The destruction wrought by Muslim Fundamentalists is only one side of Islam and Islamic art is outstanding for its serenity, its elegance and its beauty.

In the first lecture we shall look at the art of Arabic calligraphy, the supreme art of the Islamic world.

Our second lecture is on Geometry, the arabesque and figural art and the third lecture of our Special Interest Day will be on historic mosques of the Islamic world.

Now retired, James Allan was curator of the Islamic Collection and Keeper of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University where he also set up an inter-faith exhibition service and taught Islamic art and architecture. He leads tours to the Middle East and has published numerous articles and books on Islamic Art, the most recent being The Art and Architecture of Twelver Shi’ism: Iraq, Iran and the Indian Subcontinent.

Click here for full information.  To book please click here to pop up a draft booking email or email Anne Irvine at eairvine4@gmail.com.

It has been a longstanding tradition that the Chair has hosted a “Party” for new members to the Society, in the year that they join, to give everyone an opportunity to get to know one other in an informal gathering. It is my pleasure therefore to host an evening get-together for our newest members at my home where you will also be able to meet with members of the Committee of The Arts Society Cheltenham. So although you may have been attending lectures and other events for a little while I’d be delighted if you could join with other members and the Committee for a

 ‘New Members’ Party 

on Thursday 15th January 2026 from 6.00pm - 8.00pm 

at 11, Chancel Way, Cheltenham GL53 7RR 

Drinks and Light Refreshments will be served 

RSVP by Monday 12th January please 

to chair.cheltenham@theartssociety.org 

or 07967 145557

 If you joined in 2025 I do hope that you will be able to come along and I look forward to seeing you then if not before at our next lecture. In the meantime I wish you all the very best for a peaceful and enjoyable festive Season.

THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER 2025

MATCHAMS RESTAURANT at THE EVERYMAN THEATRE

REGENTS STREET CHELTENHAM

12.00 FOR 12.30

Main Course

Turkey Breast, stuffing, pigs in blankets

or

Herb Roasted Pork Loin, apple jam & crackling

or

Cod Loin, orange &dill butter, charred fennel

or

Seeded Root Vegetable Wellington, chestnut & cranberries

All served with soused red cabbage, maple roasted carrot & parsnip

broccoli & herby roast potatoes

Desserts

Traditional Christmas Pudding, Brandy custard

or

Dark chocolate Torte, orange sorbet

or

Spiced Clementine Posset, ginger shortbread

Followed by tea, coffee & mince pies

Price £28 per head.  Tis event is now fully booked.

Those who have booked will be contacted by email and will receive a refund.

Lynne Gibson will be our lecturer for this Special Interest Day.  Lynne's first degree was in Fine Art and Education, and her MA was in 'Language, The Arts and Education' led by Professor Peter Abbs (both The University of Sussex).  She lives in Gloucestershire and has worked as an independent art historian for the last ten years.

Lynne gives talks, lectures, courses and guided tours to a wide range of organisations around the UK and abroad including ARCA colleges, art galleries and museums, art societies, the Art Fund, the National Trust and The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS). She has given art history courses for Bristol and Sussex Universities and university life-long learning  summer schools in art history and painting. She also contributes to educational material and gallery talks for exhibitions organised by various prestigious institutions. 

"Art is not what you see but what you make others see" Edgar Degas 

So would you like to develop your confidence in looking at Art? Do you want to discuss your opinions with insight? Put away the head-phones, take your nose out of the catalogue and discover a strategy for looking at Art.

The strategy is a flexible approach to interpreting any piece of art work, giving you the confidence to become an active, rather than a passive, viewer. It is a tool for life: simple and effective.

We will put it into practice by looking at a range of works from across the history of Western Art. Your questions and observations will be welcomed and encouraged.

This day is a must for anyone interested in visiting galleries, exhibitions and art museums. It will, quite simply, help you to 'see' more! Learn to trust your own eyes, and enjoy Art to the full. 

For more information and the booking form click here.  https://www.theartssocietycheltenham.org.uk/DocumentStore/HowToLookAtArt.pdf

 Great Architects: Andrea Palladio, Edwin Lutyens, Norman Foster 21. 11.24

Andrew Hopkins is an architectural historian and author and will be our lecturer for this Special Interest Day. He graduated from Melbourne University and gained his PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1995. Amongst career developments he was director of the British School in Rome from 1998 to 2002 and since 2004 has been Professor of the University of L’Aquila.

Lecture 1: Palladio’s villas are his most celebrated accomplishment because of their beauty, practicality and, in cases such as the Villa Rotunda, its iconic image. The villas were also known through the woodcuts that illustrated Palladio’s treatise the Four Books of Architecture, which meant that they were copied and imitated in Britain and America. This talk examines why his villas have such enduring appeal.

Lecture 2: Edwin Lutyens’ work building marvellous country houses in England is the best known aspect of his career and this richly illustrated talk presents some highlights of these. His work abroad, however,  is less well known, but includes residential projects in France, stunning War Memorials and the British School at Rome. His designs for the capital of India at New Delhi are hugely important too.

Lecture 3: Perhaps the best-known British architect today, during his prolific career Norman Foster has designed an extraordinary range of buildings, from the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, to the iconic HSBC building in Hong Kong, the Reichstag Dome in Berlin, the Millenium Bridge in London and of course the “Gherkin”. This talk examines all this and more.

Special Interest Day Organiser: Valerie Aris        

Bookings: Jane MacFarlane

This event is now fully booked. 

If you wish to be placed on the reserve list please email Jane MacFarlane at cajam.cheltenham@theartssociety.org with your details.  She will then contact you if a place becomes available and give further instructions re payment.

Our lecturer for this Special Interest Day is Jo Walton, who has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Now she is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, The National Gallery, The Art Fund and other local art societies.

We will learn of a family’s 350 years of rule, sometimes misrule; politics, marriages, assassinations and dynastic power struggles, at a time of remarkable flowering in the worlds of art, architecture and scholarship.
We shall look at the tale of the Medici family through the buildings, paintings and sculptures that they commissioned, which surrounded them on their journey and which became their lasting legacy to posterity.

Part 1 – Ordinary People?

We begin with the rise of the Medici family in the late 1300s and the life of Cosimo de’ Medici, scholar, art-lover, patron as well as being a business and political genius. At his death he was reputed to be the richest private individual in Europe and he had transformed his city and his family through his artistic patronage.

Part 2 - Princes and Popes

With the death of Cosimo in 1464 his family become more obviously the ‘rulers’ of Florence. Despite rivalry from other families and the animosity of the Pope, Cosimo’s grandson – Lorenzo the Magnificent – presided over a court and a city filled with great artists. This was the age of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Part 3 - Dukes and Decline

Having married into the ranks of European royalty, the Medici family became enmeshed in the dynastic struggles of the great powers of the continent, eventually finding themselves becoming a minor power amongst their great relations. As the Grand Tourists rediscover Florence in the eighteenth century, the last gesture of the family secures the treasures of the family for the future.

10:00 Doors Open

10:30 Part 1 – Ordinary People?

11.30 Coffee and Biscuits

12:00 Part 2 – Princes and Popes

13.00 Lunch (Please bring your own) 14.00

Part 3 – Dukes and Decline 15.00 Q & A and finish

            -------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED

ART DECO: INSPIRATION AND INTRIGUE

Pamela Campbell-Johnston is our lecturer for this special interest day. With an MA Hons in Art History from St Andrew's University she has over 30 years of experience lecturing to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts. She has conducted guided tours and gallery talks and specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art. She now works as a freelance art consultant and lecturer and recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club. Pamela will be bringing a selection of Art Deco objet d’arts for handling and examination.

The first lecture introduces the Art Deco Movement - perhaps the most glamorous style of the 20th century, prevalent during the 1920s and 30s. The style is placed within the context of its social and economic environment using examples of objets d’arts, furniture and architecture. E-J Ruhlmann, René Lalique, Tamara de Lempicka, Jean Dupas, Georgia O’Keeffe, Eileen Gray, Romain de Tirtoff (Erté), René Vincent and Clarice Cliff are amongst the designers, craftsmen and artists contemplated.

The next lecture focuses on the pivotal year of 1935, Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary, exploring the decorative and fine art that reflects the period. Included are: portrait photographer Cecil Beaton; magazine, poster and Penguin paperback book design; architecture; Silver Jubilee memorabilia; locomotive design and fashion. We also review interiors on cruise liners and film sets and acknowledge the importance of The Lansdowne Club.

The final lecture of the day is a study of the life and output of textile designer Marion Dorn. The British Vogue magazine first brought Dorn to public attention in 1925 christening her the ‘architect of floors’. Renowned for her ’sculpted rugs’, Dorn’s various commissions from the 1920s to the 60s include designs for the Savoy Hotel Group in London, and the London Underground. Dorn also produced wallpaper and graphics.

Organiser – Valerie Aris Tel: 01242 237373 / 07786 055787 

Venue:  The Bowling Club, Suffolk Square, Cheltenham, GL50 2DX 

Timetable

10.00 Doors Open

10.30 Lecture 1

11.30 Coffee and Biscuits

12.00 Lecture 2

13.00 Lunch (Please bring your own)

14.00 Lecture 3

15.00 Q & A and finish

This Study Day will be held at Cheltenham Bowling Club, Suffolk Sqaure, Cheltenham GL50 2DX from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

The day will comprise 3 lectures:

The Young Brontes & Art

Illustrating Alice: Some views of Wonderland

Town Mouse, Country Mouse: Art & Nature in the life & works of Beatrix Potter

The lecturer, Elizabeth Merry, has more than 30 years experience lecturing to adults with a focus on literature, poetry & the visual arts. Tickets cost £30.00 per person / £35.00 to those who are not members of The Arts Society.

The booking form may be found in the Documents Folder by clicking on Our Society.

Our lecturer for the day is Frank Woodgate, who has given lectures at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A and other organisations. Frank also runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

The art of the three main ‘Bloomsbury’ artists (Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry) cannot be separated from their astonishing lives.  They, along with their literary and other intellectual companions (Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey and John Maynard Keynes, amongst others) were part of a movement, the popular name for which became widely used only after the death of around half its members.

This study day looks at their work and reviews the multi-faceted relationships between Bell and Grant, Bell and Fry, Grant and (inter alia) Lytton Strachey, and several others.  In addition, it covers what many consider the most important contribution of the group to the visual arts in Britain, the so-called ‘Art-quake of 1910’, when Roger Fry, assisted by Virginia’s husband, the art critic and writer, Clive Bell, mounted the Manet and the Post-Impressionists exhibition at the Grafton Galleries in London.

Click here for Booking Form.It is NOT possible to complete the form online at present.  You will need to down load the form or, alternatively, contact Valerie Aris, the study day organiser on studydayva.cheltenham@theartssociety.org

BOOKING IS NOW OPEN

Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson are three of the most important British artists of the last century. Friends, neighbours and artistic rivals, their lives were intertwined through their personal relationships as well as through their shared determination to make new and radical forms of art in mid-twentieth century Britain.

In this study day we will look at the background to their emergence as dynamic artists fascinated by the cutting-edge ideas of European artists such as Picasso, Brancusi and Mondrian. We’ll see how, in the staid British art world of the 1930s, their use of new materials and techniques injected a truly modern dimension into both painting and sculpture, complimenting that of modernist architects and designers. We’ll see how they coped with the challenges of making art during times of war and in the rebuilding and regeneration that followed.

The complex relationships between them – with Barbara Hepworth being both friend and rival to Moore, as well as lover, wife and rival to Nicholson – make this a personal and compelling story. As each of the trio achieved international stardom in the 1950s, drawing younger artists into their orbits as helpers, students and assistants, we’ll explore the different paths they took in dealing with wealth, influence and success in the international art world of the later twentieth century.

Jo Walton read art history at Leicester University, then went on to do a post-graduate diploma in Oxford, specialising in the art and architecture of fifteenth century Italy. She has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern; she is also a freelance lecturer for the Arts Society and the Arts Fund as well as local groups and societies.

Click here for booking form

THIS DAY OF SPECIAL INTEREST IS NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED.

At the height of America’s Gilded Age, Cheltenham in Pennsylvania boasted more millionaires per square mile than anywhere else in the United States.  Our Study Day starts here and will comprise of some surprising facts about 'that other' Cheltenham as well as two highly entertaining lectures concerning the stories, art, and architecture behind some of the great American houses - some well-known, and some less well-known but no less spectacular:

• "Great English Mansions… Made in America”

Taking a selection of American mansions inspired by classic English mansions, Mark will reveal the characters, quirks, and frequently amusing stories behind these truly international architectural treasures.  

• "Castles: The Unquenchable Thirst of William Randolph Hearst” 

In the 1920s and 30s, US publishing giant William Randolph Hearst accounted for a whopping 25% of all the world’s art market activity, but where was this king’s ransom headed, and hoarded? Mark will take us on a whistle-stop tour of the extraordinary life of the man Orson Welles satirised in Citizen Kane through the 7 even more extraordinary places he called ‘home'.

THERE ARE STILL SOME PLACES AVAILABLE.

Click here for booking form. It is NOT possible to complete the form online at present.  You will need to down load the form or, alternatively, contact Katherine Judge the study day organiser on studydaykj.cheltenham@theartssociety.org

This Day of Special Interest describes how paintings were made throughout the ages, looking at the workshop practices of Tudor and Jacobean painters and their meticulous approach to the craft of painting, before the advent of ‘big name’ artists.

We will look at how artists became more prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries and the development of modern readily available materials and how this has affected the ageing of these pictures. The cleaning and conservation of portraits will be described with examples taken from Sarah’s studio, giving a glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ of the work of a modern professional conservator-restorer.

The talk is illustrated with unique images taken from Sarah’s own research and from studio- based conservation treatments. Many less well-known public and privately-owned pictures will be shown alongside works from the National Portrait Gallery and the Suffolk Collection portraits by William Larkin at Kenwood House.

Sarah Cove is an accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with more than 35 years’ experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She has appeared in several TV programmes for the BBC notably Constable in Love with Andrew Graham-Dixon and twice on Fake or Fortune? where she was instrumental in the discovery of 3 ‘lost’ Constables. Her presentations are lively and enthusiastic as she speaks without notes.

Click here for booking form

In three separate sessions Ian will explore the heart of the City of London:-

The Medieval Guildhall - a London nerve centre for 2,000 years

In the centre of the City of London stands its ancient headquarters, the medieval Guildhall. The present building dates from 1411 and stands on the site of London’s Roman amphitheatre. This session explores the fascinating history of the Guildhall exterior and interior.

Romans and Romantics – The Guildhall Art Gallery, one of the country’s real hidden gems

The City of London Corporation has been commissioning and acquiring art for nearly 350 years and now owns a vast and diverse collection. This lecture explores the outstanding display of works in the Guildhall Art Gallery.

An armchair stroll around the Square Mile

Within a short walk of the Guildhall and St Paul’s Cathedral is a treasure trove of wonderful buildings and public art. This talk starts with a look at the institutions that are the backbone of the City of London – including the Bank of England, Lloyds, the Stock Exchange, and the City Livery Companies. Then we will dive into medieval alleyways to explore hidden churches and gardens and finish with a peek at some of the City’s gleaming new skyscrapers.

Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. He is an accredited Arts Society lecturer, an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours at each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide.

Click here for booking form and flyer.

This is the intriguing story of two iconic New York hotels and the creators, designers, and celebrities who met, feasted and lived there. Few realise that the glamorous art deco Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Park Avenue, New York ‘home in New York to the stars’, had an equally iconic predecessor, the old Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, where liveried footmen wore eighteenth century style breeches.

Built in the 1890s by the feuding Astor cousins at the height of the Gilded Age, in its day, the old Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue had been the place to meet and be seen, where high society paraded in the latest Parisian fashions in Peacock Alley. Business tycoons, entrepreneurs and acquisitive art collectors such as J P Morgan and Henry Clay Frick met there to ‘do deals’ - finance or art. In 1929 in true New York style, it was sold and torn down to make way for the Empire State building.

Moving uptown and reflecting the relentless climb up the social grid of Manhattan, the glamorous new Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue was built at the height of the Depression and was famous before it opened. At Christmas and New Year, the world tuned into the celebrations from the famous Starlight Room with its roof open to the skies. Its glittering ‘Jazz Age’ interiors were created by leading European designers, artists and sculptors. Celebrity guests included Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Cole Porter, and Frank Sinatra, Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes.

This lecture recreates the stunning interiors of both hotels and the personalities who created and enjoyed them.

Mary has thirty years' experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History and History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London, museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume, Manchester. Now a freelance lecturer and author of various articles on design and visual awareness issues, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills.

Click here for booking form and flyer.

A Special Interest Day that will feature four lectures considering the highly decorative, and expertly created, costume plus dress accessories that had been mandated by the Chinese Imperial Court for over 2000 years.

Design and iconography was determined by a set of complex regulations and was primarily deployed to denote the rank and status of the wearer.

Lectures 1 & II will consider the Court Costume of the 12 Ranks which constituted the Imperial Clan and ranged from Insignia of Rank through to robes and accessories.

Lecture III will consider the Officials of the Imperial Government which were organised into 9 Ranks of Civil Officials (Mandarins) and a corresponding 9 Ranks of Military Officers.

Finally, Lecture IV considers the costumes and dress accessories that members of the Imperial Court, plus Chinese High Society, wore informally and when no longer constrained by Court Regulations.

The main focus will be the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

David will be bringing some of his collection with him for us to see.

Click here for a flyer and booking form.

A Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment. He has in excess of 25 years of working and living in Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories. Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank.

At the Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham Ladies College.
10:00 am to 3:30 pm, coffee on arrival and finger buffet lunch.
Cost £40

The day covers the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars in music, art and literature and the ensuing development of “Romanticism”, a surge of movement against the neo-classicism of the late eighteenth century in Europe and Britain.  These oeuvres will be blended together to show the overall impact of them in the first half of the nineteenth century. 

Romanticism emphasised the individual, the irrational, the spontaneous, the visionary and the transcendental.  Seen in the music of Chopin for example, the artists Friedrich, Turner, Goya, Delacroix, and the poetry of Wordsworth and Byron to name just two.

Click here for an application form.

Click here for general information about the Study Day.

Click here for a flyer.

Two lectures by Dr Nathalia Murray  Curator of the successful REVOLUTION exhibition at the Royal Academy last year

New art for a New Society : Propaganda and Russian art

Already in 1917 the leader of the new Bolshevik State, Vladimir Lenin, proclaimed that culture should support political needs, which effectively meant that all culture was now viewed as propaganda. Like Lenin, Trotsky believed that ‘the essence of the new culture will be not an aristocratic one for a privileged minority, but a mass culture, a universal and popular one.’ This lecture will examine the impact of the 1917 revolution on artists and the quest of the new government for a new form of proletarian art. 

Heroes of the past living in the future. Fate of the Russian Intelligentsia after the Revolution

October 1917 represented a clear dividing line between the old and the new. The renaissance that had occurred in the visual arts at the turn of the century was cut short when most members of the ‘World of Art’ (Mir Iskusstva) group – those artists, poets and musicians who were hostile toward the Imperial Academy of Arts and nineteenth century Realism, and were often referred to as the “Russian Secession”– left Russia. 

The morning will be held at St. Philip and St. James Church House, Painswick  Road, Leckhampton  Cheltenham  GL50 2DL

Cost £25  including coffee and biscuits on arrival.  Lunch-time sandwiches available for an extra £5

The talks will start at 10.30 with a brief break between them both. We are also happy to provide a sandwich lunch for £5 although there are lots of small eateries on the Bath Road which is very close by.

Click here for a flyer with more information and booking form.

West Mercia Day of Special Interest

500 years ago Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany which lead to religious upheaval in Europe. The power of the Renaissance families, together with the actions of avaricious, ambitious Popes lead Luther to make his statements. The warring factions of Protestant Germany, Charles V - Holy Roman Emperor, the Italian Principalities and Francois, King of France were creating tumult in Europe – a momentous period in Europe’s history. The two days will look at many of the works of the period including Titian, Cranach, Raphael, Holbein, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Hals and Vermeer. A feast indeed.

West Mercia Day of Special Interest

500 years ago Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany which lead to religious upheaval in Europe. The power of the Renaissance families, together with the actions of avaricious, ambitious Popes lead Luther to make his statements. The warring factions of Protestant Germany, Charles V - Holy Roman Emperor, the Italian Principalities and Francois, King of France were creating tumult in Europe – a momentous period in Europe’s history. The two days will look at many of the works of the period including Titian, Cranach, Raphael, Holbein, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Hals and Vermeer. A feast indeed.

The day reconstructs the social/cultural/historical and cospomoplitan atmosphere of C18 Bath and its key movers and shakers - the doctors, apothecaries, developers, luxury goods shopkeepers, artists, musicians etc etc - all the reasons for which a young Gainsborough decided to take a reccie there in 1758 to see whether it was a suitable place for him to move and set up a studio. He decided to do so six months later for all the above reasons.

Booking form and flyer can be found in the documents section:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

This Study Day takes as its starting point the famous dictum of Adolf Loos, 'Ornament is crime', explaining what modernists like Loos were turning their back on, why they did so, and how ornament (and the ornamental) got back into architecture again, and indeed never left it fully.

Part 1 looks briefly at how the Victorians used ornament in their revivalist architecture and how by the late-19th century, movements such as the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau had evolved to reject revived styles and create something new.

Part 2 explains why modernists like Loos threw all this out of the window using moral, economic, and artistic arguments to justify their approach. The modernist buildings of modernist pioneers like Loos and Mies van der Rohe are actually very beautiful. At first glance they may look like plain white boxes, but they use materials (from fine woods to marble, onyx, and polished metal) to give visual interest and aesthetic pleasure.

Part 3 shows how, largely in the work of emigré architects, this new aesthetic came to Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. Examples include some glorious modernist houses and apartments – some of which are far from free of ornament.

Part 4 explores some of the ways buildings break out of the plain white box – from the Hollywood-esque fantasies of Art Deco to the lighter touch of the 1950s modernists, who loved ornament and whimsy.  Examples here range from 1930s cinemas to some of the 1951 Festival of Britain buildings.

Philip Wilkinson is an architectural historian, writer and lecturer. He was born in Cheltenham and still lives in the Cotswolds. His books include the following: The English Buildings Book, England's Abbeys, Restoration, the book of Adam Hart-Davis's series What the Romans Did For Us, together with other books about architecture and buildings. He is the author of a widely admired blog, English Buildings, which in 2015 won the Amara Award for Best Architectural Blog.

Follow this link for booking forn and more information:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

Santiagio Calatrava, Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, I.M. Pei, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers: all these are starchitects. Starchitects are stratospheric. Their buildings straddle the world, if not as yet the universe. Their practices are vast and vastly cosmopolitan. Their creations are hailed as iconic and cutting-edge. Cities have been energized by them. Design has been stamped by them. Perhaps …. But what about the quality? And whence came they? Who was the first starchitect? Le Corbusier? Frank Lloyd Wright? And are we about to see the last of them as personality implodes into team anonymity and explodes into a mass of initials?

Booking for this Study Day (to be held in Church House, Painswick Road, Cheltenham GL50 2ER) opens on Tuesday 1st December.

Click here to download a booking form:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

The operas of Gilbert and Sullivan are rich in contemporary satire and witty personal allusions. This Study Day will focus on how each of the Savoy Operas took their inspiration from the world in which W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan lived by drawing on celebrities, politicians, social mores, manners, artistic taste and the class system. There will also be a detailed study of Patience, the opera written in the aftermath of the celebrated libel suit brought by James Whistler against John Ruskin. In the afternoon session, Peter Medhurst will present a programme of Gilbert and Sullivan arias.

Booking for this Study Day (to be held in the Parabola Arts Centre, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham GL50 3EP) opens on Monday 9th November.

Click here for booking form:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

Born in the years between the Wars, Romantic Modernism continues to inspire 21st century illustrators and designers like Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton. The Study Day offers a vibrant alternative vision of Modernist art, from an English perspective. There will be a particular focus on the work and significance of Eric Ravilious and John Piper.

Booking for this Study Day (to be held in Church House, Painswick Road, Cheltenham GL50 2ER) opens on Monday 12th October.

Click here for booking form:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

A day of discovery, examining the many facets of this most energetic and fascinating of Period Styles, encompassing a wealth of beautiful objects, a trip to Paris in the Roaring Twenties, and a journey around the people, cultures and sources which inspired Les Arts Decoratifs between two World Wars.

Download further details and booking form here:

http://www.cdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

A Study Day exploring both the public and the private perceptions of one of the most famous (and most visited) cities in the world. Each session will be fully illustrated, and students will be invited to prepare for the day by reading two or three key books beforehand.

* Session 1: Venice: history and myth An introduction to Venice in terms of its history and architecture from the earliest settlements in the Venetian lagoon, through its Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance development and later decline up to the present day. This session will explore the evolution both of the historical realities and the romantic myths that have attached themselves to ‘La Serenissima’.

* Session 2: Ruskin and Venice No writer has has a greater impact on the way Venice is understood and valued than John Ruskin, although his own reactions to the city were often contradictory and sometimes eccentric. This session will review Ruskin’s love affair with Venice in terms of his two key books, The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice.

* Session 3: Venice Inscribed From Shakespeare to Donna Leon, writers have helped to create an irresistible image of Venice, appealing both to those who know the city well and to those who have never been lucky enough to visit it. This session will explore the highlights and the backstreets of Venice as imagined or seen through the eyes of writers such as Shakespeare, Robert Browning, Henry James, Ezra Pound and Joseph Brodsky.

Adrian Barlow is a lecturer and writer, living in Cheltenham. Formerly Director of Public Programmes at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, he is President of the English Association. His specialist interests are contemporary English literature, Venice, stained glass, and the literature, architecture and memorials of the Great War. Recent publications include World and Time: Teaching Literature in Context (C.U.P. 2009) and Extramural: Literature and Lifelong Learning, published by Lutterworth Press in March 2012. Writing and lecturing are important interests and he publishes a twice-monthly blog on literary, educational, architectural and stained glass topics.

This study day will focus on the changing taste and fashions of country house interiors from the 1680s to the 1920s. It will provide a consideration of the notions of taste and display and how these were represented by people’s choice of wallpapers, furniture, textiles and ceramics. A spotlight session will focus on the work of William Morris, the broader Arts and Crafts Movement and its impact on country house interiors.

* Session 1: Disguise and Display: This session will investigate the changing way in which country houses have been designed and used over the centuries. From the introduction of the formal dining room to the development of corridors, each change says a great deal about what country house owners wanted to display to their guests (and what needed to be hidden).

* Session 2: Severity, Frivolity and Informality: This session will track the development of style in the country house interior from the severity of classicism to the frivolity of ‘Chinoiserie’ and look at how interiors became increasingly more relaxed and informal from the Regency period right through to the 1920s.

* Session 3: William Morris and Country House Interiors: The final session will focus on the impact that William Morris, Philip Webb and the broader Arts and Crafts Movement had on the designs of interiors. Using examples such as Standen and Kiplin Hall this session will investigate the increasing comfort, artistic expression and the notion of craftsmanship in country house interiors.

Suggested Bibliography: M. Girouard, Life in the English Country House S. Calloway, The Elements of Style J. Musson, English Country House Interiors C. Aslet, The Arts and Crafts Country House

Melissa joined the Harewood House Trust in 2002 as Decorative Arts Intern and concluded there in 2009 as the Senior Curator of Decorative Arts. Her exhibitions included: Women and the Country House and ‘Chinoiserie’ at Harewood. She developed her interests in the decorative arts of the 18th and 19th centuries through research on Thomas Chippendale, Regency furniture and European and Oriental ceramics. Melissa has undertaken other curatorial roles for a number of institutions including Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire and the York Museums Trust. Since 2011 she has taught modules on a Country House Studies course hosted the University of Hull as well as providing lectures for arts organisations such as NADFAS.

Ben Street is a freelance art historian based in London. He lectures on modern art, contemporary art and old master painting for a number of institutions, including The National Gallery, Tate, Dulwich Picture Gallery and on the Christie's Education MA course. He has been running the course 'A Beginner's Guide to Contemporary Art' for the Saatchi Gallery since 2011, which has recently included guided visits to the Venice Biennale and museums and galleries in Paris, Berlin, New York and Amsterdam. Ben is the author of numerous texts for museum catalogues, including four exhibitions at the Saatchi Gallery and a major Lucian Freud retrospective in Vienna in 2013. Ben is a former teacher of art history at Westminster School, London, and a former employee of the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Ben has an MA in Art History and English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. www.benstreet.co.uk