Woking DFAS Talk Programme 2019
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| All Speakers are carefully chosen
based on their reputation for attractive
and well-presented talks with good
pictures. Talks take place on the
second Wednesday of each month except
July and August. |
| Talks commence promptly at
10.30am at
The Lord Roberts Centre,
Bisley Camp,
Brookwood,
Woking
GU24 0NP |
| This
website includes an
Interactive map. |
| Coffee and biscuits are served from
9.45am. |
| Members may bring a visitor, but
the same person may not be a guest more
than twice a year. While we do not
charge a Visitors fee, Visitors may want
to make a donation to the Society of
(say) £5. |
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January
9th 2019 |
Talk:The Age Of Jazz
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The talk will cover the early
years of jazz from its
beginnings through to the start
of the Second World War. The illustrations range from early
pre-impressions by Maurice Ravel
to the very earliest jazz
recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five,
the Duke Ellington Orchestra and
the dawn of the Swing Era. |
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Louis Armstrong |
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Speaker: Sandy
Burnett |
After studying music at St
Catharine’s College, Cambridge
and working as music director
for the RSC, National Theatre
and in London’s West End, Sandy
spent a decade as one of the
core team of music presenters on
BBC Radio 3.
He enjoys a varied career that
embraces broadcasting,
conducting, playing double bass
and communicating his passion
for music. He regularly leads
cultural talk holidays, is
the author of the Idler
Guide to Classical
Music,
and was appointed the Academy of
Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow
for the 2018-19 season. |
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February
13th
2019 |
Talk: Captain James Cook
and the Enlightenment
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The talk explores the impact
of James Cook’s three
extraordinary voyages of
discovery on European thought,
art and science. These voyages
of exploration, begun 250 years
ago, had a profound effect on
enlightenment thinking.
Cook is widely renowned as an
explorer, pioneering navigator
and preventer of scurvy. His
voyages provided unprecedented
information about the Pacific
Ocean and those who lived on its
islands and shores. The talk
is lavishly illustrated with the
exquisite drawings and
watercolours of Sydney
Parkinson, the glorious
paintings of William Hodges and
George Stubbs, the botanising of
Sir Joseph Banks and the
remarkable cartography of James
Cook himself. |
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Speaker: Peter Warwick |
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Peter is an author and
historian who specialises in
naval and polar history. He
chaired the Thames Alive which
in 2012 arranged the Thames
Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the
Thames Olympic Torch Relay.
Peter talks at the Defence
Academy, the National Maritime
Museum, in schools and
universities and on cruise
ships. |
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March
13th 2019 |
Talk: The Paintings and
Wit of Winston Churchill and
Noel Coward
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For over forty years Winston
Churchill discussed painting
with Noel Coward. He persuaded
him to stop using water colour
and to convert to oils. Both men
were peerless in their fields
especially in respect of their
unique creation and use of
humour. The linking of these
great men to compare their
painting and humour is an
inspired subject for a talk. |
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Paintings by Noel Coward (Left)
and Winston Churchill (Above) |
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Speaker Nicholas Reed |
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Nicholas is both an
archaeologist and an art
historian. He took his first
degree at Oxford, and then
acquired research degrees on
ancient history from Manchester
and St Andrews Universities. He
has taken part in some thirty
excavations, and has fifteen
articles published in learned
journals on subjects in ancient
history, especially Roman
history. He has also written on
art history, and has produced
five books on 19th century art |
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April
10th 2019 |
Talk: Who Done It? ....
Hitchcock, The Master Of
Suspense
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The French new wave
critics of Cahiers du Cinema
argued that Hitchcock’s films
should be regarded as artistic
masterworks. He remains by far
the most studied film director
of all time. Using innovative
and experimental techniques with
sound and editing, Hitchcock
thrilled, scared and manipulated
anxiety that made him into a
cinematic genius of his time.
Perhaps one of the best
remembered film clips of all
time is the PSYCO shower scene
that having watched it made it
imperative for you to lock your
bathroom door before taking a
shower,
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Speaker: John Francis |
John is an inspirational speaker
who has delivered speakers,
workshops in the US (Texas,
California, Massachusetts),
Beijing, Malaysia and the UK.
Initially trained as a painter,
John was awarded the Max
Beckmann Memorial Scholarship in
painting in Brooklyn, New York
and went on to be artist in
resident for the state of Texas.
Later in his career John
produced and directed several
short films and animations. He
has taught film, art and
pedagogy at the University of
Exeter, Arts University
Bournemouth, University Sains
Malaysia, Southwestern College,
California, Brunel University,
London and recently Kingston
University. |
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May
8th 2019 |
Talk: The Spirit Of
The Industrial Revolution -
Joseph Wright Of Derby
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In contact with scientists,
intellectuals and manufacturers
of his day, Wright became one of
the most original and
wide-ranging British artists.
His subject matter embraced
candlelight pictures, eruptions
of Vesuvius, landscapes,
portraits, literary subjects,
blacksmiths’ shops, forges and
factories. He has rightly been
called “the first professional
painter directly to express the
spirit of the Industrial
Revolution”. |
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"The Alchemist, in Search of the
Philosopher's Stone" by Joseph
Wright of Derby, 1771 |
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Speaker: Val Woodgate |
Val is a Speaker and Guide in
Tate Britain and Tate Modern and
also at other London galleries.
She is a former member of the
teaching team at Dulwich Picture
Gallery and now talks and
runs courses at Pallant House
Gallery, Chichester.
She is fondly remembered by
Woking for coming from Dulwich
to Bisley with two hours notice
to take the place of a speaker
who was taken ill. |
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June
12th 2019 |
Talk: The Astonishing
Master Mozart Comes To London
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This entertaining and informative
presentation tells of the Mozart
family’s residence in London (1764-5)
when the 8-year old genius, Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, befriended George III
and became the subject of medical
research. Dr Griffiths will illustrate
his talk at the piano with explanations
and performances of Mozart’s witty and
precocious miniatures. |
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Leopold, Wolfgang and Nannerl
Watercolour by Louis Carmontelle, c.
1763-64 |
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Speaker: Dr Graham Griffiths |
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Dr Graham Griffiths is Honorary Research
Fellow and Post-graduate Internal
Examiner at City University London and
is the author of Stravinsky’s Piano:
Genesis of a Musical Language (Cambridge
University Press, 2013). He studied
musicology at Edinburgh University and
music education at Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, obtaining his
doctorate - DPhil (Musicology) - at
Christ Church, Oxford in 2008. |
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July
2019 |
No Talk (Summer
break)
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August 2019 |
No Talk (Summer
break)
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September
11th
2019 |
Talk: Between The Sheets
(The Bedroom in Art History)
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It's the most intimate space
there is. The room in which we
lay bare our souls. It's where
we share our deepest secrets,
and where we hide them. For this
reason, the bedroom has a long
tradition in art history. This
talk explores the diverse ways
in which artists have approached
the subject looking at works
from the medieval period,
through the Renaissance and
right up until the present day.
Do you feel strongly about
Tracey Emin's infamous bed? This
talk is for you! |
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"In Bed, the Kiss" - by Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec 1892 |
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Speaker: Stella Grace Lyons |
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Stella studied the history of
art at the University of Bristol
and is now a freelance speaker
in this subject. She spent a
year studying renaissance art in
Italy at the British institute
of Florence and attended drawing
classes at the prestigious
Charles H. Cecil Studios. |
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October
9th
2019 |
Talk: Food &
Art
Through The Ages: From
Rennaissance Sugar Sculpting To
3D Printing
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You will be taken on a
whistle-stop tour of the history
of food as an artistic medium;
starting with 16th century sugar
sculpture and venturing all the
way up to 3D dessert printing
and beyond. Tasha Marks feels
the subject of food and art
through the ages is most
exciting and in particular in
the realms of the dessert.
Topics covered include; the
origins of dessert, the
crossover between sugar and art,
architecture and dessert
(including Renaissance
banqueting houses), sugar and
spectacle, food as artistic
medium, and the future of food. |
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As part of the Alexander McQueen
Friday Late at the V&A, Marks
wanted to channel
the darkness of McQueen’s designs and created edible black bubbles. |
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Speaker: Tasha Marks |
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Tasha Marks is an award-winning
food historian and artist, who explores
the relationship between food, art and
history. Her practice, AVM Curiosities,
champions the use of food as an artistic
medium, with projects ranging from
museum-style exhibitions and sculptural
installations, to interactive talks
and limited-edition confectionery.
Recent academic achievements include
publication in the Oxford Companion to
Sugar and Sweets, where Marks authored
the entry on Mrs Beeton, one of the
Victorian era’s most influential cooks. |
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November
13th 2019 |
Talk: Mad Men and
Artists: How The Advertising
Industry Exploited Fine Art
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Fine art has provided
advertisers with a great source
to use in their creative
campaigns. Sandy will show
examples of the original works
and the creative process
involved to enhance Brand
imagery projecting admiration,
humour, satire and irony. |
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“Bubbles” by John Everett
Millais
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Speaker: Tony Rawlins |
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Tony Rawlins started his career
in advertising in 1965 as a mail
boy in J. Walter Thompson. He
worked as account director in a
number of agencies before
setting up on his own in 1985,
primarily to handle Guinness
accounts in Africa and the
Caribbean, where he produced
many commercials and ads for
them over a period of 15 years.
He remains active in the
industry, but now concentrates
on more philanthropic projects,
such as a sanitation project in
Haiti after Haiti was devastated
by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. |
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Talk: Peasant Pastimes? The Art
of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (d. 1569)
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2019 will be the 450th anniversary of
the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
This Flemish painter is probably best
known for his colourful depictions of
peasants making merry or toiling in the
fields – works that lent him the epithet
‘Peasant Bruegel’. He also painted
religious scenes often set in the
Flemish countryside, but his work is
more than just charmingly naive. He
travelled to Italy and developed a good
eye for landscape, a genre in which he
became highly influential. This talk
will show that there is much more to
Bruegel than just peasant scenes. |
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Hunters in the snow 1565 by Pieter
Bruegel the elder |
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Speaker: Dr Sophie Oosterwijk |
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Sophie was born in Gouda (Netherlands).
She has an MA in Medieval Studies from
York University, a PhD in Art History
from Leicester University, and an MA and
a PhD in English literature from Leiden
University. She has taught art history
at the universities of Manchester,
Leicester and St Andrews, and is an
active member of the Church Monuments
Society. She now lives in the
Netherlands again but still works as a
freelancer for the University of
Cambridge, the Royal Academy in London,
the Arts Society, Martin Randall Travel
and other organisations. She is an
internationally recognised researcher
and has published widely. |
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Prior Year's Talks |
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To see the activities in
previous years, click on the
year;
2024
/
2023
/
2022
/
2021
/
2020
/
2019 /
2018 /
2017 /
2016 /
2015 /
2014 /
2013 /
2012 /
2011 /
2010 |
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Disclaimer |
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The Arts Society Woking cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss, damage or theft of members' personal property. Members are covered against proven liability of third parties. |
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