As we have come to the end of another enjoyable Annual Exhibition, based on the repeated comments of how well it was organised and displayed and how high the standard of work was this year, I think we can safely say it has been a real success. Some of the comments in the visitor’s book say it all: “Wonderful exhibition, we will be back next year”. “Excellent exhibition – best one yet!” “Improves every year, splendid!” “A really interesting mix of media, meaning that there was something for everyone and it stimulated much discussion”. “Great talent on show thanks to the organisers!” “I’ve seen a few exhibitions recently. This by far is the best, it’s fantastic!” “Thank you! Wonderful selection and so uplifting.” “What a great exhibition – lovely feel and a peaceful space to view such talent”. “Probably the best exhibition I have seen by far in a very long time, excellent. Fabulous Work”
This year we were honoured to have two guest artists exhibiting with us; Anthony Connolly PRP and David Brayne Hon.RWS. Anthony is President of the Royal Society of Portrait painters and one of our Patrons and David who was one of our judges last year is an honorary member of the Royal Watercolour Society. Thank you to our External Judges Richard Pikesley PPNEAC RWS and John Walsom ROI. A very big thank you to all our sponsors, who generously provide the prize money for the awards. Thank you to the headmaster of Kings School for letting us use the beautiful Memorial Hall again and last but certainly not least, thank you to all our volunteer members who helped with hanging, stewarding and sorting. Their contribution to the success of the Exhibition is unquestionable and we would struggle without them. Well done to all our artists who took part and a special thank you to our Secretary Jean Stevens who took over as curator at unbelievably short notice, when this particular curator fell ill.
Sally Ridout – BAS Exhibition Secretary ( curator ) 2025
Congratulations to the winners of this years awards which were presented at the private view on Friday. The Exhibition will run from 16th until 23rd August at Kings Memorial Hall, Bruton.
Further details of the exhibition, the sponsors and the online exhibition can be found here.
The Chestnut Tree – Lime Kiln lane by Sally Ridout
Goldfinches by Lindsay Keir
‘The Girl with the Amazing Hair’ by Michael Tugby
Here’s a small selection of some of the art that will be on display. The exhibition runs until 23rd August at Kings Bruton Memorial Hall and promises to be an exciting show with some of the best artists in the region entering.
King’s Bruton Memorial Hall Bruton Somerset BA10 0E Saturday 16 – Saturday 23 August 10 – 4 Daily
Did you submit any of your work for the Bruton Art Society 72nd Annual Exhibition? The pre-selection is now complete. To find out whether you have been successful you will need to log in to your account at OESS. Please click on the button below.
BAS MEMBERS! LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL ENTRIES CLOSE! If you want to be a part of this years glorious exhibition you have less than a week to go to get your entries in. An opportunity to sell your work and/or win a prize. This year the prize money on offer is well over £1500 including The Joy Barnes Award now £500 and the Vittorio Zanetti Drawing Award now £200. Don’t miss the opportunity. Entries close at midnight on 20th June.
The Bruton Art Society workshop season has been proceeding apace since February. Now, with a break until the programme resumes in September after the hubbub of the annual exhibition in August, it seems like a good time to report on a great series of workshops organised, as ever, by our workshop co-ordinator, Sally Ridout.
‘ Paper Art ’ : Tutor,Naomi Kendall
We had a rescheduled 2 day workshop on the 20th and 21st February with Naomi Kendall on ‘Paper Art’ which was postponed from October 2024 due to illness.
Naomi is a Somerset based artist and a member of the Paper Artist Collective. Those of us who took part had a very enriching experience, experimenting with cutting, folding and scoring, finding different ways of turning paper into relief sculptures, collages and stand alone pieces. We discovered with great pleasure what Naomi’s words meant : “although it’s such an every-day material, paper can be transformed in so many ways”.
‘ Expressive Acrylics – Land and Sky’:Tutor,Lynn Keddie
A one day workshop on 7th March 2025
Lynn is a very inspiring tutor and artist, who gave the group an opportunity to free up their work using acrylics, a medium often misunderstood. There was nothing but praise for her encouraging style of teaching and folks were determined to continue to work with acrylics undaunted when they went back home.
‘Portraiture, a route to character and likeness’ : Tutor, Toby Wiggins RP
On 13th and 14th March we had the privilege of working with the portrait painter Toby Wiggins, who is a member of the Royal Portrait Society.
Toby took us through the process of building up a portrait on a ‘route to character and likeness’ over two days and we are very grateful to him for agreeing to work with us.Toby is a patient and thoughtful tutor and the results of his teaching are spectacular. Thanks must also go to our two models who sat for us over two consecutive days, with breaks of course! Because this workshop was so popular, Toby has agreed to do another one in the future, so members need to look out for that one in the future.
‘ Expressive Drawing in charcoal and soft pastels’: Tutor, Kate Lynch
A two day workshop on the 10th and 11th April 2025 at Hadspen Village hall.
Kate is well known for her interest in West Country rural crafts and skills, and has researched, written and illustrated books on the subject. One book in particular to look out for is “CRAFT”- portraits and voices recording traditional crafts from Somerset artisans accompanied by Kate’s illustrations.
We will remember the collaborative drawings which Kate set for us in both charcoal and soft pastel and in particular her enthusiasm and joy at imparting and developing our expressive drawing skills.
‘Cut, paste and sew fabric landscapes’ : Tutor, Imogen Bittner
Something completely different and magical happened when Imogen brought her Aladdin’s cave of fabric scraps and offcuts to Hadspen Village hall for this workshop. Her signature fabric landscape and still life collages are works of art like no other, transforming left over cuts of material with their colours, patterns and textures into compositions which inspire and surprise. Those of us who took part in this two day workshop on the 8th and 9th of May found ourselves excitedly delving into her table of treasures, sorting and cutting, stitching, ironing and pasting the gems we needed to create our own masterpieces, guided by Imogen’s encouragement and experience. A whole new world of resources opened up for us in the process and we are very grateful for it.
‘Franz Marc and Der Blaue Reiter’ : Talk/Workshop with Sally Ridout
Blaue Reiter On 24 May at Hadspen Sally Ridout led an enjoyable and informative workshop on Der Blaue Reiter. She opened with a talk and slides of this colourful and stimulating group, active in Germany all too briefly, roughly 1911 to 1914 , when the outbreak of World War I forced its dissolution. Principal members dispersed from Munich: Kandinsky went back to his native Russia, We learnt of the rejection of 19th century classical formal painting and its replacement with the freedom of expression pioneered first by Impressionists, Van Gogh, Monet and company; later by the Fauves, Derain and Matisse. The Blaue Reiter members such as Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky, Gabrielle Munter and August Macke concentrated on movement with powerful use of primary colours that they believed would signify emotions: blue for purity and/or masculinity; red for brutality,weight, matter; yellow for femininity. Nature, principally animals and vegetation influenced design often with flat surfaces and black outlines. Several now famous names briefly joined or influenced Blaue Reiter. So we saw bits of Cubism, Picasso, Klee et al.. Sally encouraged us to listen to The Lark Ascending and some Schoenberg while generating spontaneous marks on A5 paper. We discussed synaesthesia and colour. Which colour do you assign to which day of the week? Is your Monday red? Is Sunday blue? Some surprising coincidences cropped up. Next, Sally issued a plain coloured card apiece, inviting each one of us to cut out their own choice of interesting shape. One by one we added and built a group collage on the floor. Kandinsky would have been as delighted by the result as we were. The afternoon session was couple of hours individually emulating Blaue Reiter style inspired by images that Sally provided. Our collected results made a most satisfying show of bright colour and interesting forms. I found this another of Sally’s well prepared and successful workshops, evidently much appreciated by us all. Thank you, Sally.
Michael Riggs 26May 2025
With many thanks to Sally Ridout and to Michael Riggs for their reports. There are still a number of excellent workshops to come in the autumn. Visit the Events Calendar to explore and to book.
With just over 3 months to go until our 72nd Annual Art Exhibition at the Memorial Hall, King’s Bruton, the Committee is pleased to announce that the “Call for Entries” is open today, 2nd May. If you are a BAS member, and are interested in entering work for the exhibition, please click the button and follow the links……
We started the new years activities for members on the 7th February with a lecture by Jenny Newman on ‘The Art of Snow and Ice’ at Caryford Community Hall in Castle Cary, with approximately 45 members and guests attending. Jenny was happy to be our ‘guinea pig’ as she was the first lecturer to present in this hall.
Well known to Bruton Art Society Jenny taught Art for 40 years, latterly as Head of Art at Sherborne Girls’ School, from 1994 – 2016.
Trained in Fine Art, she has a broad knowledge of Art and Design, which she loves to share with others, often taking groups abroad and organising ‘Pop Up’ talks in the town. She is a member of the Sherborne Arts Society and on retiring she started two University of the Third Age (U3A) groups in Sherborne, for which she gives illustrated talks on current / forthcoming exhibitions and collections.
During the lecture, Jenny showed us early examples of artists who made ice and snow a subject since at least the 15th century, when winter scenes began appearing in illuminated ‘books of hours’. Our attention was drawn to the smallest of details in all these examples, particularly such well known paintings as ‘Hunters in the Snow’ by Pieter Breughel (the Elder), the much loved Skating Minister by Henry Raeburn, Japanese prints and the Impressionist painter Monet with his ‘The magpie’. We were shown Post Impressionist and early C20th works, ending with the contemporary artist Peter Doig and Andy Goldsworthy the sculptor.
The lecture was very enjoyable and much appreciated. There was a genuine feeling of intimacy in a smaller space, which Jenny herself agreed with. She is a naturally engaging speaker who loves imparting her knowledge of the subject and we look forward to more of her lectures in the future.
2025 started this year as usual with our AGM which was held at Caryford Hall on 16th January. Those of you who were there will remember that we were treated (not for the first time) to a lecture by Will Vaughan.
The lecture was entitled “Drawing the Line” and was very enjoyable and thought provoking. Now, by popular demand, Will has posted the lecture on YouTube where it can be viewed until the end of March.
So for those of you who missed it, or those of you who would like to see it again, click on this link and you will be transported there: Drawing the Line
