Patrick will explore the rich musical traditions of Venice. Claudio Monteverdi not only transformed the music at the Basilica of San Marco but also led the way in the creation of a new art form - opera. We shall look at and listen to works from the other musical geniuses who developed the musical life of San Marco such as Gabrieli and Lotti, as well as tracing Monteverdi’s successors in the creation of Venetian opera, including Cavalli and Albinoni. We shall also examine and hear music from Antonio Vivaldi, the other towering figure of Venetian music, who created music both for the opera stage and the female musicians of the Ospidale della Pietà.

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.  In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

Harry Venning has been a professional cartoonist for thirty years, during which time he has provided cartoons for several high profile UK publications (The Guardian, Radio Times) as well as for countless more obscure titles (British Journal Of Wound Care). He was awarded UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year for his Guardian strip Clare In The Community, which he adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom. In 'The Art Of The Cartoonist' Harry will be tracing the history of his profession with examples from early practitioners like Cruickshank and Hogarth, to more contemporary artists such as Giles and Schulz, bringing events right up to date with cartoons produced fresh on the page that day! Yes, Harry will be drawing live. Prepare to hear some tricks of his trade, learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect and discover exactly what the eskimo brothers said in The Funniest Joke Ever (possibly).

Harry Venning is a cartoonist, comedy writer and performer based in Brighton. Harry’s cartoons have appeared in publications as diverse as Mathematics Today, Radio Times, Music Teacher and The Stage. For twenty five years he provided The Guardian with the weekly strip cartoon Clare In The Community, about an unaware and empathy free social worker. In 2004 he developed Clare In The Community into a successful BBC Radio 4 sitcom starring Sally Philipps which ran for twelve series. When not at a desk , Harry tours his cartoon workshop around schools, theatres, arts centres, cruise ships and festivals. He is an accredited lecturer with the UK Arts Society, an Honorary Fellow of the English/Creative Writing departments of Aberystwyth University, resident cartoonist with the Blue Hat team building organisation, UK Social Workers Union honorary ambassador, winner of a Sony Radio Award for Comedy and a former UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year. He cannot draw hands or horses.

Grayson Perry is one of Britain's best known contemporary artists, and one of the most successful. Known primarily as a potter and visual artist he's also famous for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire. He is now a core part of the art establishment, a Knight of the Realm, Turner Prize winner, Royal Academician, popular broadcaster and colourful character.  His works are highly sought after. Often controversial, he tackles difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty manner and holds a mirror up to modern society. This talk will examine Sir Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks.

A Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is also a freelance London tour guide. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is an Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies.

Visual proverbs meld with scenes of everyday life and show how the everyday can show us the values and interests of the Dutch in the 17th century. Fine examples by Gerrit Dou, P. de Hoogh, Vermeer, Metsu, Pot, Jan Steen and many others, illustrate the development of genre painting into and through the Golden Age. Filled with racy stories and symbols, you may never look at a Dutch painting in the same way again.

Formerly a curator and Print Room Superintendent at the British Museum, now Art History Education Officer in the Department of Learning & National Partnerships at the Museum. Lectures for BM and Wallace Collection. Founding Artistic Director of The Arts Society of North Kent Evening. Specialist in 17th century art and has published on Rembrandt. Hilary has vast experience of giving gallery talks, of lecturing and of leading art history tours in UK, Europe, New York and Boston. For the Royal Collection Trust, she has guided Special Interest Private Tours of the State Apartments at Buckingham Palace.

From pyramids to hidden tombs and pharaohs to mummies, uncover the stories behind the statues; and the ways in which the Ancient Egyptians used art and hieroglyphs to ensure their survival into the Afterlife. Highlights include stories of how pharaohs gained power; myths and legends of the gods and goddesses; and how cat scans have revealed health problems of the Egyptians and disasters in mummification!

I became a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide in 2005, receiving an award as the 'Best Guide in Gallery Exams'. One of my main areas of interest is Ancient Egypt. I’ve studied hieroglyphs and carry out volunteer work in the Egyptian department at the British Museum. I lead specialist tours at relevant sites across London and also deliver lectures on this subject. Highlights of my guiding career have included giving a talk on BBC Radio 4 about the execution site of Tyburn and writing a book on the British monarchy.

The Painted Hall in the Royal Naval College at Greenwich is a masterpiece often called Britain's Sistine Chapel. Inside you will find paintings covering over 3,700 square meters of the hall's walls and ceiling, created by the artist Sir James Thornhill. In this lecture we tell the story of the hall and explore some of the 200 images on display, explaining their significance and meaning as they mark the state of Britain in the early 17th century.

Nick is a London Blue Badge Guide and a lecturer in History and the Arts. He qualified as a London Blue Badge Guide in 2019, winning the award as Guide of the Year. In 2021 he gave the annual Katrine Prince Lecture to members of the Institute of Tourist Guiding. Before guiding he joined the BBC where he worked for over 30 years in both television and radio. He helped cover some of the great events of History, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the terrible events of 9/11, from the fall of the Thatcher Government to the celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

During the nineteenth century the nature of the Christmas we know today emerged. Not so much invented by the Victorians, as rediscovered, Christmas became a focal point in the year for a society dealing with the effects of industrialisation, urbanisation and the development of mass consumerism. From Dickens's seminal A Christmas Carol, the collection and distribution of folk carols, through to the emergence of the shop window display as an art form in its own right, Christmas is a legacy the Victorians have handed down to us and it continues to play a crucial role in our lives.

I have always been obsessed with history. My Dad, a London cabbie, drove me around the streets of the capital from the youngest age showing me how every building and stone of London bears witness to the past. My passion for history led me to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and then a career in University teaching and research. From 2008 to 2024 I was Professor of Modern British History at the University of Kent, and during the First World War centenary I was director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, Gateways to the First World War, a centre designed to encourage public engagement with the centenary. This saw me engage with a wide range of organisations and groups and work in collaboration with the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

As someone committed to the idea of ensuring that all learning is accessible and engaging, and that the excitement of encountering the past can be felt by all, I have much experience of talking to history and heritage groups. My specialism is the cultural history of late nineteenth century and twentieth century Britain with a focus on the architectural and horticultural work of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission. This specialism means I am a regular speaker at Western Front Association branches (examples of my talks can be seen on the association's YouTube channel), and in 2023 I was presented with an award by the association in recognition of my outstanding services as a speaker and organiser of events.

Colour theory underpins the visual world. Today there is a sense of thinking there is one colour theory, but actually over history many people have contributed from Aristotle to Goethe, from Newton to Joseph Albers. This is a very colourful lecture which will explore some of the theories and the wonderful colour charts they produced giving a visual feast. The lecture explores colour in ways that will appeal to the artist, textile person and anyone with an interest in colour.

For 17 years from 2007 to 2024 Susan was Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Institute of Marketing and in 2015 was made a Fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in recognition of her work on the history of dyes. Susan has a longstanding interest in textiles, especially colour, and published her first book, The Story of Colour in Textiles (Bloomsbury) in 2013. She has extensive lecturing experience across the world as well as for the V&A and across the UK. In 2022 she published An Unbroken Thread: the 150 year history of the Royal School of Needlework, a second edition of which was published in 2024 to include the RSN's work on the coronation. She is currently the President of the Society of Dyers and Colourists. and is now getting back to research into the history of colour in textiles

No English king is as well-known to us as Henry VIII. He is famous for six marriages, breaking with the Pope, dissolving the monasteries and creating the Church of England; and for his ruthless elimination of those who stood in his way.  But he was also an enthusiastic patron of the arts whose palaces, tapestries and paintings enriched the Tudor court and began the Royal Collection. The forces that influenced Henry’s life can be seen in the works he commissioned, by artists such as Pietro Torrigiano, Hans Holbein and Giralomo da Treviso. They tell us much about his kingship and (unintentionally) his insecurities. Ultimately, each of the works contained some aspect of one central story: the glorification of Henry and his England.

Siobhan Clarke BA Hons has worked for Historic Royal Palaces for 20 years delivering tours and lectures on Hampton Court, Kensington, the Tower of London and the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace. Her experience includes education sessions and tours for schools, universities, corporate and private clients.  She has lectured for the British Museum, National Trust, National Archives and the Smithsonian and featured on BBC Radio 'Woman's Hour' and Television's 'Secrets of Henry VIII's Palace'. 

Her published work includes: 'A Tudor Christmas', in collaboration with Alison Weir, (2018), 'The Tudors: The Crown, The Dynasty, The Golden Age' with Linda Collins (2019), 'King and Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship' (2021) and 'Gloriana: Elizabeth I and the Art of Queenship' (2022).

Before the British arrived in India, the Indian subcontinent was ruled by the Mughal Emperors. The stunning buildings and gardens they constructed from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century have left an indelible stamp on India’s architectural and cultural landscape. Mughal architecture fused elements from Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian architectural traditions, and gave rise to some of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in the world. From the Jama Masjid in Delhi, to the Taj Mahal in Agra, to the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, this lecture will take you on a tour of some of India’s greatest buildings, and provide insight into the historical contexts and colourful personalities involved in their construction.

Dr John Stevens gained his PhD in History from UCL, before going on to teach British Imperial History, Indian History and Bengali Language at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London). His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. He is a regular visitor to India and Bangladesh and has lectured at numerous Indian universities. He also works as a consultant on Indian affairs and teaches the Bengali language to private students. He has appeared many times in the Indian media, and was a guest on BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time, discussing the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore. 

The last time St Paul’s Cathedral was deprived of music for a long period was after the devastating Fire of London in 1666. But in 1697 Christopher Wren was able to triumphantly declare RESURGAM as the phoenix rose from the ashes. Patrick will look at music from either side of this momentous event. He will also guide us through the finest repertoire from across the Cathedral’s liturgical year. Escorted by a selection of his favourite photographs, music and videos he will aim to convey the glories of twenty-five years of singing in this extraordinary building

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.  In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

The founder's grandson tells story of the publisher, Faber & Faber, and of the art used on its books, from its beginnings to the present day.

Since its foundation in 1925, Faber and Faber has built a reputation as one of London’s most important literary publishing houses. Part of that relates to the editorial team that Geoffrey Faber and his successors built around them - TS Eliot was famously an early recruit - but a large part is also due to the firm’s insistence on good design and illustration. Early years brought innovations like the Ariel Poems – single poems, beautifully illustrated, sold in their own envelopes - and contacts with some of the great artists of the inter-war years. From the 1940s, there was an emphasis on typography, led by the firm’s art director Berthold Wolpe; his Albertus font is still used on City of London road signs. In the 1980s, the firm started its association with Pentagram, responsible for the ff logo. Along the way, it has employed some of our most celebrated artists as cover illustrators – from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst.

The talk will also be peppered with personal insight and anecdote. Faber and Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent. As the grandson of its founder, I grew up steeped in its books. I was managing director for four years and I remain on the board. I am passionate about the firm’s success, and intensely proud of my association with it.   

Toby is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press. Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius – Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius; Faberge’s Eggs; and Faber & Faber – The Untold Story, as well as a novel, Close to the Edge. Of these, only the obvious one is published by the family firm.

In 1932 the artist Edward Bawden and his wife Charlotte moved into Brick House, in the Essex village of Great Bardfield, initially sharing the house with another artistic couple, Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood. It was to be the beginning of a fascinating artistic community. In the years before and during the Second World War painters, printmakers and designers settled in the village, relishing the peace while remaining within easy reach of London. While Bawden and Ravilious saw active service as War Artists (Ravilious dying in 1942), other artists captured the soon-to-change world of rural England through the Recording Britain project. By the mid-1950s a diverse, innovative but highly creative group had made Bardfield their home – much to the bemusement of the local villagers, who found the complex relationships and artistic focus of the newcomers rather baffling. In 1954 the artists invited the public into their homes and studios to see their work, starting the increasingly popular ‘Open Studios’ movement that now covers the country, and persuading some of their neighbours that artists could be quite normal people after all.

Has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, The National Gallery, The Art Fund, and local art societies.

The only one of the United States to have its very own royal residence – Iolani Palace - the former Kingdom of Hawai’i had brave kings and queens who travelled the world and attended monarchical events in the UK up until the dethroning of their last queen. This isolated island chain is closer to the UK than one may think.   

Pauline Chakmakjian is a lecturer on a variety of subjects related to the history, fine arts and culture of Japan as well as unusual topics such as Freemasonry.  An Arts Society lecturer since 2011, she has also completed lecture tours for ADFAS in Australia (Cook, 2013 and Hume, 2016) as well as New Zealand DFAS (2014). She holds a BA in English Literature during which she was also awarded a Merit Scholarship in Fine Art (drawing and painting), a Diploma in Law, an MA in Modern French Studies and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Pauline was elected onto the Board of the Japan Society of the United Kingdom from 2008–2014 and the Japan Society of Hawaii from 2015–2017. In 2014, Pauline was appointed a Visit Kyoto Ambassador by the Mayor of the City of Kyoto and in 2018, she became a Freeman of The City of London. 

Antonio Canaletto,was born on 18th October 1697 in Rome, and died on 19th April 1768. He was well established as a painter in Rome until 1736. But then his painting business in Venice collapsed, owing to the break-out of the War of the Austrian Succession in which Italy was involved. So, he then came to England, and started producing paintings of ships and river traffic on the Thames, like those he had been painting in Italy, Rome and Venice. However, new bridges were also being built over the Thames, and he decided to record them to vary his subject-matter.

But the most important bridge across the Thames was still the Old Medieval London Bridge. In 1756 the City of London was told that unless all the houses were speedily removed from the bridge, the entire bridge was likely to collapse into the river.  The news of the impending demolition of all those houses must have reached Canaletto, and he made a quick drawing of the old bridge. But he then heard that the War in Italy was over, so he went back to successfully resume his painting and sales out there.

In the meantime, his British successor and competitor had stepped forward: Samuel Scott. Scott was born in 1722, a generation after Canaletto, and spent his early years painting ships on the Thames. He seems to have been self-taught and had only English buyers for his pictures. But once Canaletto came on the scene, and started producing paintings of the Thames, including boats, Scott found a ready market for his own paintings of similar subjects, at a fraction of the prices of those painted by Canaletto.

Scott started making paintings of the old London Bridge before 1756. He also painted many scenes along other parts of the river and did not just paint the grand houses of aristocrats, as Canaletto tended to. One fascinating painting by Scott was of both sides of Ludlow High Street, where he lived for a time. But he included the principal inhabitants of the town standing outside their own houses: almost like Google, but with the inhabitants visible too!

Scott’s Tricentennial was in 2022. But this was in the middle of Lockdown, so it went unnoticed. Perhaps we need a campaign to celebrate it!

An art historian and archaeologist. In the 1980s he became Founder- Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe. In 2005 he was one of two Lecturer Representatives on the The Arts Society Advisory Council and also Vice-Chairman of Folkestone. He is the author of four books on the Impressionists in England, and one on Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames. His latest book My Father, the Man who Never Was, now renamed "Spy Runner", features in his latest lecture.

Everyone knows the ingredients of a traditional Christmas: gathering round the Christmas tree, pulling crackers, eating Christmas pudding and mince pies.  Those last-minute cards sent to people you’ve not seen all year. These are the festive celebrations with which most of us grew up and they still hold a special magic as representing the timeless Christmases of days gone by. But where did they start? This lecture looks at the characters and personalities of the people who began those traditions or introduced them to this country.

Alan has a masters and first-class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a gallery guide at Tate Britain and regularly lectures at both London Tates. For twenty years he was a gallery guide and lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He also works as a London Blue Badge Guide.

Costume and dress accessories that would have been worn at the Imperial Court. This talk uses the medium of silk textiles to provide an insight into the art, culture and history of the Imperial Court.  David will bring a range of repro textiles that are exact copies of original pieces that were in his collection which was acquired by The Shanghai Museum, in its entirety, in late 2019.  The items are all 'Insignia of Rank'

David was  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. David has in excess of 30 years of working and living in East Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he, and his wife Wendy, assembled a collection of approximately 500, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial Court Costume and related textiles/dress accessories. In late 2019 the Collection of Imperial Court Costume was acquired, in its entirety, by The Shanghai Museum, Peoples' Republic of China, to be displayed in a new annexe of the museum which will opened in 2025. A Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and regular contributor to a range of Oriental Art publications. David is an expert lecturer on Chinese Imperial Court Costume, plus all aspects of Imperial Court life, art and culture together with studies of China's greatest Emperors and Empresses. David has lectured for The Arts Society, and a wide range of other organisations, around the UK and within Europe. In addition he has carried out 4 lecture trips to Australia, plus New Zealand and SE Asia. He has organise and lead Imperial Art Tours to China for a wide variety of organisations. 

Tamara de Lempicka's story is one of self-invention. From her early beginnings as an aristocratic fugitive from the Russian Revolution, to later taking Paris by storm as a successful artist living on her own terms, she has become an icon of the Roaring Twenties. Few artists sum up an epoch quite so completely - a true art deco diva.

Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the Guildhall Art Gallery. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering walks, talks and tours about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015). Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing.

MacDonald 'Max' Gill, younger brother of the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, was an architect, graphic designer and letterer, best known for his pictorial maps, especially those for the London Underground. He also created painted maps for Arts & Crafts houses including Lindisfarne Castle, magnificent murals for Cunard liners, and eye-catching publicity posters for organisations such as the Empire Marketing Board. An enduring legacy is his alphabet for the Imperial War Graves Commission used on all British military headstones since the First World War.

I've co-curated numerous exhibitions including Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill at the University of Brighton and Max Gill: Wonderground Man at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. In 2016 I co-organised a series of events in the capital to celebrate the centenary of the author Eleanor Farjeon's delightful collection of verses entitled Nursery Rhymes of London Town and illustrated by Max Gill. I've contributed articles to a range of publications such as Country Life, the TAS journal and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  I've given talks for organisations including the National Archives, the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, Friends of Kettle's Yard and the National Trust and was thrilled in 2016 to become an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society. I run the MacDonald Gill website and am the author of MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life. 

The British musical grew in its own unique way, with style, heart, guts and masses of fun. We are still entertained by revivals of Me and My Girl, The Boy Friend and Oliver! But what of the many more hit shows, such as Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet, Ivor Novello’s King’s Rhapsody and the bitingly satirical Expresso Bongo, that are no longer staged? This lecture rediscovers a distinctive West End story to give a new perspective on the shows and the people who made them. It’s an aspect of culture and personality unique to Britain – and fascinating in variety and success. 

This lecture uses audio and video examples; demonstration from the piano is included where society facilities allow and for online lectures. 

John Snelson has been fascinated by musicals all his life and is now a leading expert in British musical theatre (the subject of his PhD). His publications include Andrew Lloyd Webber (Yale University Press) and chapters in many authoritative reference works. He is especially known for exploring musicals – British and American – in the light of not just the music and the stage, but society and culture to reveal what makes them so appealing, enduring and important. He is well known as a writer and speaker on all aspects of the lyric stage – musicals, opera, ballet – and has written many programme articles for leading companies in the UK and abroad. John has given talks for, among others, the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the Garsington and Glyndebourne festivals and for BBC radio. For 20 years he worked for the Royal Opera House. He currently lectures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is completing a book on British musical theatre for Bloomsbury Publishing.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1857-1959) is recognized as one of the most important architects of all time. He was a genius who believed he was destined to redesign the world.  Over the course of his long career, he designed over 800 buildings including revolutionary structures such as The Guggenheim Museum, Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax Building and Taliesin. However, Wright’s architectural achievements were often overshadowed by his turbulent private life. In his 92 years, he fathered 7 children, married three times, and suffered great personal tragedy.  This illustrated lecture provides an overview of his work, colourful personal life and most iconic buildings.

Fiona Rose has been lecturing about topics she feels passionately about since 2010 including William Morris and his circle, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Frida Kahlo and Frank Lloyd Wright. She has a BA in Social Psychology and aims to include the human story behind the artistic endeavours of her subjects. After an early career in public health Fiona founded and runs a home interiors business featuring the work of the great C19th designers such as Morris, Dearle, Voysey and Mackintosh. Fiona is a member of the museum Collections committee for The William Morris Society where she served as a Trustee. She is also a contributor to the Society’s Magazine and Journal of William Morris Studies. Fiona is a volunteer Tour Guide with the Arts & Crafts gem The David Parr House.

In this lecture Bertie recounts the extraordinary tale of how a small bronze statue, which had sat in his Grandfather’s garden for 40 years, was discovered as a master piece and ended up in the Getty Museum, California. Adriaen De Vries (c.1556-1626) was a Northern Mannerist sculptor born in the Netherlands. A technical virtuoso, he created spectacular bronzes for the most discerning patrons of his time, including the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Prague.He excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting and in the manipulation of patina and became the most famous European sculptor of his generation.

Bertie Pearce has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. He is a member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. Past experience includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges. In addition, he has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled "All Aboard". He has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre.

This lecture tells the story of men's tailoring over the past 200 years, told through the lives of the men who commissioned and created and wore it. Tailors, shirtmaker, hatters and other craftspeople in London’s west end, especially around Savile Row & Jermyn Street have shaped the way men dress since the Regency. How did men such as Beau Brummell, The Duke of Windsor, Tommy Nutter, Montague Burton, Alexander McQueen and John Stephen create their signature looks which influenced the mens fashion? This lecture also looks at the wider cultural shifts since the early 19th century to the present day and how they affected the way that men present themselves.

Russell Nash trained and worked as an actor, writer, puppeteer and theatre maker for 15 years. In 2015 he qualified as a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. Around this time he rekindled his love of art and art history. He now regularly guides the major galleries and museums in London such as the National Gallery, Tates Modern & Britain and the British Museum. He has delivered lectures for institutes and museums, as well as numerous U3A groups and other societies. During Covid lockdowns he devised and delivered more than 30 different virtual tours and lectures to groups from the UK and across the globe.

In 2022 the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) will celebrate its 150th anniversary. It was founded to keep hand embroidery alive and to offer suitable occupation to educated women who would otherwise have been destitute. Today it is a thriving centre of hand embroidery education to the highest level.

This lecture, goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the last 150 years and the School’s changing fortunes including: being part of the ‘Kensington set’; the links with the Arts and Crafts and Aestheticism movements; the connection with the SAS; the move to Hampton Court Palace and the variety of commissions the RSN has undertaken from wedding dresses to Oscar gowns and from runway garments to ecclesiastical vestments.

Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Institute of Marketing and in 2015 was made a Fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in recognition of her work on the history of dyes. Susan has a longstanding interest in textiles, especially colour, and published her first book, The Story of Colour in Textiles (Bloomsbury) in 2013. She has extensive lecturing experience and has been invited to lecture in the USA, Canada, China, Japan and Taiwan as well as for the V&A and across the UK. 

A light-hearted seasonal lecture for Christmas, describing what we actually know about the three kings – or rather what we don’t know! For a start we don’t know how many “kings” there were. Matthew doesn’t tell us. We assume they were 3 because they brought 3 gifts.

But why gold, frankincense and myrrh?

Also, there’s no reason to suppose they were kings of anywhere. We don’t even know their gender – some of them might have been women.

And since they gave away the location of the baby Jesus to Herod the alleged baby slayer, we can reasonably assume they weren’t too clever – let alone wise!

Tony was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J.Walter Thompson. He graduated through the training system there to become an account director and subsequently worked in a number of agencies before setting up on his own in 1985. There he handled primarily Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean, where he produced many commercials and print ads for them over a period of 15 years. He remains active as a consultant in the industry, but now concentrates on more philanthropic projects - producing a film in the rural villages of Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. More recently he has completed a sanitation project in Haiti after it was devastated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  

He has been a member of The Arts Society for many years. His earlier lecturing experience includes presenting to client groups, sales conferences and students of creative advertising in the UK and overseas. More recently he has been lecturing to Arts Societies in the UK and Europe.

Elizabeth I is one of our greatest monarchs. By the time of her death, in 1603, few in England could remember a time when they were not Elizabethans. Her very long reign provided peace and stability, allowing the arts to flourish so that her era would prove to be a Golden Age. The cult of ‘Gloriana’ revered her as a virgin goddess, while her image increasingly relied on glittering jewels, gowns, and accessories. In this lecture we will view Elizabeth’s queenship through paintings by artists including Hans Eworth, Lucas de Heere, Nicholas Hilliard and Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Art was a powerful device for royal magnificence and propaganda and Elizabeth knew how to use it.  

Siobhan Clarke BA has worked for Historic Royal Palaces for 20 years delivering tours and lectures on Hampton Court, Kensington, the Tower of London and the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace. Her experience includes education sessions and tours for schools, universities, corporate and private clients.  

She has lectured for the British Museum, National Trust, U3A, Arts Society and Smithsonian and featured on BBC Radio Women's Hour and Television's Secrets of Henry VIII's Palace. Her published work includes: A Tudor Christmas, in collaboration with Alison Weir, (2018), The Tudors: The Crown, The Dynasty, The Golden Age with Linda Collins (2019), King and Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship (2021) and she is currently working on Gloriana: Elizabeth I and the Art of Queenship.

Drawing on his own experiences as both a child and adult actor, Tyler reveals the pains and the pleasures of a career in the theatre, and takes us through the various intricate processes of putting on a play from the actor’s perspective, from the casting session to the curtain call, and all stops in between. On the way, he reveals how props can let you down at crucial moments, how actors survive when out of work, and how to deal with stage nudity.

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

This lecture explores the evolution of Chelsea from riverside fishing village into a bohemian literary and artistic enclave.

Starting at Sloane Square, we discover the curse of the boy who never grew up and where the ‘revolution in English theatre’ took place. We examine the classical exterior (and modern interior) of one of our great ‘star’chitects and his ‘modernist’ conversion. Turning down Tite Street, we take tea with Oscar Wilde, wave at James McNeill Whistler and watch out for Ellen Terry’s stepping out of her carriage to sit for John Singer Sargent….! We wend our way along the river, taking a sniff in the stunning Chelsea Physic Garden, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the country and learn why the trustees are eternally grateful to the founder of the British Museum. We stroll along to charming Cheyne Walk where EVERYONE who is ANYONE has lived; Rossetti, Swinburne, two ‘Eliots’, Mrs Gaskell, Turner and no fewer than 3 Rolling Stones..! We confer with Sir Thomas More and admire his medieval mansion that still stands today. Finally we retrace our steps, swinging by the Kings Road to attend the weddings of both a great 19th century writer and a great Hollywood star, and we ‘pop in’ to 50 Smith Street and meet literature’s most famous nanny.

Simon is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher and award winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

In the second half of the nineteenth-century an extraordinary group of purpose-built studio-houses were built on the edge of London’s Holland Park. At their centre was the house built by Frederic Leighton from the mid-1860s. With its vast studio and exotic Arab Hall it provided an inspiration to other artists who commissioned houses of their own. Combining domestic accommodation with studio space and space in which to entertain, these houses provide fascinating insights into the wealth, status and taste of successful artists of the period. The lecture explores the houses of the Holland Park Circle to determine why these artists invested so much in the creation of their homes and the uses they then put them to.

Daniel Robbins is Senior Curator, Museums with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and is responsible for two of London’s most significant house museums: Leighton House Museum and 18 Stafford Terrace. Formerly with Glasgow Museums, he has organised many exhibitions and contributed to numerous catalogues and publications around nineteenth-century art, architecture and design, including the authorship of the companion guide to Leighton House Museum published in 2011. He was responsible for leading the award-winning project to restore the historic interiors of the house completed between 2008 and 2010 and is now leading an £7 million refurbishment project addressing the additions made to the building in the twentieth century.

This lecture covers almost 2000 years of London's history illustrated through its stained glass windows - these cover 19th century, 20th century and contemporary glass makers.

My background and passion is Art & History. I studied for my BA in History of Art & Italian at the University of Sussex and did my MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design at the Royal College of Art. 
I worked for 6 years as a curator in the Sculpture Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as in smaller collections such as the Henry Moore Family Trust. As well as guiding I am an adjunct lecturer at Richmond The American International University in London where I teach undergraduates The History of London. 
I lecture regularly for art, history and academic societies as well as providing training courses and Continual Professional Development courses for students and guide members of the Institute of Tourist Guides.
I graduated as a Blue Badge Guide early in 2013 and won an award for the best new guide at Westminster Abbey. Since then I have been conducting bespoke private tours for discerning visitors to London. I established my own guiding company Canvas and Stone Tours in 2018 (www.canvasandstonetours.co.uk)

Ideal for Lent and Easter-tide, this mini ‘visual pilgrimage’ takes a reflective look at a selection of Eastern Orthodox icons and Italian art works from the 6th to 14th centuries, in relation to the most important days of Holy Week and the theme of Witness.

Helen combines her many years’ experience as an educator and professional artist to explain Late Medieval Italian Art and Eastern Orthodox iconography from a different perspective. Her interdisciplinary lectures weave together (with passion and humour) art historical scholarship, technical expertise and devotional context to provide a unique narrative for understanding 13th -14th century Italian panel painting. She has lectured, delivered art history and medieval panel painting courses for over thirty years to educational trusts, colleges, art societies, faith organisations, schools and HLF projects, as well as teaching independently and leading art pilgrimage tours in Sinai and Italy.

Helen has received numerous commissions from cathedrals, churches and private patrons and has been described as one of the UKs leading iconographers. She is a MA graduate of the Courtauld Institute (Edmond J. Safra Scholarship) and holds a first-class BA Hons, Fine Art Diploma and Adult Education Teaching qualification. She has worked in the museum sector at London’s leading Russian Art Auction House, MacDougall Arts and at Christie's.  

From late medieval times artists from the north have visited Italy in search of classical inspiration, not to mention prestige. “But why always Italy?” asks one 19th century Swedish artist, “Doesn’t our northern nature reflect eternity? Does not our gaze embrace the sky as well – and what a sky!” In Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen visits the little town of Skagen in the north of Jutland, a place of sand, storms and sky; describes it vividly and inspires artists to paint its wild and remote landscape where the North Sea meets the Baltic. Artists include a local girl, gifted Anna Ancher, whose personality and paintings are both compared by a contemporary artist to “a burst of sunshine”. In Sweden, symbolist landscape artist Prince Eugen, youngest son of King Oscar II, finds romantic inspiration in the lakes, forests, history and vivid folk art of Dalecarlia in central Sweden. Both Danish and Swedish landscape paintings feature the Blue Hour, that half hour or so just after sunset and before sunrise, when the landscape is suffused with a bluish light, highly atmospheric and iconic of the North.

Karin is known for her entertaining lectures on writers and diarists connected with the arts from the mid-18th to 19th century, and moving forward in time with Virginia Woolf. Extensive research into diaries and letters bring lectures to vivid life. Karin illustrates them with slides of contemporary pictures and portraits from varied sources.

Four hundred years ago in July 1623 saw the death of the outstanding English composer William Byrd; prolific and successful, he was a favourite at the court of Queen Elizabeth. But Byrd led a complicated existence as a devout Catholic in troubled Tudor times, when to infringe strict religious rules ran the risk of imprisonment or even death. Forced underground, he created some of his most expressive music for fellow Catholics to use in secret worship. This talk celebrates the best of Byrd’s awe-inspiring work and reflects on what it means to create superb art in circumstances of great danger.

Sandy is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.

The antiques market has changed dramatically and now pieces that were made during the 1970s can fetch many times more than a piece made in the 1770s. Why has the teak sideboard you threw out become so desirable? Who is this Eames guy? Drawing a blank with Timo Sarpaneva? Who’s buying what and what are they doing with it? This practical and inspirational lecture looks at furniture, ceramics, glass, lighting and metalware, identifies key designs and designers, and the examines the revolutionary design movements they began.

Studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. Became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. Was co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller from 2002-17. Founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts. A Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, and has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. Operations Director of Ronati UK, an internet company offering innovative digital services to the antiques industry. Has lectured across the world, including at the V&A in London, and contributed to many newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

Apart from the pear tree in which sat the partridge, there are no plants in the 12 days of Christmas according to the folk song. Sadly, even that reference is erroneous, because partridges are ground dwelling birds. And yet at Christmas we are surrounded by plants. This talk puts the record straight and rewrites the zoocentric song replacing partridges with poinsettias, and maids with mistletoe.

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy was the Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.  Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms and his lectures often investigate this relationship.  Since 2014 he has been a college lecturer and tutor in Botany and Plant Conservation at Somerville College Oxford. 

Theatres had been officially closed for 18 years under the puritan Government when Charles II returned to England and re-opened the playhouses. Restoration Theatre reflected the explosion of immorality and freedom associated with the restoration. Fun though it was Theatre became ill-disciplined and a place respectable people would not go. Over the next 100 years actors and managers like David Garrick sought to create a professional and artistically respected art form.

Malcolm has lectured on the Victoria & Albert Museum Short Course and Year Course Programmes since 2009, devising and developing a range of courses on Theatre History and Practice. He also lectures on theatre for Road Scholar and London Arts Discovery Tours for theatre groups visiting UK from America.   

Malcolm was Workshop and Events manager at the V&A Theatre Museum in Covent Garden for 10 years where he was responsible for lectures, Study Days and workshops for adults and interviewed many leading British actors and directors including Kenneth Cranham, Zoe Wanamaker, Barry Cryer, June Whitfield and Don Black. He has lectured and led workshops at many drama schools including RADA, The Actors Centre and Rose Bruford College. He has chaired panels and post show talks for Ambassadors Theatre Group. Malcolm has contributed as a speaker on theatre to many television and radio programmes. He has worked with Age Exchange Community Arts since 2000 on many creative arts programmes with older people and intergenerational film and theatre projects.

Through the cenuries, food and its rituals have provided a vibrant opportunity for artists to celebrate, to analyse their world and even to develop complex ideas of morality.

Nicole studied Art History at the Universities of Sussex, York and Paris. She was Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University, Belfast until 2009, working primarily with adults, managing and teaching on both the Part-Time degree and Extra-Mural programmes and conducting annual, international study-tours. She also established and was first Director of the Department of Art History, the first in the north of Ireland. Nicole now lives in central London and is a freelance lecturer, working for organisations including the National Museums, universities, the National Trust and private companies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Higher Education Academy and her publications focus on adult education and the arts.

This lecture gets up close and personal with the dynamic east London street art scene.  You’ll see art on the walls, the sides of buildings and sidewalks….. 

In this lecture we will look at work by Banksy, quite possibly the most famous living street artist in the world, as well as street art by Ben Eine whose piece “Twenty First Century City” was recently presented by Prime Minister David Cameron to Barrack Obama. We will also see work by Shepherd Fairey the most celebrated street artist working in the US today, known around the world for his  "Obey" and "Hope" campaigns.  

You will discover how the huge growth and popularity of Street Art is reflected in the astonishing transformation of Spitalfields and Shoreditch from a once seedy and deprived area into one of the most vibrant, most fashionable, most happening neighbourhoods in London.

London Blue Badge tourist guide who specialises in the graffiti and street art of East London.

Paying tribute to the lives and work of six great songwriters who defined popular music during the first half of the last century – and the unforgettable legacy they left behind for us all. Enjoy their beautiful songs, as fresh and inspiring today as when they were first written, and learn about these musical geniuses who cast their spell on us all.

Lecture 1: JEROME KERN – THE ‘DADDY’ OF THEM ALL

Pip Burley began his musical career playing Rock'n'Roll in the 60s and 70s as well as working with the big bands - including Sydney Lipton, Joe Loss and Ken Mackintosh. He went on to compose and record music for commercials, theatre, film and television and, in 1990, won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme music for The Darling Buds of May - a TV series he also produced (discovering Catherine Zeta-Jones in the process). Other television successes include the multi-award winning series A Touch of Frost, the most watched police series of all time, created for and starring David Jason. As a sideline he also managed to start and run an advertising agency!

Since then Pip has been lecturing widely about his career based on his book Briefest Encounters and, more recently, has devised a series of six talks entitled 'The Golden Age of Song', featuring the lives and music of six great composers of popular song, lavishly illustrated with slides, videos and occasional demonstrations on the piano. These lectures have been presented both ashore and on cruise ships. 

I confess to not thinking it much like the original – but that the public will not be able to detect… 

Cassie Austen on her Aunt Jane’s portrait

From Burns to Byron and from Jane Austen to the Brontes; this lecture will uncover the fascinating stories behind some literary portraits of the Romantic period.    We’ll look at various ways in which Romantic writers have been depicted in art, and how these likenesses have been received; both during the writers’ lifetimes, and posthumously. 

We will also explore the afterlives of literary portraits and their use in popular culture – from banknotes and fridge magnets, to tins of shortbread and bottles of gin. 

How do writers’ portraits contribute to literary fame and celebrity? Do these images affect our perception of their lives and work? And to what extent may portraits of writers be said to be fictions themselves?  

Following a career in teaching, Annalie spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wordsworth House in Cockermouth; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire; and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.   At Jane Austen’s House, Annalie won 2 Sandford Awards for Excellence in Heritage Education; she also worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people. 

Annalie’s lectures focus on aspects of Romantic and Victorian literature.  She uses her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses - and their collections - to offer a unique perspective on writers and their works.  She is particularly interested in the material culture of writers’ lives, including the quirky and interesting; from the collar worn by Emily Bronte’s dog, Keeper, to William Wordsworth’s ice-skates. 

Did you know that artists, like the codebreakers of Bletchley, were among the unsung heroes of WWII, and crucial participants at the business end of conflict? This lecture is about two military units from WWII: the British Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate, and the American ‘Ghost Army’, both of which were populated by artists, specially recruited to devise deception operations that would foil the Germans. For example, the units created fake tanks and depots to fool German reconnaissance planes and draw their attention away from real Allied attack points. They blurred fiction and reality on the field of battle, for the first time weaponizing artistic skills and making for a literal ‘theatre’ of war. More than this, their ingenious ruses were arguably a critical component of the overall Allied victory against the Nazis. 

Matthew Wilson studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute and has taught the subject in secondary schools in the UK for over a decade. As a freelance writer he has also written for numerous publications, including the BBC, Aesthetica Magazine and Smarthistory – the world’s most-used art historical resource. His latest book, Symbols in Art (Thames & Hudson, Autumn 2020), was described by Christopher Lloyd, former keeper of the Queen's pictures, as “masterly … the perfect introduction to a subject that can only heighten the general appreciation of art.” He is currently working on a new title, also on the subject of iconography, due for publication in 2022.

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns.

Tony describes some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo have been a particularly rich source. From the Renaissance through to the present day fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance Brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony.

In an entertaining and informative lecture Tony uses a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and the (not always entirely successful) advertisements that are the end result.

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Tony was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J.Walter Thompson. He graduated through the training system there to become an account director and subsequently worked in a number of agencies before setting up on his own in 1985. There he handled primarily Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean, where he produced many commercials and print ads for them over a period of 15 years. He remains active as a consultant in the industry, but now concentrates on more philanthropic projects - producing a film in the rural villages of Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. More recently he has completed a sanitation project in Haiti after it was devastated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  

He has been a member of The Arts Society for many years. His earlier lecturing experience includes presenting to client groups, sales conferences and students of creative advertising in the UK and overseas. More recently he has been lecturing to Arts Societies in the UK and Europe.

William Randolph Hearst had an obsession: In 1935, Forbes Magazine called him, “quantitively the world’s number one collector of Objets d’Art” and when he died The New York Times stated that during the 1920s and 30s, he alone had accounted for 25% of the world’s art market activity. But to where was this king’s ransom headed, and hoarded? Some of you will already know of Hearst Castle in California, but lesser known is his 5-story Gothic castle hidden within a Manhattan apartment block; his weekend home on Long Island that inspired the castle in The Wizard of Oz; his sprawling 12th century castle in Wales with its own ghosts; and, the Bavarian village he built around his mother’s 7-story schloss deep in the forests of Northern California. Through the unparalleled extravagance of the places he lived in and loved, we’ll take a dive into the extraordinary life of the man who Orson Welles famously satirized as Citizen Kane - the same man who changed the face of journalism forever and built 'the greatest publicity machine in history', but died paying rent to his creditors.

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Mark is a writer, the founder of HouseHistree.com, and lectures regularly at societies, festivals and clubs in both Europe and the United States. After leaving Stowe School, Mark worked for twenty years as a plumber in London. However, his real passion has always been for history, particularly the history behind houses through the characters that conjoin to create them. His special interest lies with the great American houses and their relationships with those in Europe, both socially and architecturally. 

Using old letters, secret diaries and neglected archives, Tessa has resurrected a series of fascinating stories from 19th and 20th century domestic service, at some of our most prominent households.  There will be a special focus on Uppark where Mrs Sarah Wells – mother to author H.G. Wells – kept a revelatory diary for the 14 years she toiled below stairs. She was an elderly, anxious woman working in a notoriously old-fashioned household. But what grated most was that her mistress was born a mere dairy farmer’s daughter…

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Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She’s the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change. Her interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics. Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines. 

Find out, in this very light-hearted lecture, about the various ceremonial events that take place around Christmas time. Carol services, concerts and even Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor all play their part. How do the Chelsea Pensioners prepare and celebrate the festive season? All will be revealed so, come along and feel wrapped in a blanket of Christmas loveliness.

Dr Graham Jones started his professional life as a musician in the British Army and over a glittering career spanning nearly forty years he retired as the Senior Director of Music, Household Division and Director of Music, Coldstream Guards a position unequaled throughout military music in Great Britain. During his illustrious career he has recorded over 40 albums and been responsible for the largest commissioning programme of wind band music in recent history commissioning over 30 new works for wind band. He pioneered a music education programme with the University of Salford for military musicians resulting in a new Master of Music in performance degree. Graham was made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace for outstanding service to military music in 1993.

Having retired, at the start of 2012, from military service Graham is enjoying a second career as a guest conductor, adjudicator, guest speaker, lecturer, clinician, recording consultant and educator. He is also the Artist Director of London International Band Week, music consultant to Henley Music Festival, resident conductor of the British Imperial Orchestra, visiting conductor in residence at Troy University, Alabama, USA and guest lecturer on cruise ships. 

Graham’s charitable work includes event planning in support of the Royal British Legion and sitting on the London fundraising committee of the Army Benevolent Fund - the Soldiers Charity. Graham is married to Susan and resides in Worcester Park, Surrey.

Paula Nuttall has spent many years researching and teaching on Bruges and its artists, and in this lecture she evokes the city during its late-medieval heyday, when it was the richest and most vibrant city in northern Europe. Bruges was a cosmopolitan trading centre, a luxurious hub synonymous with good living, and attracted an international merchant clientele, as well as the Burgundian rulers of the Netherlands with their magnificent court, and great painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling whose masterpieces, interwoven with sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and the buildings of Bruges itself, conjure up life in this medieval metropolis. 

Paula is Director of the V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year Course. She is a specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely, notably ‘From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500’ (Yale, 2004). She has collaborated on major exhibitions including ‘Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution’ (Ghent, 2020). Paula was formerly a lecturer at the Courtauld Institute and the British Institute of Florence

Toys form an intimate part of our own personal histories. Some toys are universal: rattles, balls, kites and dolls entertained children in ancient times. Others reflect modern concerns: clockwork toys have been superseded by battery-operated and electronic toys. The making and the design of toys parallel the evolution of materials and technologies, trade and marketing, cultural trends and ideas about childhood. Whatever changes affect the toys of the future, however, the relationship between creativity and play will surely remain central.

Toys teach children about the environment that surrounds them, while allowing them to explore the inner world of the imagination. 

Freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. Has lectured in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Has curated exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. Has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum, and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture. Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990), Focus on Aztecs and Incas  (Watts Books, 1995), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland, 1998), Textiles from Mexico (British Museum Press, 2002), and Mexico: Clothing and Culture (Royal Ontario Museum, 2015). Has also published articles in travel guides, newspapers and magazines.

An eclectic mix of artistic and moral landscapes in eighteenth century England including William Hogarth, Joseph Wright and Johann Zoffany. The silken thread starts with the gnarled mulberry tree that still dominates Thomas Gainsborough’s childhood garden in Sudbury, Suffolk continuing to Bath and Chatsworth. Contemporary with England’s greatest landscaper, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, Gainsborough was an originator of the English landscape painting school, were both men painted by Zoffany? We will examine a selection of portraits as well as painted and living landscapes. Art as nature or nature as art? Gainsborough trained with Hogarth whose landscapes are rather more urban whilst Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens provided a striking contrast between the rural idyll and urban fabrication as well as social mores.

Has lectured in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, Japan and on cruises to the Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indian Ocean. In 2017 she returned to The Arts Society in New Zealand. Lectures for the University of Cambridge ICE (Course Director for International Summer Programme), the Royal Horticultural Society, museums, and specialist travel companies. Consultant designer specializing in evoking historic, artistic and symbolic references. Author of 11 books including Water Lilies and Bory Latour-Marliac, the genius behind Monet’s water lilies; Impressionists in their Gardens; Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas; Monet at Giverny and Icons of Garden Design. Theatre productions: How does your garden grow Mr. Shakespeare and Impressionists in their Gardens: living light and colour. Presenter and contributor on television and BBC Radio 4. 2017 recipient of the Herb Society of America ‘Elizabeth Crisp Rea Award’.

Poet, playwright and theatre entrepreneur, William Shakespeare became one of the wealthiest celebrities of the Elizabethan age. He also wrote some of the most brilliant plays the world has ever known. Giles examines how theatre moved into the modern era.

Giles Ramsay is an independent theatre director and producer who specializes in creating new work with artists in developing countries. He is the Founding Director of the charity Developing Artists (www.developingartists.org), a Fellow of St. Chad’s College, Durham University and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Giles has run theatre projects in Botswana, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kosovo, Palestine, Mexico, Thailand and Zimbabwe and given numerous talks for institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London. He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK. Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring a unique insight to the world of the theatre.

An in-depth look at the unique jewellery created by flamboyant artist Charles Ricketts at the turn of the twentieth century. His intricate and richly-enamelled neo-Renaissance pieces were designed as gifts for his many friends including May Morris and the fascinating couple known as Michael Field.

Helen Ritchie is Curator of Modern Applied Arts at The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Recent exhibitions include Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, Flux: Parian Unpacked and Designers and Jewellery 1850-1940: Jewellery and Metalwork from The Fitzwilliam Museum, for which she wrote the accompanying catalogue.

Helen is also the author of A Passionate Collector: Mrs Hull Grundy and Jewellery from the Harrogate Collection (2014). She studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and the University of the Arts London, and has worked at numerous institutions including the Royal Collection Trust, Christie's, Harrogate Museums and the British Museum. She is a Trustee of the Society of Jewellery Historians.

Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonal administrator of Java, Indonesia. He discovered the 8th century temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash, in 1804, acquired wondrous artefacts in Java, such as shadow puppets and textiles, now in the British Museum, and founded Singapore, the most important trading port in the East. This lecture tells the story of Raffles, a scholar and polymath, looks at the art objects he collected, reveals the mystical temple in Java and its radiant carvings, and shows the architectural heritage of Singapore, inspired by his vision, and its revival today as innovative art galleries and museums.

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Denise Heywood

Art historian, author, lecturer, photographer and journalist. Worked in Cambodia in the 1990s and has been a scholar of Southeast Asian art ever since. Her books include one on the Buddhist temples of Laos, Ancient Luang Prabang and Laos, also in French, and Cambodian Dance Celebration of the Gods, with a foreword by the daughter of King Sihanouk. Lectures for the Art Fund, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on their post graduate Asian Art Course and for Madingley Hall (University of Cambridge); also for organisations such as the British Museum, the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Asia House, the National Trust, the Royal Geographical Society and has lectured worldwide for universities, museums, colleges, art institutions, literary societies and travel organisations. She writes for many art, literary and travel publications and has appeared on television and radio. She has led cultural tours to Southeast Asia and France for the Royal Academy, the Art Fund, Asia House and many more and lectures on cruise ships. A member of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the UK, Asia House and the Royal Geographical Society.

Wool, cotton and silk have each played a crucial role in the fortunes of Central Asia. Wool created the clothing and housing needed by the great nomadic cultures that were to dominate Middle Asia. Silk was more valuable than gold and used as currency, creating a network of trading routes that led to the first outbreak of globalisation. Cotton was the cause of Russian and then Soviet Colonisation and continues to cause controversy today as well as human misery and environmental catastrophe The felts, carpets, embroideries, robes and veils of the Silk Road stratified wealth, displayed religious and political entrenchments and changed the fortunes of this fascinating part of the world; a meeting place between Mohammed and Marx.

Chris was born in Turkey (hence his middle name) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut. After school, Chris spent two years at sea before studying Media and journalism at Leicester University. He then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, and becoming the largest non-government employer in town. After a year in the UK writing A Carpet Ride to Khiva, he moved to the Pamirs in Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down, spending three years there. Next came two years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Chris has recently finished rowing and studying at Oxford and survived his curacy at St. Barnabas in North Finchley, but is now taking two years out to focus on writing fiction, with several novels published and more on the way. He also lectures for the Art Society and leads tours to Central Asia to pay the bills. He is missing a large chunk of his heart which will forever remain in the -stans.

For the series Downton Abbey, Andrew was commissioned to produce many jewels for the main characters, and this inspired him to create a talk based on Downton and the changing styles of the time portrayed.

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case.

In his talk Andrew guides you through the extraordinary periods and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great fashion houses collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce works of art of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this he discusses the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and how they were worn with the sumptuous gowns.

Andrew Prince has had a passion for the jewellery since he was a small child.  In 1980, when he was nine, Andrew's mother took him to the Princely Magnificence exhibition at the V&A, exhibiting Renaissance jewels dating from 1500 to 1630. It proved a revelation. Dazzled by the splendour and opulence of the jewels on show, Andrew decided then and there that creating jewellery was what he wanted to devote his life to.

Two weeks after his 16th birthday, Andrew started work in London’s Bond Street, working for The Antiques Roadshow expert Ian Harris. Under his guidance, Andrew developed an appreciation for jewels that were valued for their quality of design and craftsmanship, rather than for how much the stones in the piece were worth. Private commissions then started to trickle in. The trickle turned into a flood, as celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Shirley Bassey were seen wearing Andrew's creations.

In 2002, the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent Tiaras, Past and Present exhibition which became one of their most popular exhibits. The exposure gained by the show then led to Andrew's jewellery appearing in film.  In 2005, he was asked to make tiaras and jewellery for Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judy Dench. In 2009, pieces were commissioned for The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson. In 2012, he was chosen by the creators of Downton Abbey to supply a large collection of jewellery for the third series.

Since the birth of the earliest human civilisations, dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations, a method of healing and a means of expression and entertainment.  Using stills and video clips we take a look at dance as an art form from its earliest beginnings; through the birth and rapid development of ballet throughout Europe, the explosion of modern dance in the early 20th century a time of unprecedented creative growth for dancers and choreographers and with the growth of post-modernism from the 1960s  the expansion of street dance, hip-hop, break dancing and rock dance.

Jennifer Toynbee-Holmes

Jennifer Toynbee-Holmes is an experienced guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and lectures at various art societies and institutions. She has a special interest in British and European art of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Having gained an MA in film and television practice, Jennifer had a long-standing career spanning twenty years as a television producer/director making documentaries and factual programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. She was also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck, University of London and a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society.

From September to December The Arts Society will be holding live hour-long digital lectures for Members and Supporters, additional to Society events. The talks will be given by some of our newest Accredited Lecturers; Mary Sharp, Peter Ross, Georgina Bexon and Matthew Denney.
Taking place on Friday lunchtimes, what better way to start your weekend?

The lectures will be broadcast live on the Arts Society’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/theartssociety) and will only be available to watch at the advertised time. Please share details with friends and family who might enjoy them too.

For more details: theartssociety.org/lectures-at-home

From the very first Great Exhibition in London held in the magnificent Crystal Palace, to the awe-inspiring events in Paris, New York and across the world there have been many exhibitions that we would consider Great Exhibitions or World’s Fairs. We won't consider all of these events in this talk, but we will consider the most important exhibitions such as London 1851, Paris 1900 and 1925, Brussels 1958 and New York 1964.  

Tracing the development of Great Exhibitions from their birth in London in 1851 at the heart of a thriving Empire, to Europe, in particular Paris where many wonderful events were held, across the Atlantic to America and New York in the post-war period and further East to China, Japan and beyond in recent times. These events all tell of a city and people at a certain moment in history holding a huge and elaborate fair for the world to attend.

I have worked with the fine and decorative arts all my life. I have worked as an auctioneer and valuer with a number of firms. I am currently a senior valuer and head of department at Lawrences in Crewkerne, one of the countries leading provincial auctioneers. I have also worked in Higher Education as Course Leader and a Senior Lecturer on the no longer extant Fine Arts Valuation Degree at Southampton Solent University. I taught on a range of subjects including furniture, silver art and design history. I completed a PhD in the Arts and Crafts Movement and have written on design history for a number of publications. I have current research interests in ‘Great Exhibitions’, ‘Post War Design and Architecture’ and ‘The Crafts in Post War Britain’. 

I love to give talks to all sorts of different groups on the fine and decorative arts, my interests in the various Great Exhibitions since 1851 and Post War architecture and design are amongst my current favourite talks which have been well received by a number of groups over recent months.

Launched nearly 100 years ago, Rupert has had three official artists and this is the story of each of them and their creativity that has made Rupert the longest standing strip thrilling generations with his adventures.

Born during the Second World War, Howard was educated in Scotland and gained an MA from Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1960s he worked for UK and International Advertising Agencies before starting his own marketing and print company in Canterbury. His website on http://www.howardsmith.me.uk has full details. He was delighted to become an accredited lecturer of The Arts Society in 2017.

From September to December The Arts Society will be holding live hour-long digital lectures for Members and Supporters, additional to Society events. The talks will be given by some of our newest Accredited Lecturers; Mary Sharp, Peter Ross, Georgina Bexon and Matthew Denney.
Taking place on Friday lunchtimes, what better way to start your weekend?

The lectures will be broadcast live on the Arts Society’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/theartssociety) and will only be available to watch at the advertised time. Please share details with friends and family who might enjoy them too.

For more details: theartssociety.org/lectures-at-home

At the birth of Indian Independence in 1947, a group of talented and determined artists set out to create a new art for a new country. They drew on ancient artistic traditions but also had a radical view of how Indian art could speak to its audience. This movement, known as the Bombay Progressives Artists' Group, created an art very much for and of its time – acting as witness to a country in turmoil and relating the fascinating story of transition and growth of the new India. This talk offers an exploration of how art in the subcontinent threw off the yoke of colonial influence to create modern masterpieces and a thriving global business.

Georgina is an art historian specializing in South Asian art who has lived and worked in the UK, USA and Singapore. She discovered and developed her passion for art history whilst working as a researcher at the National Museum of Singapore. Since then she has expanded her practice to include collecting and consulting and has developed a network of gallery and artist connections in Europe, the USA and India, which she visits regularly. 

An official tour guide at Tate Modern in London, Georgina is also a guest speaker on luxury cruise ships for whom she has developed a series of art talks related to Asian and Pacific destinations. She also enjoys talking on a range of modern and contemporary art subjects based on her research and talks given at Tate Modern.

Georgina holds a BA in Art History from Southampton University, an MA in Arts Management from City, University of London and an MA in Art History from the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of London. She has been a visiting lecturer at UK universities, presents talks at leading art institutions and museums including Christie’s Education New York, Sotheby’s Institute London and the Museum of Modern Art, Moscow and gives academic papers at international academic institutions, most recently in New York, Paris, London and Lisbon. Georgina is a member of the Association for Art History and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society in the UK.

Medieval cloisters, originally a monastic built space linking other buildings, have in spite of Henry VIII's  thorough Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, probably survived better in England than anywhere else. This is in large part because early on English cathedral communities both recognised their great usefulness and experimented with cutting edge architecture in building cloisters and in so doing created some extraordinarily beautiful spaces. This talk follows the development of the 15 or so cathedral cloisters in England with spectacular photographs. These will hopefully encourage visitors to cathedrals to look beyond the cathedral church buildings and more closely at the cloisters attached to them.

For eight years the Church of England’s Director of Church Buildings and Secretary of the Church Buildings Council and Cathedrals Fabric Commission, Janet has written two illustrated paperbacks to encourage greater enjoyment of these amazing buildings, Director's Choice, Churches of the Church of England and Director's Choice, Cathedrals of the Church of England and produced and presented on a TV series on cathedrals for PBS.

A Cambridge graduate in History and History of Art, Janet worked at Sotheby’s for nine years, was a trustee at the Churches Conservation Trust, the Museum of Fulham Palace and the Friends of the V&A and guided and lectured at the V&A. Janet set up and ran an architectural history course around visits to significant buildings. Janet has also given tours and lectured on secular architecture and fine and decorative arts.

Currently a trustee of the Priory of St John (Hospitallers) and a commissioning editor for Scala Heritage Publishers, Janet received an OBE for services to heritage in January 2017.

From September to December The Arts Society will be holding live hour-long digital lectures for Members and Supporters, additional to Society events. The talks will be given by some of our newest Accredited Lecturers; Mary Sharp, Peter Ross, Georgina Bexon and Matthew Denney.
Taking place on Friday lunchtimes, what better way to start your weekend?

The lectures will be broadcast live on the Arts Society’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/theartssociety) and will only be available to watch at the advertised time. Please share details with friends and family who might enjoy them too.

For more details: theartssociety.org/lectures-at-home

Across a thousand years of manuscripts and over five hundred years of publishing, English recipe books have reflected the eating habits of Kings and courtiers, the merchant classes, inn-keepers and restaurant owners, as well as home cooks and even the paupers who visited the soup kitchens of Victorian London. Cookbooks are full of extraordinary food but also extraordinary illustrations from medieval illuminated manuscripts, via the engravings of the eighteenth century and the colour lithographs of Mrs. Beeton, to the high-end life-style images of the modern TV cook. This lecture tells the story of the development of the cookbook and along the way will tempt you, or indeed disgust you, with a few choice recipes.

Peter has a History of Art degree, an MA in London history, a PhD in the cultural history of an English Criminal, and qualifications in the teaching of adults. Currently Principal Librarian at Guildhall Library, he has for 20 years lectured on a broad range of topics including the history of English books, portraiture, and London history. Peter has appeared on TV and radio as a consultant on the 18th century criminal Jack Sheppard and on the history of English food. His most recent publication, The Curious Cookbook, was published by the British Library.

Armour was one of the great Renaissance art-forms. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries most of the richest noblemen in Europe were dedicated patrons of the armourer’s art, a kind of visual language which they used to project their identity and prestige. The armour-making process demanded both fantastic skill in the sculpting of iron and steel and mastery of decorative techniques such as acid-etching and mercury-gilding. This lecture serves as an introduction to the idea of armour as an expressive art-form, where the achievements of virtuoso armourers embodied splendour and richness while also carrying more complex messages about status, aristocratic associations, the social order and divine power.

Toby is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London and an internationally-acknowledged authority on Medieval and Renaissance weapons. He is the author of numerous books on the subject of arms and armour, including Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection (2011; Apollo Magazine Book of the Year 2012); The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe 1520-1630, ex. cat. (2012); Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450 (2015; Military History Monthly Illustrated Book of the Year 2017); ans most recently Arms and Armour of the Medieval Joust (2018). Toby also appears regularly on television, most recently on A Stitch in Time (2018; BBC4); as presenter and armour advisor on Richard III: The New Evidence (2014; C4), and as the writer and presenter of Metalworks: The Knight's Tale (2012; BBC4). In 2015 Toby had the unusual honour of serving as one of the two fully armoured horsemen escorting the remains of King Richard III, from the battlefield at Bosworth to their final resting place in Leicester Cathedral.

From September to December The Arts Society will be holding live hour-long digital lectures for Members and Supporters, additional to Society events. The talks will be given by some of our newest Accredited Lecturers; Mary Sharp, Peter Ross, Georgina Bexon and Matthew Denney.
Taking place on Friday lunchtimes @ 1pm, what better way to start your weekend?

The lectures will be broadcast live on the Arts Society’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/theartssociety) and will only be available to watch at the advertised time. Please share details with friends and family who might enjoy them too.

For more details: theartssociety.org/lectures-at-home

Prometheus was a Titan who, according to Greek legend, created the human race and then famously incurred the wrath of Zeus by stealing fire from the gods to preserve it. The punishment that Zeus devised was both cruel and ingenious.  This lecture goes back to original sources to re-tell the story, explore the remarkable parallels with Adam and Eve and trace its influence from Reubens to Henry Moore and from Frankenstein, through Great Expectations to the Alien movies.  Mary will explore our enduring interest in the ideas that thread their way through the numerous adaptations and reflect on what they reveal about our changing attitudes to religious belief. 

Mary is an experienced broadcaster and teacher with particular expertise in literature and drama. She worked for many years for BBC Radio 4 producing some of its most popular programmes including Start the Week and Woman’s Hour before joining the senior management team as a Commissioning Editor. Mary has subsequently worked as a teacher and Director of Sixth Form at a leading girls’ grammar school. She now runs her own company 'Opening Up Literature' which offers literature courses for adults including studies of Shakespeare and Creative Writing. Her most popular course is 'Telling Tales' which explores how writers and artists have reinvented classical stories. She is also a professional bridge teacher and lecturer.  

AGENDA. To start at 2.30pm

• Introduce Committee and state of the society - Allan Mowatt(Chairman)
• Website changes and developments - Paul Tubby(Web & Comms)
• Membership and Finances - Rob Peaple(Treasurer) & Christine Willis(Membership)
• Programme and options - Jenny Mowatt(Programme)
• Newsletter and Keeping in Touch - Gill Bromley(Publicity)
• Slideshow and Arts Society Streams - Paul Tubby
• Discussion and Questions
• Summing Up - Allan Mowatt

Topic: Zoom Get-Together Sept 2020
Time: Sep 9, 2020 14:00 London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://theartssociety-org.zoom.us/j/94399638887?pwd=azJTMXdDYWtBM3lqU20xZFNsbGVXZz09

Meeting ID: 943 9963 8887
Passcode: 840644   

In seventeenth-century Europe, fan painting rose from a lesser branch of the decorative arts to become a specialized guild-controlled craft with centres of production in France, England, and other European nations. Despite the introduction of affordable printed fans in the eighteenth century, the hand-painted fan remained an essential fashion item for the aristocracy.  In the nineteenth century fan painting acquired a certain prestige and fine artists such as Gauguin, Degas and Sickert experimented with the arc-shape format, producing accomplished fan paintings partly-inspired by Japanese art and design. Drawing together some of The Fan Museum’s finest treasures, Jacob illustrates the evolution of fan painting in Europe from its seventeenth century roots to the present day.

Jacob Moss

Having obtained a postgraduate degree in Fashion Curation from London College of Fashion in 2010, Jacob Moss took up a position at The Fan Museum, Greenwich, the UK’s only Museum dedicated to the history of fans and craft of fan making.  As the Museum’s Curator, he is responsible for co-organising the temporary exhibition programme. In May 2018 he was awarded an Art Fund Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grant in support of a collections management project to be launched later this year in collaboration with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.

The Glasgow Boys revolutionised painting in Scotland by bringing it into the mainstream of European art. ‘The Boys’ were young Scottish artists who looked to France for their inspiration – ‘the auld alliance’ – and many of them studied in Paris. One group met up in Grez-sur-Loing where they painted together using the ‘square brush technique’ influenced by Jules Bastien Lepage. Other members of the group came together through old friendships – Paterson and MacGregor had known each other at school, while Guthrie and Walton were old friends. They soon established a vigorous style of oil painting using large square brushes and thick paint with bold colours. Watercolour also played a major part with works by Walton, Lavery, Henry and Crawhall. Maybe the finest watercolourist of all was Arthur Melville. Japanese prints were an important influence and Henry and Hornel actually visited Japan to paint its landscape and people. The work of the Glasgow Boys is surprisingly fresh and modern and is very popular today – as witnessed by the success of the recent exhibition at the Royal Academy.

Julian Halsby

Julian Halsby studied History of Art at Cambridge. Formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. Publications include Venice – the Artist’s Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon’s Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View – David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002). Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and appointed Keeper in 2010.

This lecture will highlight the myriad projects going on around the country which attempt to harness people’s potential, often in a place where they are able to concentrate for the first time. A very high proportion of prisoners will have left school early or fallen out with the education system at a young age, and although grim, prisons walls provide a back-drop where their physical lives at least are not chaotic. Fine Cell Work teaches inmates to sew, most of whom are men, as women only make up about 8% of the prison estate. Those on long sentences often prove both the best students and in due course the best stitchers and their work is sold to the smartest drawing rooms in the land through the charity’s events and pop-up shops. There is now a waiting list of prisons wanting the charity to come and train behind bars. Meanwhile the Koestler Trust runs an annual exhibition at the South Bank and highlights the need for more feminine arts and crafts inside what invariably are very male environments. I will show examples of their wonderful soap and matchstick sculptures (for which the raw materials are easy to obtain) as well as paintings and sculpture. I will illustrate the Far Eastern technique of Kintsukuroi whereby broken ceramics are mended using gold to highlight rather than disguise the history of precious pieces of porcelain. This can be an analogy of the best principals of prison education, whereby shame can be replaced by trust through Education and Creativity. There is a move afoot to run partnerships between museums, with so much material in storage, and prison education departments: handing someone something precious to hold and then analyse can precipitate unexpected and authentic conversations. London prisons contain many people whose second let alone first language isn’t English and that is why I take old 35 mm slides, donated by kind art teachers who have all now moved onto Powerpoint, into HMP Wormwood Scrubs as they can reach students in a way that a piece of paper can’t. Also any prison visitor taking in a floppy disc or a memory stick is liable to be arrested themselves so slides remain the best way of illustrating the great cannon of art history.

Magdalen Evans

Studied history of art at UEA and worked at Agnew’s for over ten years; since then has been organising exhibitions and writing articles, concentrating on C19th/20th women artists. A contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and to BBC Woman’s Hour, also works with charities that help ex-offenders through art and education. Her book on Marianne Stokes and her English landscape painter husband Adrian Stokes was published recently and she has lectured for the Art Fund, National Portrait Gallery, Pre-Raphaelite Society and Art Workers’ Guild as well as to the Art Society of Budapest. 

Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31st 2016 at age of 65. Architectural historians of the future will surely recognise her as one of the most important architects of the early 21st century. She was born in Iraq and her reputation was global, but she made Britain her home. This lecture tells the story of her career from the visionary projects of the 1980s, through the years of frustration when her designs were considered unbuildable, to the prolific crop of successful projects built all over the world in the last decade of her life.

Colin Davies

Colin Davies is a Professor of Architectural Theory. and a former editor of  Architects Journal and contributor to magazines worldwide.  Books: Thinking About Architecture, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century,The Prefab Home, High Tech Architecture, A New History of Modern Architecture (published by Laurence King) and monographs on work of Foster, Hopkins, and Grimshaw.

Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe. There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society wine has been ever present. Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story.

David Wright

I have been a wine retailer, importer and distributor for 30 years. In that time, I have publicly presented tastings and talks on wine to trade and private audiences. These have taken the form of wine ‘tastings’ or charity events where a particular subject is presented and wines tasted. I have developed a talk, A Brief Story of Wine, a great subject, and full of rich evidence, going back 7,000 years, in the form of paintings, decorated drinking vessels, buildings and literature that contribute to the story.

Géricault is considered to be the first French Romantic artist, and this talk looks at his new style of painting, and how his expressive brushwork forms a bridge between the artist and the spectator. The talk centres on his remarkable, huge masterpiece in the Louvre Paris, The Raft of the Medusa, painted in 1819. It was based on a true story of how a handful of men were left to die on a makeshift raft for thirteen days after their ship capsized off the Senegal coast and this painting also relates to the slave trade, cannibalism and the relationship between the survivors. Géricault’s forbidden love affair during the painting of this piece is also explored and so is the possibility of his mental instability and finally his untimely, tragic end.

Daphne Lawson

Daphne Lawson has an MA by Research and Thesis from the University of Canterbury on Degas’s Public and Private Spectacle and a BA in Art History from London University. Since 1994, until she retired two years ago, she was the full time Art History Lecturer for the BISC, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, the European Campus of Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. There, she taught Art History courses ranging from French Impressionism, European Romanticism and Pre-Raphaelite Painting to the survey programme spanning the period from Greek Sculpture to Contemporary British Art. she also published a chapter on Van Gogh in 2014 in The Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts. Her first career was as an actress. She was trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in theatre, film and television as an actress until her thirties when she had three children.

Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption were the Borgias really so bad? This lecture reveals the real family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the charismatic figure of Pope Alexander VI, living inside his sumptuously decorated apartments, the career of his son, Cesare, cardinal, general, employer of Da Vinci and the model for Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the journey of Lucrezia Borgia from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Sarah Dunant

Novelist, broadcaster and critic. Sarah read history at Cambridge, then worked for many years as a cultural journalist in radio and television on such programmes as Kaleidoscope (BBC Radio 4), The Late Show (BBC 2), and Night Waves (BBC Radio 3). She has published thirteen novels, taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis, is a visiting tutor on the MA in creative writing at Oxford Brooks and has lectured around the world at festivals and conferences. Her last five novels have been set within the Italian Renaissance. Her next, In the Name of the Family (to be published in 2017) completes the story of the Borgia family and the remarkable period of Italian history in which they lived. Her recent series on history for BBC Radio 4, called   “When Greeks Flew Kites” is available on podcast or listen again:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090ccrh/episodes/player

The cartoonist, Carl Giles, once said that he loved his creation, Grandma Giles – that fearsome, black-clad, gambling, drinking battleaxe – because she allowed him to say things through his cartoons that he was too polite to say in person. She helped him to poke fun at authority in all its forms, from Hitler to traffic wardens and even his employers at the Daily Express, who didn’t trust him and had sub-editors scouring his cartoons for subversive background details. His admirers included Prince Charles, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Tommy Cooper, and it was no surprise when he was voted Britain’s best-loved cartoonist in 2000. Few people realise, however, that this likeable and humane satirist was also a war correspondent who witnessed the horrors of Belsen, where he found that the camp commandant, Josef Kramer, was also a great fan of his work. Giles gave us a remarkable picture of a half-century of British life. He was also, as his editor John Gordon put it “a spreader of happiness’ and ‘a genius…with the common touch’.

Barry Venning

An historian of British art Barry’s interests and his teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. He is currently Associate Lecturer with the Open University and lecturing on a freelance basis for The Arts Society, Christie’s Education and other organisations.

This is the fascinating story of how documentary films started from the latter days of silent movies. Film was still at very much an experimental stage and we will look at the Soviet influence with Battleship Potemkin to the formation of the GPO Film Unit by John Grierson in the 1930s. The lecture features clips from films like Coalface, Spare Time and of course, Night Mail, the classic film featuring the poetry of W H Auden and music by Benjamin Britten. The influence of the GPO Film Unit was extraordinary and exciting over its ten year life. Many of the team joined the Crown Film Unit or went on to production companies like Ealing Studios to use their innovative skills and techniques in feature films.

Howard was born during the Second World War, educated in Scotland and Trinity College, Dublin (MA). He started working in leading UK and international advertising agencies in the late 1960s, working on blue chip accounts. In the 1980s he set up his own marketing and print company in Canterbury, where he specialised in local history and the arts. As an all round graphic designer, he became an arts stakeholder and lectured on creating for print to graduates and post-graduates. In 1998 he co-authored and designed The Rupert Bear Dossier for Hawk books, which has become a bible for Rupert fans. He has lectured to the Followers of Rupert at their convention in Warwick. 
In 2000 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Dan Dare and Eagle, he set up a small exhibition in Whitstable, which soon attracted national interest. For the next three years his exhibition grew to 2000sq ft and toured 13 venues including Manchester Science Museum, Ferens Art Gallery, Bristol Art Gallery and The Cartoon Art Trust, London. During this period the exhibition broke all attendance figures. He gave many talks on aspects of Eagle, Dan Dare and the art of Frank Hampson which he still gives today and is part of his presentations to The Arts Society.
Following his retirement in 2014, he has recently had a two month Dan Dare exhibition in Herne Bay, which spurred him on to seek accreditation with The Arts Society with his unique graphic arts take on two of the most iconic illustrated strips in children’s publishing.

After World War I, artists and architects were in a state of flux, just like the world they inhabited. How could they create and what, indeed, would they produce in a Europe still reeling from the worst conflict ever known? Yet out of crisis came a truly stimulating period of artistic endeavour. Contemplating painters such as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix and Christian Schad, alongside the experiments of the Bauhaus, new film technologies and the sultry stylings of Marlene Dietrich, this talk looks at the culture of German-speaking Europe during the interwar years.

Some videos linking to this lecture are below.

20:00 – Film 1: Weimar Berlin: Bittersweet Metropolis (11:50) – https://youtu.be/W0MQ0DZCf5Y
20:15 – Film 2: The Sound of Change (14:34) – https://youtu.be/Jm_Yiuv90pY
20:30 – Film 3: The City Electric (13:51) – https://youtu.be/4bijkv7Aur0
20:45 – Film 4: Detachment and Design (13:41) – https://youtu.be/726zw6Sic70
21:00 – Film 5: Weimar on Stage and Screen (11:51) – https://youtu.be/oth8UnWzMvA
21:15 – Film 6: The Party’s Over (14:12) – https://youtu.be/rgH9P8FJBGs

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to The Independent on Sunday and The Guardian. He lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, including to the National Gallery, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York, as well as for history of art societies and The Art Fund. 

From the early Kosovan silver mines which are mentioned in Dante, through the twentieth century politics over Kosovo’s mines which resulted in both a war and a golf course, a silver thread winds through Kosovo’s history. Its most intricate tanglings are in the country’s cultural capital, Prizren, where a seventh generation of filigree artisans use ‘filum’ and ‘granum’, zigzags, ‘mouse-tooth’ designs and other twists and turns to magic lacy creations from dull sticks of raw material. The results – in boxes, buttons, jewellery, religious ornamentation and the talismans of superstitition – are a fine narrative of Kosovo’s history and traditions.

Elizabeth Gowan studied at Magdalen College Oxford before training as a teacher and working in Lambeth, Hackney and Islington. She moved to Kosovo in 2006 and there worked with the Ethnological Museum in Prishtina and co-founded ‘The Ideas Partnership’, a charity working on education and cultural heritage projects. She speaks fluent Albanian and has translated two books (the unauthorized biography of Yugoslavia’s longest-held political prisoner, Adem Demaci, and the memoirs of one of the leaders of the 1912 uprising). Elizabeth is also the author of four books about Kosovo – Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo (2011), Edith and I; on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo(2013); The Rubbish-Picker’s Wife; an unlikely friendship in Kosovo (2015) and The Silver Thread; a journey through Balkan craftmanship (2017). Regular contributor to Radio 4 (Saturday Live, Excess Baggage, From Our Own Correspondent) and the BBC World Service.

This lecture will examine how the peculiar geniuses of these two very different men, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, came together under the guiding hand of the impresario, Richard D’Oyly Carte, to create one of the most individual and enduring forms of theatrical entertainment.  The Savoy operas, with their gentle satire, celebrate the quirks and foibles of the British nation, and are as alive today as in the 1880’s. The lecture is fully illustrated with musical examples.

Roger was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English.  He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. After retiring in 2003 he returned to the south of England.  He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society and Chairman of Windsor and Maidenhead Decorative and Fine Arts Society.

Antony Gormley’s career spans nearly 40 years, during which time he has made sculpture that explores the relationship of the human body to space, often using his own body as his starting point.  His work has been shown throughout the world, in galleries including the Tate in London and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, but is also often on open display, as public art, such as Another Place at Crosby Beach, near Liverpool. As well as works that he is well known for, like the iconic Angel of the North, this lecture will look at some of his earlier and less well-known works, to give an overall view of the development of his work across his whole career, up to the present time.

Rosalind Whyte has a BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich and  lectures at Tate, Dulwich Picture Gallery, to independent art societies and on cruises. She also leads art appreciation holidays.

Wallpaper is often regarded as the Cinderella of the Decorative Arts – the most ephemeral and least precious of the decorations produced for the home. Yet, the history of wallpaper is a long and fascinating subject that dates back to the 16th century and encompasses a huge range of beautiful patterns created both by anonymous hands and by some of the best-known designers of the 19th and 20th centuries. This lecture explores the history and development of this product from earliest times up to the present day. It includes a discussion of the changing ways in which wallpaper was made and a survey of designs from the first black and white patterns, the creation of elegant flock hangings, the fashion for Chinese hand-painted papers, the introduction of machine-printing, the designs of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the taste for Modernist and Contemporary designs in the 20th century. It also includes a discussion of the ways that wallpapers were used within grand and more ordinary homes and hopes to justify the claim that they were indeed a truly Decorative Art.

Jo Banham is a freelance curator, lecturer and writer. From 2006-2016 she was Head of Adult Learning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and before that Head of Learning and Access at the National Portrait Gallery, and Head of Public Programmes at Tate Britain. She has also been Curator of Leighton House and Assistant Keeper at the Whitworth Art Gallery. She has published on many aspects of Victorian and early 20th century decoration and interiors. She is currently curating an exhibition on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement for the Juan March Fundacion in Madrid and the Museu Nacional d’Art Catalunya in Barcelona. She is also Director of the Victorian Society Summer School.

Using illustrations from illuminated manuscripts, readings from literature and contemporary accounts, and the haunting songs and lively dance tunes of medieval England, Sarah brings alive the spirit of a Medieval Christmas, a time of joy and celebration for some, but hardship and suffering for others. With extracts from literature and manorial household accounts, she pieces together life in a medieval manor house at Yuletide. In addition to her reproduction medieval harps, she adds the plucked psaltery, hurdy-gurdy, hammered dulcimer, and gemshorn to the musical mix, performing carols, music and readings for an atmospheric and musical seasonal celebration.

Sarah Deere-Jones is a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music and in 2015 was elected an Associate. She performs, writes and lectures about the harp regularly in America, Australia, Europe and UK. All lectures are presented digitally and include live music and songs on harps and other instruments depending on subject matter. 

The Maya created one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the ancient world.  Their achievements in the arts and sciences, along with their complex social, political and economic systems, make them one of the most remarkable culture groups in the Precolumbian Americas. These people brought us an intricate calendar system, complex hieroglyphic writing, some of the largest pyramids in the world, a form of ballgame that was like no other and most importantly chocolate! This lecture will discuss the major achievements of the Maya as well as pointing out the common misunderstandings we have of this remarkable civilization.

Dr Diane Davies is a Maya archaeologist and honorary research associate of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She completed her PhD at Tulane University, New Orleans. Little is known about the Maya in the UK and so aside from carrying out research in Guatemala and teaching, Diane is an educational consultant for schools giving workshops to both teachers and children on the Maya. She has created award-winning resources, organizes trips to the Maya area and is also the Chair of Chok Education, a charity supporting the education of Maya children. Diane organises conferences on the Maya as well as lecturing to a variety of organisations, including the City Literary Institute, London and the Historical Association.

At the start of the twentieth century, the dawn of modern art still saw artists mostly painting in oil paints or watercolours on canvas, and sculpting in plaster, bronze, marble or wood. What was painted or sculpted was often readily recognizable. By the end of the century, it seemed that art could be made from anything,  and be displayed anyhow, with the idea behind an artwork being more important than its look. This lecture will explore what brought about this dramatic change, and how Conceptual Art may be understood and appreciated with reference to major pieces from this genre including works by Tracey Emin, Anthony Gormley and Damian Hirst. This lecture will be jargon-free with audience engagement, backed by high quality slides.
The image above was sent by the Ray as an example of Conceptual Art. Puzzled? All will be revealed at the lecture.

Ray Warburton has studied art history at the Open University and the University of Buckingham. A Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, he leads public tours of all the permanent displays and also undertakes exhibition tours. He is an experienced public speaker who has given presentations and lectures on a range of themes to diverse audiences over many years.

According to historian Barbara Tuchman, the invention of the ball ranks as highly as the invention of the wheel. Simon Inglis agrees, especially after spending years delving into cubbyholes at pavilions and museums, in workshops and factories, finding out how these apparently simple objects came into being and how their design and manufacture has evolved. He asks, “Why are marbles glass? Why did the discovery of gutta percha transform golf? Why were games such as lawn tennis and ping pong made possible only in the mid 19th century? Why did some billiard balls explode, and why are rugby balls such an odd shape?” In 1853 the ingredients of one manufacturer’s cricket balls were listed as cork, worsted, hemp, brown oats, suet, lard, alum, stale ale and dragon’s blood. Can this really be true, or is it, perhaps, just a load of old balls?

Note: Simon will bring along examples of old balls for passing round.

Writer and historian Simon Inglis specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Since 2004 he has edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage. Although sport and recreation might seem an unlikely subject for The Arts Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon’s themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture. After a history degree at University College London, he freelanced for various publications, including the Guardian, Observer and Radio Times. He has curated exhibitions for the Building Centre and the British Council, been a regular contributor to radio and television, has travelled and lectured extensively, and written a number of books. Two were shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, while another, on British football grounds, was chosen by journalist Frank Keating as the best sports book of the 20th century. A recent highpoint in his work for English Heritage was the listing of a 1970s skatepark in Essex, a world first that made the 10 o’clock news

A personal profile of giant figures in 20th century art.

Picasso, Man Ray and Max Ernst were three of the key artists of the 20th century. They were also close friends of the Surrealist photographer Lee Miller and the Surrealist artist Roland Penrose. This is the hidden story of a unique friendship which spanned the Surrealist movement and the last 30 years of Picasso’s life. It is told by Antony Penrose, the son of Lee Miller and Roland who visited the artists in their homes and recalls when they came to the Penrose family home of Farley Farm House in Sussex. It is told using the words and images of the artists and those around them with extensive us of photographs by Lee Miller.

Antony Penrose. Director of the Lee Miller Archives and the Penrose Collection.
For the past 30 years Antony Penrose has conserved and disseminated the work of his parents, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. He is the director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection at Farley Farm House in Sussex and has seen his parents’ work featured in major exhibitions at the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Whitworth. He has lectured at museums and universities around the world, and made documentaries for television. Publications include The Lives of Lee Miller, Lee Miller’s War (editor), The Angel and the Fiend, The Home of the Surrealists, Roland Penrose the Friendly Surrealist and The Boy Who Bit Picasso.

From the wax seal to the microchip, man has exploited the skill of the artist and artisan in his attempt to manufacture a forgery-proof document. Taking you through three centuries of passport design, this lecture explains the overt and uncovers the covert to illustrate the defences built in to the passport and the tricks the forger uses to defeat them. You will never see your passport in the same light again!

Martin Lloyd. Lecturer and broadcaster, has been lecturing to various groups, including U3A, National Trust, historical societies, Gresham College and business groups since 2008. Previously worked for HM Immigration Service, and has broadcast on local and national television and radio.

Africa is not generally associated with great art but Nigeria is associated with 3 major artistic traditions; the 2,000 year old Nok terracottas of the north, the Bronzes of Ife from the C12-C15 and the later Benin Bronzes. Richard lived in Nigeria in the 1960s, near Ife, and became familiar with the art of Ife and Benin and the role they played in society. The art, the technology (using the lost wax process) and the cultural relevance of the Bronzes will be illustrated and discussed in the lecture.

Dr Richard Thomas BSc. MA. PhD completed an MA in Canada in Development Studies, and a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin in History and Political Science. His career as an academic and as a political and institutional analyst in the field of International Development enabled him to travel widely in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He always sought to understand the arts and culture of the country or region he was living or working in since they illuminate the past and help to explain the present. Some of his lectures (Cobbett,Gillray and Hadrian) began with the history but have been developed for The Arts Society by emphasising the culture and art, architecture and cartoons of the period. 

Great Dixter was the family home of renowned gardener and garden writer Christopher Lloyd. Fergus’ talk touches on the history of the house and garden and looks forward to the future of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.

Fergus Garrett. Head Gardener.

Ivory has been carved for 40,000 years. It has been used by cultures worldwide, funded wars and been connected to the slave trade. Today most ivory-bearing animals are threatened by extinction. The lecture looks at some of the uses of ivory around the globe, and why mankind has always been so entranced by the material and held it in such high esteem. We will also be told how to recognise ivories from different species (for example elephant, walrus and whale), and their imitations, the most common of which is bone. There will be information on the many current trade bans.

Maggie Campbell-Pederson is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, and an Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography. Her work includes identification of organic gem materials, teaching, writing, and research. She gives lectures and seminars for specialist groups, for example gemmologists, museum curators and conservators, in the UK and abroad.

Colours are radiant energies that affect us positively and negatively, and red is the most forceful of all. Its range of expression is extreme, from demonic scarlet to angelic pink. Pure red is the colour of passion. This is because of its association with blood and fire. When we fall in love our blood is on fire! Like blood and fire, passion can be both creative and destructive. We will look at the way artists have used red to express these opposing energies. Some artists use red for purely aesthetic reasons, typically done to draw attention to a small detail, other times red is used to express emotion or to symbolise social status or a religious idea such as Christ wearing red to symbolise his sacrifice. The history of red pigments is explored in conjunction with the analyses of paintings formal qualities.

Alexandra Drysdale. BA. MFA Art historian and professional artist.

A light-hearted account of a working life in theatre.

Allan Stockwell. Member of the Society for Theatre Research and the Irving Society.

How this prehistoric circle has inspired painters, potters and poets. Stonehenge is unique, a national treasure and a global icon. In this talk Julian examines its sophisticated architecture-the product of stone tools, determination, organisation and strongly held beliefs. Perceptions and understanding of the monument have changed over the years from the magic and the Druids of the Middle Ages to the archaeological science of today.

Julian Richards. BA. FSA. is an archaeologist who ran the Stonehenge Environs Project, a detailed study of Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape. This gave him his first experience of the media, where he contributed parts to programmes about Stonehenge. He was asked to contribute to a TV programme about the construction of Stonehenge. His ideas led eventually to the programmes “Meet the Ancestors” and “Blood of the Vikings”. In addition, he has written books to accompany both series.

An armchair tour of London’s finest buildings.
London boasts an extraordinary range of architecture and the city’s rich legacy and social history can be discovered through its buildings. Starting at the Norman Conquest and the White Tower and finishing over 900 years later at the cutting edge with The Shard, The Walkie-Talkie, and The Cheesegrater this talk reveals the evolution of London through its architecture. We’ll explore public buildings, churches, commercial developments and some surprising residences.

Ian Swankie. City of London guide, official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guidhall and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Inspired by the Royal Academy’s 2008/2009 ‘Byzantium Exhibition’ this lecture will reveal the diverse richness of the decorative arts of Byzantium. The aim is to trace the fascinating story of the Byzantine Empire, which flourished for over a thousand years, through the art of the period. Mosaics, ivory carvings, enamels, holy relics, silverware and icons are just some of the ‘wonderful things’ to be examined and discussed. Along the way the audience will encounter all manner of characters from emperors, empresses, Roman matrons, virgins and whores through a variety of art works from fourth-century buried treasure to tenth-century ‘porn’ – all with the ability to bring this colourful world back to life.

Helen Rufus-Ward. BA. MA .DPhil Art Historian