THE  ABERDYFI ARTIST

Dear Member,

Hello, it is rambling time again. I am not sure where this ramble will take me, but I may as well start with The Ark. The way the weather is going seems to indicate that we shall all need one before long. A neighbour, who is a member of the Yacht Club, seems to have a yard full of such craft, but he has the good fortune to be just the other side of the National Park boundary. I am sure that if I start constructing one, the Park satellite will spot it immediately and report to Penrhyndeudraeth on such a flagrant transgression of planning regulations. This is not so far fetched as it sounds. On one of my forays into English mountain areas last year I was talking to an upland farmer who told me that he and his neighbours received grants from their National Park for a reduced intensity of land usage. One of the things to be reduced was the amount of fertiliser applied to the fields. His neighbour had claimed the grant on the basis of having reduced his application from three bags to one per acre. His claim was refused as the Park authority had satellite photographs which showed the green of his fields to be of an intensity that indicated that he had in fact applied three or even four bags per acre! And you thought Big Brother was just another horrible tv programme about noisy ugly people with shaved heads!

Forcing my keyboard back to the world of art, I have been concerned that there seemed to be a media silence about those short-listed for the Turner Prize. Last year at this time, you could hardly turn a page in a paper or magazine without some reference to the soiled bed linen of Tracy someoneorother. This year though, nothing, until I discovered the reason why – the list includes a real artist, one Glenn Brown who specialises in traditional oil paints on canvas, and is apparently a modest man to boot. Nothing to write about there then in the average editorial mind. But at last I found a good article about him recently in The Times Magazine. He puts hundreds of hours into each canvas and apparently regularly broke into his art college at night to continue painting. This reminded me of my own glorious college days when I had pretensions about being an artist. I had an agreement with the caretaker who used to lock me in on Friday evening, and there I would stay for the weekend, sleeping alongside my latest construction in the studio. I had an endless supply of music and a meagre supply of food and I really felt creative. Memories are made of such great times. But back to Glenn Brown, long may he paint, and I for one hope he is successful in this competition of hitherto dubious talent. If I may borrow a phrase from the article describing the sort of artists who are usually short-listed for the prize “They are often flamboyant, theatrical, self-obsessed, loud, brash, mocking, shocking, and self-consciously rude”. A phrase from the King James version of The Bible sprang to mind as I read that -“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity”, and it leads immediately to another meander down the side-roads of my mind. The phrase always featured in the end-of-term service at my school. Some years ago I was rock climbing  on Tryfan with a friend who had actually taught at the school. We were held up by a  party on the pitch in front of us. It was calm and misty and their voices carried down to us just as ours apparently wafted up to them, for as we waited for them to clear the pitch, we discussed the end of term service and I said that I had never since been able to find “vanity of vanities” in The Bible. A voice from above floated ethereally downwards - “Ecclesiastes, 12, Verse 8” it said, and when I got home I found it was right! I have had the page earmarked ever since.

But back, once more to the field of art. Jean and I spent an excellent day at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw near Llanbedrog recently. It is a gallery and arts centre and we went to see an exhibition of work by Howard Coles who is, incidentally, tutor at our painting day in the Yacht Club on 20^th February. I found his work very interesting and his use of colour dramatic. I think members will enjoy a day with him, as I gather that he is an inspiring teacher – recommended! The gallery is well worth a visit, well laid out and well lit, on two floors, with helpful staff, a small shop, and an excellent restaurant.

Now to Club matters –

ANNUAL CROSSWORD. Once again my brain and dictionary have been stretched to produce the crossword. I always start with the intention of making all the clues art based, but soon get forced into more general mode in order to make the answers fit into the grid.

I am always amazed at the verbal dexterity of the compiler of the crossword in Artists & Illustrators magazine who manages a monthly puzzle relating solely to art and artists. A similarly clever puzzle appears in the new bi-monthly Painting World. We have recently discovered this publication and decided to take it instead of A & I which has got less interesting since the most recent of its frequent changes of editor. The next issue of Painting World will be for Nov/Dec so it should be in newsagents about now, well worth looking for. But back to our crossword, there are some straightforward clues, several anagrams (look for the key words like “change” or “mix” which are useful indicators), a bit of lateral thinking, and before you ring me about clue 19, the spelling is intentional! Don’t be put off by the clues, take them word by word. Is it David Frost who says, in Through the Keyhole, “the answer is in the clues”? Good puzzling.

BUFFET SUPPER. This has become a well-supported favourite since its inception about five years ago. Once again we are in the Yacht Club on the evening of Saturday 25^th November. A form is enclosed detailing the event, please return it to Peter Coldham by the date shown. We hope to see a good turn out for another convivial evening.

SUMMER PROGRAMME, 2001. When returning your form to Peter, you might also let him have suggestions for new venues for painting days next summer, either for tutored or untutored events. The most important assets a potential site must have are nearby toilets, plenty of  room to park, and something interesting to paint! Please don’t think about this and then forget all about it, let Peter have your suggestions now, he will really welcome them.

AUTUMN/WINTER PROGRAMME. The programme is now well into its stride, but I thought it still worth explaining that Peter has deliberately not given subject titles to the tutored painting days in order to leave them more open to an interplay between the needs of members and the skills of the tutor. However, he does say that, on 20^th March, Tony Graham will be concentrating on drawing. All members should have received a separate list detailing the programme some weeks ago, but if not, please contact me immediately.

EVENING WINTER PAINTING SESSIONS ? At its last meeting, the Committee discussed the possibility of running some sessions on winter evenings in the Yacht Club. We would be interested to know how much response there would be before committing ourselves to organising any such events, so again, please let Peter know if you would be able to attend. They will not be tutored, and need not necessarily be painting sessions, but could be talks about art or artists, or videos of artists at work. We aim to organise what you, the members, want and we can only do this if you let us know. Peter awaits your responses.

ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2000. What a good exhibition to finish our tenure at The Church Hall which has, as you probably already know, now been sold. A few statistics will tell the story. 40 members exhibited paintings, and of those, 28 sold a total of 75 paintings, giving the Society a net profit of just under £500. Attendance figures were up from 1682 last year to 1846. The collection for North Wales Society for the Blind raised £242 which the Society rounded up to £250. Thanks are due to all exhibitors and helpers who made this such a successful event. Whither next year? Well, Neuadd Dyfi looks a good possibility, but there are as yet many unknown factors and nothing is certain. Rest assured, though, that your Committee is diligently researching all the possibilities. We shall keep members informed of developments.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2001. A reminder that the first date to enter in your new diary at Christmas is Wednesday 28^th February, 7.30pm in The Institute. The last AGM was a bit pathetic as only the officers, committee and three other members attended, and that on a fine night. Agendas will be circulated nearer the date, but in the meantime don’t book your winter holiday to coincide with the AGM. My annual winter week in Scotland always starts on the Friday after the AGM, what a good member am I!

NEW MEMBERS. Welcome to six new members who have joined us during the year, or welcome back to Mrs Ida Martin who, I believe, was a member some years ago before leaving the area, and has rejoined us now on her return.  

I hope you will all enjoy your time in the Society and look forward to meeting some of you, if not all, at the coming Buffet Supper. I hope there will be six new names on the list of entries for next year’s exhibition.

Well, I think I have rambled enough, so it is time to pack away my bag of anecdotes and return to the plans for that Ark. I hope you all have a good winter and enjoy Christmas.

Don’t forget, feedback is always welcome.

Cheers for now,

Bev Barratt

Gellygen Fach,

Pantperthog,

Machynlleth,

SY20 9AY

Last modified: 09/29/05