Tuesday Group gets crafty!

Well, thankfully April brought us some better weather, lighter evenings, and a good turn out of members and guests for our April meeting! Before introducing our 'guest' it was a pleasure to announce that we have recruited a new Secretary and Treasurer of the Tuesday Group Committee, whose predecessors are stepping down after faithfully serving the group for several years.

We then welcomed Ann Fagan, a noted artist, who came to demonstrate the art of Lino Printing. She began by explaining how she first became interested in the process, having trained as a painter at Harrow and Hornsey schools of art, plus three further years at intermediate level resulting in a National Diploma in Design. She went on to specialise in painting and achieved her Art Teachers Certificate. Marrying a teacher, Ann went into teaching herself, but after her son was born the family moved to Kenya to teach at a boarding school. Returning to the UK after four years, Ann took a teaching post in Sussex where she stayed for the next 30 years! After moving to Somerset she started printmaking again at the Dove Studio and Strode College. She showed many examples of her stunning and thought provoking work, and cards and notelets of her prints were available for sale.

It was then time to get 'stuck in' and Ann demonstrated some simple printing techniques inviting budding artists from the floor to have a go! There was a lot of interest and some amazing results!

Many questions from the floor continued while refreshments were served, and Ann explained that much of her work now is inspired by the Somerset landscape and is developed from observational drawings and her own photographs. Feelings of space and the patterns and textures made by land, trees, water and the birds in the sky are important elements of her work, and I think this was truly evident. Ann is a member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen and exhibits regularly in Somerset Arts Week.

The Tuesday Group is a ladies social group drawing from Drayton, Curry Rivel, Muchelney, Fivehead, Langport and beyond, and meets on the third Tuesday each month at 7.30 pm in the Drayton Village Hall. Annual membership is only £10, or come and try for a guest fee of just £2.50 per meeting. For further information please contact either Barbara Lancey on 01458 252657, email barbaralancey@hotmail.com, or Aideen Roche on 01458 252022, email aideenroche@btinternet.com.