Dr Roy Hargrave on John Alfred Gotch - Alfred East Gallery 20/06/2013

June's Friends talk was on the centenary message, with Dr Roy Hargrave introducing us to the career of John Alfred Gotch ... architect, architectural historian and, in the '20s, President of RIBA.

It is a mark of his status that he was the first provincial architect to be made President of the Royal Association.   His extensive oeuvre, of course, includes the Alfred East Gallery which is 100 years old this month.

(an early image of the Alfred East Art Gallery which I have restored from a damaged postcard)

The plaza was established, more or less, as we know it now when the war memorial, also by J. A. Gotch, was added in 1921 - one of numerous memorials designed by Gotch's practice.

Gotch was responsible for the greater proportion of Kettering's period monumental architecture, domestic and civic, industrial and institutional, and is often referred to as the man who built Kettering.

As his architectural career flourished, Gotch also wrote and illustrated profusely on the topic of architecture and guides to building heritage.   Dr Hargrave layered his talk with a wide range of illustrations from Gotch's books and brought along an extensive collection for us to browse.

I found this a fascinating insight into the man who contributed so much to the physical appearance of the town we know today.

(the gallery and war memorial in our time:  an iconic backdrop to the Olympic Torch's visit to Kettering)

Addendum ...

Many of you will know of our connections to the Naseby Battlefield project ... and it is, perhaps, no surprise that in following up Dr Hargrave's talk, I see Pevsner's entry on the Cromwell memorial at Naseby:

BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL.  A column with a ball finial.  1936 by J. A. Gotch.

Having attended the talk, the connections are obvious.

(Naseby Battlefield: the Cromwell memorial by John Alfred Gotch)

Phil

Shameless plug - Northants Heritage Awards 2013

People's Choice Award 2013

Members of the Public (aged 16 and Over) can vote for their favourite museum, as part of the Northants Heritage Awards, recognising excellence in museums and historic houses.

Kettering Museum and Art Gallery are delighted to be on the list of entrants and are inviting you to vote for them.

Please download the form by clicking on the link below.http://www.kettering.gov.uk/info/100009/leisure_and_culture/1607/public_choice_award_2013

Fill in the form and either hand it in to the Museum or Gallery or at the main reception desk in the Municipal offices before 31 June.


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Open 13 at the Alfred East Gallery

The 2013 Open at the Alfred East Gallery


One more week to go ... 72 new works exhibited in open exhibition including a Youth section sponsored by the Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum.

Please make sure you drop in ... this is a refreshing, interesting and cheerful exhibition with some worthy prize winners - and a chance to vote for your favourites.

The Youth section sponsored by the Friends is a real eye-opener and there is some pride in being associated with such genuinely assured young talent.


Also on at the moment is the Public's Choice exhibition - your favourites from last year's Hidden Treasures show on display in the Small Gallery (well, 11 of them plus a really interesting video on the restoration of Alfred East's Sunlit Haven ... worth a trip in, just for that) ...

The 2013 Open closes on the 18th
The Public's Choice is open til 1st June

Friends Kagam AGM 18th April 2013

This year's AGM took place at the Alfred East Gallery on April 18th.

Arrangement were put together under a certain amount of pressure: our speaker had to decline due to ill health ... and then our President Philip Hollobone MP was unable to chair the meeting due to Parliamentary business being rescheduled due to the funeral of Baroness Thatcher.

As it turned out, the business phase took up sufficient time that Phil's 'Yearbook' slideshow had to shown in a much truncated form.

In Philip Hollobone's absence, Richard Makins took the chair, and reviews of the yewar's business were presented by Committee Chairman John Wilson and Secretary Barbara Lewis.   We enjoyed a mixture of media, the Membership debate being moderated by flip chart, the website and social media by slide projections ...

... and the activities review by a display board presentation ...

The main business of the day concerned the financial report which indicated that we had kept within our means other than in funding the year's main project, the new sign boards for the art Gallery ... 

... and the invitation from the Treasurer, who was unable to attend, that we put up the subscription.   a heated debate was unable to resolve for sure when the new subscription fee would apply, so fees for the 2013/14 season remain unchanged pending further considerations and clarifications from the Committee.

The intention is to put the fees up modestly, but the new rate now looks likely to apply from April 2014 - there will be plenty of time to clarify this before it takes effect.

Everyone was thanked for their input and attention was drawn to the range of events celebrating alfred east's centenary.

Carolyn Bushell - Poets, Poseurs and Paraphernalia

Just closed at Oakapple Studios, Mears Ashby, Carolyn Bushell showed a collection of musically inspired pictures great and small, which drew a lot of enthusiast attention ...

I particularly enjoyed being reminded of the strident imagery of Punk and the Sex Pistols ...

... and I bought several greetings card reproduction of Carolyn's iconic portrait of a mature but ever striking David Bowie.  All very subtle and skillfully created original works.

Keep an eye out for Carolyn's next exhibition.  

(all rights reserved)

'Kettering High School' at the Museum 30 March - 8 June 2013

Barb showed me round the Kettering High School exhibition at the Manor House Museum the other day

It is 100 years since the High School opened at what are now the Council Offices on Bowling Green Road.   Many of you won't need me to tell you that ...

This is clearly an exhibition that will mean a lot to generations of local families and indeed people were trying to spot old friends and family members in some of the period photos on show whilst we browsed.

A big thumbs up to the exhibition team who have done a great job presenting the stories and memorabilia in an interesting and arresting way - I'm a more recent arrival, but even I was fascinated to see Kettering in days gone and the council offices in their former guise.

Definitely worth a visit as when you are at the Heritage end of the town centre ... and if you are a former student, there is a display by the Old Girls association which might interest you - maybe give you a chance to renew long lost friendships ...

Entry is free, as always, and the exhibition runs for a couple of months ...

Arthur Bell: a Friends talk at the Alfred East Gallery

(some of the collected work of Arthur Bell illustrating the Friends Kagam talk)

On Thursday evening, David Boswell presented a fascinating and well illustrated appreciation of the work of Kettering-born artist Arthur Bell (1897-1995) ...

Arthur Bell was born in Kettering and originally studied in the town before attending Bournemouth School of Art after the Great War.    He subsequently had a long and well respected teaching career, first in the South West, then moving to Gloucestershire and the Cheltenham Colleges. 

(Arthur Bell: wartime drawing)

There are a number of Bell's works on the BBC yourpaintings resource   

Arthur Bell was elected an associate of the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol (RWA) in 1935 and exhibited regularly there until 1994.   He specialised in etching and watercolour and had work selected on a number of occasions for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

(Arthur Bell: illustrations)

The talk was illustrated both with slides and a large number of items and illustrated booklets for people to browse and gave an engaging impression of the life and work of one of Kettering's less well-known artists.   

A great contribution to the life of the Alfred East Gallery courtesy of the Friends.

(Arthur Bell: Tuscan watercolour)