Art Blog – Clifton Arts

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From the Chair

I am just back from a short trip to Cairo and Alexandria. I saw a lot of amazing ancient artefacts and some more contemporary art in the new Alexandria Library.

I thought you might be interested in this Roman Mosaic from Alexandria. So like the HMV label dog ‘Nipper’, the statue of which is on a building in Park Row at the junction with Woodland Road.

This is an excuse to publicise the upcoming Mosaic Workshop in January. It will be a great chance to sample this ancient medium. All materials will be provided – all you need bring is your own inspiration.

Wishing you all best wishes for Christmas and 2025.

Fergus

Chair 13/12/2024 No Comments

News

Message from the Chair

The Art Fair which finished on Saturday seems to have been a real success. We will get details of the numbers attending and the sales in due course. I thought it was a great exhibition which amply displayed the varied talents and styles of Club members. I heard lots of positive comments from people attending whenever I dropped during the week. I would like to thank all those who contributed: the artists, the stewards, those who helped set it up and dismantle it in what seemed like record time – but especially Fiona Hallworth and Lea Aldridge for the immense amount of work they put into the organisation and smooth running.

Secondly, I want to give you advance notice of the AGM. It will be on Thursday April 17th at Redland United Reformed Church between 7pm -9pm. More details later, but put it in your diary.

Fergus Macbeth

Chair 02/12/2024 No Comments

News

A postscript to my last message

While I was in London I also went to Kew Gardens. I again visited the gallery which houses an extraordinary collection of 800 botanical and landscape paintings by the 19th century traveller and painter Marianne North. Next door in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery is an exhibition of extraordinary porcelain ceramics by Felicity Aylieff – Expressions in Blue. See the photo above. https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/felicity-aylieff

Fergus Macbeth

Chair 30/10/2024 No Comments

A message from the Chair

It was great to see so many people, including two new members, at the recent Meet-Up at the New Cut Café. Though it was cool and grey it was not raining and quite a few manged to get out and about sketching. The next one is coming up on November 14 at Welsh Back.
I was lucky enough to get up to London last weekend and see the exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of Monet’s London paintings. These are views across the Thames of Charing Cross and Waterloo Bridges painted during winter visits between 1899 and 1901 when he was fascinated by the colours and light in the very foggy atmosphere at the time. Although I was familiar with some of the images to see them all together was extraordinary. A bonus was that despite being sold out that day, the exhibition did not feel too crowded and I could study each painting without peering round others too often. So, if you have the chance to go before it closes on January 19th please do. Otherwise you take the virtual tour online at https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/exh-monet-and-london-views-of-the-thames/ .
The Annual Open Exhibition at the RWA is also well worth a visit. This year’s show had more that appealed to me than previous ones and it was good to see that one of our members, Ian Price, had two seascapes in the show. (Apologies to any other member whose work I did not spot). I will certainly be having another visit -perhaps while our Autumn Fair is on next door at the Methodist Church.
I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the Autumn Fair and seeing your work. Please sign up to help, especially with the stewarding. It is not only a great chance to spend more time at the exhibition but an opportunity to meet others and recruit new members.
Fergus Macbeth

Chair 30/10/2024 No Comments

News

Squares competition results

The Squares competition is complete with more than 80 entries and some arriving still! The standard and range of work as ever was excellent and our adjudicator from the RWA,

Sue Turner 29/03/2024 No Comments