Last night I went to the very busy private view of the Bath Society of Artists Summer Show. It was packed! It is a record breaking exhibition in that it has never contained more art works before. From the 700+ entries around 400 works were selected for the exhibition. Members as well as non-members can submit work and the exhibition was selected by a panel of artists, the president of the society and the director of Victoria Art Gallery. A separate panel of judges decided on the many prize winners. Agree with them or not, the show is varied and the quality high.
If you want to come for the art, then the private view is not the best time to visit the Summer Show. It was so busy my friend and I had to elbow, apologise and shuffle through the hot and packed room at the Victoria Art Gallery. But there’s no beating the atmosphere of a private view, no matter if you can hardly see the art on the walls!
The Society has 120 members and a large number of them are exhibiting in the show. The society welcomes amateur as well as professional artists (wherever the line between that lies) and so we can find well-known names such as
Richard Twose (BP Portrait Award 2014), Malcolm Ashman, (also has a work at the RWA right now), Georgia Cox, Sally Muir (doggies!), Ben Hughes, Caroline Rudge, Howard Mason, David Cobley (the master), Rebecca Cains, Peter Brown (Bath cityscapes), and Anya Beaumont (drool). Many of these names pop up at the Royal West of England Academy of Art’s (RWA) open exhibition in Bristol regularly and elsewhere.
I hope you can get the change of visiting the exhibition in Bath. All works are for sale and prices range from as low as £90 to £18,000 so there must be something for everyone. There is sculpture, glasswork, mixed media and every painting and drawing medium you can think of.
- Bath Society of Artists
- Summer Show 2017
- 20 May – 15 July
- Victoria Art GalleryEntry: £4
Scroll down to find some more images and highlights of the show.
The Tapestry
This is my first year with the Bath Society. I had never submitted a work to them before. As I am fairly local I always regretted that and I am glad I finally made it. My work has found a spot on the 
back wall. Of course it is available for sale.The Tapestry is a painting that was inspired by Flemish 17th century tapestries which we can find in pretty much every country house in the UK that dates that far
back. These tapestries were hugely popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and every aristocratic house had to have a few. It was a quick and mobile way of dressing your house as well as keeping it warm. It also allowed households to move from place to place (as any reputable family had a few country houses) as they were easily rolled up and transported.
Antwerp was one of the most prolific towns where tapestries were produced in the 17th century at a spectacular rate. Not only were they commissioned but they were also produced ‘off the role’ and sold all over Europe.
The tapestry in the background of my painting was taken from one of many that hang at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. I combined the tapestry with a a girl wearing a modern cardigan by fashion designer Dries van Noten. I found the cardigan’s pattern reminiscent of the old tapestries. Together I believe it makes an interesting dynamic between the past and the present and shows how textile work is still popular and beautiful today.
Oh and if you visit the show, don’t forget to vote for your favourite as there is a public’s prize! My painting is no. 308 – just saying….
Highlights
