A coachload of avid students of the arts set off to York in the middle of June.  It was hot! The coach was hot! Moreover, most of us were thinking “Will it be too hot for a day in York and, by the way, what are Japanese Woodblock Prints?” Then we were advised by our…

Our Study Visit this year was to Bristol, a city that many of us had not previously visited so anticipation was high. Day One - Bishop Auckland to Bristol via Compton Verney We made a stop on the way south at Compton Verney the former country house now run as a gallery and art centre…

One of our members, a retired architect gave an illustrated talk on the history of housing. Iron Age Settlement Anglo Saxon House Norman House Lincoln Cruck House Herefordshire Box Frame House Lavenham Hearth Passage Farm House Co. Durham Houses converted from Wool Store Bibury Almshouses Stamford Royal Circus Bath Weaver's Houses Cromford Derbyshire Mill Worker's…

On 27th November the group gathered at the Methodist Church Hall to view two films in the 'Power of Art' series, dramatised documentaries on the lives of significant artists. The films selected were on JMW Turner and Pablo Picasso. The 32 members of the Art & Architecture group members who attended this showing greatly enjoyed…

On Thursday 2nd October the group, together with some guests from the Gardens Group travelled to Harewood House near Leeds making forty in the party. Good weather, good visibility, comfortable coach and the added attraction of a special exhibition focussed upon J W M Turner and Jane Austen. What more could we seek? But why…

The Pant (Water supply) and the Village Green, West Auckland On Thursday 4th September the group met at the Pant on West Auckland village green to be led on a walk around the village by Martin Roberts. Martin is a local architectural historian who recently was responsible for the revision of the County Durham Edition…

'The Paintings Collected by Madame Bowes': A Talk by Professor John Findlay On 29th May the group gathered at the Methodist Church Hall to hear John Findlay’s talk on the paintings collected by Josephine Bowes and now form part of the Bowes Museum collection. John explained that when he arrived in Durham some decades ago,…

Day 1 - To Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Art Gallery Our first stop iwas Port Sunlight, the planned community developed by William Hesketh Lever who founded the Sunlight Soap brand, now part of the multi-national Unilever company. The town contains 900 Grade II listed buildings in 130 acres of parkland. When completed in…

Ten Stalwart members of the group made their way through the afternoon rush hour to the Freeman Hospital, but once there we were enveloped by the atmosphere of calm and capability within the centre. Our host, Centre Head Karen Verrill, a nurse by profession, told us how 18 years ago she had been effectively head…

Charles and Maggie Jencks At the end of January 24 members of the Art & Architecture Group met to hear from Chris about origin and development of Maggie’s Centres prior to our visit to our local centre in Newcastle. Maggie Keswick and Charles Jencks, who incidentally both had first degrees in English literature, were drawn…

L.S. lowry, Self Portrait 1926 - The Lowry, Salford Norman Cornish, Self Portrait - Northumbria University Permanent Collection Kith and Kinship – Cornish and Lowry at the Bowes Museum On a bitterly cold day 37 stalwart members of the group made their way to Barnard Castle. There we were greeted by Vicky Sturr the curator,…

The first film was a BBC film fronted by Matthew Collins, who dealt with the concept of beauty, under a number of topics including nature, colour, pattern and others. He considered various examples of art including painting and sculpture and perhaps surprisingly architecture and engineering, He began by looking at the relationship of the Millau…