Liskeard Decorative and Fine Arts Society, Cornwall

LIDFAS Programme Diary for 2009-2010

	Lectures
	Special Interest or Study Days
	Visits and Tours
	Events
	Church Recording
	Heritage Volunteers
	Young Arts

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Lectures

8 September 2009 - Elizabeth Rumbelow

A Celebration of the Seasons in Art, Music and Poetry

The lecture will feature paintings from Europe, America, Asia and Australia, from well-known and lesser-known artists and the poetry will range from the 6th-20th Century. The mood of the art and poetry will be reflected in the music to produce a synthesis of the arts.

13 October 2009 - David Coke

The Bishop, the Painter and the Warrior Queens: the case of the English Renaissance Artist

The lecture will tell the intriguing story of a Tudor bishop and his relationship with King Henry VIII, as seen through the paintings that the bishop commissioned for an expected visit of the King in the 1520’s.

10 November 2009 - Chloë Sayer

The Aztec Legacy: Continuity and Change

The civilization of the Aztecs flourished from 1325-1521 and created a vast empire with military might accompanied by exceptional developments in art and architecture. The lecture will illustrate how Aztec creativity found expression in miniature gold objects, fine ceramics, monumental stone sculpture, turquoise mosaics and precious pictorial manuscripts. These traditions have their heritage in present day textile and ceramic traditions, mask-carving, dances and festivals.

8 December 2009 - Peter Medhurst

Merrily on High! The History of the Christmas Carol

A lecture-recital telling the story of English Christmas carols from the medieval period down to the present day. It will be illustrated with images and sung carols with a piano accompaniment.

12 January 2010 - Gerald Davison

The Great East India Company Adventure

An exciting and colourful tale of the building of a trading company that grew to be the biggest commercial undertaking the world had ever seen. The lecture looks at the resulting influences the trade goods from India and China had on tastes in Europe. It tells the tale of the people who made this trade possible from the captains, supercargoes and crews who risked danger and disease to bring back the wealth and mystery of the Orient, to the customers who in turn craved these wonderful objects.

9 February 2010 - Anthony Penrose

Roland Penrose and Lee Miller and Surrealism

Roland Penrose, surrealist artist, friend and biographer of Picasso, was friend also to Man Ray, Max Ernst, Paul Éluard and Joan Miró. Penrose is remembered for his First International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936 which marked the beginning of British Surrealism. Lee Miller, his wife, was a model then photographer and WWII combat correspondent. The lecturer is their son.

9 March 2010 - Gail Turner

Goya and the Turbulence of his Times

Goya’s life spanned the reigns of 4 Bourbon monarchs and much social and political upheaval, including the Peninsular Wars. Until his late 40’s his main work was designing subjects for the royal tapestry works, but by the 1790’s he branched out into portrait painting, political satire and experimental work. Goya was an energetic and restless artistic genius whose paintings reflected the turbulence of his age.

13 April 2010 - Evelyn Silber

The Queen’s Nightman: William Hunter, pioneer obstetrician and collector extraordinary

William Hunter was appointed Physician in Extraordinary to Queen Charlotte and he also became the first Professor of Anatomy at the newly founded Royal Academy of Art. The lecture will focus on William as a great collector, his life in the vibrant, elegant and sordid world of 18th Century London, how medicine led him to become a patron of artists and the passion for knowledge that led to the creation of the Hunterian Museum.

11 May 2010 - Charles Beauclerk

Who wrote Shakespeare?

This lecture presents the true story behind the name Shakespeare and paints a picture of the court intrigue and treachery that led to the biggest cover-up of English history. It tells the tale of the buried author Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, poet, playwright, musician, composer and patron of artists, who sacrificed his name and reputation for the sake of his art, and whose love for the Queen weathered all storms.

Special Interest or Study Days

11 November 2009 - Chloë Sayer

Splendours of Mexico and Peru: Past Achievements and Cultural Survivals

The ancient Mayan civilization reached its peak between AD300-900, dozens of great cites have been located, many still buried in remote parts of the jungle. Achievements in art and architecture were matched by knowledge of maths, astrology, calendrics and hieroglyphic writing. Intricately carved stone panels, figurines and mural paintings provided an insight into the religious rituals, music, warfare and courtly life of the Maya. The Incas and their predecessors planned one of the greatest societies ever known. Their vast empire was achieved through human mastery over incredible global extremes. Engineers and stone masons created magnificent cities like Cuzco and Machu Picchu. There were great ceramic artists, gold and silver working techniques and rich textiles. Today textiles are a vital part of their lives and Chloë Sayer will bring museum quality textiles and examples of Mexican and Peruvian folk art for this day.

10 March 2010 - Gail Turner

Castile: Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Toledo and Madrid

This special interest day will give a taste of the history and art of these cities beginning with Madrid, with its great art collections the Prado and the Thyssen and smaller gems like the Sorolla Museum. Avila, birth place of St Teresa, is a city full of history ringed by medieval walls. Segovia with its Roman aqueduct has a wealth of Romanesque churches, castle and Gothic cathedral. Toledo, the adopted home of El Greco, was once the home of Moors, Jews and Christians and has narrow streets and beautiful Gothic churches. Salamanca is one of the greatest medieval universities of Europe with fine examples of plateresque architecture and the largest square in Spain. A special interest day to whet the appetite of Hispanophiles.

Visits and Tours

This year's programme has included an autumnal day at notable old buildings around Launceston; a post Christmas train trip to London; a spring day at Tyntesfield; a midsummer flight to iconic sites in Glasgow. Ideas are germinating for similar visits in the coming programme year - an architectural tour of nearby Plymouth; maybe flying further afield to Europe from Exeter or taking the train again. Is that what members want? We could take more of you on these highly informative and enjoyable excursions. Do please come up with your ideas!

Events

Forthcoming social events at Christmas and at the end-of season are to be arranged.

Church Recording

Church Recording produces records of the contents of places of worship to help the congregations recognise their significance and to provide scholars with a research source. For the recorders who create the records, describing the items and researching their history is a very rewarding activity. If you would like to be involved in helping to preserve our heritage in this way, then do join us at St Ive where you will be very welcome. Do not feel that you need any special expertise to get started because all sorts of help and advice are available.

Heritage Volunteers

NADFAS members give their time to help with stewarding, conservation and preservation of historic properties. LIDFAS has had some members involved at Port Eliot as room stewards from March to the end of June 2009. We have been asked to organise the cleaning of Port Eliot’s “batterie de cuisine” which will revitalise a large collection of kitchen implements. This will be a long term project and we are in need of assistance from our members. Mount Edgcumbe has requested people to help with an exhibition called ‘Darwin Now’ in the refurbished Coach House Gallery, which runs from June to the end of August 2009. Hopefully some of our LIDFAS members will have time during the summer months to help with stewarding duties.

Young Arts - Making a difference

Having had some difficulty attracting applications for help from schools, this year we decided to change direction and look for other areas where we could really make a difference by providing funds to support arts activities for young people. To that end we have been looking at projects with young carers in this area, that is children between the ages of 5 and 18 who look after members of their family, with ‘looked after’ young people and with activities which genuinely would not go ahead without our assistance. We have been delighted with the response and we look forward to telling you all about the projects that we are going to support. Please do not forget that if you know of any group or individual that could benefit from our financial help, we really want to hear from you. Grants can be applied for from NADFAS for larger sums of money than we have at our disposal. Let this be the year when we really make that difference.

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