KiT 72

Hello!

What a lot to report this month! There’s important information relating to the upcoming AGM, news about members’ exhibitions and achievements, items for sale, recent visits, requests for leading workshops and information about you and your practice.

 

AGM  Sunday 30 April at 2pm
Rob Leckey, Hon Secretary, will be emailing you the AGM papers this week. Please check that you have received them and that they have not diverted to your Junk Mail. We hope you will attend the meeting which will be held in the Gallery. This is your opportunity to comment on the activities of the Society and the Officers opportunity to account to you. Voting for the Candidates for Member and Associate will start on Wednesday 12 April and continue to Sunday 30 April with the last ballot paper being issued at 11.30am. In case you are in any doubt, the current Associates can vote for Candidate Associates and the Members may vote for both Associates and Members.

Lunch is available but you have to book and pay in advance with the Gallery. This is a good opportunity to catch up with old friends and extend your network amongst the membership.

 

Summer Show
The deadline for entering the Summer Show, formally the Open exhibition, is 25 April, 4pm. As a member, you are entitled to submit up to 3 2D works or up to 6 3D works.

More information here. 

 

M&A Small Works Exhibition
The call for the M&A Small Works exhibition is now live on the website here

Applications close on 12 May 4pm.

 

We are looking to expand what we currently offer, and so are asking members to fill out this form HERE so that we know who is, and who isn’t, interested in delivering workshops at the gallery.

 

Artist of the Month
Claire, our Marketing Manager is looking for volunteers to provide text and images for a special monthly feature on social media.

I will continue to introduce new Members and Associates through this platform. I also need your help to do this so those who have not done so yet, please send me some information to include in the KiT.

 

Poiesis and The Secret Life of Plants
Sculptures, paintings and works on paper by Saranjit Birdi.

10th March – 3rd September 2023 at Winterbourne House and Garden.

Saranjit is exhibiting for the first time ‘Poiesis’, a series of metal sculptures, and ‘The Secret Life of Plants’. In these two collections with a botanical theme, he has also taken inspiration from Winterbourne’s garden and herbarium, and from the industrial history of the site.

 

Congratulations to John Scott Martin who has recently been elected a Member of the RBA. 

 

Ballet Drawing
A group of eight RBSA artists were invited to observe and draw two of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Principal Dancers in rehearsal, Lachlan Monaghan and Miki Mizutani.

This incredibly privileged opportunity gave the artists an ‘up close and personal’ chance to draw the dancers working together in practise for their lead roles in Swan Lake at their beautiful rehearsal studio.  Amazing and spell binding simply to watch – the two hours or so of high octane action were a creative challenge for us all – thank you to all the artists who came along and to the dancers for sharing their time and incredible talent with us.

This collaboration between the RBSA and the BRB has been encouraged with enthusiasm by both organisations and a big thank you goes to the organisers Hannah Northam VPRBSA and dancer Lachlan Monaghan of BRB for their joint vision.

Watch this space for the next ballet themed drawing event.

Group photograph shows from L to R;

Saranjit Birdi, Ed Isaacs, Jan Gay, Hannah Northam, Vivienne Cawson, Brian Steventon, Linda Nevill

and from BRB Carmen Piqueras, Lachlan Monaghan and Miki Mitzutani

Photo credit Grahame Wickings.

Thanks go to Hannah Northam for organising the event

 

RBSA visit to Birmingham Museums’ Collection Centre
Roger Griffiths reports –

We spent two hours at the warehouse in Nechells which is full of nearly one million items in storage. It was a fascinating place to visit where we saw a vast range of items ranging from ancient Egyptian artefacts to recent sculpture. We had a brief introduction by a staff member explaining the Collection and then were able to look around at our own pace. There is a wide representation of Birmingham’s industrial and engineering heritage as well as items that were collected from all over the world and have been saved by the Centre.

 

For Sale – Lawrence of London Etching Press
Table model: Printing plate 30 x 60 cm

Condition as new, hardly used, price of this model in Lawrence’s current catalogue (www.lawrence.co.uk) is £1,235

Plus complete set of etching equipment and materials.

5 Etching inks:  500gms Ultramarine, Primrose Yellow, , Sepia,  Intense Black

250gms Alizarin Crimson

Plus – Full set of all necessary etching accessories and sundries, including:

Selection of Intaglio tools; several Copper etching plates 100x150cm; Leather Dabber;

Wide selection of printing papers; Etching ground; Whiting Powder; Stopping-out Varnish; Powdered Resin, etc. etc.

All supplied by Lawrence of London; in nearly new condition because rarely used

Price: £800

 

RBSA Promotion
We have had a small feature in the May edition of The Artist magazine which some of you may have seen. One of the main art magazines, it claims a subscription of approx. 60,000 and is a worldwide publication so it’s very good news for us to have this included.

 

And finally…
The lift is now completed with a very smart electronic system.

We have a new member of staff, Kyrsty Jones  for the front desk on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thank you for reading

Vivienne Cawson VPRBSA