Category: Art

One of our Knit and Chat Group members reports, “In 2008 I started knitting for the charity Knit-a-Square Gauteng South Africa.  Knitted squares are sent to a collection of grandmothers (gogos) who sew them together to make blankets.  These gogos come from an extremely vulnerable population who care for their orphaned grandchildren.  The temperature at…

So many members wanted a guided visit to Kenwood House, the former home of several Lords and the home of the Iveagh Bequest (a collection of famous works of art) that two visits had to be organised. Members had enjoyed an Art History course run by Jennifer which featured many of the artists to be…

Our photography group met on Tuesday 07 May 2024 for a session dealing with the digital aspects of photography in the 2020s. One of the key inputs came from Simon D’Entremont, a professional wild life photographer based in Eastern Canada, who has an extremely useful and informative YouTube Channel. We chose his video on choosing…

Our group of keen photographers met on Tuesday 02 April 2024 for another discussion session which covered the differences between photography as a hobby versus a useful activity, and whether the amateur photographer is more interested in the pictures or in the equipment used to make the pictures. Several award winning photographs were shown. We…

Our course of lectures delivered by Jennifer came to a close on 22 March 2024 with an investigation of the role of art in the various wars we have seen in history. Many of the examples were taken from the Art Gallery within the Imperial War Museum, which itself has an interesting history. We started…

Our series of talks on British Art got a boost on 08 March 2024 with two speakers addressing our members. First was our member Diana who, as a guide to the Guildhall Art Gallery, spoke about the history of the gallery. The Guildhall has been at the centre of the City of London since 1411,…

On Tuesday 05 March 2024 our photography group continued with a number of interesting items. We started with technically difficult subjects like waterfalls – a still image cannot really render moving water, but we learned a number of tricks that can help us give the required illusion. There was also talk of lenses and their…

The Speaker at our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 28 February 2024 was John Cooper, who is an ‘Explainer’ for English Heritage at Kenwood House in the North West London. John had lived in Kenton, and had addressed Kenton & District u3a when all its Monthly Meetings were being held on Zoom during the Covid Lockdown.…

Our series of lectures on British Art and Artists continued on Friday 23 February with the history of the Tate Galleries and the British artists of 19th Century, and how their work differed from that in the previous century. We started with the history of the Tate Britain gallery, showing how the area had been…

Our programme of lectures on Art in London Galleries with Jennifer continued on Friday 09 February 2024 with some surprises along the way. This week we started with a brief history of the National Portrait Gallery and the movements in location of the Gallery from its founding in 1854, until it arrived in its present…