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 Art Exhibition 2008

Art Exhibition 2008 Report This year we had Philippa Kennard-Bent who for the first time put a lot of effort into publicising the art exhibition. We paid for advertisements in two carefully chosen publications, 'Galleries' and the 'Royal Academy Listing' but what really took Philippa's time was contacting local and nationalpublications for editorial. She was successful in obtaining a number of mentions, some of them illustrated. She also persuaded Jesse Wilder, Isobel Langtry and Claire Ireland to join Matthew Meadows on a stronger judging panel.

Art Exhibition Review

The Friends' annual art exhibition was full of surprises this spring as paintings of wildlife, treescapes and far flung travels vied for space with real twigs, fake books and the largest ever number of three-dimensional entries which overflowed the Orangery stage.No one could doubt that the Friends are great animal lovers. Amelie Delarue's ceramic mosaic of giraffes was magnificent, along with Catherine Bajour's and mosaics. Peacocks posed for several artists and proved themselves in Danuta Piesakowska's paper mosaic, while their feathers were a wonderful inspiration for Alida Lewis's stained glass. Bob Barling obviously knows all about cats and Jeanette Carr, show prize winner for her painting of , provided an unexpected insight into the world of frogs with her fabulous acrylic and mixed media . Ingela Hedland Claxton, meanwhile, diversified from her splendid painting of into a sea-life teapot and a variety of other ceramics, several with a delightful bee motif. Danuta Piesakowska went on to win the FHP prize with her watercolour impression , a gem hidden in one of the browsers, and Peta Prior depicted beautifully flooding across a snow scene. Philippa Kennard-Bent caught the magic of weeping willows she had spotted on an Italian lakeside and Julian St Leger was entranced by , while nearer to home Joanna Irvine, well known for her idyllic prints, triumphed with a watercolour of . Marianne Moore, on the other hand, used real willow twigs to create wall hangings and Henrietta Garland conned viewers fantastically with her which on close inspection turned out to be made of textiles, wood and stitching. Hazel Fennell's acrylic brought a summery glow of light to the exhibition, Meiso Lai presented some truly remarkable photographic workand Lin Kerner and Patrick Killery their accomplished portraits, as did newcomer John Schetrumpf, who also produced the most memorable image of all with his painting referring to the 1936 Olympic Games and a terrible warning of what was to come. Ed Everett, a regular picture exhibitor, branched out with a fascinating series of timber carvings and Michael French discovered the allure of driftwood. Deirdre Clenet's , however, was the most unusual of the sculptures, formed out of aluminium mesh. Several lovely scarves were the creation of Elizabeth Chojak and a wonderful tree of jewellery was devised by Gay Chalfont-Griffin, while Sheri Rahmanian had the most astonishingly wide range of work from watercolours to handbags and a rose quartz leaf necklace. But the prize for a three-dimensional piece went to Russell Mack, whose distinctiveand extremely desirable pottery it was hard to choose between. 
 
ART EXHIBITION 2008  
 Because this year the FHP celebrate their 30th anniversary and the Art Exhibition its 26th, it was thought by the Committee that we should make it a more exciting exhibition this year, and so have invited other judges to join Mathew Meadows in choosing the best artworks, and as you know the prize money has been raised and the lucky winners will be presented with their prizes by Sir Angus Stirling, just before the AGM. It is hoped that all the judges will be present on the platform with the Chairman of the FHP, to give added gravitas to the occasion.

Mathew Meadows is an excellent Printer, who has judged the Artex for several years running. Dicon Pettit, owns, together with his sister, the Northcote Art Gallery in Battersea and Northcote Art Gallery in Kings Road. They specialise in more traditional art and both galleries do very well in selling their clients artworks. Jesse Wilder, who is the Director of the Portal Art Gallery, which has a very good reputation of long standing, and acts as the agent for Beryl Cook, she of the amusing fat ladies genre! The gallery used to be in Dover Street and has recently located to New Cavendish Street W1. Jesse has been with the gallery for many years and has a very discerning eye. Claire Ireland teaches at the Heatherley Art School, near Chelsea Harbour, which is a very well known art school with an excellent reputation. She is a unique and innovative ceramic artist, and is well known in her field and has exhibited extensively, and her ceramics are in several private and public collections. Isabel Langtry is a sculptor as well as a ceramic artist and has previously judged various art exhibitions. She is involved in important installation work for community projects and has taught for several years. Her work is also in many private and major public collections.

Philippa Kennard-Bent
Art Exhibition Promoter
[Spring 2008]