8 minute read
Arts & Antiques
Battle over militaria at Mendip Auction Rooms
ATtheir August sale of Antiques and Collectables, Killens saw a good entry of militaria attract keen global interest with some excellent prices achieved. An entry of muskets were welcomed with strong room and online bidding with a late 18th century/early 19th century flint lock musket achieving £2450 and an 1853 percussion musket realising £1300.
There was strong Middle Eastern interest for an Omani Buckler shield with telephone and online bidding and after a fierce battle, a price of £1700 was realised, well above estimate. A WWII Japanese presentation samurai sword dated 1945 made £650.
Contemporary art continues to generate interest and a signed Lowry lithograph entitled “The Cart” also led to strong bidding of all forms and made £4600. Jewellery and silver were also in demand with a strong attendance of buyers. In September, four sales are being held. On September 7th, there will be a sale of Victorian and Later Effects with an excellent entry of high quality musical equipment whilst at the sale of Antiques and Collectables on September 11th, there will be an entry of watches and clocks. On September 30th, there will be the bi-annual sale of Sporting Items, Fine Wines and Spirits and entries are invited. Valuations can be undertaken on a drop-in basis at the auction rooms between 10am and 3pm each weekday and Killens have professional valuers and experts on hand to advise. Alternatively, our valuers are able to conduct free home visits.
Contact the team at Killens on 01749 840770 or email enquiries@mendipauctionrooms.co.uk for further assistance
Open studios will be just that!
SOMERSET Open Studios offers art lover the opportunity to meet around 50 artists and makers across Mendip who will be showcasing their work in private, pop-up and community spaces across the area.
The event – from Saturday, September 18th until Sunday, October 3rd –presents a rare opportunity to engage with established and emerging artists for free and find out how they work and what inspires them.
Building on last year’s Digital Open Studios, it will include online resources enabling people to plan studio visits and engage safely with the artist. An accompanying programme will include artist residencies, demonstrations, workshops and talks.
Amongst those taking part will include contemporary textile artist Alice Kettle, who will be in residence at the Somerset Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury. See her working on a new Somerset Art Works supported project, Thread Bearing Witness, which explores cultural heritage and migrant movement. Trained as a painter, Alice uses tiny stitches to form colourful images.
Drawing on four years of travel around Britain, David Abram’s aerial photographs reveal ancient sites hiding from our sight, ranging from Neolithic tombs to Iron Age crannogs. Visit his Frome studio to see large-format pieces, browse a selection of giclée prints and stock up on greetings cards.
Landscape artists Amanda Bee and Miguel Ornia-Blanco will be showing their work at the Silk Mill in Marchant’s Barton, while the Black Dog Studios in Wells will display work by several artists including sculptor Martin Cody and Philippa Threlfall, known for her textured ceramic murals.
Alice Kettle’s Ground
For details, visit www.somersetartworks.org.uk or contact Paul Newman on paul.newman@somersetartworks.org.uk or call: 07715 528441
Guild members “inspired” by lockdown
THE Somerset Guild of Craftsmen is proud to present its “Inspiration in Isolation” exhibition. The exhibition coincides with Somerset Open Studios and will be located in the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen gallery at 23a Broad St, Wells (through the archway by Pickwicks café) from Saturday, September 18th until Sunday, October 3rd. Focussing on the many Batik by Lesley Fawcett different responses to the first UK lockdown, its members’ work reflects their reactions to a different world around us all. By no means all positive, the exhibition shows honest responses to the situation: the peace, the tranquility and, for some, the loneliness and separation.
A spokesperson for the guild said: “Inspiration in Isolation shows us how, in creativity, our crafters found solace, hope, positivity and an essential therapy in a time when there were ‘too many tomorrows’ and deadlines, for many, were nonexistent.”
A journey of rediscovery
POTTER Christine-Ann Richards is probably best known for her delicate Oriental-influenced porcelain or her oversized statement pieces loved by interior and garden designers.
But the artist, who is based in Wanstrow, near Frome, has found herself returning to much simpler, thrown pieces using her hand building clay – and enjoying the simplicity of throwing for the first time in 50 years!
She will be showing her new work alongside her other pieces during Somerset Open Studios when she will welcome visitors to the former Methodist chapel which is both home and studio. Christine-Ann was inspired to go back to her roots by a friend, Sara Pearch, herself a former potter who is now a flower arranger and who asked Christine-Ann if she could visit to make some pots.
Christine-Ann and her new work
SAW
Venue 123
Christine-Ann Richards
Chapel House, High Street, Wanstrow BA4 4TE
Open 11 –5pm Closed Monday & Tuesday
christineannrichards.co.uk mail@christineannrichards.co.uk
Chew Valley showcase
CHEWValley Arts Trail is celebrating its 19th year with a planned return to a real event on October 9th and 10th. Exhibitors are looking forward to welcoming visitors after having to operate virtually last year. Organiser, Sandy Bell, said: “Whilst there were hundreds of views from far and wide, which opened us Shells by Sheila Steel up outside the Valley, there’s nothing like the personal interaction between the creative people and those coming to see the work, to browse, perhaps to buy, but certainly to be inspired by the talent that exists all across our beautiful Valley.
“As usual, we have an array of talented people preparing for the trail, including some new participants. I’m confident there will be something for every taste, from traditional art works through to the most modern of styles.
Stitchers showcase their work
BACKin February the Embroiderers’ Guild decided to change the way it operates and now no longer supports a countrywide network of local branches. Members of Avalon branch voted to become an independent stitch group and Avalon Stitchers was born. Murmurations by Maggie Sutton They are an enthusiastic group with considerable skills and expertise between them, who enjoy learning from each other as well as well-known guest tutors.
The new group will be officially launched at its exhibition Above and Beyond at Wells and Mendip Museum, launched on Saturday, October 9th and then open October 12-16th, 10am-4pm, (Covid permitting), where members will be showcasing recent “lockdown” work.
The group meets at Ashcott Village Hall usually on the fourth Saturday of the month, 10am-4pm, and welcomes new members.
Details: Sue 01278 723644 www.avalonstitchers.org
SOUGHT BY LOCAL COLLECTOR STAMP COLLECTIONS, ALBUMS AND POSTAL HISTORY
PLEASE CONTACT IAN APPLIN HOME (after 7pm): 01275 331821 • MOBILE: 07768 093576 EMAIL: ipakeeper@gmail.com
Signs of the times –now popular with collectors
Thefast-paced and transient world of today’s digital advertising, all kilobytes and pixels clamouring for attention in the ether, is a world away from the promotional tools employed by businesses a hundred years ago. From the late 19th century to the 1950s, the most commonly used forms of advertising were enamel signs.
Displayed on the soot blackened walls of shops and railway stations the length and breadth of the country, their colourful artwork and snappy slogans proclaimed the names of the wellknown brands of yesteryear and the superlative qualities of their various products – from Brooke Bond Tea and huntley & Palmer biscuits to Lifebuoy soap and Brasso metal polish.
With their crisp lettering and instantly recognisable images, many were sophisticated early examples of graphic design but the advent of commercial television in 1955 quickly rendered them obsolete and their place was taken by the ubiquitous advertising hoardings of today.
But the story doesn’t end there. Nowadays, enamel advertising signs are a popular field of collecting. Probably the bestknown – and one which always creates a stir when it appears at auction – is for Five Boys Chocolate.
Made by Fry’s in Bristol, the chocolate bar was a mainstay of the nation’s sweet shops for nearly a century. The famous sign shows five images of the same boy going through the full gamut of emotions from tearful state of chocolate-less desperation to joyful realisation “It’s Fry’s”.
Based on photographs taken in 1886 the boy featured was five-year-old Lindsay Poulton, the son of the photographer.
Many years later, when Lindsay was an old man, a newspaper tracked him down to see if he had any recollections
With CHRIS YEO
of modelling for the legendary sign. Oh, indeed he did. his father had difficulty getting him to show the required degree of desperation and achieved the effect by tying an ammonia-soaked cloth around the boy’s neck! happily, not all his memories of the day were so painful: Fry’s paid a staggering £200 (over £25,000 today) for the photographs. Nowadays an original Five Boys sign will set you back a great deal more than that –around £3,000 in good condition.
