Chairman’s Newsletter
October 2021
I hope everyone has had a good summer and you are keeping safe and well during these unusual times.
Please read this letter carefully. We are going to try to return to “business as normal” but it will be with some changes. Meetings will now be in more spacious halls, for obvious reasons. This might mean we have also had to alter the usual time and day.
Summer Exhibition – Art on the Railings
As you know we reluctantly decided to cancel this year’s Scout Hall Exhibition. Instead we joined forces with the East Suffolk Plein Air Painters in a new venture, Art on the Railings. This event was the brain child of Wil Harvey who bravely fought his way through the complicated council application process.
Now this is interesting: our last indoor exhibition at the Southwold Scout Hall was in 2019. At that show 64 artists took part and 36 paintings were sold with a total value of £4,863. The exhibition was on for 14 days. At this year’s Art on the Railings event, 48 artists exhibited on at least one day, 74 paintings were sold with a total value of £7,570 over just 6 days (we had to abort one day because of bad weather). It does appear that taking ‘’art’’ to the people may be the way to go in future. And, of course, there were countless viewers. I have to say, when I used to lock up the Scout Hall at the end of each day the number of visitors to the exhibition was sometimes pitifully small. Indoor shows in the summer are as vulnerable to the weather as outdoor shows – but in a different way.
Many of the participants in ‘Art on the Railings ‘enjoyed it so much they asked for permission to come on additional days they hadn’t ‘booked’. If this becomes an annual event – this year was very much a leap into the unknown – then I hope more members will take part.
Thank you very much to all the pioneer exhibitors who I am sure will share their knowledge and experience and advise newcomers on how to make the most of this opportunity. And special thanks to Wil Harvey and Jim Power who did so much to make the event such a success and so enjoyable. I think many members share our opinion that showing our work in this way seems appropriate in a seaside town like Southwold.
One last thing: costs were relatively low so we decided to levy only 10% as commission. Nevertheless this relatively modest commission resulted in raising over £1,000 for local charities. We, the SAC and ESPAP, hope to hand this donation over to The Southwold Trust in a ‘blaze of good publicity’.
Future Activities
Details of all the activities – dates, times and venue - are on the back of this letter. Please make careful note of any changes from previous practice.
Final Quotes
“Changing your mind is what your mind is for Andrew.”
My Mother used to say this to me.
Please stay safe,
Best wishes,