIPS Autumn 2015

The new flyer for the Autumn talk series is ready and you should be receiving it soon until then it is posted below. We hope you like the look of the new programme and look forward to seeing you between now and Christmas.

Friends have priority booking for 14 days from 19.08.2015, remember to book talks via the museum and trips via Linda.

New TALKS & TRIPS for Autumn

We've just finalised the talks and trips for autumn and hope there is something in there for everyone. Remember each time you attend you are not just learning something new and having a good time but helping SM&AG towards the brighter future Swindon deserves. Obviously after such an introduction you might be expecting the next bit - we have made a small price increase on talks but at £5 for Friends and £7 for Non Friends I'm sure you'll agree it's still pretty good value. Tickets and prices for trips are not available yet but you will be receiving the Journal and flyer for the new series very soon.

Friends have priority booking for 7 days from 17.08.15. Tickets are available for talks call the museum on 01793 466556 (not available yet) and for trips email Linda Kasmaty at lindakasmaty@hotmail.com or phone on 01793 527149


In celebration of 10 years of the National Trust in Swindon we have three themed events.

On Thursday 24 September (7.30 at SM&AG) Tom Freshwater of Trust New Art will be talking about the many exciting contemporary art programmes he has been involved with at National Trust sites.

Wednesday 30 September (Meet at 10.30 at Rabley Drawing Centre, Rabley, Marlborough, SN8 2LW, £10, Friends only) trip to Rabley Drawing Centre. An introduction from director Meryl Ainslie followed by a chance to meet the artist Sara Lee and a printmaking demonstration with Sara and gallery assistant Amy Jane Blackhall.

Thursday 29 October (7.30 at SM&AG) Dr Nicola Snashall gives an account of the recent excavations at West Kennet Avenue, Avebury.

Friday 6 November (12.15 - 2.30 meet at Heelis, Swindon, SN2 2NA, £5, Friends only) A guided tour of the National Trust Headquarters at Heelis.

Wednesday 18 November (10 - 1.00 at SM&AG, £10, Friends only) Return visit for the Friends of Rabley Drawing School. A chance to meet over coffee and cake , followed by a talk from Sophie Cummings who will be showing something special from the archive.

Thursday 26 November AGM (6.30 SM&AG, Free event) Followed by a talk by Dr Mike Pringle from the Richard Jefferies Museum.

Thursday 10 December (7.30 at SM&AG) Angels in Art with Madeleine Emerald, art historian and lecturer, who will examine the painted ceiling in St John’s Church, Hoxton, London and consider whether the angels depicted here should be considered part of the Pre-Raphaelite tradition.

Entertaining Swindon- opening night

Last night, this exhibition celebrating entertainers between 1955-85 opened in the first two rooms either side of the front door as one enters the museum. Kate Parsons, exhibition researcher, curator and designer, has spent the last few months putting together this very moving collection of memories, and if last nights preview was anything to go by, it's going to be enjoyed by lots and lots of people who remember those times, and will surprise many of those who weren't around at the time.
Those featured in the exhibition, or connected in some way to it, or Friends' committee, were invited to the opening night:

What a lovely event it was, I took a few photos

 The room on the right as you go into the building was busier than the other one because that's where the cakes were, even so it was quite hard to take photos without alarming people, it was easier to photograph Ian Doeser and friend from behind!

 In the room on the left, there are some fabulous dresses, maybe I can use this photo as a background to the Facebook page, or does it need to be landscape?

 Below Sophie Cummings, Curator of the art gallery and Ray Ward chatting

 Robert Stredder of Theatre des Bicyclettes writing on the chalk board, it's encouraged!

 Behind the changing cubicle I found a whole story board dedicated to les Bicyclettes. Wonderful that this duo, and sometimes trio are featured here

 I've included this quote which might be hard to read from Terry Johnson which I love and agree with: 'Swindon is like a village- the people of that Groundwell Farm era, are still performing'

 Here's a classic photo of les Bicyclettes, love this one.

 Here's Kate Parsons talking to Robert Stredder about something

The exhibition is open from Weds-Sat 11am-3pm until November 7th, do go and have a look, it reminds us how special Swindon is in so many ways.

Ravilious at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

After our talk on Eric Ravilious by James Russell, curator of the exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and the wide acclaim the exhibition has received, lots of us were really looking forward to seeing the exhibition for ourselves. In fact, there were 39 of us booked to go on the trip, and could have been more if I'd known that a 52 seater coach was coming in place of the 41 seater we booked.
Suffice to say, there were a lot of Friends on the coach all looking forward to a great day at the DPG, I was really pleased with the magnificent turn out. The rail strike on the day meant that the journey took much longer than anticipated, but had the benefit of enabling people to get to know each other better.
When we arrived, we looked round the Ravilious exhibition, among masses of other people, it's a very popular exhibition beautifully laid out in rooms.

The Westbury White horse painting is used on the poster on the way in, seen better below inside:

and on the book to accompany the exhibition, which I'm really pleased I bought as a momento and because it gives a fascinating and sensitive insight into the artist and the paintings he produced.
 This is the entrance hall:

Photography was not allowed in the exhibition, so to give an idea of the atmosphere, I took a few snaps. The exhibition is beautifully arranged in several sections, as you can see below, Interiors is one of the sections, and with it

 was this gorgeous painting 'Geraniums and carnations'

and  'The Greenhouse, cyclamen and tomatoes' with its 'diminishing progression of triangles and rectangles'.

 This painting titled 'Cuckmere Haven' in the Changing Perspectives section.

 I'm not sure which painting Vanetta, Gillian and Ray are looking at, but I liked the discussion that was going on between Friends in the exhibition.

 'Tea at Furlongs', one of my favourite paintings was in the Place and Season section

 Other sections were Relics and Curiosities, Figures and Forms, and Darkness and Light.
At 2pm, we were met by Mary Poole-Wilson who talked to us about the Dulwich Picture Gallery building and its collections. We were first led to the mausoleum which is specially constructed to give a special light as you can see in the photograph below, and doesn't require heating either.

 After some information about the founding of the gallery in 1817 by Noel desenfans and Peter Bourgeois, we were taken to this fragment of a painting by Veronese - St.Jerome and Girolamo Petrobelli, 1563.

 We then went into the Poussin room and Mary talked about the 'Triumph of David' painting below

 and 'The Nurture of Jupiter'

 We then spent some time eating and drinking in the glorious grounds

 This metal structure below would make a lovely planter, currently has some gravel in it.

 All too soon, it was time to get onto the coach, and sit in lots more traffic and look at the lovely things we'd bought in the shop, in my case, a fridge magnet, the James Russell book, a table mat, lots of cards and a Tiddlywinks game. On the way home, there were some good reflections in windows

 I rather liked this one:

 And the view of the bridge looked impressive at the time

 So where next? The Ravilious exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery will be a hard act to follow.

Latest Friends talk - James Russell on Eric Ravilious

I was really pleased to book James Russell, curator of the current Ravilious exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, to come and talk to us about the artist Eric Ravilious. He proved a very popular choice of speaker, all tickets were sold for the talk, and we had to send about twenty people away.
I will say something about his talk here, but by visiting his blog, you can watch 3 videos about the current Dulwich exhibition, and get an idea of what an insightful speaker he is.
So please click here for a link to his blog.
I wish I'd taken more photos, but there was so much going on that night that it was hard to concentrate on photos. There were lots of new people joining the Friends and we were taking the second payment for the trip to Dulwich on July 10th.
I took a photo of the computer screen before James' talk:

 The lovely Westbury white horse with a train in the background, and below James talking to a full house:

I've made a few notes, so I'll include them here.
Ravilious went to the Royal College of Art and was a contemporary of Henry Moore and Edward Burra. At this time, there was a resurgence of watercolour painting, and Sell Cottman was a great favourite of Ravilious. At the RCA he was taught by Paul Nash, along with Edward Bawden. Ravilious started by doing wood engraving, there are some in the Dulwich exhibition, it's a good way of illustrating books and newspapers. His wife, Firza was also a successful wood engraver, although she gave this up when they had children.
Ravilious loved the countryside around Wiltshire and liked staying at Oare House, open this year coincidentally on June 28th under the NGS scheme. He painted this atmospheric and cleverly executed painting in the vegetable garden:

It's called Strawberry Nets, the hills of Pewsey Vale can be seen in the background.
Ravilious wanted to be modern, quirky and unusual, so he painted avoiding green, substituting brown  where he could do so.
Peggy Angus another RCA artist was a Scottish communist who lived for years in half a cottage called Furlongs, close to Eastborne in a place called Furle, many glorious paintings were produced here. The glorious Mr Humphreys'greenhouse paintings were painted at nearby Furle Place.
Some memorable paintings were produced in a year of traveling around the border country around Capel y Ffin, Wiltshire and back to Eastbourne. He also painted around Castle Hedingham where he lived for several years, and where there's a memorial to him.
He sadly died in 1942 in the second world war over Norway where he'd gone for the fabulous midnight sun, aged just 39.
The children's book he was working on when he was killed was recently found and bought by the Devizes Museum.
I am really looking forward to the Friends' visit to the Dulwich Picture Gallery on Friday, it will be a real treat.