Essex Art Club

President: Prof. Ken Howard, RA, RWS, NEAC, RWA, ROI, RBA, RBSA, ARCA.

Vice President: William Porter

Sculpture by Nigel Mantell

Barry Freeman demonstrating the use of oil pastels.

Photo by Tony Connor.

Tony Jackson demonstrating acrylics

Photo by Tony Connor

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Coach Outings

In the summer we organise coach outings to places of interest. Participants paint, draw, take photographs, or just enjoy the location. These, again, are normally on the last Sunday of each month. The coach collects passengers at a series of points from Buckhurst Hill to Wanstead.

Summer Coach Trip Outings for 2008

May 18th 2008 Long Melford, Suffolk £12
June 29th 2008 Windsor, Berks £12 OR The Savill Garden £16.5 (n.b. must pre-book)
July 27th 2008 Ramsgate, Kent £12
Sept. 7th 2008 Tunbridge Wells, Kent £12 and Finchcocks Garden £14.50 or Finchcocks Garden & Musical Museum & Recital £21 (n.b. must pre-book)
Sept 28th 2008 Ipswich, Suffolk £12

The coach is now sometimes full so you may be disappointed on the day if you do not pre-book. Pre-booking is always essential if you wish to visit the stately homes and or gardens in order to obtain a group discount.

Summer Coach Trip Outings for 2007

May 20th 2007 Maldon, Essex
June 24th 2007 Chelsworth via Lavenham , Suffolk
July 29th 2007 Loseley Park, Surrey
Sept. 2nd 2007 Broadstairs, Kent
Sept. 30th 2007 Oxford

Club Activities

Our main activities are exhibitions, lectures and demonstrations, and coach outings for sketching. There is also a portrait group which meets weekly for much of the year. Informal painting sessions are a new type of activity which will take place once a month at St Barnabas Church Hall in Woodford.

Exhibitions

We try to have two exhibitions per year, one in central London, one in Essex. In past years our exhibition sites in London have included the Guildhall; Bishospsgate Library (several times); St Botolph's Church, Aldgate; the Restaurant Gallery, St John's, Smith Square; and Gallery 47 opposite the British Museum. In Essex we have exhibited several times at Valentine's Mansion in Ilford. Valentine's Mansion is a lovely building which has been allowed to deteriorate badly, but is to be renovated due to a grant from the Millenium Commission. In 2007 we had a very successful local exhibition at Wanstead House. This will be repeated in 2008.

We had our Spring Exhibition at Gallery 54, Shepherd Market, London W1, from 9th to 15th April 2007. This was opened by Ken Howard and was a great success.

In April 2008 we are exhibiting at the Guildhall Art Gallery Again, there will be a London theme.

Lectures and Demonstrations

In the winter we meet at Wanstead House, usually on the last Sunday of each month from 2.30 to 4.30 pm for a practical demonstration by a professional artist, or a talk on art history or some other aspect of art. Non-members are welcome and are charged £5.

Winter Programme 2008 -2009

26th Oct. 2008 Geoff Thorpe Palette knife landscape painting.
30th Nov. 2008 Ronald Clark Painting the figure in pastels.
25th Jan. 2009 Bruce Ronaldson Critique.
22nd Feb. 2009 Mick Martin Understanding and painting the fugure.
29th March 2009 William Newton Painting a farm scene in watercolour.
26th April 2009 Trevour Harwood Italian Pastel landscape.

Winter Programme 2007-2008

28th Oct. 07 Jean Turton Chinese Brush Painting.
25th Nov. 07 John Birch Caran d'Ache Art Products
27th Jan. 08 Robin Mackervoy Still Life in Oils .
24th Feb. 08 John Tookey Painting from Photos .
30th Mar. 08 Liz Relfe Landscape in Mixed Media .
27th Apr. 08 Anthony Slinn Lecture " Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century "

Portrait Group

The Portrait Group meets on Fridays at Wanstead House, The Green, Wanstead from 8 - 10 pm. The charge is £4 when you attend (no commitment to a course). We pay £12 if you sit for us: not a lot but we're very friendly - and you might get sketched or even painted by a professional! Contact Ruth Wootton 0208 520 3943

Christmas Party

An informal Christmas party is held at Wanstead house in early December with a buffet, a bar, quizzes, and an informal mini-exhibition. Usually, there is a Coach-trip Challenge, with prizes offered for the best items resulting from one of the coach trips i.e. drawings, paintings and photographs of participants.

Wanstead House

Wanstead House (about a hundred yards from Wanstead Underground station) is our usual venue for demonstrations, talks, committee meetings and social functions.