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Tuesday, 13 October 2026
The Nature of the Beast - Understanding Fabulous Animals in Medieval Art
Jonathon Foyle

Medieval Bestiaries are wonderfully colourful words.  What happened if you chased a bonnacon, what was a heaven superpower and what did owls mean?  Jonathon will explore these and more.


Tuesday, 10 November 2026
The Post War Visionaries - Textile Revolution & Female Designers
Ashley Gray

The history of Britain is intricately woven with the history of textiles.  The energy for this innovation was led by female designers.  This lecture celebrates their vision, influences and determination which brought contemporary art into the home.


Wednesday, 09 December 2026
A Festive Tale - The Story of Christmas Music
Raymond Holden

Christmas would not be Christmas without music.  What we listen to is both fascinating and transformative, it never fails to trigger a sense of wonderment.  Raymond shares the tales using both sound recordings and film clips.


Tuesday, 12 January 2027
Pierre Bonnard - Painting with Light
Julian Halsby

Bonnard is one of the most popular of modern artists...starting in Paris, influenced by Toulouse Lautrec, concentrating on nudes after the First World War.  After moving to the south of France he concentrated on the colourful landscapes of Provence.


Tuesday, 26 January 2027
Art Society's Annual Lunch

Please come and join us for our Annual Lunch at The Commodore Hotel, Instow.


Tuesday, 09 February 2027
The Glasgow Boys
Alice Foster

Unfortunately the lecturer has had to cancel the published engagement. We have managed to secure this exciting replacement.

This group of artists were not all native Glaswegians but were based in Glasgow at the end of the nineteenth century. They benefitted from the success of industry and its wealthy patrons. As painters they were well aware of the radical trends in Paris particularly the simplified forms of the Post Impressionists. They wanted to be free of anecdote in their work and to be allowed to concentrate on colour, light and brushwork appropriate to their subjects. The artists Guthrie, Lavery, Crawhall and Arthur Melville and others will be discussed in this talk.

Alice Foster has lectured regularly at Oxford University Department for Continuing Education and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.


Tuesday, 09 March 2027
Bloomsbury Group - The Art of Vanessa Bell
Julia Musgrave

Avant Garde painter, designer, colourist, mother and muse.  Bell was at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group...a set described by Dororthy Parker as living in squares and painting in triangles.  Come and hear more about this little known artist sister of Virginia Woolfe.


Tuesday, 13 April 2027
Kathleen Scott - Sculptor of Antarctica, Heroism and Controversy
Katherine MacInnes

Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was the most significant British Sculptor before Barbara Hepworth.  This lecture explores the legacy which celebrates male sacrifice as an artistic theme.  Kathleen later shocked with her bold sculpture of exuberant male muscles.


Tuesday, 11 May 2027
The Wind in the Willows - Revisited Through its Illustrators
John Ericson

This lecture revisits the story of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad, through the eyes of the more than ninety artists who have illustrated this much loved book, such as E.H. Shepherd and Arthur Rackman.

Click here for previous lectures

13 October 2026The Nature of the Beast - Understanding Fabulous Animals in Medieval Art
10 November 2026The Post War Visionaries - Textile Revolution & Female Designers
09 December 2026A Festive Tale - The Story of Christmas Music
12 January 2027Pierre Bonnard - Painting with Light
26 January 2027Art Society's Annual Lunch
09 February 2027The Glasgow Boys
09 March 2027Bloomsbury Group - The Art of Vanessa Bell
13 April 2027Kathleen Scott - Sculptor of Antarctica, Heroism and Controversy
11 May 2027The Wind in the Willows - Revisited Through its Illustrators

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Lecture: The Nature of the Beast - Understanding Fabulous Animals in Medieval Art Lecturer: Jonathon Foyle Tuesday 13 October 2026

Medieval Bestiaries are wonderfully colourful words.  What happened if you chased a bonnacon, what was a heaven superpower and what did owls mean?  Jonathon will explore these and more.