Thursday February 23rd, The Barn, Obridge House, Taunton TA2 7QA at 7.30pm. An illustrated talk by Fiona Godfrey. Cost £4. Tel 01823 276421 to book a place.

Dear Readers,                                                              January 2012

Here is our programme for 2012 with something arranged for the next eleven months. In addition there may be a Harry Frier exhibition in Taunton during the Cultural Olympiad, which we are helping to bring about.

The first 2012 invitation to our members is to spend Tuesday, 24 January in London looking at art. We had hoped to meet at the National Gallery (NG) to see the Leonardo exhibition but, as you will know, tickets are not available unless you have either booked long ago or are able to queue early on the day. Nonetheless I shall make for the NG, once I’ve reached Hammersmith via the Berry’s 8.0 am coach, and see what chance there is of getting in. If unsuccessful, I shall enjoy other works there or visit the Courtauld Collection.
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Dear Readers,

Greetings. In this number we look back on the last five months and tell you about some events of the coming year.

Our second sponsored exhibition of 2011 – Paintings by Pat Preater and Jane Stott – was held in Taunton Library from 19 September – 1 October. Many of you came to see it, and the written comments you, and others, left were extremely complimentary. The enclosed reflections (see below) were prompted by the interesting juxtaposition of Jane’s portraits and with Pat’s groups of people.

 More recently, on 10 November Andy Davey from Minehead gave a fascinating illustrated talk in Crescent Contemporary on his paintings since 2009 which combine figurative and abstract ideas, often based on his wide knowledge of artists and art history. For next year we have so far not been able to find or afford a suitable venue for an art exhibition though one or two of us expect to be involved in the curating of exhibitions for 2013 – yes, there often has to be that amount of planning ahead! However we are sure that there will be plenty of good art to see, not least in studios near and far during SAW in September.  

We have, however, invited several artists to talk about their work during 2012. Fiona Godfrey from Langport will give the first of this new series on Thursday, 23 February in The Barn, Obridge House, TA2 7QA. We are delighted that Jack Coulthard will be introducing three of his latest large paintings at our AGM in the Library Meeting Room at 7.15 on Thursday, 22 March.
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September 2011

Dear Readers,

Greetings. Our website is up-to-date once more, thanks to Anna Mullett who has trained herself in its ways. With luck she will soon have found a way of putting our new logo up. We would welcome new examples of your work, if you have art already on show, and new members letting us show their work. To explore our website just type in www.somersetartgallerytrust.org

In this number we have contributions from Eric Clarke and John Foden and two drawings by Ron Cann,* our first ever illustrations, based on our visit to Compton Verney on 30 June. Our warm thanks to all three.

Our day at Compton Verney went very well, thanks to Julia Cann’s meticulous preparation and forethought in ringing round the day before, and to all who supported it. The exhibition is still on until early October, if you are going to be in the Stratford-upon-Avon/Warwick area.
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 We are a community of art lovers and artists and we want Somerset and our region to have a major art gallery & we believe it should be in Taunton. After a busy year, including work behind the scenes, we are entering on a new phase. From our AGM (31 March) onwards we have arranged some part-time use of a prestigious exhibition space – Crescent Contemporary – 19, The Crescent in the centre of Taunton. This is thanks to the vision of Elizabeth Earley and her belief in our cause.

In the past year we have averaged a membership of about 60, sent out five newsletters (nos. 18 – 22) in which different people have contributed reviews or articles; run and sponsored exhibitions in Taunton Library and one in the Conference Centre, Somerset College (SC). We have also offered our members three lectures at SC, arranged a visit to the John Leach gallery to look at some Picasso prints, and visited Sue Luxton during SAW and been given a talk by her. We learned too from Rachel Hartland and Nigel Done about their work and approach to it.
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