Two Lectures by Guy Peploe, grandson of Samuel Peploe and Director of the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

at West Carse Hall, Glencarse. Includes lunch at the Glencarse Hotel

10.30 for 11.00 am start Finish around 3.30 pm

Cost £40 per person

Open to all Members and their guests

To apply: insructions here

3) Deserts and Gardens: The Work of Richard Long and Ian Hamilton Finlay - These two British artists found new ways to articulate very personal visions of the natural world from the 1960s onwards, rejecting traditional modes of representing landscape in favour of a more direct engagement with the  matter of nature itself.  Long has based all his work on the act of walking long  distances, often in wild and remote  natural environments (rather like the itinerant haiku poets of Japan) and has used found natural materials to make very simple abstract ‘drawings’ in these locations, all characterised by an inherent impermanence. Finlay, as much a poet as a visual artist, spent twenty years creating a unique garden on the edge of the Pentland Hills as a setting for his sculptures and inscriptions, which embody his meditations on culture,  political philosophy and poetry.  Finlay’s reverence for the art of Claude brings the theme of these lectures full circle.

2) Space and Spirituality: Paintings by Frederic Edwin Church and Wang Wei - The Romantic approach to the natural world found powerful expression in American landscape painting of the 19th century: spectacular landmarks such as the Niagara Falls were depicted with painstaking realism and on a monumental scale by painters such as Church, whose work expresses religious conviction as well as an engagement with the theory of the Sublime. By contrast, the much older Chinese tradition of landscape painting was rooted in a very different philosophy known as Taoism;  the eighth-century artist and poet Wang Wei and his successors strove to attune themselves to the spiritual energies underlying the natural environment, so that these energies would be directly manifested in their ink-paintings.

1) Timelessness and Transience: Paintings by Claude Lorrain and John Constable - When landscape first emerged as an independent genre in European painting in the 17th century, it often served to articulate an essentially literary, classical vision of the natural world inhabited by mythological figures of antiquity, who themselves represented a ‘golden age’ of timeless harmony.  This vision was  exemplified by the paintings of Claude  Lorrain, whose idealism arguably still  influences our own responses to landscape to this day.   Claude had a profound influence on the art of John Constable almost two centuries later; however, Constable’s passionate attention to the landscape familiar to him from his childhood led him to sacrifice Claude’s ‘timelessness’ for the sake of a wholehearted embrace of transience as the essential quality of the natural world.

Click here for application form

‘Art of the Cartoon’ by Alasdair Hilleary (Loon)

West Carse Hall, Glencarse, PH2 7LX

Two lectures with a two course lunch.  There will also be an option to try some artwork yourself!

a.m.     ‘A personal peep into a portfolio over the past half a century!’

p.m.     ‘And now it’s your turn!’

Alasdair will talk about and attempt to teach a method in  the art of caricaturing, so please bring a sketchpad or book, pencil, eraser and a few crayons or watercolours….. (audience participation is optional)!

Illustration by Alasdair ‘Moor or Less!’ is a painting he did to highlight the effect on animal species over a keepered moor as opposed to one that is left to go wild

Behind the Scenes at The National Trust for Scotland 

Thursday 18th January, Thursday 25th January, and Thursday 1st February 2024 At The Soutar Theatre, The AK Bell Library, Perth 10am for 10.30.

Programme 

Thursday 18th January 2024

10.30am Preparing and Managing an Exhibition With Antonia Laurence-Allen

 Thursday 25th January 2024

10.30am Taking a House into Care With Emma Inglis

 Thursday 3rd February 2022

10.30am Inventorising our Scottish Plant Collection With Dr Anna Florence

A two lecture Study Day with lunch from antique furniture expert, Dr Sebastian Pryke, FSA (Scot) - 'At The Sign of the Pelican', Cupar, Fife.

Friday 27th October 2023, 10.30 am for 11.00 am start.  Expected finish around 3.30 pm.

At West Carse Hall, Main Street, Glencarse, PH2 7LX

Lecture 1 – Looking at special features of Scottish furniture, with reference to the makers, materials, and methods in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.   Some pieces will be brought for display. 

Lecture 2 – Exploring the history and significance of furnishings and interiors of famous Scottish houses with an emphasis on Amisfield House, Dumfries House and Hopeton House.

'Scottish Jewellery and our Passion for Pearls' click here for the application form.

A two lecture Study Day, with lunch, from jewellery expert Clare Blatherwick

Friday 18th March 2022 at 10.30am for 11.00am start. Expected finish around 3.30pm.

At West Carse Hall, Main Street, Glencarse, PH2 7LX

Lecture 1 - Jewellery in Scotland will cover from Mary Queen of Scots’ jewellery to the modern day. Looking at pieces in public and private collections and shown in portraits. It will also examine the expertise of Scottish goldsmithing and jewellery making.

Lecture 2 – Will consider our passion for pearls, dating back to 4000 BC. It will look at a variety of pearls, how they are found and show some of the most famous items of pearl jewellery.

Alexander, Goudie, Roberts Burns and Tam o' Shanter

Professor Alan Riach

Alan Riach is a professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He studied English at Cambridge University. He is also a poet in his own right.  He is currently very involved in saving Brownsbank Cottage near Biggar for posterity.  Brownsbank Cottage was the home of Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid and his wife, Valda. Alan will speak to us briefly about the literary importance of the Brownsbank project.

Alan was a family friend of Alexander Goudie. He will speak us through the wild, pulsating and tumultuous paintings of the Burns poem, Tam o' Shanter, created by Alexander Goudie. Alexander Goudie was an eminent Scottish painter and art school teacher, but he was fascinated by the Tam o' Shanter character so vividly brought to life by Burns in his poem. These huge, fantastic paintings are a tour de force...as was their author. Alan will help us to understand the enormity of ideas and philosophies underlying these amazing paintings and the words of Robert Burns.

Alan is also currently involved in the conservation of Hugh MacDiarmid's former home, Brownsbank Cottage, near Biggar and he will speak to us briefly about the Scottish literary importance of the Brownsbank project.

Frames Gallery 40 Years Retrospective.

Hugh Goring

40 years ago, Hugh and Julie Goring established the seed of their future business in the world of art. Starting off with framing art work, the business moved on to become a small, vibrant Art Gallery.  Since then, Frames Art Gallery has become a Perth and Scottish icon. Many people reading this will have enjoyed visiting the gallery, being invited to a private view and will have works bought there hanging on their walls. Sadly, Hugh and Julie are retiring, and their beautiful Art Gallery is for sale.

TAST is very lucky to have Hugh giving us a lecture on the past 40 years of running a successful art gallery, including stories, anecdotes and most of all, the story of how Frames Gallery helped many young artists become well known and successful in the highly competitive world of selling their art. 

The Art and Technology of Contemporary Digital Photography

Dr Tom Ryan

Tom is a PhD Physicist. After moving to Perth in 2013, he became president of the Perthshire Photographic Society (PPS) and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science (PSNS) where he runs the Curious Minds lecture series.

Tom travelled extensively during his career and always carried a camera. The Photo Society opened his eyes to the possibility that digital photography could be an art form. Tom has spent much of the last 8 years developing his own unique photographic style in an attempt to capture the experience of being in a busy urban environment at night. Tom also became interested in how the invention of photography influenced Modern Art and vice versa. In this talk he will trace some of the common threads that link artists in their studios, early photographers in their darkrooms and contemporary photographers using Photoshop.

Set in 66 Queen Street in Edinburgh, a house in Edinburgh’s New Town, the book tells the story of the people and events associated with the House over 210 years from 1790.  Their lives were empowered by the Scottish Enlightenment.  The diverse characters range from heroes to villains, and from people of conscience to subjects of tabloid scandal and moral prurience!  Edinburgh emerges to become the intellectual, banking, and professional capital of a modern Scotland.  This is a story of how the city has been shaped but above all it is about the people – some masters of their circumstances – and others, prisoners.

This is a fascinating book recounted by John Fulton, a lawyer, who worked at Number 66 for 27 years. 

Thursday 4 February

Scotland's Greatest Treasure Trove:  The Collections of the Dukes of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace

As successive Dukes built up a superlative collection of painting, sculpture and decorative art, Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire became Scotland’s greatest treasure house. Reversals of fortune led to the dispersal of these collections across the globe before Hamilton Palace itself was demolished in the 1920s and 30s.

Godfrey Evans is the internationally acknowledged authority on the Hamilton Collection: his book on the subject is due to be published in 2022.

            The Hamilton-Rothschild Tazza, circa 1812, ©National Museums Scotland

Thursday 28 January 

The Storrar Coverlet: Artistic Links between Scotland and Sweden in the 18th century

Acquired in 2019 from the Storrar family in Fife, the Storrar Coverlet, a double weave woollen textile dated 1729, embodies the transmission of motifs and techniques in a complex history of manufacture and trade, uncovering a common heritage connecting Scotland to the Baltic and beyond, from Viking times to the 18th century.

Helen Wyld is the author of Embroidered Stories: Scottish Samplers.

Detail from The Storrar Coverlet, 1729, ©National Museums Scotland

Thursday 21st January 

Scottish Furniture: Responding to English and Continental European Influences 

The balance of influence from England, France and elsewhere on Scottish furniture changed between the 16th and 18th centuries, from the anonymous makers of Scotland’s Renaissance vernacular, to the workshops of classical Edinburgh, competing with the finest London cabinet makers.

Stephen Jackson is working on the first comprehensive history of furniture in Scotland, due to be published in 2022.

Caquetoire chair, Kincardineshire, 1652, ©National Museums Scotland

SPACES ARE AVAILABLE for this AREA visit to see the Great Houses & Gardens of South East Ireland

Monday 28 September to Thursday 1 October 2020

The tour will visit Powerscourt House whose gardens have been voted among the finest in theh world.

Russborough House, home to Sir Alfred And Lady Beit's art collection

The spectacular Curraghmore House, anecestral home of the Marquesses of Waterford.

And finally Castletown House, Eire's first and arguably finest Palladian house and the flagship restoration project of the Irish Georgian Society.

FULL details and further information on this visit can be viewed by clicking here or by visiting the Area Website.

UPDATE - As of Sunday 15 March the Committee has decided to cancel this event due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus.  The Study Day will be rescheduled at a later.

Fife based artist Leo du Feu is inspired by landscape and nature.  He is a keen conservationist and volunteer bird surveyor; and wildlife, particularly birds, appears often in his work.

Leo will give us an illustrated talk looking at his artistic journey through childhood and art college before focusing in detail on his art and nature travels since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2006.  In particular, Leo will share his ongoing Scotland by Rail project in which he is supported by ScotRail to sketch and paint around the country, blogging as he goes.  He will also talk about his annual painting weeks on the Isle of May.

After lunch and time to chat, Leo will offer us a practical demo of the materials he takes out on his sketching trips.  Using watercolour, ink, pencil and pen he will demonstrate ‘sketching the Scottish landscape’.  There will be plenty of time for questions throughout.  Leo’s two books on Scotland and Canada will be available to browse or buy as will greeting cards and a folder of original artworks. 

For more information on the Study Day and details on how to apply, please click here.

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

3 - Thinking on Paper:  250 Years of Scottish Drawing by Charlotte Topsfield

The Scottish National Gallery, home to the world’s most important collection of Scottish art, is currently undergoing an extensive renovation which will triple its available exhibition space for Scottish art, transform the visitor experience, and enable the realisation of the collection’s full potential, helping the public understand both the history and the impact of Scottish art nationally and internationally.

Curators from the National Galleries of Scotland will reassess highlights from the paintings and the drawings collection, and introduce the new setting in which they will be displayed.  

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

2 - The Scottish National Gallery Project by Dr Patricia Allerston

The Scottish National Gallery, home to the world’s most important collection of Scottish art, is currently undergoing an extensive renovation which will triple its available exhibition space for Scottish art, transform the visitor experience, and enable the realisation of the collection’s full potential, helping the public understand both the history and the impact of Scottish art nationally and internationally.

Curators from the National Galleries of Scotland will reassess highlights from the paintings and the drawings collection, and introduce the new setting in which they will be displayed.  

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

1 - Highlights of the National Collection by Christopher Baker

The Scottish National Gallery, home to the world’s most important collection of Scottish art, is currently undergoing an extensive renovation which will triple its available exhibition space for Scottish art, transform the visitor experience, and enable the realisation of the collection’s full potential, helping the public understand both the history and the impact of Scottish art nationally and internationally.

Curators from the National Galleries of Scotland will reassess highlights from the paintings and the drawings collection, and introduce the new setting in which they will be displayed.  

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

SPACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR THIS VISIT - please click here to be directed to the Area Website for further information and application form.

11.30 to 12.45

Auditorium, National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

Dramatic highland landscapes, heroic histories, tartan and bagpipes are among the defining images of Scotland for many people today. From the Romantic movement of the 18th and early 19th centuries to Queen Victoria’s highland idyll at Balmoral, Wild & Majestic, The National Museum of Scotland’s new exhibition, considers the origins of these ideas and explores how they were used to represent Scotland around the world, expressed through military and highland dress, royal visits, art, literature and the beginnings of the Scottish tourism industry. Exhibition curator Rosie Waine will set the historical context for this intriguing story before museum conservators discuss the behind the scenes work undertaken on the treasures displayed within the exhibition.

The Arts Society Tayside and V&A Dundee are delighted to invite you to this special event at the Juniper Auditorium, V&A Dundee.

Doors open 6.15pm with the event ending around 9.15pm.

For full details of the evening and of how to apply for tickets (priced £15) please click here.

Mark Lane LVO, Gardens Manager to the London Palaces, The Royal Household joins us for a Study Day at Glencarse (to include lunch).

In the morning Mark will tell us about the Buckingham Palace Garden - the history and evolution of the site, followed by conservation works with a selection of choice plants that are grown there.  In the afternoon our talk will concentrate on the trees in the Palace garden and how important they are in the urban landscape.

To find out more of what this exciting and informative day will hold, please click here. 

Click here for application form

Click here for application form

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

3 - Silver and the Making of Scotland

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

2 - Silver in Early Medieval Art

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

A K Bell Library - 10.30 coffee, 11.00am start

1 - From Classical Silver to Celtic art

Please click the attached application form for all three lectures.

We are excited to be working with colleagues at V & A Dundee, Scotland’s new international design museum to create a special event in celebration of NADFAS/The Arts Society’s close connection with V & A since our foundation, our contributions to Scotland’s Museums and Galleries during this time and our Golden Jubilee.

There will be an introductory lecture, lunch and tours of the Ocean Liners: Speed and Style  Exhibition and the Scottish Galleries.

Booking forms and further details will be available on the AREA website from 12 October - please click here to go to that site.

The Incorporation of Goldsmith’s  “Elements: A Festival of Jewellery, Silver & Gold will take place from 19 – 21 October 2018 and will bring the finest UK-based designer-makers together for a selling fair, an exhibition, and a series of events.

The Arts Society has been allocated the first Private View and there will be coffee and cakes, a talk from one of the curators.

Elements will be held in the stunning Lyon & Turnbull auction rooms in Broughton Street, Edinburgh.

Booking form and further details available on the Area website from 6th September

Hanne returns to Tayside by popular demand. 

No highway in the world is as laden with romance and adventure as The Silk Road.  We will travel 4,000 miles in a 3 hour lecture with Hanne, discovering the exotic and the mysterious.  It will be full of adventures and surprises; covering twelve centuries of trade and ongoing archaeological discoveries.

Click here for an application form.

6pm-7pm Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.

followed by

7pm-8.30pm at The Scottish National Gallery a private view of the exhibition  

'Rembrandt, Britain’s Discovery of the Master'

This exclusive new exhibition will only be shown in Edinburgh. It tells the story of the British discovery of Rembrandt by collectors and artists. We are most grateful to The National Galleries of Scotland for opening the Gallery specially for us.

For further information and booking form please click here.

TIME TBC

From Maggies Culture Crawl in Edinburgh website:

“Register now for an evening of fun, food and culture. Venues, entertainment food and drink will be released in due course but dont miss your opportunity to walk with your friends for another fantastic evening all in aid of Maggie’s Edinburgh.

The 2017 event saw over 450 walkers join us for a behind-the-scenes experience of some of Edinburgh’s most iconic landmarks. Starting with a curry at George Heriot’s School the Culture Crawlers set out on a tour across Edinburgh that took in 10 iconic buildings over a 10km route. From Edinburgh Central Mosque to Dynamic Earth and Old St Paul’s Church the participants enjoyed an evening of culture, cracking cookery, craft beers thanks to our generous sponsors and venues, all to raise money to help people with cancer.”

The 2018 event is set to be bigger and better than ever, plans are well underway, if you would like to join our Team Gold please see below.

It costs £20 per person to register and we are each asked to try and raise £100 sponsorship

Please note, Maggies will be holding Culture Crawls in Aberdeen on 21st June and in Glasgow on 28th September.

For further information please check the Area website.

At 11am a Private View of Craft Scotland’s Summer Show, a selling exhibition of the work of 39 makers, chosen from 90 applicants from all over Scotland

There will be an introduction from one of the Craft Scotland Executives, coffee and cake and visitors will have an opportunity to browse the stalls, speak to the makers and purchase items.

Booking form available on 25th June

Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery of Scotland

Booking form available on 23rd April

THE ARTS SOCIETY TAYSIDE IS HOSTING

A GOLDEN JUBILEE LUNCH OR DINNER

ON TUESDAY 24TH APRIL 2018  

AT BROOMHALL HOUSE - KY11 3DU

by kind permission of the Earl of Elgin

Members are invited to celebrate 50 years of NADFAS with a visit to Broomhall House, home of the Earls of Elgin for 300 years. Lord Bruce will give us a short presentation followed by a tour of the recently restored house and the new museum.

Due to a restriction on numbers Members are asked to attend EITHER for the morning visit beginning at 11.00am followed by lunch OR the early evening visit beginning at 6.00pm followed by dinner. Both morning and evening visits will be identical.

MORNING TIMINGS

11.00am          arrival at Broomhall (own transport) Coffee and shortbread on arrival

11.30am          Presentation by Lord Bruce followed by tour

12.45 pm         celebratory glass of prosecco

1.00 pm           2 course lunch with a glass of wine

2.00 pm           cut celebration cake & coffee

3.00 pm           depart

EVENING TIMINGS

6.00 pm           arrival at Broomhall (own transport) Celebratory glass of prosecco with                                 canapes

6.30 pm           Presentation by Lord Bruce followed by tour

8.00 pm           2 course meal with a glass of wine

9.00 pm           cut celebration cake & coffee

10.00 pm         depart

The caterers are Wilde Thyme. The cost for tickets for either event is £50.00 per member.

Click here to download an application form.

Disease and how it is perceived and depicted by artists can tell us something very fundamental about what it is to be human. It tells us how we respond to the fear of the unknown, of disability and death.

It also tells us about the fundamental human need to believe in something greater than oneself as a source of comfort and support.

This lecture explores how artists have tackled these difficult themes in relation to epidemic infectious diseases such as leprosy, smallpox, AIDS and Ebola! It recognises how artists can remain remarkably positive amidst suffering. All is not doom and gloom!

Click here for an application form

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF AN ENLIGHTENMENT SCOT: WILLIAM HUNTER AND THE ANATOMY OF THE MODERN MUSEUM 

A K Bell Library - 11.00am

3 Object Lessons; William Hunter’s Legacy

Teaching was all-important to Hunter – he understood his chief legacy to be the successful careers of his students, whether those doctors who established the first medical school in America or the artists who he taught as the first Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy in London. This talk will examine how Hunter’s ideas and his museum influenced his immediate successors. These influences continue, as does the tangible legacy of his bequest to the University of Glasgow. Learning with objects is as important in the 21st century as it was in the 18th. 

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF AN ENLIGHTENMENT SCOT: WILLIAM HUNTER AND THE ANATOMY OF THE MODERN MUSEUM

A K Bell Library - 11.00am

2 Making, Collecting and Knowing in an Enlightenment Museum

In this lecture, Mungo Campbell will examine William Hunter’s motivations to collect and preserve the collections which he passed on to us. From the outset, Hunter’s museum was intended to be far more than the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ so familiar from earlier collectors.  Founded on his own work as an anatomist and strongly influenced by a powerful belief in the communicative powers of art, Hunter’s collection was ground-breaking in a number of ways which are still important in the 21st century. 

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF AN ENLIGHTENMENT SCOT: WILLIAM HUNTER AND THE ANATOMY OF THE MODERN MUSEUM

A K Bell Library - 11.00am

1 The Hanoverian World of William Hunter

William Hunter, the founder of The Hunterian at The University of Glasgow, was one of the most important medical figures in 18th-century Britain. He grew up and was educated in the west of Scotland before settling in London in the 1740s. This lecture will examine the social and intellectual world in which Hunter worked, taught and collected, exploring the global exchange of objects and ideas which extended from new Hanoverian centres of learning in Germany to the colonies of North America and the newly explored countries of the Pacific.   

Click here for application form

A very special opportunity to preview the refurbished Perth Theatre and its stunning new extension, in the company of

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee

and

Richard Murphy, OBE of Richard Murphy Architects, designers of the Perth Theatre project

Philip and Richard will each give a talk on the design considerations and purpose of their buildings in Perth and Dundee respectively. They will also discuss the impact of their buildings and the forging of a wider Tayside cultural landscape and identity.

6.15pm    Open viewing of Perth Theatre’s public spaces

7.00pm    Welcome and Introduction 

7.15pm    Perth Theatre - Richard Murphy OBE

8.00pm    V&A Dundee - Philip Long

8.45pm    Interval with a glass of fizz. Meet the speakers and other guests from                        Perth Theatre, V&A Dundee and The Arts Society Tayside

9.15pm     Discussion and Q&A with Magnus Linklater CBE in the Chair

Tickets £10 each. Please note, due to limited availability tickets will be limited to two per application. Tickets will be available to book from Monday 25 September.

To book tickets, please call the Horsecross Arts Box Office on 01738 621031 and quote the code TDNOW. Tickets will also be available to book at www.horsecross.co.uk, and you will be able to find the event using the calendar on the right-hand side of the homepage. Please be advised, you will be prompted to enter the code above when booking online. 

Bernard Williams is Director of Christie's Scotland

Click here for an application form

at St. Martins Hall, Balbeggie, PH2 6EZ

10.30am for 11.00 start 

The Day Parliament Burned Down: the terrific story of the terrible fire which destroyed the 800 year old Palace of Westminster in 1834 as told through contemporary depictions including Turner.

Mr Barry’s Great Work: the story of how Charles Barry created the new Houses of Parliament, one of the most famous and staggering buildings in the world.

From Bombing and Rebuilding to Restoration and Renewal.

Charlotte Topsfield, Senior Curator of British Drawings and Prints, will explore the inspiration McTaggart drew from Constable, both in terms of his technique and more widely in his life as an artist, with particular reference to Constable’s The Vale of Dedham and McTaggart’s The Storm, both of which will form a display with the Tate’s touring Constable Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows at the Scottish National Gallery from April 2017.

Tico Seifert, Senior Curator of Northern European Art, will focus on Rembrandt’s A Woman in Bed, presenting 3 strands of its history – that of the object itself, the enigmatic subject matter, and the painting’s life in Britain – with reference to prints and drawings in the National Galleries of Scotland collection.

A Grand Tour of 100 Masterpieces from the NGS 

Sir John Leighton,  Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, will talk us through this published personal selection of 100 masterpieces from the collection, intended to evoke its special character, its distinctive interplay between Scottish and international art as well as the many conversations that it establishes between the art of the past and the present.

……each of the two subsequent lectures will focus on one or two of the 100 Masterpieces

Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw by John Singer Sargent courtesy of NGS

Edinburgh jewellers, Denzil Skinner & Partners provide a personal service in the design and creation of bespoke jewellery and silver commissions.

In the morning Denzil Skinner and Amanda Egerton-King, who between them have over 40 years’ experience, used their expertise to guide us through the process of designing from new, and redesigning unworn jewellery.  After lunch there was a question and answer session and members were invited show pieces of silver or jewellery they had brought along for Denzil and Amanda to discuss. 

A luncheon lecture at Ballathie House Hotel, Meikleour with Guest Speaker Vivien Hamilton

Vivien is Research Manager for Art, Glasgow Museums and Honorary Research Fellow in History of Art at the University of Glasgow

Jo’s lecture described the evolving potting shapes of the l7th Century, from when Delft vessels which were for use only ‘as far as the buttery’, to the multiplicity of shapes that mirrored the more luxurious and sophisticated lifestyle of the l8th Century. She touched on the superb quality of Josiah Wedgwood’s achievements; the lustrous lead glazes of the Staffordshire potters and the wide range of Staffordshire figures made to commemorate anything from a murder to bear-baiting. Porcelain of this period mirrors the social history of the 18th century. Jo brought a selection of her own collection to discuss.

After lunch there was an identification session when members were invited to bring along any ‘pots’ (pieces of pottery or porcelain as old as possible) that they wanted Anthony and Jo to discuss.

Jo worked for many years in the European Ceramic Department at Sotheby’s in London where she became head of British Ceramics. It was there that she met her husband, Anthony, who for 38 years worked for Sotheby’s in Scotland, first in Glasgow and then from Edinburgh.   

Brian Wilton’s first presentation was on the global symbolism of tartan that sees Scotland’s ‘gift to the world’ used as identifiers for the Falkland Islands and Oor Wullie; for the FBI and the Canadian Mounties. In the afternoon he focussed on the fascinating history of Highland dress and all its accoutrements – their historical roots and modern manifestations — under and over the kilt!

In the course of helping to establish and manage the Scottish Tartans Authority, Brian has become a leading expert in the field of tartan and Highland dress. His ambassadorial role for the academic and commercial interests of Scotland’s iconic tartans and its national dress, has taken him as far apart as the Arctic Circle, New York, Moscow, Tokyo and many places between. He is regarded as one of today’s leading tartan designers with a portfolio of many major commissions and was awarded an MBE in 2013 for ‘Services to the Tartan Industry in Scotland.’