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 Bisley Pavilion, Bisley Camp, Queens Road, Bisley Woking Surrey GU24 0NY 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.

January 8th 2014

Literary Venice (a British love affair)

Speaker: Professor Michael Wheeler MA PhD

Michael Wheeler offers fascinating literary extracts and digital images, many of which are based on drawings by Ruskin and paintings by J.M.W.Turner.

Having briefly outlined the subject of English literary Venice before 1800, Michael considers Romantic Venice, exploring the ways in which Byron, Shelley, Rogers and J. M. W. Turner portrayed Venice in the early nineteenth century.

He then moves on to Recorded Venice and discusses among other writers Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust.

Many of us will remember Michael’s superb talk on Dickens.

Tobias & the angel, Venice
Photo source: Speaker

February 12th 2014

Dreamtime to Machine Time: Aboriginal Art and Culture.

Speaker: Miss Rebecca Hossack BA LLB

In this talk Rebecca Hossack discusses the origins of Aboriginal art in ancient ceremonial designs from the beginning to modern times; the Aboriginal art movement at Papunya in the early 1970s and the subsequent spread across indigenous communities of the Western Desert.

This talk was voted outstanding by the Lightbox and other societies.

Photo source: Wikipedia

March 12th 2014

William Hogarth: A Harlot, a Rake and a Marriage

Speaker: Miss Hilary Williams BA(Hons) MA(Courtauld)

This will be Hilary’s fifth visit to us. This talk will mark 250th anniversary of the artist’s death. William Hogarth (1697-1764) set out to be a great British painter.

He succeeded in becoming a great British printmaker, in tune with the spirit of his age, using prints to reform the vices of his era.

Here, we look at his series of compositions: the Harlot’s Progress; the Rake’s Progress and the Marriage-a-la-mode, with their related drawings, prints and paintings, to see how Hogarth developed his themes for particular markets.

Photo source: Tate Britain

April 9th 2014

Photography as Fine Art

Speaker: Mr Brian Stater BA MSc

We are bombarded by photographs every day, in newspapers, magazines and on television. Should we accept that the very best photographs can be regarded as fine art?

These questions are asked, and answered, in a talk which argues that photography can equal, or exceed, more traditional disciplines in the key genres of portraiture, landscape and still life.

These arguments are illustrated and discussed with reference to the work of some of the acknowledged masters of photography, including Henri Cartier Bresson, Fay Godwin, Bill Brandt, Ansel Adams and Wolfgang Tillmans.

Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' picture, from 1936.
Photo source: Speaker

May 14th 2014

The Big Apple: Architecture of New York

Speaker: Mr Mike Higginbottom BA Med

New York is the site of some of America’s most famous and iconic buildings.

The talk surveys the city’s built environment from the comparatively ancient buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries to the great skyscrapers of the first half of the 20th century and more recent additions to the famous skyline.

It examines the engineering and the virtuoso architecture. Mike Higginbottom returns for the second time to Woking.

Photo source: Wikipedia

June 11th 2014

Masters of the Renaissance: Leonardo and Michelangelo.

Speaker: Mr Leslie Primo BA MA

This is a talk to mark the 450th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo.

We have all heard of the great masters of the Renaissance, Leonardo and Michelangelo and of the speculations regarding the true lives and meanings of their works which have been rife for centuries.

This talk will not only look at the early years of the two great masters, their training and the artists that taught them, but will also provide an insight into their lives. It will look at some of their major works, and will ultimately provide an understanding of these through the historical and social context within which these artists worked.

Leslie Primo is a new speaker to Woking.

Leonardo da Vinci by Francesco Melzi
Photo source: Wikipedia

July 2014

No Talk (Summer break)

August 2014

No Talk (Summer break)

September 10th 2014

Imperial Purple to Denim Blue: (the colourful history of textiles)

Speaker: Dr Susan Kay-Williams BA (Hons) MA PhD FRSA Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework.

Today we take colour in textiles for granted and they are perhaps perceived as nothing more than ephemeral fashion.

However the story of colour in textiles is both complex and fascinating. It was, after all, the textile industry which was the principal contributor to national wealth in many economies.

This story ranges widely across different time periods and geographic locations; it is peopled by skilled craftsmen, adventurers, Popes, rulers and the scientifically curious. It is a story of laws, wars, taxes, prohibitions, secrecy, serendipity and, of course, sex.

Photo source: Speaker

October 8th 2014

Royal and Historic Jewels, from Tsars to Maharajahs, to the Kings and Queens of Europe.

Speaker: Ms Joanna Hardy FGA DGA FRSA.

Joanna is well-known to us from the BBC’s Antique Roadshow.

Kings and Queens, Tsars, Emperors and Maharajahs have all displayed their status, power and wealth through owning and wearing some remarkable gemstones and jewellery. Royal dynasties throughout history have desired these gemstones because many believed them to have divine or magical powers.

Maharajahs of India would not be seen without being bedecked in sumptuous gems. From Catherine the Great to Russia’s master goldsmith Carl Fabergé we will conclude with one of the world’s most famous royal collections that are kept firmly under lock and key at The Tower of London.

Photo source: Speaker

November 12th 2014

War Artists (Paul Nash, CRW Nevinson and the Great War)

Speaker: Dr David Boyd Haycock BA(Hons) MA PhD

Paul Nash and Richard Nevinson were two of the most significant artists to paint the soldiers and battlefields of World War One.
Walter Sickert described Nevinson’s painting La Mitrailleuse (‘The Machine-Gun’, Tate Britain) as probably ‘the most authoritative and concentrated utterance on war in the history of painting’. Another contemporary wrote that Nash’s shattered landscapes seemed to have been ‘torn from the sulphurous rim of the inferno itself.’
This talk will explores the artistic development of these men, and their distinct but related responses to representing in paint an extraordinary, horrific and very modern war. This talk commemorates 100 years since the Great War. It is Dr Haycock’s first visit to Woking.

Photo Paul Nash, source: Wikipedia

December 10th 2014

Christmas Pie

Speaker: Ms Jeanne Dolmetsch LRAM

Jeanne is new to Woking and comes from a famous musical family. This musical talk explores the evolution of Christmas customs and folklore down the ages. We examine holly, mistletoe, fir trees, glass balls, robins, and St Nicholas and experience the bleak times when Christmas was abolished by Oliver Cromwell. And mince pies were illegal.

Photo source: Wikipedia

Current Year's Talks

To see 2016 activities, click here

Prior Year's Talks

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

Disclaimer

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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