THE  ABERDYFI ARTIST

Dear Member,

This time last year I was writing about building an Ark. At least the weather is more pleasant this autumn, but when it does rain it seems to be worse than usual. On three recent days out in the mountains I have been as wet as I can ever remember. I think it was probably a combination of high wind and rain each time, but I have a sneaky feeling that the rain is getting wetter! There are so many odd things happening to the climate that I don’t see why rain shouldn’t be acquiring more powers of penetration. I was on the Nantlle Ridge in NW Snowdonia in early August and in the afternoon the cloud came down, blowing in from the SW, and with it came a stench of burning rubbish, that nasty smell that you get when a refuse tip is on fire, or an incinerator is burning household rubbish. It must have been coming from hundreds of miles away, travelling in the upper atmosphere (I was at an altitude of over 2000 feet), and stayed with me until, eventually, I dropped below the cloud level. By that time, perhaps a couple of hours later, my eyes were red raw, and stayed so until the next day. Who knows what chemical cocktails are assailing us? Why shouldn’t the rain be absorbing some wetting agent from the chemicals in the atmosphere? I expect the scientists amongst our members will pooh pooh this idea, but I am the one who has been getting wetter than usual!

Down to the matter of art, now. One of  my few claims to fame is that I went to the same school in Bradford as David Hockney. He was a year or two behind me, but his antics were known throughout the school. He possessed a droll, anarchic wit which put fear into our Art Master, one Reginald Maddox. This gentleman had one good eye and one glass one and we all swore that he studied our art work through the glass eye, with the good one closed. We worked in the Rothenstein Art Room, named after an old boy who became President of the Royal Academy in the early part of last century. (Likewise, there was the Delius Music Room, the composer was also an old boy). I wonder if the Art Room has been re-named The Hockney Art Room now? If our old Headmaster was still alive, I would say it was unlikely, but he is long dead, and I think a more progressive regime is in power these days. Anyway, memory of Hockney was brought about by watching a very interesting programme on BBC2 on 13 October in which he explored the technological tricks which the artists of the Europe from 1600 onwards used to transfer the image of their subject onto the canvas by using glass lenses. Some paintings which I had always wondered at began to make sense. One in particular, which I know I have a reproduction of in a book, but just cannot trace, is of a figure lying down, painted from the feet end, with the perspective of the body looking amazingly correct but seemingly impossible to draw and paint so accurately. I see now how it must have been achieved. I wish I could remember the name of the artist. Hockney’s thesis has now been published by Thames and Hudson – “Secret Knowledge : Re-discovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters”, price £35 (!).

Glass eyes must have been in vogue in my school days, for I remember a boy in my class who had one. He had the knack of surreptitiously sliding it from its socket at dinner time, and if there was a pudding he particularly liked, spooning it out of his custard. This put those nearest to him off their food, so he was then able to eat their puddings too. I do not remember learning much about art at school. We did no history of art, we never experimented with materials, we just drew and painted. A student from Bradford Art College once spent a couple of weeks at the school. He was a breath of fresh air. He had a pullover with a large hole in it, required Bohemian wear in those days – we used to swear that they could be bought in M & S – and had us looking at things in an entirely fresh way in no time, and he brought in a model, clothed but female, a real novelty. I suppose it wasn’t the teacher’s fault, he was nearing retirement and was on auto drive, and all too many boys regarded art as a delightful playtime away from the declension of irregular Latin verbs. The Latin Master was a terror, a little wasp-ish man with a witheringly sarcastic approach to all his pupils. We lived in fear of his classes until someone worked out that his apparently random selection of the recipient of the next question was based on the moves of the pawn in chess. This gave us a chance to be working the answer out in advance and we all felt a lot safer. We had a homework syndicate, I would do the art of a boy who was good at Latin, and he would return the service in reverse. We were clever enough to slip in deliberate mistakes so that work did not look too much alike. For a school that judged its academic success by the number of old boys getting first class degrees in classics and the sciences, it is amazing that it turned out any artists or musicians at all.  But we were the non-conformists, not wearing school uniform, being where we shouldn’t be, avoiding rugby at all costs, and, dare I say it, liking jazz. All these were sins in the Head’s eyes. He lived on other people’s egos so it came as no surprise when he introduced a dapper little man at prayers one morning as Fieldmarshal Montgomery who proceeded to tell us how he won the battle of El Alamein. He pointed at a map and said “I told my chaps - Gerry is there and wants to be here. We are here and want to be there”. It was a history lesson, I suppose, but we didn’t realise it then. All we happily knew was that it delayed the first period of the day. But I see that I have wandered away from art, so back to it.

There is a lovely piece in the paper this morning about an ‘installation’ by Damien Hirst on display somewhere. In came the cleaner and thought someone had left a load of rubbish about so he cleared it up and threw it away! I propose that he be awarded this year’s Turner Prize. Jonathon Jones in The Guardian says of this display of detritus “What’s unusual is the energy, poise, formal grace Hirst’s messy installation has – and a fantastic sense of colour as he infuses the scene with his favourite blue”. I can only invoke the name of the original action artist and say “Pollocks”. Usually by this time of the year the news is full of the latest pretentious nonsense being flouted as art and considered for the Turner Prize but, strangely, there seems to be a silence this year. What can it mean? I wait with eager anticipation  for what is to be foisted upon us.

Now, back to the world of reality as we know it, and Society matters.

ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2001.

At our new venue in Neuadd Dyfi there were bound to be a few teething troubles but these were resolved by the hard work of the team of members who assembled the exhibition. 41 members exhibited paintings this year and 18 of those sold a total of 61 paintings. This was very good, as attendance figures dropped from 1846 last year to just over 1200 this year. This is obviously because the Neuadd is not passed by as many visitors as was the Church Hall, and we shall have to consider ways of advertising our presence more in the centre of Aberdyfi next year. The quality of work on display was excellent and I think all ex-hibitors and helpers are to be congratulated on the success of the exhibition in the new circumstances. The collection for North Wales Society for the Blind raised a record £363.

Jack Harbottle, our Chairman, has sent me his observations on the exhibition –

I wish to thank all those who contributed towards our 2001 exhibition. To the committee members who put in such sterling work on the preliminary tasks, the work gangs for staging the show and to all the stewards for giving so much of their time, and also to the many members who submitted their pictures, well done.

Was it a success? As an exhibition, yes. We had an extensive showing of high quality, which sentiment was expressed by many of our visitors. We soon settled into our new surroundings, appreciating the modern facilities and better car parking arrangements, and the whole thing went off well with very few hitches. Yes, there were lessons to be learnt, our visitor numbers were down, so perhaps we need more positive publicity in the future; lighting was marginal and needs further thought. More lighting was available but at a cost, and in view of the rent we decided to cut costs wherever reasonable.

Was it a financial success? Aaah! Yes and no. We knew from the start that with a rent much greater than previously paid at the Church Hall, we’d be lucky if we broke even. But despite a lower number of visitors our sales were quite buoyant and we did in fact make a small profit, though a lot less than in the past. It is this profit which has helped pay for our tutors and hence keep members’ contributions on the day to a reasonable figure. This year it is very marginal, but we hope that things will be better next year when we solidify our position at the Neuadd Dyfi and our whereabouts are better known. If this proves not to be the case then your committee will need to review the financing of the Society as from 2003, but until then it is considered that no changes are necessary. Incident-ally, I am pleased to say that the ‘Pot for the Blind’ made more profit than we did!

All in all a successful transition from the Church Hall to our new venue thanks to your efforts. I would also like to record our thanks to Des George ‘keeper’ of Neuadd Dyfi for his co-operation and help towards settling in.

BUFFET SUPPER. Once again this now popular event will be held in the Yacht Club, this year on the evening of Saturday 24^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, and I hope the weather is better than last year when waves were breaking over the door to the Yacht Club.

SUMMER PROGRAMME 2002.

Jean will be compiling next summer’s programme of painting days early next year and would welcome suggestions for artists, topics, and/or venues. The latter must have nearby toilets, plenty of room to park, and something interesting to paint. Please send ideas to this address.

AUTUMN/WINTER PROGRAMME.

All members should have received a copy of this by post in late September. If you have not, please let me know. Again, Jean compiled this programme. Peter Coldham has done a stalwart job with the Programme for the past few years, taking over from Wendy Gladwin at short notice when she moved to Carlisle, and I am sure I speak for all members when I record our thanks for all his hard work. He has decided enough is enough and is now looking forward to enjoying his painting days again without any worries.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2002.

In an effort to attract more members, the AGM is a fortnight later next year than hitherto, on Wednesday 13^th March at 7.30pm in The Institute, Aberdyfi. My new diary arrived by post yesterday and the first date I entered was this important one. I hope many members will do the same. More information will be sent out nearer the time.

OBITUARIES.

Harold Pound, a former member died recently. He was a prolific painter in his day. Ted Kilner met his wife by chance and she informed him of this sad news.

Ida Martin has sadly passed away. She re-joined the Society only last year after moving back to the area and only managed to attend a few meetings before being taken ill.

I regret that I knew neither of these members, but I am sure I speak for all of us in expressing our sorrow at their passing, and our sympathies to their relatives.

IN HOSPITAL.

Jack Marchant has been in Bron Glais Hospital following a fall in which he broke a bone. I trust that he is making a good recovery and will be back with us soon.

ANNUAL PRIZE CROSSWORDS.

I have compiled two puzzles this year, one of cryptic clues which may get you scratching your head, and one of  non-cryptic clues which it should be possible to do inside 30 minutes. Members are welcome to complete both, but they must be returned to me by Friday 23^rd November so that the draw can take place at the Buffet Supper next day. The prizes will go to the first two correctly completed puzzles in each category drawn from the bag.

FINAL COMMENTS.

I thought I should make a  mention of Channel 4’s Watercolour Challenge under the title of RIP. I feel it has lost its way this year. It sprang briefly to life when Jan Francis took over from Hannah Gordon for a week, and the great Brian Sewell judged the paintings one day. Generally, though, it seems to have got stuck into a rut of routine with less time being given to seeing the competitors actually painting. There haven’t been many inspired artists so far in this series, and many of the subjects chosen for then to paint have been just terrible. I feel it is time it was given a rest or a new presenter and producer.

As this is the probably the last issue of The Aberdyfi Artist this year, may I take the opportunity of wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Look forward to seeing you at the Buffet Supper.

Bev Barratt

Gellygen Fach,

Pantperthog,

Machynlleth,

SY20 9AY.

20 October 2001

Last modified: 09/29/05