August Evening Meeting at the Cornmarket Hall (Weds 11th)

 

New Exhibition Opens

 KDAS 116 OPENS AT ARTworks

 

A bright glimpse of light at the end of the Covid tunnel.  Exhibitions are back, and with the Alfred East Gallery out of the picture pending the major upgrade, ARTworks at Newlands is hosting KDAS's annual exhibition - the 116th.  Amazing to think how long they have been around and how many great artists have exhibited in their shows.

 

(all new displays)

 

ARTworks is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, throughout July, from 10 til 4, and, of course it is a completely new display albeit many of the exhibitors are ARTworks favourites.

For the show, ARTworks is running an exhibition sales system, rather than their usual buy it and take it away ... so if you want to buy, you will need to pay a deposit, a red sticker will be displayed on the work and you can come in to pay the balance and take the picture at the end of July when the show closes.  When the normal rolling exhibition returns in August, the system will revert.

(Masks still on:  KDAS 116, David Brown opens the show)

There was brief and Socially Distanced preview and event opening on Sunday afternoon at which David Brown, Chair of the Friends announced the winners judged by Katie Boyce, formerly of the Alfred East Gallery, these days organiser of Open Studios amongst many other arts initiatives.

Jane Bell won the 'Boyce's Choice' with a delightful watercolour, 'A place in the Sun'

(Jane Bell - A Place in the Sun)

And Alison Bull won the Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum prize for another of her brilliantly accomplished pastel compositions, this time a local scene, 'The path Walked, Pitsford' 

 

(Alison Bull - The Path Walked, Pitsford)

Don't forget ... there is another prize - the star prize of £200 from the Newlands Centre which will go to the work you, the visitors choose.  You can pick up a slip when you come in and reward what you think is the best in the show.  KDAS and ARTworks really want to know what you think (and the artists would realy appreciate you vote) - so call in soon, 10 til 4 at the weekends.

KDAS 116 runs til the 25th July

Kettering & District Art Society Exhibition, ARTworks, Newlands, 25th June to 25th July

Just adding the details of the KDAS Exhibition (25th June to 25th July 2021).  It is being held at ARTworks in the Newlands shopping centre and will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Hours are 10am to 4pm.  It will be worth a visit.

Some things open, some things don't

As we get towards what we hope will be the end of over a year of lockdown, I will endeavour to let you know what is back to normal, what is changing and when there will be events ... walks, talks and exhibitions.

 

 

The jointly run, Friends and KDAS Community Art space, ARTworks in the Newlands centre is now opening regularly again, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (10 til 4 on those days) and you are very welcome to come down and browse a continually changing exhibition of affordable works of art by local artists (often of local themes).

 

The Gallery, Library and Museum, as you will know, are shut for the rest of the year for a major redevelopment. 

This year's KDAS annual exhibition will therefore be in ARTworks.  Details to follow.

 

 

The Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum have been running a successful series of Zoom talks to keep in touch with members over the lockdown, with speakers as varied as the writer of this modest blog to Rembrandt expert, art historian and academic, Dr Sophie Oosterwijk, from Amsterdam.  Talks would give way over the Summer anyway, so June will see a walk, and July, a visit to Delapre Abbey, the Eleanor Cross and Northampton battlefield.  Talks will resume in the Autumn.  At least some will be 'live', assuming a new strain or variant hasn't shut everything down again.  Details to follow.

(ARTworks: the home of creative objects, fine art and arts and crafts)

As well as the main exhibition displays, ARTworks also hosts community displays, and a table of items on local history from the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society who publish their own guides at £10 a copy - you can pick one up while you are looking around the exhibitions.

(some of the local history publications from the county's Battlefields Society)

Friends Talk follows the online AGM on 21st April

 

 

AGM papers, Annual Reports, Agenda and joining links are being emailed to members this week.

ARTworks Jigsaw Puzzle

For best enjoyment click into fullscreen mode.

12th - 13th December Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair at ARTworks in the Newlands Centre

 

This weekend.  Please wear your mask and respect social distances BUT we are able to open the exhibition space up for these last weekends before Christmas so please come and look around.

If you are looking for that special handmade gift ... ARTworks is for everyone.

FRIENDS OF THE GALLERY & MUSEUM NOVEMBER ZOOM TALK: 'THE STORY OF BENJAMIN CURSLEY'

 

FRIENDS MONTHLY ZOOM TALK: 'THE STORY OF BENJAMIN CURSLEY'
In the second of our virtual talks, David Brown will be recounting his travels in Australia as he uncovers the history of little-known Benjamin Cursley.

Yes, sadly, we are in another, hopefully shorter, lockdown, and face-to-face meetings seem still a long way off.  But launch zoom from your member link email, and join the Friends for an online monthly talk by Chair, David Brown.  Keep informed, and keep in touch.

All welcome.  All friends have received an email with a link.  Get in touch with your usual contact  if you haven't had an invitation or renew your membership asap and join in.

The Friends' talks resume - by Zoom

The Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum have relaunched their talks programme - suspended because of the Covid-19 epidemic.  For now, talks will be by Zoom, with invitations sent to all current members.  The first talk will be on the 20th October.

Friends Vice Chair, Phil Steele will cast a cultural eye over the 17th Century, and the world of 1645, the year that etched the name of a small Northamptonshire village on the timeline of world history.  Naseby. The age of the Baroque ... of Rubens and Inigo Jones, of Velazquez and Bernini - and an age of unexpected treasures around the world.

Last Chance To See

Lockdown Eases - August 2020

Great news ... the progressive easing of lockdown will see Kettering Art Gallery open on the 11th August 

(starting where it left off - Kettering Art Gallery reopens with Sue Lydia Taylor's People & Places)

 

ARTworks in the Newlands Centre, the Friends' community arts project in support of the Gallery and Museum reopens after Covid-19 secure reorganisation on Saturday 22nd August at 10am

Stay in touch

 

Friends Talk Weds 18th March 2020

2020 Vision: Looking Forward

 

 

I began 2020 looking back at what was, for art in Kettering, a very busy 2019.

2020 has started in the same positive way with a fantastic new exhibition at the Art Gallery.

Art from the Tate collection has come to Kettering for the first time and features in a stunning new exhibition in the Alfred East Art Gallery. Modernist work from artists such as Leon Kossoff and Howard Hodgkin are on show in Kettering’s art gallery, complementing and enhancing the wide variety of art in the core collection.

 

(2020 vision: works by Leon Kossoff from the Kettering collection and the Tate collection, side-by-side) 

The exhibition closes on March 7th so it is worth getting down to enjoy these paintings over the next few days.

The carefully relaxed mood of the hanging reminds us how moving simple abstract works can be.  A triumph - although,as the Gallery team expected, not all agree.

 

(stunning and striking modernist canvasses in Kettering's 2020 exhibition) 

 

(John Piper)

 

(Howard Hodgkin)

The exhibition has enjoyed some welcome sponsorship and the opening night was certainly a convivial occasion.  A landmark in the history of the Alfred East Gallery - and let's hope it opens the way for more exhibitions of this sort.

Key loans for the 2020 Vision exhibition have been made possible through The Ferryman Project: Sharing Works of Art which is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the John Ellerman Foundation and the Art Fund.

February 19th 2020 7:30pm

2020 vision: Looking Back

 

The last year has seen a lot of activity in Kettering around the Friends and KDAS joint community project known as ARTworks (a gallery and meeting place in Newlands Shopping Centre ... and if that just came as news to you, you need to pop down and have a look round) ...

The project is entirely volunteer run and, whilst providing an exhibition space for local artists, hopes to raise additional funding through donations to help its main ambitions to support the Gallery and Museum.

 

Meanwhile an ongoing feature at the art gallery itself has been the very popular film nights ...

 

And every third Wednesday evening, the Friends host their talks on art and local history topics (here, printmaker John McGowan explains how he works) ...

 

And exhibition previews remain popular (here, the KDAS annual exhibition)

The Fiends made two excursions to prominent local heritage sites ...

 

Apethorpe Hall (or Palace, if you follow the modern naming) ... and in August ...

 

... a rare opportunity to visit Rushton Hall.

The sun also shined for the Museum and Gallery's games event in the gardens (where Friends ran some of the activities) ... 

 

And also on our now regular Cemetery Walks ...

 

(Friends Chair David Brown leading the August heritage walk in London Road Cemetery)

Evening talks have included how women prortray themselves in art ...

 

Kettering's connection to the Newlyn School ...

 

And the wartime art of Henry Moore 

 

(complete with a demonstration of the techniques involved)

Friends of the Art Gallery and Museum have supported the Mayor's Charity events ...

 

... and lent a hand in Kettering's regular monthly art fairs (Spring to Autumn, on Sundays at Kino Lounge) ...

 

Not forgetting an outing to Holdenby in July for the Northamptonshire Heritage Awards (where the Museum picked up Best Exhibition for 'Local Treasures' - the British Museum comes to Kettering) ..

 

(Northampton Heritage Forum Award Winners 2019)

Indeed, Kettering welcomed the Heritage Forum in October, hosting the popular NHF History Day at the Cornmarket Hall

 

This year saw the annual Open Exhibition and Youth Open move to September ...

 

(The very popular preview event for the Open Exhibition 2019)

 The Winter show at the Gallery had a Scandinavian flavour this year ...

 

Kettering was at play in the Museum

And the exhbits were constantly refreshed at ARTworks ...

 

Coming into 2020, the Long Gallery has concentrated on local views both from the Permanent Collection and from local artists working now ...

And 2020 Vision has just opened ... a fantastic collaboration between the Alfred East collection and the Tate.  Stunning ... The year to come looks rich indeed.