Author: Cheryl Culver

RBA May News 2020

Martin Leman has a selection of his new works [received by the gallery just before London’s lockdown!] online at the M1 Gallery:

The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists [RBSA] have an online exhibition of some of their members’ works and these include RBA members:

David Brammeld

‘Dark Wood’

Anthony Yates

‘The Catholic, Easter Sunday’

Wayne Attwood Hon RBA PRBSA:

‘Will I always feel this way?’

Anthony Yates also has some works in the ‘Lyrical Colourists’ exhibition at the Fosse Gallery – this show has also been transferred online until the 4^th June.  His work for this show was inspired by his recent Italian trip and more images as well as a continuation of his blog can be seen in “Latest News” on the RBA website

Anthony Yates
‘Music in the Square, Montmarcello’

Cheryl Culver has made a video called Art in Lockdown, which can be viewed on YouTube

Art in Lockdown – Cheryl Culver PPPS RBA Paintings

Some of our ‘RISING STARS’ are still doing well, including:

Ruth Murray who has just won the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2020 for her work ‘Geraniums’.  She has received the main prize of £5000 and says that the award “… was a wonderful surprise!” and “It’s a huge privilege and honour. The prize means a great deal, particularly in these uncertain times. It will go a long way in supporting my practice.”

‘Geraniums’

Ruth Murray

Alice Boggis-Rolfe’s website http://www.aliceboggis-rolfe.com shows her online exhibition ‘INDIA’ and her works which were scheduled to be shown with the British Art Portfolio, can now be seen online at their website:

‘Tomatoes in a Moroccan Bowl’

Alice Boggis-Rolfe

[Our members Sue Campion and Frederick Cuming also have works in the same online exhibition]

Alex J Wood is probably familiar to us all now – here he is smiling broadly behind Tracey Emin at the Terrence Higgins Trust Auction 2020 at Christies:

Alex says: “Earlier this month I exhibited alongside Tracey Emin, Howard Hodgkin and many other big name artists at Christies. I was over the moon as ‘Blow Out’ my watercolour of an oil derrick, sold for £500 with all the money going to help Terrence Higgins Trust.”

‘Blow Out’

Alex J Wood

Another Alexander – Alex Glass [who also had a work in the Christies auction in support of the Terrence Higgins Trust – see ‘March Good News’] has informed us about the following project, which is helping artists in these difficult days:
http://www.matthewburrows.org/artist-support-pledge
The Artist Support Pledge is an initiative set up by the artist Matthew Burrows as a reaction to the effect of COVID-19 on artists everywhere. The idea is to create a network of generosity and support whilst things are so precarious.   Alexander Glass is supporting this initiative himself and also making extra donations to The British Red Cross for any sales made.  His ‘shop’ is here: https://www.alexanderglasssculpture.com/shop

‘Quicksilver’

Alex Glass

UPCOMING NEWS AND INFORMATION:

• If you need a break from your own studio, there are also online tours of some galleries and museums including The British Museum, The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, The Courtauld Gallery and The National Galleries of Scotland.  Lectures, videos and talks can also be found online. My favourite is the film: Documentary: inside ‘Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse’ on the RA website [also recommended by our Denis Baxter]
• For those who live/work/studied or were born in Northern England, the ‘New Light Real Northern Art’ exhibition is inviting entries until the 31^st May https://newlight-art.org.uk/prize-exhibition/
• Other upcoming news is that the Mall are thinking about a mixed online exhibition for the FBA Societies during the summer.  This is very much at the ‘thinking’ stage, as there will be many things for them to consider – not least that there are probably over 800 members altogether!
• The ‘virtual’ exhibition at The Royal Over-Seas League will be happening online soon – the launch will be next Wednesday 13th May at this link http://www.rosl.org.uk/rbaonline.  The problem was that the laptop, which was being used ‘at home’ to mount the exhibition, was not powerful enough for the rather complicated programme being used to show the works ‘in situ’ in the gallery.  However Liam Culver, like a knight in shining armour using a more powerful computer rather than a white horse, has come to the rescue.  He has worked hard to organise the show, although he has never used the programme before and we have fingers and toes crossed that he will be successful!
• We are aware that some of our members are unwell at the moment [not Covid-19 so far as we know] and others are recovering from surgery or are suffering because their planned surgeries or treatments have had to be delayed.  We wish them all well and hope that you will all please keep in touch with us and let us know how things are going.
• We also thought it might be a good idea to share some ‘smiles’ at this difficult time and so, if you have some which you would like us to share with other members, whether they be videos, jokes or cartoons, please let us have them [we shall have the first giggles] and then we will send them out to the members. We know that this first video has been around for a while and you may well have seen it, but it’s one of our  favourite songs and apologies if you are offended by the political message:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkU1ob_lHCw

And this one will also hopefully raise a smile too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjGnfT-ag54

You may need to copy and paste all these to your internet browser.

The Taste of Italy

At the end of a piece of rope longer than the heel on the boot of Italy was a dog. The other end led to Barbara’s House. Barbara lived next door. The dog padded into our house, flopped on the burnt orange tiles of the floor and wouldn’t budge. If we wanted to use the front door we had to step over him. I wanted; no! needed a coffee. I looked at the stylish, angular pot standing on the gas hob. I had no idea how to use it, nor that it was called a moka pot or that it was invented by an Italian named Bialetti. I asked Vicky how to use it. No good asking Vicky how to use it, she is strictly herbal tea. I stepped over the dog, sheepishly climbed the steps to Alexandra’s house, Alexandra being the only person I’d met on the first morning in Montemarcello, and asked her advice. Alexandra came down the stairs into our kitchen, explained the Italian passion for coffee, made sure I had good coffee in the cupboard, showed me what to do, and, “listen to the little ‘blip-blipping’ at the end, keep the gas flame low, too high and you singe the handle, and, most importantly don’t ruin the coffee by burning”. I thank Alexandra from the bottom of my heart.

Vicky and I immersed ourselves in our work. We both wanted to draw everything; to feel the emotions only this experience could bring. My drawings aren’t particularly for public display; they are for me, my language, a shorthand cut to how I feel in front of the subject, to reappear when I make the final paintings. I drew the big metal kettle that Vicky used to make her herbal tea and the Bialetti Moka pot – both on the boil every morning – and, perhaps, the finished painting is a symbolic portrait of Vicky and me. I made a simple watercolour of crude hand-thrown jugs and a bowl against the dazzling light of sunlit façades. In Tellaro, we melted in the heat, and the colourful buildings blurred through squinted eyes. Morning bustle gave way to the silence of the afternoon, parched earth under the searing sun, almost unbearable to stand out in and draw. As the days went by the heat built up and things slowed down… right down. Come the afternoon the café on the Square shut, the streets emptied and the air hummed with humidity. This atmosphere intrigued and enticed me, and late one afternoon I left Vicky resting in the house, slung a rucksack of drawing materials over my shoulder and wandered out alone, not one person was to be seen and just out of the village I found a spot to draw – a lane through dark woods, mysterious in that deathly quiet afternoon. I drew quickly, scribbling marks, laying on colour and used the sketch as inspiration for a finished studio painting. I made interior studies, in the shuttered light of the afternoon, the torpid heat pervading the atmosphere, inducing inertia. The evenings came alive again, the café buzzed and we’d watch Mediterranean sunsets from a viewpoint out of the village high up on the cliffs, afterwards walking back in the twilight to the lamp lit streets of Montemarcello.

Once a week some of the womenfolk of the village get together and go swimming at Punto Bianco, a local beach so named because of the white outcrops of rock on the beach. It’s a ladies only affair and the ‘foreign contingent’ of Vicky, Caroline and Leoni were invited to join them. They looked at me and said that as I was the only man there I could come along too. Feeling a little embarrassed in the company of so many women I declined and made the German girls giggle by telling them I couldn’t go as I’d left my bikini at home. Off they went crammed into a couple of cars while I stopped in the village and went searching for something to draw. They were gone quite a while and returned chattering excitably. There had been a man on the beach exposing himself, which obviously wasn’t nice for the ladies. Ah, well! – I missed out on that particular drama – perhaps if I’d tagged along I’d have got a chance of doing a male nude study, (only joking, girls!).

Our stay was drawing to a close and, of course, having made so many friends we simply had to spend the last evening together. We all wandered to a café at the edge of the village and sat drinking, chatting and laughing until the bar closed.

IL FINALE

As we stood on the raised step outside our house on the morning of our departure an elderly man came by carrying a large basket of plums. He spoke only Italian but offered the basket up to Vicky beckoning her to take some fruit. Alexander was close by, she knew the man and explained the plums were to make jam and he was on his way back home after picking them.  We both bit into a plum, they were sweet, juicy and still warm from the bush – we had our last taste of Italy.

We knew we would miss the life we had found in Montemarcello. We found our Italian friends serious and passionate about life who gave us kindness and friendliness without reservation. I must especially thank Alexandra and Barbara our neighbours for all the warmth and generosity of spirit they extended to us, and, of course, not forget the lovely German girls Caroline and Leoni. We were in Montemarcello courtesy of Henrietta Bowden-Jones who had the idea of sending artists over to this part of the world to see what we made of it – and so our biggest thanks must go to her.

Grazie, grazie, grazie!

1. Dog on a Rope

2. The kitchen

 

3. Alexandra outside her house

4. Coffee Pot

 

5. Vicky with herbal tea

6. Open Window, Montemarcello

 

7. Sketch of singer

8. Vicky sketching, Tellaro

 

9. Tellaro

10. Ligurian Lane

 

11. Ligurian Lane (Detail)

12. Checking work

 

13. Vicky’s Etching – ‘Montemarcello’

14. Framed collograph prints of a Montemarcello facade

 

15. Playing on the beach

16. Under the parasol

 

17. Down on the beach

18. Vicky sketching in the abandoned garden

 

19. Abandoned Garden

20. Vicky’s print – ‘Summer Sky one’

 

21. The last sunset

 

All drawings and paintings reproduced in the blog are the original work of Anthony Yates, with the exception of No. 13 Vicky’s etching – ‘Montemarcello’ and No. 20 Vicky’s print – ‘Summer Sky one’ which are the original work of Vicky Oldfield

Photographic credits: for image 12 © Alexandra Schileo, for image 21 © Leoni Fritsch.  All other images © Vicky Oldfield & Anthony Yates

Blog written by Anthony Yates and edited by Vicky Oldfield

Vicky Anthony Montemarcello by Anthony Yates RBA RBSA

Just bringing you all up to date with Tony’s trip to Italy before COVID-19.

To quote Tony –  it all began like this:

‘Last summer a woman called Henrietta looked at our RBA website and my paintings caught her eye. She sent an email to our secretary, Brenda Davies, who forwarded it to me. The message I received was an incredible offer. How would I like to spend two weeks in Italy painting and drawing in a house provided by Henrietta? Sounds too good to be true? Well, I met her at Chelsea Arts Club and the offer was genuine. Henrietta, (who is half-Italian) simply wants to encourage artists she likes to spend time in the place she grew up and see what we produce. I accepted the offer.

Next step. As this wasn’t to be a family holiday it was decided that I should travel with another artist. Henrietta left the choice to me. And so, talking to the printmaker Vicky Oldfield who has shown at the annual RBA Exhibition for the last nine years and with whom I had become good friends and collaborated with on a book and poster design, I told her of my offer. She thought it ‘amazing’ and immediately jumped at the chance to join me. It turns out every artist I subsequently told also gave me the same reaction, so I would have had no trouble finding someone to accompany me.

Plane tickets were booked and we landed at Pisa Airport on 19th June. We drove along the Autostrada and wound a tortuous, mountainous road to arrive at the unspoilt, un-touristy village of Montemarcello, Liguria. We parked outside the village as no cars allowed, no internet, hardly a phone signal, one small shop with no credit card facility (well, it did have a machine but it didn’t work very well). We lugged our laden cases up steep, narrow streets, met an Italian woman Chiara who opened the door to a little house on the square, gave us the key and disappeared. We were lost’.

We now continue with Blog number two:

Part 2 Vicky’s Knockers

‘I pulled off the heavy hooks securing the wooden shutters and opened them wide; down below Montemarcello Square glittered in the early morning light. The warmth, the peace and quiet, the darting swallows lured me outside and I started to draw. Alexandra, the next door neighbour appeared, introduced herself, took some photographs and went back up the steps to her house. Vicky wandered out, bleary eyed clutching a huge cup of herbal tea, hovered a few seconds and scuttled back inside. I carried on drawing as the day opened itself up. People started strolling through the Square, the café seats were taken up and cyclists propped up their bikes by walls to rest awhile. And soon Vicky came out again, now her usual bright and bubbly self eager to explore. This was our first morning in Liguria.

I was to discover that when Vicky gets going there’s no stopping her as my poor feet were to find out. She loves walking and I was soon dragged through narrow streets, up hills, through forest and climbing down to the sea. One walk was particularly hair-raising, when we tried to follow the wooded path to Bocha di Magra high above the sea. Trails vanished into cul-de-sacs, brambles tore at our bare arms and legs, sheer drops were encountered every few hundred yards, wild-boar tracks criss-crossed the earth and occasional small painted signs pointing the way were soon nowhere to be seen. The tracks we were trying to follow became more impassable and we turned back completely losing our sense of direction and starting to worry. How relieved we were when we emerged from that jungle of trees and undergrowth scratched, dusty and sweaty. We didn’t enter the forest again.

At first days were hot and nights cool, but soon the southern winds brought in the African heat, overpoweringly hot, and now we sweltered day and night. Montemarcello is perched high on top of the Caprione promontory and the wind, it seems, can be a problem. We wondered why there were large rocks placed on many roof tops and found out they were to protect from the Mistral, for when it blows it rips tiles off, sometimes taking a whole roof.

But for now in the sultry heat we determined to work hard and soak in the atmosphere. We drew from the edges of the village looking back up at the colourful buildings, we drew in the streets we drew by the sea, we drew in gardens and fields, the views from high over the Mediterranean, and I drew Vicky. We didn’t travel far from our base, visiting only Bocha de Magra the nearest town, Tellaro with its colourful buildings crowding the sea, Pietrasantra with its many street sculptures and a night out in Forte dei Marmi to attend a Private View. There was more than enough for us to get on with where we were, for drawing takes time, it is absorption in the subject, and for two artists left alone this was ideal – we loved it. And Vicky noticed the ornate door furniture of Montemarcello. Off she’d go getting lost in the labyrinth of streets and come back smiling after recording myriad knockers in drawings and photographs. As hard as we worked we did take breaks though, and visits to the beach were de rigueur in the heatwave to bathe and cool off. Vicky likes swimming and is good at it. I’d sit on the beach drawing while she disappeared for an hour re-appearing from the water looking like Ursula Andress in Dr No.

Our little house was on the upper part of the Square (Piazza XIII Dicembre) looking down to the shop cum café with seats outside under olive trees and parasols. I always made little doodle sketches of the comings and goings in the Square which wasn’t originally intended as a Square but after Allied bombing of the Second World War flattened buildings the space was left and made as we see it today. A plaque declares ‘A ricordo delle vittime dell incursione aerea’ (In memory of the victims of the air raid). The café and shop are run entirely by women, great characters who work tirelessly and not without a little sense of fun. You eat and drink outside and pay inside. One night we were the last to leave and I went in to settle up leaving Vicky at the table outside. The ladies of the café didn’t speak English and I tried my best to say one or two words in Italian much to their amusement. They insisted I pronounce the language properly, trapping me inside giggling hysterically as I flustered my lines. I was in there ages and not allowed to leave until I got it right – poor Vicky wondering where I had got to.

The two weeks we spent in Montemarcello were a wonderful adventure and, as it turned out, the trip couldn’t have come at a better time for me as it gave me the opportunity to collect material for an exhibition I had been asked to participate in…’

Altro nel prossimo blog
(More in next blog)

1. The first drawing

2. Working on the first drawing

 

3. People in the Square

4. The Cafe

 

5. Rocks on the roof

6. From the edge of the village

 

7. Vicky working in the street

8. Vicky’s knockers

 

9. Not Vicky’s knockers (Pietrasantra)

10. Tony working in the landscape

 

11. Landscape sketch

12. Abandoned garden

 

13. Tony sketching

14. View across the sea

 

15. Steps to a doorway

16. Vicky’s print ‘Hidden Garden’

 

17. In the Square

18. Roof tops, Montemarcello

 

19. Vicky sketching

20. Tony’s swollen, battered feet next to the athletic looking Vicky’s

 

All drawings reproduced in the blog are the original work of Anthony Yates, with the exception of No. 8 Vicky’s knockers and No. 16 Vicky’s print ‘Hidden Garden’ which are the original work of Vicky Oldfield

Photographic credit for image 2 © Alexandra Schileo. All other images © Vicky Oldfield & Anthony Yates

Blog written by Anthony Yates and edited by Vicky Oldfield

ROSL ARTS Celebrating and supporting the future of fine art RBA Star Students with the Arts Society presents an exhibition of art by young artists just beginning their creative careers.

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Friday 6 March – Sunday 19 April

ROSL presents an exhibition developed with the Arts Society and the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). The artworks presented have been selected as the top entries from the RBA Star Students competition which encourages aspiring young artists.

Initially identified by The Arts Society’s local Societies, the RBA selected the very best pieces from the nominations to be presented at ROSL. Exhibited are 39 artworks chosen from over 200 entries, demonstrating the highest levels of skill, expression and draughtsmanship using a variety of mediums and exploring equally varied subjects.

Exhibiting Artists:

William Adams, Beatrix Barber, Louise Batchelor, Tara Bean, Rebecca Deary, Annie Doran, Charlie Fern, Lucy Fitzwilliam-Lay, Kate Fung, Demi Gao, Hannah Graham, Erin Hartnett, Robbie Haynes, Jason Jac Ben Wan, Rachel Jane Barlow, Mizuki Jones, Keri Kennett, Francis Kenneth, Eve Leckey, Erica Liffen, Alexander Daniel McKenzie, Sophie Meadows, Emma Money, Emma Moore, Anna Peake, Amy Pozzilli, Alice Pun, Toby Richardson, Ella Sambrook, Sungmin Song, Grace Stansall-Seiler, Charlotte Wattam, Felicitas Wagner, Yolanda Wang, Ella Williams, Jonah Williams, Archie York and Andy Zhao.

RBA President Mick Davies addresses the guests

RBA Vice President Meg Dutton

 

Grace Stanstall-Seiler receiving her Prize for her painting ‘Cacti’

ROSL Gallery

 

ROSL Gallery

ROSL Gallery

 

ROSL Gallery

ROSL Gallery

 

ROSL Gallery

ROSL Gallery

 

ROSL Gallery

ROSL Gallery

 

ROSL Gallery

Kate Fung’s work ‘Berlin Cathedral’ shared the President’s Prize

 

Grace Stanstall-Seiler’s work ‘Cacti’ shared the President’s Prize

Charlie Fern’s work ‘Apples in a Crate’ won The Arts Society Prize

 

More than ever, at times like this, we could all do with some good news … however to be honest, some of the news
I have to share from Members may not turn out too well in the end, as galleries are shutting their doors all over the UK!

Still, it’s good to know what has been going on, so here are some news items to hopefully cheer and share:

Carole Griffin was invited to do a watercolour demonstration of fruit for an article in the January issue of the Artists and Illustrators Magazine

Austin Cole has had these 3 prints shortlisted for the NEAC Exhibition

David Sawyer:  Following his invitation to accompany HRH Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall on their recent Caribbean tour, David has an exhibition at the Panter & Hall Gallery in Pall Mall.  The gallery is still open at the moment and the exhibition continues until 27^th March

Cinzia Bonada has informed us that the Small Paintings Group, which includes some of our members, are in:

The Geedon Gallery Spring Exhibition

Jaggers, Fingringhoe, Colchester, Essex CO5 7DN
From 4th – 19th April

‘Path by the Railway’ by Cinzia Bonada

John Sprakes is having a large one man show at Beverley Art Gallery which will run from the 14th March until 30 May:

Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley HU17 8HE

AND … there is lots of good news from some of our RISING STARS:

Alexander James Wood
Alex J Wood is excited to have shown new bronzes, including Piña Colada Palm, Gush and a new series of watercolours at the Superfine! Art Fair in Los Angeles recently

He says he is now working with ceramics and The Groucho Club have some of his work in their art collection

Alice Boggis Rolfe has had some work shown in the Osborne Studio Gallery’s exhibition ‘New Horizons’ and also in The Wykeham Gallery Christmas show which continued until March

Owain Hunt is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters and has work in the 2020 Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries.  He has also had a Solo Show – ‘Perceptions’ – at Cass Art in Bristol

‘Woman in a Knitted Jumper’ by Owain Hunt

Alexander Glass:
At the end of 2019 Alex was offered the opportunity to create British Airways’ First Life magazine’s Winter Edition cover:

Also, for the second year running he contributed a work to the Terrence Higgins Trust Auction which was held at Christies

Deeper – 2019
epoxy resin, jesmonite & silver ring

RBA RISING STARS AT THE RBA ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2020
We are delighted to report that the following young ‘STARS’ managed to have their work included in this year’s show, helping to produce an exhibition of such outstanding quality:
Poppy Field, Natalier Glinoer, Owain Hunt, Charlie Schaffer Liqing Tan,
Tara Versey  and Alex Wood

Also … among this year’s applicants for the Rome Scholarship were:

Merlin Bateman-Paris, Jonathan Farningham and Julia Watson
… who all had their work included in the exhibition!

I’m sure you will agree that it is heart warming to know that more and more exciting young talented artists are involved with the RBA!

AND AN INTERESTING NOTE TO END ON …
We thank Cinzia Bonada who shared an article from The Times about John Tenniel, whose illustrations for ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ were pivotal to the early success of Lewis Carroll’s story.  It seems that the artist was “better known than the author” at that time and he exhibited his first oil painting at the ‘Society of British Artists’ when he was just 16 years old!

BBC’s Arts Editor Will Gompertz presented the Awards at the RBA Private View. The Mall Galleries was packed with buyers and artists enjoying the occasion.

Charles Pickard Winner of the de Laszlo Foundation Award

David Sprakes Winner of the Nathan David Award for Sculpture

Michael Riddle Winner of the Davison Award for Oil Painting

Bess Hardy Winner of the Dry Red Press Award

Nick Verrall Winner of the Frinton Frames Award

Chris Aggs Winner of the Michael Harding Award I

Tony Yates Winner of the Michael Harding Award II

Daisy Sims-Hilditch Winner of the Gordon Hulson Memorial Award

Stuart Robertson Winner of the Pater Kelly Commemorative Prize

Pauline Hazelwood Winner of the Ronald Morgan Memorial Award

Jon Pryke Winner of the Patron’s Prize

Richenda Court Winner of the Stuart Southall Print Prize

Tara Versey Winner of the Surgeon’s Prize

Will Taylor Winner of the Geoffrey Vivis Memorial Award

Mark Fennell Winner of the Winsor & Newton Painting Award

John McKenzie receiving the Whistler Award on behalf of the Late Ronald Morgan

The RBA Buffet Supper was held on 22nd February. The evening was a huge success, with food organised by Meg Dutton, Francis Drasar and Susie Perring. Musical entertainment was provided by Alex Petch and a Raffle raised monies for the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution. (AGBI)

The gallery looked wonderful

Alex Petch entertained

 

Elizabeth & Rachel picked raffle winners

Charles Russell choosing his raffle prize

 

Baxter slept through it all by his favourite exhibit

A Shared Feast 1

 

A Shared Feast 2

A Shared Feast 3

 

A Shared Feast 4

A Shared Feast 5

 

Great Food & Great Company 1

Great Food & Great Company 2

 

Great Food & Great Company 3

Great Food & Great Company 4

 

Great Food & Great Company 5

Great Food & Great Company 6

 

Great Food & Great Company 7

Great Food & Great Company 8

 

Great Food & Great Company 9

Great Food & Great Company 10

 

Rounding off the lovely evening

 

The 2020 RBA Private View was opened by BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz. The gallery was packed with excited artists and buyers. All present were entertained by humorous speeches from Will Gompertz and President Mick Davies. 

Will Gompertz opens the exhibition

President Mick Davies

Threadneedle Gallery 2

Threadneedle Gallery

North Gallery 2

North Gallery

Large Gallery 2

Large Gallery

The RBA would like to welcome new Member Henry Jabbour. Henry was elected to Membership at the AGM on Sunday 1st March.