This wonderful five day Study Day Course on THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN can be booked as a series or for individual days in the Cerne Abbas Village Hall.  It can be booked through TICKET TAILOR.

The day begins at 10.30 with a break for coffee.  After a delicious lunch there is the third lecture, finishing about 3 pm. 

CLARE FORD-WILLE

Gardens in Art: The depiction of the Garden in Art from the Romans to Monet 

From the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans until our own time, people have enjoyed designing, gardening and enjoying gardens. Gardens have been painted, both imaginary and real, by artists from all periods and countries.
The study day will explore why and how gardens were painted and will explore the ways in which gardens have been portrayed by a wide range of painters from Fra Angelico, Jan van Eyck and Pieter de Hooch to Velazquez, Monet, Beatrix Potter or Margery Allingham.  What can we learn of the development of landscape gardening from their paintings? They are also a fascinating record of history and customs from manuscript illumination to the colour drenched canvases of Monet.

 Lecture 1: Medieval and Renaissance Gardens

The lecture will explore such evidence which remains gardens in Classical literature and art and then analyse  the revival of the depiction of gardens in medieval manuscript illumination and Flemish and Italian Renaissance painting.

Lecture 2: Gardens of the Later Renaissance and Baroque

During the 16th century landscape painting emerged as a subject in its own right, the lecture will discuss to what extent there is also an increase in the representation of gardens in painting. Paintings will be seen to reveal changes in fashion from the Italian Renaissance gardens of the 16th century to the formal gardens of the Baroque.

Lecture 3: Gardens of the 18th and 19th Centuries

How did landscape painting of the 17th century influence landscape garden design, particularly with reference to the so-called ‘Cult of the Picturesque?’ How are the differing garden styles of the 19th century reflected in the paintings of the period from the Pre-Raphaelites to Helen Allingham?

About the Lecturer: 

Honours degree in History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London. Regular commitments include Centre for Lifelong Learning, London University, National Gallery, V&A Museum, WEA, Morley College, the City Literary Institute, the Art Fund and National Trust. Study tours abroad.

This wonderful five day Study Day Course on THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN can be booked as a series or for individual days in the Cerne Abbas Village Hall.  It can be booked through TICKET TAILOR.

The day begins at 10.30 with a break for coffee.  After a delicious lunch there is the third lecture, finishing about 3 pm.    

JAMES BOLTON

TWENTIETH CENTURY ENGLISH GARDENS

The English garden of the early years of the C20th was almost as significant, in terms of worldwide influence, as the landscapes of William Kent and ‘Capability’ Brown. The gardens created, in particular by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, set a standard against which English gardens would be measured for the next 60 years. Modernism, instinctively mistrusted by the English, swept over Europe and America at precisely this period and only in the 1960s and ‘70s, were brave steps taken to establish an alternative to the Arts and Crafts style. The third and contemporary strand of C20th garden design is different again, a curious mixture of formality, harking back to the C17th, and informality influenced by the new planting schemes from Holland and Germany. The best contemporary gardens, which point the way forward to the twenty-first century, combine these two elements. 

About the Lecturer:Inchbald School of Design 1990 (Dip ISD). Head Gardener, Old Rectory Farnborough 1990-92. Faculty Director, Design History, Inchbald School of Design. Garden Designer 1992-. A lecturer for The Arts Society since 1995. Organiser of The Arts Society's garden study days and tours in UK and Europe. Organises tours to the best private gardens in the UK, Italy, France and South Africa. Garden Mania, a book on garden ornaments, published in 2000.

This wonderful five day Study Day Course on THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN can be booked as a series or for individual days in the Cerne Abbas Village Hall.  It can be booked through TICKET TAILOR.

The day begins at 10.30 with a break for coffee.  After a delicious lunch there is the third lecture, finishing about 3 pm. 

CAROLINE HOLMES Is unable to lecture due to illhealth. Antonia Keaney has agreed to lecture on:

BLENHEIM PALACE - HISTORY - PARKS AND GARDENS - WINSTON CHURCHILL

 Antonia Keaney

1. Three Hundred Years of Blenheim Palace History

An overview of Blenheim Palace’s rich and chequered history which looks at why the Palace took so long to build - and why it was never completed; the Dukes and Duchesses that made positive contributions to the Estate as well as those who did exactly the opposite.

An explanation also of why this continuing battle is as crucial to the Palace today as the Battle of Blenheim was for the future of England in 1704.

2. A Walk through History – The Parks and Gardens at Blenheim Palace

A look at how the Blenheim landscape has developed from the formality of Henry Wise through to the natural landscape created by Capability Brown.  This talk takes us right up to the present day and examines some of the decisions and plans - both popular and in some cases less so - made by Blenheim's new Head Gardener.  

3. Winston Churchill and Blenheim Palace.

It is now over 150 years ago since Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was unexpectedly born at Blenheim Palace.  This lecture draws upon the private resources of Blenheim and adds new and refreshing insights into this remarkable man. We examine the breadth of talent, achievement and personality of the "Greatest Briton": soldier, politician, statesman, painter, writer, orator, family man - and bricklayer!   

About the lecturer:

Antonia Keaney joined Blenheim Palace in 2008 as a member of the Education Team, later becoming the Palace’s Social Historian and Researcher. Both roles have involved her curating or co-curating several Palace exhibitions including A Passion for Fashion – 300 Years of Blenheim Style upon which her recent book is based. 

An experienced public speaker, both virtually and in person, Antonia has delivered a ‘Conversation’ at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, been ‘In Conversation’ with fashion editor Caroline Issa, designers Stephen Jones and Zandra Rhodes and TV and radio presenter, Sue Perkins.

Antonia has participated in both the Oxford Literary Festival where she presented her children’s book and more recently at Cheltenham where she chaired a discussion between authors Emma Soames and Rachel Trethewey on their respective Churchill related books. Antonia has been a guest on Radio 4’s Saturday Live with the Reverend Richard Coles and has made various TV appearances including Channel 5’s The Cotswolds with Pam Ayres and Blenheim Palace - Behind the Grandeur.    

In her spare time, Antonia enjoys the company of her family and her dogs – particularly Percy, a wire-haired Dachshund, who inspired her to write and illustrate her first children’s book – Percy at the Palace - A Dog’s Eye View of Blenheim.  She is currently researching her next book on Blenheim Palace and World War II.

This wonderful five day Study Day Course on THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN can be booked as a series or for individual days in the Cerne Abbas Village Hall.  It can be booked through TICKET TAILOR.

The day begins at 10.30 with a break for coffee.  After a delicious lunch there is the third lecture, finishing about 3 pm.       A decision about Hybrid Zoom will be made later if a suitable Technician can be found.

JAMES BOLTON

Parterre and Wilderness: English Gardens of the Late 17th Century

The great gardens of England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were formal extravagances dominated by knot gardens and mounts. Under the Stuarts, English gardens were increasingly influenced by styles from the Continent, particularly France and Holland. Knot gardens were swept away and replaced with parterres, mounts were superseded by raised terraces from which to enjoy the pattern of the garden below. Under William and Mary, at the end of the seventeenth century, English formal gardening reached its greatest pitch, with the creation of the magnificent gardens at Hampton Court setting the style for hundreds of others including Powys Castle and Westbury Court which have survived, the others were swept away during the craze for the landscape style in the following century

About the Lecturer:

Inchbald School of Design 1990 (Dip ISD). Head Gardener, Old Rectory Farnborough 1990-92. Faculty Director, Design History, Inchbald School of Design. Garden Designer 1992-. A lecturer for The Arts Society since 1995. Organiser of The Arts Society's garden study days and tours in UK and Europe. Organises tours to the best private gardens in the UK, Italy, France and South Africa. Garden Mania, a book on garden ornaments, published in 2000.

This wonderful five day Study Day Course on THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN can be booked as a series or for individual days in the Cerne Abbas Village Hall.  It can be booked through TICKET TAILOR.

A decision about Hybrid Zoom will be made later if a suitable Technician can be found.

The day begins at 10.30 with a break for coffee.  After a delicious lunch there is the third lecture, finishing about 3 pm.

TIMOTHY WALKER

There are three lectures in this study day.

1. The evolution of the creation of gardens 2. The garden as art 3. The healing garden Gardens can be said to be a place where nature, art, science, and spirituality meet on even terms. This three-lecture study day looks at this relationship from which we benefit so much.  

About the lecturere:

I read Botany at University College Oxford. After graduation, I worked as a trainee at Oxford Botanic Garden, the Savill Garden Windsor, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. In 1985 I was awarded a Master of Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. From 1988 to 2014 I was director (Horti Praefectus) at the Oxford Botanic Garden. Between 1992 & 2000 the OBGHA won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show London. In 2009 the Botanic Garden was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for providing imaginative educational programmes for adults, students, children, and the general public, thereby breathing new life into education for people of all ages and enriching their lives. In 2010 I was elected as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. In the same year I presented a 3-part series of films on the history of botany on BBC4. Since 2014 I have been a tutor in Plant Biology at Somerville College, Oxford.    

Join us for this superb study day at the Cerne Abbas Village Hall, Dorset and 'live streamed' on zoom with lecturer Chris Aslan

Day 5 on Tuesday 18th March 2025

• Unravelling the Silk Road

Fee (in venue): £35 including morning coffee/tea and a delicious light lunch with wine and soft drinks.

Fee for online: £25

Please book your tickets on https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietywessexarea

For more information, please email wessexcoursessouth@gmail.com

Join us for this fascinating day at the Cerne Abbas Village Hall, Dorset and 'live streamed using zoom.

Day 4 - Tuesday 18th February with lecturer Sue Rollin

• From Samarkand to the Taj Mahal – Central Asia and the great Mughals

Fee in the venue: £35 including morning coffee / tea and a delicious light lunch with wine and soft drinks.

Fee for 'live streamed' on zoom (not recorded): £25

Please book your ticket on https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietywessexarea

For more information, please email wessexcourses south@gmail.com

Twentieth Century English Gardens

The English garden of the early years of the C20th was almost as significant, in terms of worldwide influence, as the landscapes of William Kent and ‘Capability’ Brown. The gardens created, in particular by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, set a standard against which English gardens would be measured for the next 60 years. Modernism, instinctively mistrusted by the English, swept over Europe and America at precisely this period and only in the 1960s and ‘70s, were brave steps taken to establish an alternative to the Arts and Crafts style. The third and contemporary strand of C20th garden design is different again, a curious mixture of formality, harking back to the C17th, and informality influenced by the new planting schemes from Holland and Germany. The best contemporary gardens, which point the way forward to the twenty-first century, combine these two elements. 

About the Lecturer:

Inchbald School of Design 1990 (Dip ISD). Head Gardener, Old Rectory Farnborough 1990-92. Faculty Director, Design History, Inchbald School of Design. Garden Designer 1992-. A lecturer for The Arts Society since 1995. Organiser of The Arts Society's garden study days and tours in UK and Europe. Organises tours to the best private gardens in the UK, Italy, France and South Africa. Garden Mania, a book on garden ornaments, published in 2000.

Join us online for this fascinating insight into 20th century German Epressionist Art.

The online session will be:

4:30 - 5:30pm - Why Seconary? Women Artists and the Expressionist Movement

Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Marianne von Werefkin – are names accepted into the canon of modern western art and early twentieth century Expressionism. But who, has heard of Sigrid Hjertén, Vera Nilsson, Jacoba van Heemskerck and Erma Barrera-Bossi? This lecture will examine the achievements of these women in their own right and in relation to their better-known male contemporaries. It will also consider the complex yet all too familiar reasons for their neglect.

5:30 - 6pm - Break

6:00 - 7:00 - Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British Visual Culture

Despite their traumatic dislocation and the obstacles encountered, some who fled from Nazi-dominated Europe in the 1930s and 1940s made a massive contribution to British culture. Focussing on the visual arts, this lecture will consider the familiar names such as Gombrich, Kokoschka, Moholy-Nagy, Schwitters and Heartfield, also lesser-known figures such as Albert Reuss, Josef Herman and Marie-Louise von Motesiczky.

Tickets: £15 - please book on https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietywessexarea

For further information, please email Caroline on wessexconnectedevents@gmail.com

Note: this event will not be recorded.

Our Area meeting and events schedule for 2024 / 2025:

For all our events, please book on www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietywessexarea     

All our study courses can be booked for the whole course or individual days     .

2024

April 25th 

• WESSEX CONNECTED EVENTS: GERMANY: The art and its influence on Europe and the UK. This course will be held in Kennet Valley Hall, Lockridge, nr Marlborough, and 'live streamed' using zoom (not recorded).

November 1st - Friday

• AUTUMN AREA MEETING

All enquiries, please email: wessexarea@theartssociety.org

If there is any additional information you would like included, please do email us on the address above.