KiT 71

Spring! 

Isn’t it wonderful to see signs of spring in the garden? It’s certainly inspired me to paint after quite a break and I hope that you too have sprung into action with your creativity.

Included in this newsletter are reminders about upcoming events. Council members are working hard to introduce more social activities so please do support their hard work.  We often don’t know our fellow members so as a means of introducing them Bing Shi, one of last year’s successful candidates, shares some information about his practice. Also, Kate Egawa has had a ‘Blessing Ceremony’ on her religious sculpture of Mary and Jesus.

Please continue to send me information you would like to share.

Enjoy reading!

Photography Prize 

The PV is this Thursday, 2 March 6 – 8pm.

Members May Exhibition

We are planning a Small Works exhibition for members in Gallery 1 which will open on Tuesday 23 May and close on 10 June. There will be a size limit and a price limit, not more than £500 to encourage new buyers to start a collection. This will be like the StArt exhibition but smaller, for those who remember that. Details to be announced soon but please think about what you might submit. We will also be looking for artists to talk about ‘How to start a collection’ on the three Saturdays of the show to encourage new buyers.  Please respond if you can help with that.

Kate Egawa – Blessing Ceremony

On Sunday 5th January, the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally MBE, visited St Mary with All Souls Kilburn to unveil a powerful new sculpture, The Black Madonna and Child of COVID-19, ‘Our Lady of Kilburn,’ by artist Kate Egawa. The service, taken alongside Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon, and Fr Robert Thompson, Vicar of St Mary’s, explored race, artistry, and why representation matters.

The piece, depicting Mary and Jesus with black physical features, is a thought provoking and moving depiction of black womanhood, motherhood, care and divinity, and a testament to the resolve of the congregation’s BAME women throughout the pandemic.

You can see more of Kate’s  work in the ground floor gallery at RBSA.

Bing in his studio

Dr Bing Shi spent his childhood and youth in China. He has been teaching at universities across the UK and China in Business Studies even though his true love has always been art.

Bing started oil painting in his late 40s and has specialized in portraiture. He likes to uncover human emotions and spirits. His works have been shown in RBSA Open, RBSA Prize, and Oxford Art Society Open exhibitions.

Night Owl

Instagram Posts

Claire, our Marketing Manager is posting regularly on Instagram. Quite a few members use Instagram to promote their own work. However, in order to expand our visibility it will help if we can spread the word by reposting Claire’s posts which your followers will then see. It’s very easy –

1. Download the ‘repost’ app.

2. To repost – click on the line of 3 dots at the top right hand side. Click on ‘Link’

3. Open Repost App and click ‘Allow Paste’ on pop-up

4. Click on the account at top.

5. Repost. You can also add the caption here.

We can also help by using these hashtags in our own posts

#RBSA #jewelleryquarter #StPauls #Birmingham #gallery

Apologies if I’m preaching to the converted. Should you wish to understand Instagram, Claire is planning an informal training session for which you should have had notification.

Graham Winteringham Memorial Service

Sadly, Graham passed away just short of his 100th birthday.

The family has arranged a memorial service which is to be held at 12:00 noon, Friday 10 March 2023 at St Georges Church, 1 Westbourne Cres, Birmingham B15 3DQ, followed by a reception at Edgbaston Golf Club.

Viv Astling will be going and representing the Society and will be pleased if anyone would like to join him.

Reminders

Raise a Glass

Enjoy a fun evening of wine tasting discovering on a whistle-stop tour of sumptuous Italian wines!  “Salute”

With several thousand years of history in the making Italian wines have an immense reputation for quality and diversity.

So why not come and sip your way through Tuscany, Piedmont, Umbria and more within our own relaxed Gallery space.

Under the knowledge and friendly guidance of Ed Orchard from Connolly’s Wine, this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a very special wine selection.

If you fancy learning a little more about the exciting world of Italian wines come along and become your own connoisseur, just call the gallery to reserve & pay for your place/s.

There are 20 or so seats available please reserve quickly; book as an individual, couple or as a table of four friends and do please bring your own nibbles if you wish.

Date:  15 March

Time:  6 – 8pm

Place:  RBSA Gallery

Cost:  £20 per head.

Museum Collection Centre Visit 

As part of our social activities, Roger Griffiths has arranged for members to visit the Birmingham Museums Collection Centre. This will be a guided tour on Tuesday 21^st March 12.30 to 2.30pm

This is a specially arranged visit to the incredible Birmingham Museums Collection Centre at Dollman Street B7 this coming March. It is the main store for Birmingham Museums, holding around a million items. With only a small percentage of collections on display at Birmingham Museums, or on loan to other organisations – it’s the only place to see collection items not normally on display.

It will be a wonderful opportunity to have a guided tour of some of the amazing collections held in storage – the largest collection centre in the UK!  Everything you can think is housed here from works of art and sculpture to industrial collections, ceramics, taxidermy, motor vehicles, and fashion. It’s really worth a visit.

The Centre is easy to find and parking is plentiful and free so please come along and make this a fun and interesting outing.  Numbers are limited to 15 so please book quickly not to miss out.  The tour will take about 2 hours and include refreshments.

Please call the RBSA Gallery 0121 236 4353 to book your place and pay the fee of just £10.50 per head.