Welcome to the Hertford Art Society Website

For information about the Art Society and how to become a Member click here.

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Hertford Art Society 26th Members’ Show

Cowbridge Hall, Cowbridge, Hertford SG14 1PG
Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd November 2024

All Members of Hertford Art Society are invited to put work into this Show and this year 58 artists contributed 198 works.

Visitors enjoyed a great variety of artwork in all manner of mediums. Some were bold and colourful, some delicate, some monochrome. There were abstract images which told mysterious stories; atmospheric landscapes, townscapes and seascapes; still life images (two giant scones topped with jam looked delicious), boats and cranes; flower paintings in many exciting styles; engaging portraits and figures (one of passengers on a tube train, caught in their own worlds); and brilliant images of animals and birds. There was a spooky corner as the opening evening was Halloween. 3D work featured in wire, wood and ceramic and two displays of fruit on large reclaimed pieces of bark which had been imaginatively painted.

There was a quiz for children to seek out answers as they looked around (with a bit of help from their parents!) and a great selection of arty greetings cards.

Many Members helped to set up this 3 day show. There is a great deal of work involved and grateful thanks go to all the Members who gave their time and to the stewards who greeted visitors and ensured that all ran smoothly.

The Show was very well received and visitors commented on the wide variety of exhibits, something to please everyone. Many were also delighted to be able to enjoy the refreshments and homemade cakes contributed by Members.

Prizewinners

Marie Goldsmith Award for a Member with a high standard of work who has served the Art Society well without formal recognition

• The World in Boxes by Jenny Stratfold - Collage

Stephen Lowe Award for most intriguing work

• Fascinating Rhythm by Marianne Dorn - Mixed Media

Visitors’ Choice Award

• Flowers for you by Anne Roworth - Acrylic

This year there was an extra prize awarded for The Best Title

• Circles of pleasure by Ray Ward - Acrylic

There was also a Raffle of a beautiful flower painting kindly donated by Eugenia Alekseyev.

The World in Boxes by Jenny Stratfold - Collage

Fascinating Rhythm by Marianne Dorn - Mixed Media

Flowers for you by Anne Roworth - Acrylic

Circles of pleasure by Ray Ward - Acrylic

Winter Programme 2024 - 2025

The Winter Programme 2023-2024 begins on Tuesday 3rd September 2024.

These sessions are on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Cowbridge Hall, Cowbridge, Hertford SG14 1PG. Approximately half the evenings in the Winter Programme are for Members to paint or draw with tutor-led workshops, from still life arrangements, or with a life model. The remaining evenings are taken up with talks, critiques of paintings brought along by Members or demonstrations from a professional artist. Visitors are welcome to enjoy the non-practical evenings (marked with an asterisk).

Saturday Life Workshops will recommence on 28th September 2024 and non-Members are welcome - see details on Life Workshops below. The Members’ Show will be held from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd November 2024.

• Winter Programme 2024 - 2025 (pdf) - click here for more details

Alan Davie comes to Hertford

Work displayed in subway under A414

The A414 cuts a brutal swathe through our county town. It has however given Hertford the unexpected benefit of no less than five subway art galleries.

Three of the subways display enlarged facsimiles of pictures from our local schools. They are delightful. The fourth subway - at the bottom of Queens Road - has a collection of photographs of the town’s landmarks.

The fifth subway - the one that links St Andrews Street with the Aldi supermarket - is perhaps the most interesting. Along one side is a display of paintings by local amateur artists, changed annually but currently including work by luminaries of the Hertford Art Society – Ray Ward, Angela Long, Dianne Warburton, Geoff Bennett.

The opposite side of the subway is much more interesting: 12 Images by Alan Davie, arguably the town’s most recognised past artist (‘past’ to avoid any argument with Hertford’s other special artist, Trevor Chamberlain, still painting away at age 90).

Alan Davie was born in Scotland but he lived the majority of his life - 60 years - in Hertford, right up to his death in 2014. It was in his Rush Green studio that he painted his greatest works - large exotic pictures that hang in world class galleries – the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice, Tate Britain in London and the National Gallery of Scotland.

Davie’s first solo exhibition was at the more humble Wakefield Gallery, in 1958. It was here that a young David Hockney encountered Davie’s work and as a result radically changed direction, discarding, as Davie had, realist figurative painting in favour of colourful works that combined abstraction with coded text and symbolism.

Probably the biggest influences on Alan Davie were Joan Miró and Jackson Pollock. Like Miró Davie attempted to paint as automatically as possible, to tap into his unconscious mind. He stressed the importance of improvisation as his chosen method. Like Pollock Davie executed many of his works by standing above the painting and adding layers of paint until sometimes the original painting had been covered over many times. Despite the speed at which he worked (he usually had several paintings on the go at once) he was adamant that his images were not pure abstraction, but all had significance as symbols.

How well Davie balances abstraction and reality you can judge for yourself with a visit to the St Andrews underpass in Hertford. Treat yourself to a completely free exhibition of pictures by a world class artist. The images you will see are stunning; they deserve to be released from their subterranean prison, to bask in the full light of day.

And to get the full briefing on Alan Davie come along to the first Tuesday of the HAS Winter Programme, on September 3rd. Mik Wilkojc, a trustee of the Hertford Arts Hub, will be giving a comprehensive presentation on the artist. Mik has produced and presented a Youtube video on Alan Davie for the Hertford Arts Hub which he will include in his talk. The video provides a rare opportunity to hear the artist’s own voice.

Saturday Life Workshops

WHY LIFE DRAWING AND PAINTING? – Some may say it is old fashioned, but practising Life Drawing enhances observation and accuracy. Interpreting the shape of the human body trains the artist to see almost every curve line and subtle undulation found in nature. The satisfaction of producing an acceptable image can be quite intense. It does not happen immediately and demands a great deal of practice to achieve.

Hertford Art Society runs Life Workshops in Cowbridge Halls, Hertford, SG14 1PG on the last Saturday of 9 months during the year. The only exception is the October Session which is sometimes changed when it coincides with the Members’ Show. Although these are primarily run for Members we welcome enthusiastic visitors at £25.00 per session, this includes coffee, tea and biscuits, available all day. The sessions are untutored and last from 10.00am – 4.00pm with a break for lunch. We work in in all mediums including prep work for sculpture. Bring whatever medium and equipment you require with you. The photographs below illustrate the exciting variety of work produced by the artists.

There are many different approaches to life drawing which become very obvious during the sessions. We are a very enthusiastic group of artists and in a relaxed atmosphere we learn from each other different skills and methods of working, as well as experimenting with different mediums etc. We do not have a set programme of poses, but usually include short poses and longer poses for artists who wish to produce a more finished piece of work. So why not join us if you haven’t already?

Workshops take place on the last Saturday of the month (except for October) for nine months of the year. They do not take place in April, August and December due to the annual Open Exhibition and holiday periods.

Life Models Workshops within HAS Winter Programme for 2024 - 2025 - 10am - 4pm at Cowbridge Halls, Hertford, SG14 1PG

• 28th September 2024
• 19th October 2024
• 23rd November 2024
• 25th January 2025
• 22nd February 2025
• 29th March 2025
• 25th May 2025
• 29th June 2025
• 27th July 2025

If you are interested please contact [email protected] for further details.

The Hertford and Ware Flyer

We are delighted that The Hertford and War Flyer magazine has chosen to feature paintings by Members of Hertford Art Society on recent editions.

• “The Wine Lodge” an oil painting of Ware High Street by Mike Lawrence was on the cover of the 26th March 2024 edition. Details of the 2024 Open Exhibition were included in the magazine.
• “Hertford Bridge”, a watercolour by Michael Radley featured on the 27th April magazine.
• “All Saints Church, Hertford” another watercolour by Michael Radley was chosen for the cover of the 28th May edition.
• “Love Flowers” an oil painting by Angela Roberts was on the cover of the June issue which also featured on Page 6 an article on the Summer Outdoor Painting Programme and two further paintings, “On the River Lea” by Angela Roberts and “View from Port Hill” by Ray Ward.
• “Gazebos, Ware” in oils by Mike Lawrence on the cover of the 30th July 2024 edition.
• “Jacoby’s Ware”, another oil painting by Mike Lawrence featured on the cover of the 31st August issue.
• “Tunnel at Stapleford” by Geoff Bennet on the cover of the 2ndSeptember 2024 edition.

A number of other paintings by Members of Hertford Art Society of local scenes – portrait format, especially with a seasonal theme - may feature in future issues.

Highlights of the Summer Season 2024

Despite some tricky weather the 2024 Summer Programme was very enjoyable with a wide variety of venues – villages, towns and countryside – presenting great opportunities for sketching and painting.

  
Left: by Elena Russu. Right: Essendon, early evening by John Jarratt.

In July there was an afternoon visit to Paradise Wildlife Park, now re-branded as Hertfordshire Zoo. Ten Members turned up for the challenge.

Wildlife has to be the most difficult subject to paint: either the animals are hidden, or too far away, or they are asleep, or they are constantly moving, and anyway they invariably merge into the background with effective camouflage. Members struggled heroically against the odds and produced some exciting images. A special award to Marianne Dorn who produced more pictures than the rest of us put together.

As their website points out, this was a ‘unique opportunity to get close and personal with wild animals including lions, tigers, snow leopards, and zebras.’

On a fabulously warm and sunny evening to round off the season a group of members met in a beautiful garden. The Hertford Players were in situ, rehearsing for their run of Wendy & Peter Pan at The Minack Theatre in Penzance. There was plenty of action to entertain us as Peter Pan and Captain Hook practiced their sword play and props included ‘flying beds’.

The garden was in wonderful bloom and the star of the show was a mature Cotinus Smokebush - its jumble of low level gnarled limbs resembling a living sculpture.

Hertford Choral Society

Paint and draw the rehearsal at All Saints Church, Hertford
22nd June 2024

Members of Hertford Art Society were invited to paint or draw the musicians and choir at this rehearsal of the Summer Concert – “Music from the West End”. Favourites from West End Shows – with choir, soloists and band was to be performed that same evening in the beautiful venue of All Saints Church. Artists enjoyed the afternoon to highlights from Wicked, Mama Mia, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. “Lovely music to paint to, just not enough time to do justice to a complicated scene,” remarked one artist.

Pictures by Alona Kushnirenco, Derek Carey, Geoff Bennett & Diane Warburton

Mono-print Workshop at the Hertford Museum led by Geoff Bennett

10th May 2024

Each year the Art Society is invited by Hertford Museum to run a series of workshops at the Museum. The first this year was Sally Hunter’s collage session in March. A second workshop, in May, was on mono-printing, led by Geoff Bennett.

‘Mono-print’ is a bit of a misleading description since one can make multiple copies; one can also chose to vary both the arrangement of prepared stencils and the colours inked onto the them between each print to create a group of different combinations of figurative and abstract images.

Members of the workshop created stencils from thin polystyrene sheets rather than the more traditional lino sheets. Cutting polystyrene with scissors or a Stanley knife is a lot quicker than gouging out Lino with a special Lino cutting tool, and gives more time to experiment in the 2 hours of the workshop.

The result was a lovely collection of quite different treatments, as can be seen from the accompanying photos.

A third workshop will be held at the Museum on 13th September, creating 3D figures from a plaster-impregnated fabric called Modroc.

Hertford Art Society 71st Open Exhibition

April 27th to May 5th 2024

“Wonderful. So much talent.” “Superb Exhibition” “A joyous visit” “We always enjoy this Exhibition – the paintings are so very good – and varied.” “Beautiful work” “Fantastic range of artworks – very inspiring” “Wide selection of skillful and absorbing pitcures, especially portraits”

These were among the 60 comments kindly left by visitors to this year’s Exhibition. The selection of work for a place in the Exhibition is made by a panel of eminent, practising artists who are completely independent of the Society. This year we were pleased to welcome Paul Curtis, Joanna Pearl and James Willis as judges. The style of the Open Exhibition varies year by year. The range of expertise and opinion of the judges and the wide variety of work submitted, ensures that a unique mix of artworks is displayed each year. This year 108 artists submitted 422 items for consideration. 287 2D works were selected for hanging and these, together with 27 sculptures and 3D items provided visitors with a colourful, diverse and exciting Exhibition at Cowbridge Halls.

There was something for everyone: atmospheric landscapes, townscapes and seascapes, abstracts, figures and delightful portraits, still life images, flower portraits and a large variety of animals, birds and some interesting beetles. The exhibits included oils, acrylics and watercolours; lino and screen prints; digital images; pastel, pencil, charcoal and ink drawings; collage and 3 D works in a variety of materials. Some works were rich in colour and boldly executed, others delicate. Many, this year, were in monochrome, ranging from large pen and ink scenes to mysterious abstracts. One drawing by Colin J Clark so impressed our judge James Willis that he awarded a prize for Best Drawing. Additional works were displayed at other venues in Hertford.

The exhibition attracted many visitors from a wide area. In addition to the prizes awarded by the judges, visitors cast their votes for their favourite exhibit - the winner was Hertfordshire Scene 4/4 by Fiona White and the runner up, Girl in a Black Dress by Jill Elliot.

Thanks go to all the people who contributed to making this Exhibition such a success - it was another popular and exciting show.

Award Winners

• The John Goss Prize for Best in Show awarded to John Jarratt for 'Finished'
• The Lady Laming Award for best Abstract awarded to Judith Moule for 'Beneath the surface'
• The Bill Dale Award for best Member’s work awarded to Angela Roberts for 'Tulips and masons china'
• The Mayor's Award for the best 3D work sponsored by The Arts Society East Herts awarded to John Speilman for 'Offcuts'
• Best Watercolour sponsored by A S Handover Ltd Brush Manufacturers awarded to Jill Rolfe for 'Dark over Bill’s Mother’s'
• Drawing Prize – Special donation by James Willis (judge) awarded to Colin J Clarke for 'The outgoing tide, Pembrokeshire'
• Visitors’ Choice Award awarded to Fiona White for 'Hertfordshire Scene 4/4'
• Visitors’ Choice Runner up awarded to Jill Elliot for 'Girl in a Black Dress'

The John Goss Prize for Best in Show - Finished by John Jarratt

The Lady Laming Award for best Abstract - Beneath the surface by Judith Moule

The Bill Dale Award for best Member’s work - Tulips and masons china by Angela Roberts

The Mayor's Award for the best 3D work sponsored by The Arts Society East Herts - Offcuts by John Speilman

Best Watercolour sponsored by A S Handover Ltd Brush Manufacturers - Dark over Bill’s Mother’s by Jill Rolfe

Drawing Prize – Special donation by James Willis (judge) - The outgoing tide, Pembrokeshire by Colin J Clarke

Visitors’ Choice Award - Hertfordshire Scene 4/4 by Fiona White

Visitors’ Choice Runner up - Girl in a Black Dress by Jill Elliot

Craig Morton presenting set of watercolour brushes from A S Handover Ltd. to Jill Rolfe for Best Watercolour

Diana Dale presenting The Bill Dale Award for Best Member's Work to Angela Roberts

Lord Laming presenting special Award for Best Drawing donated by Judge James Willis to Colin J Clarke

Lord Salisbury presenting The John Goss Award for Best in Show to John Jarratt

Hertford Mayor Vicky Smith presenting The Mayor's Award for best 3D Work to John Spielman. This Award sponsored by The Arts Society East Herts.

New HArts Fest 2024 at Hertford Castle

Saturday 13th April 2024

Members of Hertford Art Society set up a new branded gazebo on a glorious sunny afternoon on the main lawn at Hertford Castle, for the first annual HArts Fest organised by Hertford Council. This one-day free family event celebrated art and culture. Visitors were able to enjoy a series of art and craft stalls, arts and culture based activities.

Angela Roberts, Mike Lawrence and Ray Ward set up their easels to paint en plein air and created a great deal of interest from the visitors.

A very popular children’s workshop was organised by Members of the Art Society based on drawing or using collage to create images of their own faces. Their imaginative and varied artworks were hung on our gallery wall in the gazebo.

There was a lovely interaction amongst the various groups, vendors, and societies with connections being made in a relaxed and friendly setting. Visitors were encouraged to visit our forthcoming Open Exhibition which will take place later this month (27th April – 5th May) at Cowbridge Halls, Cowbridge, Hertford, SG14 1PG and to consider joining our Society. Greetings cards donated by members were sold during the afternoon. The event was very well attended and a great success. The weather certainly helped! The new gazebo hopefully sets up many more opportunities for Hertford Art Society to become a more regular presence in local activities.

Running from Saturday, April 13th to Saturday, April 20th, HArts Fest will promote art and cultural events, activities and exhibitions within Hertford and the local area.

Chair of Hertford Town Council’s development and leisure committee, Cllr Ann Woodward, said: “HArts Fest 2024 is set to be a fantastic celebration of art and culture in Hertford. We are lucky to have a wide range of organisations and businesses delivering cultural activities in the town, and Hertford Town Council will be working in partnership with them to ensure the HArts Fest delivers a programme that can be enjoyed by people of all ages this spring.”

Frederick Handel’s “Saul”

Performed by Hertford Choral Society
23rd March 2024

On Saturday March 23rd Frederick Handel’s ‘Saul’ came to St Andrews Church, Hertford, in all its majestic glory. Accompanying the splendid singing by some very talented soloists and the full might of the Hertford Choral Society eight large pictures by the Art Society hung from the pillars of the central aisle.

They depicted a dramatic episode from the Old Testament: David, a shepherd lad, has won the admiration of Saul, first king of the Jews, by slaying Goliath. Saul’s affection for David changes to rage however as he realises David is now more popular than he is. Saul orders his son, Jonathan to kill David, but Jonathan loves David and refuses. The action continues downhill, ending with the death of Saul and Jonathan, and David succeeding Saul as the leader of the Jews.

For full report, click here for more details.

Creative Collage Workshop at Hertford Museum

22nd March 2024

There was a good turnout for Sally Hunter’s Creative Collage Workshop. Ten participants enjoyed exploring the challenges of making an image with torn or cut coloured paper from magazines. Fortunately they were allowed to stay a little longer than the allocated time, so that extra detail could be added to their masterpieces!

This was a new skill for many but the use of collage in art goes back to the early 20th Century with Picasso and Braque pasting pieces of “Found” materials into their artwork, followed by many other artists using collage in various ways - Matisse’s cut paper and Hockney’s photo collages, for example.

As can be seen from the photos, the resulting images show great originality. All works were taken home in a cardboard mount, ready for framing. Sally Hunter was warmly thanked for running such an enjoyable workshop.

Spring Celebration Still Life Workshop with Spring Flowers

19th March 2024

This was an untutored workshop. Members could choose to paint or draw in a medium of their choice. Some lovely spring flowers were contributed for this Workshop including hellebores in various subtle shades, hyacinths, daffodils, winter jasmine and a branch of magnolia flowers. The displays were mostly in vases, some clear and one with a bold flowery motif.

This was a very enjoyable workshop which resulted in some delicate, colourful studies in a variety of mediums.

Balance and Composition in Art Talk and Workshop with Jean Noble, Abstract Artist

27th February 2024

We were delighted to welcome Jean Noble, a local Abstract Artist, for an illustrated talk on balance and composition in Abstract Art followed by a workshop on creating an Abstract painting or drawing.

For full report, click here for more details.

Demonstration by Roger Dellar

A Street Scene in Oils
20th February 2024

Roger Dellar is a self-taught artist with a keen interest in people and their behaviour. He is fascinated by the way the play of light transforms a subject; either working in the studio or plein air. He is a member of The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, The Pastel Society, and The Royal Institute of Oil Painters and an active member of The Wapping Group. He is a regular visitor to the Hertford Art Society and his demonstrations are always popular and very well attended.

For full report, click here for more details.

Figurative Painting Workshop with Liz Loxton

6th February 2024

Figurative Painting Workshop - from reference material to large painting - facilitated by Liz Loxton, a talented artist known for her expressive and abstract paintings. Liz works out of her studio in Hertford, creating large and small artworks in which she aims to convey the feelings experienced in the creative process.

For full report, click here for more details.

Emotions in Clay Portraiture with Jo Pearl

23rd January 2024

A sculptor based in North London, Jo Pearl works in clay for its tactile plasticity, its ability to record expressionist mark making and its transformation when fired. Jo is fascinated with the six emotions Charles Darwin saw as fundamental to human evolution: happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust and anger and showed a stop-frame animation of her work in clay which allows her to create an illusion of life and explore these emotions. She has exhibited collections of heads on this theme.

For full report, click here for more details.

Still Life with a difference

9th January 2024

This practical session was a last minute change from the programme and there were five still life setups around the hall but with a difference.

Members had only half an hour at each still life before moving on to the next setup. These were quick half hour sessions with no time to fiddle in the detail. It was suggested that a different approach should be used on each setup and that different mediums should be employed. The time allocated could be used for one piece of work or for numerous quick sketches from different angles.

For full report, click here for more details.

“Underwater World”

Workshop in watercolour with Bridget Tomkins
21st November 2023

On Tuesday 21/11/23 we hosted local artist Bridget Tompkins and enjoyed a bumper turnout at Cowbridge Hall! Bridget is a well-established local artist who specialises in both life drawing and watercolour painting, embracing a variety of subjects. She runs classes in the St. Albans area. Bridget is known for her trademark loose and energetic style, using bold washes of intense colour which are often splashed across the paper. These random effects then become an essential part of the composition. Bridget strongly believes in trying to capture the 'essence’ of the subject or scene rather than concentrating on exact detail. This method is used to convey freshness and light by leaving plenty of areas unpainted.

For full report, click here for more details.

Society's aim

The Society's aim is to encourage interest in the visual arts and to provide opportunities to practice, study and exhibit art in Hertford and the surrounding area.

It is well regarded for the high standard of artworks on display at the annual Open Exhibition. Submissions are received from across Hertfordshire as well as other parts of the country.

Members work in a range of media and styles from traditional painting in oils, pastel, watercolours and acrylics to printmaking, collage, multi-media and digital – computer based imagery. Three dimensional work in wood, clay, stone and metal is also well represented.

This diversity and an approach to art which values traditional skills alongside contemporary art forms combine to make Hertford Art Society a leading light in the local art world.