Christmas newsletter 2021
Chairman’s message
I am really pleased to take up the role of CA Chairman. Many of you probably know me as the club’s “Exhibitionist” and I have really enjoyed taking the lead in organising our annual Open Exhibition, as well as the many smaller shows of our work at venues such as the Suspension Bridge and Steak of the Art.
I am hugely optimistic about the future of our club, as we take it gently into a more on-line world.
We have an exciting Spring programme, offering a few novel events: Live Kestrel Drawing (Yes, really!), for example, in February and a series of Meet Up events: an opportunity for members to get together to get to know other members, have a coffee (or herbal tea!) and maybe even do a bit of sketching or photography.
Details are on the home page of the CA website.
A gentle reminder that we all need to register on the website for events such as Saturday Painting, Thursday evening lectures or workshops and life drawing. This is to ensure that we stay within allowed capacity guidelines for the various venues. If you have problems registering, please contact the relevant Committee Member, whose details are given on the About Us page of the website.
Finally, I would like to say how much I enjoyed meeting new members and catching up with old CA friends at our Christmas lunch on 2nd December. We were having such a good time that the very friendly staff at Il Sapore virtually had to throw us out.
I hope you all have a really good Christmas and wish you the very best for the new year.
Anne Elliott, Chairman
(My FATFACE gift bag was appropriate as I was recovering from dental surgery!)
Lectures and demonstrations
Please look out for our next three events on our website. Do remember also to look at Mailchimp for updates to any events.
We have had very good attendance at some events but a bit fewer people at others; this is probably in part due to it maybe being a damp chilly evening.
I look forward to seeing you at our next Thursday evening lectures, but if you do want to come, please remember to book. It is very easy on the website and there is no charge so it is straightforward.
Romy Walker
RWA
As I am sure you have all noticed, the RWA is closed, while undergoing major refurbishment.
However, the Friends of the RWA are holding an exhibition at the Create Centre, from 13 to 25 May 2022, with a preview on 12 May.
OTHER LOCAL ART EVENTS
Arnolfini
“Bristol’s International Centre for Contemporary Arts, located on the harbourside in the heart of the city” has a full programme of exhibitions. Coming up for Air: Stephen Gill – A Retrospective - Until 16 Jan 2022
“Celebrate over thirty years of extraordinary practice from Bristol-born photographer Stephen Gill, drawing together new previously un-exhibited
work, alongside works from other iconic series.
Arnolfini at 60 – Sutapa Biswas
To 13 Feb 2022
“Sutapa Biswas is a British Indian artist, whose work is recognised nationally and internationally. Her art engages with questions of identity, race and gender in relation to time, space and history. Her works are inspired by oral histories, literature and art history. She is particularly interested in the ways in which larger historical narratives collide with personal narratives.
“Biswas was included in two exhibitions that toured to Arnolfini in the 1990s, both of which played an important role in promoting de-colonial discourses within British art: The Circular Dance, in 1991, an exhibition of British Asian women artists; and Disrupted Borders, in 1993, curated by Sunil Gupta, which sought to escape the European rhetoric of modernism with a ‘new internationalism’ approach. Arnolfini is delighted to invite her back in our sixtieth anniversary year, to present new and existing work: Magnesium Bird (2004), a film work created as a poetic and ritualised response to the death of the artist’s Father; and Zoo – Edge of the Indian Ocean, 20.1990° S, 57.7823° E (2021), a new painting, commissioned by Arnolfini, which overlaps botanic and colonial histories in Mauritius.”
Donna Huanca - Cueva de Copal
5 Feb to 29 May 2022
“A new and immersive site-specific installation by interdisciplinary artist Donna Huanca, encompassing painting, sculpture, performance, choreography, video and sensory interventions, all based around her exploration of the human body.”
Centrespace
Centrespace are proud to be “a thriving independent and sustainable community of artists and craftspeople offering both studio space, workshops, events and a gallery space for hire. “ The building has been run as a co-operative since 1987 and the gallery is an artist run, not for profit affordable semi industrial space.
I AM PIFFY Jan 28 – Feb 3 2022 “Showcases the primary body of work produced by artist Kim Piffy over the last five years.
Each of the eight exhibited artworks, one tapestry and seven collages, represents a pivotal moment in a figurative journey towards self-awareness. Crossing the threshold from reality into an incorporeal realm; Kim converses with her psyche.
“The style of the artworks is bold, modern and aggressive. Kim’s mixed media collages are cleverly constructed, creating an overflowing dynamism on the surface: an intrinsic energy that originates in the relationship between textures, colours and patterns.”
Centrespace - 6 Leonard Lane
Bristol BS1 1EA
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Grayson’s Art Club
4 Dec 2021 - 4 Sep 2022
“Art works chosen by Grayson Perry and guest celebrities during the hit Channel 4 series, Grayson’s Art Club feature in this brand new exhibition.”
Netsuke: miniature masterpieces from Japan
28 May – 5 June 2022
“For the first time, 75 netsuke from Bristol’s collection will go on display in the Eastern Art Gallery. These finely carved miniature sculptures were Japan’s solution to a lack of pockets in men’s kimono and other clothing.”
And further afield….
London galleries and museums are open. They all advise booking tickets for any exhibitions in advance, but all say it is possible to just pop in on the day; though if you are travelling up specially from Bristol this might risk disappointment…
Fingers crossed that this will continue into the new year and beyond.
Editor
National Gallery
Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist
Until 27 February 2022
“The first big exhibition in London of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in almost 20 years.
“His paintings, drawings, prints, and letters take us along Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, along with the people and places he visited.
“Illustrating his journeys to the Netherlands and across the Alps to Italy and Venice, the exhibition explores how Dürer’s travels led to an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fuelled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe. “Dürer’s Journeys gathers loans from museums and private collections across the world, notably the artist's striking ‘Madonna and Child’ (c. 1496/1499) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, never seen in the UK. “
Gainsborough's Blue Boy
25 January – 15 May 2022
“In the winter of 1922, Gainsborough’s ‘The Blue Boy’ hung at the Gallery for three weeks before it sailed across the Atlantic to a new home in California.
“100 years later (to the day), Gainsborough’s masterpiece returns to London to be hung in Trafalgar Square once again.
“The Blue Boy represents the best of 18th-century British art: Gainsborough’s eloquent response to the legacy of Van Dyck and grand manner portraiture.
“This is the first time the painting has been loaned by The Huntington - it is a once-in-a-century opportunity to see this iconic work in the UK.”
This exhibition is free!
Royal Academy
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast
29 Jan – 17 April 2022
“Explore Francis Bacon’s visceral paintings, where the line between human and animal is constantly blurred, reminding us that our primal instincts lie just below the surface.
“This powerful exhibition will focus on Bacon’s unerring fascination with animals: how it both shaped his approach to the human body and distorted it; how, caught at the most extreme moments of existence, his figures are barely recognisable as either human or beast.
“Spanning Bacon’s 50-year career, highlights include some of Bacon’s earliest works and his last-ever painting, alongside a trio of bullfight paintings which will be exhibited together for the first time. Seen together, these raw expressions of anxiety and instinct – both animal and human – feel poignantly relevant today.”
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan
26 Feb — 22 May 2022
“Many of James McNeill Whistler’s works feature the red-haired figure of Joanna Hiffernan. Her close professional and personal relationship with the artist lasted for two decades, yet little about her role or influence in his life has been explored – until now.”
“In this exhibition, we uncover the role Joanna played in the artist’s career and discover how Whistler’s revolutionary paintings featuring Hiffernan went on to influence later artists from the Pre-Raphaelites to Klimt.”
This exhibition is organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Tate Modern
Surrealism beyond Borders
24 Feb – 29 Aug 2022
“Surrealism is not a style – but a state of mind. It aims to subvert reality. To find the uncanny in the everyday. To tap into our unconscious desires and bring dreams to life. And for many artists around the world, it has been a way to challenge authority and imagine a new world.
“Previous stories of surrealism have focused on Paris in the 1920s. Based on extensive research, this exhibition will reach across the world and over 50 years. It will show how artists around the world have been inspired and united by surrealism – from centres as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul, and Tokyo.”
Tate Britain
Hogarth and Europe
Until 20 March 2020
“In a dramatically changing 18th century Europe, William Hogarth became famous for his vibrant, often sharply satirical, paintings and prints that wittily captured the new modern experience. His art gives a unique and engaging glimpse of the time - its opportunities and innovation, materialism, exploitation and injustices, which continue to resonate today.
“For the first time, this show will bring these works together in one setting. Now you can explore over 60 of Hogarth’s extraordinary works in a new light, alongside images by his international peers – including Pietro Longhi in Venice, Jean-Siméon Chardin in Paris and Cornelis Troost in Amsterdam.”
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now
Until 3 Apr 2022
“This exhibition explores the work of artists from the Caribbean who made their home in Britain, alongside other British artists whose work has been influenced and inspired by Caribbean themes and heritage.
“This exhibition celebrates how people from the Caribbean have forged new communities and identities in post-war “Britain – and in doing so have transformed what British culture and society looks like today.
“The exhibition features over 40 artists, including Aubrey Williams, Donald Locke, Horace Ové, Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner and Alberta Whittle.”
This CA newsletter, which used to be posted to you three times a year, will now be updated on a regular basis to keep you up to date with exhibitions and other events in Bristol and in London as well as provide a medium for members to let other members know about an art trail, private show or other item they might be interested in.
If you have anything you would like to be included, email newsletter@cliftonarts.co.uk
I hope you have enjoyed this first on-line newsletter,
Editor
Please look out for our next three events on our website. Do remember also to look at Mailchimp for updates to any events.
We have had very good attendance at some events but a bit fewer people at others; this is probably in part due to it maybe being a damp chilly evening.
I look forward to seeing you at our next Thursday evening lectures, but if you do want to come, please remember to book. It is very easy on the website and there is no charge so it is straightforward.
Romy Walker
RWA
As I am sure you have all noticed, the RWA is closed, while undergoing major refurbishment.
However, the Friends of the RWA are holding an exhibition at the Create Centre, from 13 to 25 May 2022, with a preview on 12 May.
OTHER LOCAL ART EVENTS
Arnolfini
“Bristol’s International Centre for Contemporary Arts, located on the harbourside in the heart of the city” has a full programme of exhibitions. Coming up for Air: Stephen Gill – A Retrospective - Until 16 Jan 2022
“Celebrate over thirty years of extraordinary practice from Bristol-born photographer Stephen Gill, drawing together new previously un-exhibited
work, alongside works from other iconic series.
Arnolfini at 60 – Sutapa Biswas
To 13 Feb 2022
“Sutapa Biswas is a British Indian artist, whose work is recognised nationally and internationally. Her art engages with questions of identity, race and gender in relation to time, space and history. Her works are inspired by oral histories, literature and art history. She is particularly interested in the ways in which larger historical narratives collide with personal narratives.
“Biswas was included in two exhibitions that toured to Arnolfini in the 1990s, both of which played an important role in promoting de-colonial discourses within British art: The Circular Dance, in 1991, an exhibition of British Asian women artists; and Disrupted Borders, in 1993, curated by Sunil Gupta, which sought to escape the European rhetoric of modernism with a ‘new internationalism’ approach. Arnolfini is delighted to invite her back in our sixtieth anniversary year, to present new and existing work: Magnesium Bird (2004), a film work created as a poetic and ritualised response to the death of the artist’s Father; and Zoo – Edge of the Indian Ocean, 20.1990° S, 57.7823° E (2021), a new painting, commissioned by Arnolfini, which overlaps botanic and colonial histories in Mauritius.”
Donna Huanca - Cueva de Copal
5 Feb to 29 May 2022
“A new and immersive site-specific installation by interdisciplinary artist Donna Huanca, encompassing painting, sculpture, performance, choreography, video and sensory interventions, all based around her exploration of the human body.”
Centrespace
Centrespace are proud to be “a thriving independent and sustainable community of artists and craftspeople offering both studio space, workshops, events and a gallery space for hire. “ The building has been run as a co-operative since 1987 and the gallery is an artist run, not for profit affordable semi industrial space.
I AM PIFFY Jan 28 – Feb 3 2022 “Showcases the primary body of work produced by artist Kim Piffy over the last five years.
Each of the eight exhibited artworks, one tapestry and seven collages, represents a pivotal moment in a figurative journey towards self-awareness. Crossing the threshold from reality into an incorporeal realm; Kim converses with her psyche.
“The style of the artworks is bold, modern and aggressive. Kim’s mixed media collages are cleverly constructed, creating an overflowing dynamism on the surface: an intrinsic energy that originates in the relationship between textures, colours and patterns.”
Centrespace - 6 Leonard Lane
Bristol BS1 1EA
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Grayson’s Art Club
4 Dec 2021 - 4 Sep 2022
“Art works chosen by Grayson Perry and guest celebrities during the hit Channel 4 series, Grayson’s Art Club feature in this brand new exhibition.”
Netsuke: miniature masterpieces from Japan
28 May – 5 June 2022
“For the first time, 75 netsuke from Bristol’s collection will go on display in the Eastern Art Gallery. These finely carved miniature sculptures were Japan’s solution to a lack of pockets in men’s kimono and other clothing.”
And further afield….
London galleries and museums are open. They all advise booking tickets for any exhibitions in advance, but all say it is possible to just pop in on the day; though if you are travelling up specially from Bristol this might risk disappointment…
Fingers crossed that this will continue into the new year and beyond.
Editor
National Gallery
Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist
Until 27 February 2022
“The first big exhibition in London of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in almost 20 years.
“His paintings, drawings, prints, and letters take us along Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, along with the people and places he visited.
“Illustrating his journeys to the Netherlands and across the Alps to Italy and Venice, the exhibition explores how Dürer’s travels led to an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fuelled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe. “Dürer’s Journeys gathers loans from museums and private collections across the world, notably the artist's striking ‘Madonna and Child’ (c. 1496/1499) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, never seen in the UK. “
Gainsborough's Blue Boy
25 January – 15 May 2022
“In the winter of 1922, Gainsborough’s ‘The Blue Boy’ hung at the Gallery for three weeks before it sailed across the Atlantic to a new home in California.
“100 years later (to the day), Gainsborough’s masterpiece returns to London to be hung in Trafalgar Square once again.
“The Blue Boy represents the best of 18th-century British art: Gainsborough’s eloquent response to the legacy of Van Dyck and grand manner portraiture.
“This is the first time the painting has been loaned by The Huntington - it is a once-in-a-century opportunity to see this iconic work in the UK.”
This exhibition is free!
Royal Academy
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast
29 Jan – 17 April 2022
“Explore Francis Bacon’s visceral paintings, where the line between human and animal is constantly blurred, reminding us that our primal instincts lie just below the surface.
“This powerful exhibition will focus on Bacon’s unerring fascination with animals: how it both shaped his approach to the human body and distorted it; how, caught at the most extreme moments of existence, his figures are barely recognisable as either human or beast.
“Spanning Bacon’s 50-year career, highlights include some of Bacon’s earliest works and his last-ever painting, alongside a trio of bullfight paintings which will be exhibited together for the first time. Seen together, these raw expressions of anxiety and instinct – both animal and human – feel poignantly relevant today.”
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan
26 Feb — 22 May 2022
“Many of James McNeill Whistler’s works feature the red-haired figure of Joanna Hiffernan. Her close professional and personal relationship with the artist lasted for two decades, yet little about her role or influence in his life has been explored – until now.”
“In this exhibition, we uncover the role Joanna played in the artist’s career and discover how Whistler’s revolutionary paintings featuring Hiffernan went on to influence later artists from the Pre-Raphaelites to Klimt.”
This exhibition is organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Tate Modern
Surrealism beyond Borders
24 Feb – 29 Aug 2022
“Surrealism is not a style – but a state of mind. It aims to subvert reality. To find the uncanny in the everyday. To tap into our unconscious desires and bring dreams to life. And for many artists around the world, it has been a way to challenge authority and imagine a new world.
“Previous stories of surrealism have focused on Paris in the 1920s. Based on extensive research, this exhibition will reach across the world and over 50 years. It will show how artists around the world have been inspired and united by surrealism – from centres as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul, and Tokyo.”
Tate Britain
Hogarth and Europe
Until 20 March 2020
“In a dramatically changing 18th century Europe, William Hogarth became famous for his vibrant, often sharply satirical, paintings and prints that wittily captured the new modern experience. His art gives a unique and engaging glimpse of the time - its opportunities and innovation, materialism, exploitation and injustices, which continue to resonate today.
“For the first time, this show will bring these works together in one setting. Now you can explore over 60 of Hogarth’s extraordinary works in a new light, alongside images by his international peers – including Pietro Longhi in Venice, Jean-Siméon Chardin in Paris and Cornelis Troost in Amsterdam.”
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now
Until 3 Apr 2022
“This exhibition explores the work of artists from the Caribbean who made their home in Britain, alongside other British artists whose work has been influenced and inspired by Caribbean themes and heritage.
“This exhibition celebrates how people from the Caribbean have forged new communities and identities in post-war “Britain – and in doing so have transformed what British culture and society looks like today.
“The exhibition features over 40 artists, including Aubrey Williams, Donald Locke, Horace Ové, Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner and Alberta Whittle.”
This CA newsletter, which used to be posted to you three times a year, will now be updated on a regular basis to keep you up to date with exhibitions and other events in Bristol and in London as well as provide a medium for members to let other members know about an art trail, private show or other item they might be interested in.
If you have anything you would like to be included, email newsletter@cliftonarts.co.uk
I hope you have enjoyed this first on-line newsletter,
Editor
