We are very lucky to have so many talented artists amongst our membership and even luckier when one of them gives their time freely to inspire and teach other members.
Many of you will have seen Helen Walker’s beautiful mosaics on display at our exhibitions.  Helen, very kindly, agreed to give Gill Repper, my friend and fellow member and myself a day of inspiration and guidance.  It was such FUN!   We both like getting our hands dirty and always seem to be working in a mess and this day was no exception!  Helen was an amazing teacher and even gave us a printed list of where to buy supplies etc. as well as supplying us throughout the day with tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits!  She also gave us templates to take home and continue experimenting with this exciting medium.
We started at around 11 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. and we’re both very proud of what we achieved.  

Thank you so much Helen.

Esther Marshall

(photos by Chris Ward)
It was a beautiful September morning as we made the short drive from our holiday cottage to Chatsworth House in the picturesque Derbyshire Dales. The road wound through the steep wooded hills and sloping fields that divide the valleys of the river Wye and the river Derwent. Arriving early, as we did, without huge numbers of people about, Chatsworth did not disappoint, sitting majestically on the eastern banks of the river Derwent and set in a landscape designed by none other than Capability Brown.  Historic houses like Chatsworth have beautiful interiors, but for me it is the landscaped gardens that I feel drawn to. 

We entered the gardens onto a gravel broadwalk running along the western front of the house and a path to our right led us to the Emperor Fountain, which is located in the Canal pond. This fountain was built by the 6th Duke in 1844 when there was a chance the Czar Nicholas would be coming to visit…He wanted this fountain to be bigger than the Czar’s back in Russia! The fountain is gravity fed by water from the hills above the house, and it can reach a height of 200ft.

The classic view of the house is from the end of the Canal pond with the Emperor fountain dead centre as the focal point, but to our amusement and surprise we came across a huge structure in the form of a dog, made up entirely from scaffolding poles. This is a sculpture by Ben Long, a contemporary artist known for other works made with scaffolding, such as the Lion, the rearing horse, and the stag.  He was commissioned to create a piece for ‘The Dog: a celebration at Chatsworth’. He wanted his work to convey love, devotion and unconditional loyalty, and a sense of fun

Along one side of the canal pond, towards the end of the broad walk is an avenue of beech trees and from here, looking back we could see the rainbow created by the fountain.
Deviating slightly from this path, and mounting a few steps, we found ourselves in a small woodland clearing, with the Autumn sun filtering through a light canopy of leaves to reveal several bronze heads on wooden stands. These are sculptures by Angela Connor, well known for her busts and statues of well-known people such as Lucien Freud, and Tom Stoppard, among others. Early on in her career she was an assistant to the well-known sculptor, Barbara Hepworth.

Somehow these disembodied heads seemed to fit in very well with the eerie woodland setting.
 Following along another set of winding paths and signs, we arrived at The Grotto, a lovely tranquil pond strewn with waterlilies. Beside the pond stood the tall 20ft high sculpture…The Drummer, a giant hare gleefully beating a drum, the creation of Barry Flanagan, and commissioned to commemorate the present Duke and Duchess coming to live at Chatsworth in 2006. Sadly, Barry Flanagan died in 2009, but his work is still exhibited by his estate. He came from a family of Music Hall performers, and this background had a profound influence on his work. He is probably best known for creating giant hares with long gangly limbs, and human characteristics, and activities. 

Another such piece, the Hare on a crescent and Bell is sited in the Broadgate centre, in the heart of the city of London. I would rather see him on the green and timeless lawns of Chatsworth than surrounded by high rise office blocks and throngs of bustling commuters!
Leaving the Grotto, we retraced our footsteps along some of the paths towards the Kitchen and the Cottage Gardens, and of course these were beautifully laid out with colourful borders and exquisite topiary created from box, privet and yew hedging. Chatsworth grows all its own food, sourced from its greenhouses and kitchen gardens, now located where the carriage horses would have grazed in days gone by.

Making our way down, back in the direction of the house we arrived at the beautiful Cascade fountain that descends via a series of 24 steps from the top, each uniquely cut and of differing texture so that the sound made by the water would vary accordingly. What attention to detail! A baroque temple at the top adds to its grandeur and makes a fabulous focal point. Some years ago, I watched a documentary that followed the badly needed restoration of the waterfall…. ever since then I’ve wanted to visit Chatsworth and see the Cascade in real life, and I can honestly say it surpassed my expectations!

Finally, we followed the Cascade down to the Stables and The Carriage House Cafe for a bite to eat. Just beyond the entrance to the courtyard with its neatly placed chairs and tables stands the poignant and beautiful sculpture of War Horse, by Dame Elizabeth Frink, a sculptor and printmaker, whose work focused on natural forms of animals, men and religious sculptures. If you have seen the heartrending film based on the book ‘ War Horse’ by Michael Morpurgo, you will be moved by the horrors of war that this sculpture symbolises. We didn’t take photos of War Horse because by now it was so busy and hard to get a good viewpoint of a big sculpture, but there are many photos on the Internet, which for copyright reasons I couldn’t use.

It was a wonderful day with so much to see and so little time…..but I know I’m already looking forward to our next trip. Next time you go into London, if you have time, go along to the Broadgate centre, next to Liverpool Street Station, and see how Mr Hare is coping with the bright lights of the City! (Barry Flanagan’s ‘Hare on a Crescent and Bell’). 
Chandra Ward

As you may have seen on the WNAA Facebook page Helen and I have been in the Isles of Scilly for a weeks R&R. I can recommend the islands as being a very interesting place to visit. We hadn’t been before, but you do need to be reasonably fit as walking is the only entertainment, but certainly very special. The Tresco island is the most interesting with lots of sea history and the gardens built on the side of a hill are splendid with plants and flora from around the world.

Tresco Abbey Gardens are located on the island of Tresco. The 17 acre gardens were established by the nineteenth-century proprietor of the islands, Augustus Smith, originally as a private garden within the grounds of the home he designed and built.

We stayed on St Marys which is the largest island, from where you can take trips to the other islands. I also managed some sketching of the beautiful surroundings.

John Walker

De L’Impressionnisme A Bonnard Et Picasso

Bonnard: Braque: Degas: Dufy: Kisling: Lautrec: Matisse: Modigliani: Marquet: Monet: Marie Laurencin: Pascin: Picasso: Renoir: Zandomeneghi:

Names to conjure up images in your imagination and a Not to be missed exhibition in Le Cannet this year at Musee Bonnard.

I have mentioned before how lucky I am to have a lovely daughter who lives in the Cote D’azure and how she always tries to make sure I take in an exhibition when I am with her. This time it was an amazing collection lent by the Nahmad family, of forty works never before seen together.

These ranged from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century and were set over three floors, light, airy and roomy, and they were selected to highlight the exciting way that artists from different eras were interlinked, but at the same time, illustrating the contribution of each of them individually, to the history of art.

We glided silently up to the top floor in the glass lift, and then gradually worked our way down, taking time to thoroughly inspect our favourites and discuss them with my granddaughter (aged 16) who was equally enthralled with the pictures, and decided that Monet was her favourite. (She subsequently visited Musee D’Orsay in Paris last week, and decided Monet was still her favourite.)

It’s hard to describe the thrill that runs through you when you have the privilege of standing in front of the work of an old master that you really admire; it starts in my spine and runs right through my body.

The collection was hung in such a way that each piece of work connected or enhanced the one near it. How do you hang the masters of pre-impressionism and impressionism, Picasso and Matisse, Lautrec and Dufy and Modigliani and Kisling all in one exhibition, and I think the answer was “beautifully” and connecting and enhancing each other.

Of course, I had to set off the alarm system by getting far too near to a Renoir, which I was trying to explain to my granddaughter. However, the nice invigilator forgave me.

We left very reluctantly after two hours and had a lovely lunch in a typical little French café, hung with photographs of French film stars from the past.

I just love France, and I know I shouldn’t talk politics, but I just hope and pray we don’t lose our connection with France, Spain, Portugal and all the other fabulous countries of Europe. We have so much history together, and I wish we had stayed together!

Helena Anderson

On one of our visits to family and friends in Oxfordshire we made a trip to Kew Gardens for the day. Not since our courting days have we been back to Kew so we were really looking forward to the day. The journey was easy, about an hour and a half and the parking along the river worked well.

We particularly wanted to see the newly renovated Temperate House and art exhibition by Artist Dale Chihuly and were not disappointed.

The Temperate House looks magnificent from the outside and when you enter the space is mindblowing. The planting has been arranged around four sides and two side wings and the plants are still newly planted so you are not overwhelmed like the Palm House. You can climb up to the upper gallery and look down on the wonderful display of ‘ blown glass’ artwork arranged in the foliage and a magnificent hanging  glass display from the roof.

Outside in the grounds are further structures so big that it is impossible to see now they were erected. The Marianne North Gallery houses smaller pieces of glass work and a very interesting video of how Chihuly and assistants manufacturer the artwork from molten glass.

The gardens are 326 acres so there is quite a lot to cover but there is a hop on hop off ‘land train’ so you don’t have to walk all the way. 

The gardens were teeming with school children when we were there but it is so large it was never crowded, a good day out.

John Walker

Classed as a Pre-Raphaelite visionary Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833 – 1898) was a key figure in Victorian art and achieved world wide fame and recognition during his lifetime. This was the first major retrospective of his to be held in London for over forty years.

Burne-Jones used myths and legends from the past and created dream worlds of unparalleled beauty – ‘The Briar Rose Series’ (based on Sleeping Beauty), ‘The Beguiling of Merlin’, ‘The last sleep of Arthur’ and ‘The Perseus Series’ to name just a few.

From his studio in Fulham he designed and made artworks in a variety of media – paintings, drawings, stained glass, embroidery, tapestry, furniture and jewellery and many of these were on display including a beautifully painted piano.

Burne-Jones was educated at University rather than art school and went to Oxford to study theology which is where he met his lifelong friend and collaborator, William Morris. He decided to abandon his studies and under the guidance of the artist-poet, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, he
started to make intricate drawings in pen and ink which won him the support of artists and patrons in the Pre-Raphaelite circle.

He was a founder member of the design collective Morris & Co in 1861 and designed furniture and stained glass for domestic and ecclesiastical settings.

In 1864 he was elected to the Old Watercolour Society and began exhibiting with them but resigned in anger six years later following complaints about the male nude figure in ‘Phyllis and Demophoon’. He later painted ‘The Tree of Forgiveness’ in which he drapes fabric to conceal Demophoon’s genitals- it is thought to avoid the controversy of the earlier work.

All of the women in his paintings are beautiful whereas the men are often presented as victims of female power and desire. The is the best place for buying medicines on the web. I’m its frequent buyer for a couple of years already. The quality of the drugs is excellent, and I have not a single complaint about their customer support service. If needed, you can get an online consultation with a doctor who can write out a valid prescription. It’s just awesome.

Esther Marshall

Provocative, confusing, intriguing, the street art in Berlin is impossible to ignore. Berlin is the capital of Germany but maybe also the street art capital of the western world.

Any blank wall is soon covered. However much of it is graffiti, tolerated but not widely admired.

A distinction is made between graffiti and street art although it often appears together on the same wall. One local explained, “graffiti is words and tags all the same style which are done for other graffiti “artists”. It is generally without artistic merit. Street art is for the public. Much like any art the purpose varies. It can be to purely entertain, make a statement, be political, ask a question, and provoke emotion, positive or negative.”

The artist is communicating directly to the public without filters.
Huge pieces cover the side of apartment buildings, and then, look down and you spot something incidental or tiny, almost hidden.

The artists can be well-established internationally known names, local or relative newcomers, who are known for their style, choice of materials, subject matter or choice of locations. They demand respect for their views, artistic skills or ingenuity in finding original, amusing or even dangerous settings for their work. Some pieces are part of a series – for those in the know, even part of an international series.

Quick and dirty was a previous definition of street art. Relying on stencils or paste ups so artists could arrive, get the work quickly onto the wall and leave. It was secretive and mysterious. Now they can take their time and there has been an explosion of different techniques and larger pieces. “tape is the new paint”

Many of the more well known artists were working in the 1980s and 90’s which is when they established their reputations.

Now street art in Berlin is encouraged and there is an uneasy commercialisation. Much of the tourist income is boosted by the art. Some apparently spontaneous work is, in fact, paid advertising or heavily sponsored.

They have a street art festival and ironically, a street art gallery.
“Even street artists have to eat.”

In Berlin, of course, there was an ideal canvas; The Berlin Wall. In the 1980’s much of the Western side was already covered in graffiti. When the wall came down almost 2 kilometers of it was preserved and street artists were chosen to paint the blank side i.e. the former East side, work that commented on separation and unity. Known as the East Side gallery, it is a huge tourist draw although many works have faded over the years. A recent drive to get the artists to repaint some of the work, proved provocative.

Even the local cemetery has adopted the street art oeuvre.

We opted for a street art tour. It can only be a 2 hour snapshot as much work is temporary, either by design, or as a reaction to change in the neighborhood. Much like any audio guide in a gallery it enhanced our experience with insights into the “street art scene”

Frank, our guide, had long legs and we had to keep up with his pace and his commentary but by the end we were able to recognize the work of individual artists and some of the intentions behind the various work.

So sometimes messy, sometimes intriguing or beautiful, street art in Berlin is in your face and if you care to look deeper there are artists trying to communicate with you!

Michele Summers