Throughout its history, Cornwall has been reliant on fishing as one of its key industries. In the 1800s, vast pilchard shoals provided "meat, money and light all in one night", as the fish were consumed, sold and drained of their oil, which was used to fuel lamps.

This talk includes some of the best-loved Newlyn School paintings, depicting both the tragedy and hardship and the extraordinary spectacle of fishing in the late Victorian era, bringing the subject right through to the current millennium with a selection of images.

Alison Bevan - since graduating in History of Art from Nottingham University in 1986, Alison Bevan has spent her entire career working in public art galleries. Starting out at the Graham Sutherland Gallery in her home county of Pembrokeshire, she then spent ten years organising and curating exhibitions at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, where she honed her broadcast media skills, including presenting a weekly Arts News feature on BBC Radio Wales, 1995-6.

In 1999, Alison took up the role of Director of Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance. Here she became an acknowledged expert on the Newlyn, Lamorna and St Ives artists colonies (1880-1940), a subject on which has lectured in the UK, USA and France. She raised the profile of this area of art through initiating national and international touring exhibitions, and contributing to numerous publications and television programmes, and in 2013 was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Cultural Heritage in Cornwall.

From 2013-2024, Alison was Director of the RWA (Royal West of England Academy) – Britain’s only regional Royal Academy of Art: an extraordinary historic institution whose Academicians have included leading figures of the Newlyn School and Bloomsbury Group, and today include Sir Peter Blake, Sir Frank Bowling and Eileen Cooper.

Now based in Chepstow and working as a freelance lecturer, curator and consultant, she is also Chair of Bristol Museums’ Oversight Board; a Fellow of the Museums Association, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Bristol.

Image - Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947) Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach, The Box, Plymouth City Council

The House of Fabergé’s meteoric success saw a modest jewellery concern transformed into one of the world’s most iconic brands.  By 1900, the firm had gained international recognition, stunning the press and public with its displays at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.  At the dawn of the new century, Fabergé was poised for expansion, choosing Kiev and Odessa as outlets.  

We will discuss the beauty and grandeur of Ukraine’s aristocratic estates, jewels of the Crimean Peninsula, that drew the most prominent families seeking respite from Northern winters.  

Cynthia Coleman is an independent researcher, author and lecturer on Russian pre-Revolutionary works of art, consulting regularly on Fabergé for auction houses. Having periodically grown up on and off in Moscow within a family of Russian art collectors, she was destined for a career in Russian art. Previously, Cynthia ran the Russian Department for Christie’s in New York and worked for Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Washington DC. This was followed by a restoration project at the Alexander Palace near St Petersburg, Nicholas II’s last residence. Her book Russian Decorative Arts was published in 2014 by the Antique Collectors’ Club. Cynthia now lives between Bath and London. 

MacDonald 'Max' Gill, younger brother of the sculptor Eric Gill, was an architect, letterer, and graphic artist of the first half of the twentieth century. He was famed for his whimsical map posters for the London Underground and magnificent painted map panels for landmark buildings such as Lindisfarne Castle and the Palace of Westminster. His architectural legacy lives on in the arts and crafts cottages he designed in rural Sussex and Dorset while the alphabet and badges he created for the standard military headstone are familiar to all. This wonderfully illustrated talk by Max Gill's great-niece gives fascinating insights into the life and work of this remarkable but little-known artist.

Caroline Walker is the great niece of Eric Gill and she has done extensive research on his brother MacDonald Gill, best known for his pictorial maps. She has co-curated exhibitions including at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, written articles for publications such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Country Life and TAS journal, as well as an acclaimed biography MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life.  An accredited lecturer for The Arts Society since 2016, she's also given talks for the National Archives, the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, U3A, and the National Trust. Her illustrated biography MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life was published in June 2020.

Image - Detail from Wonderground Map of London Town 1914 aka By Paying Us Your Pennies Retail folded version

Celebrate the leadup to Christmas in style with some of the finest festive music from across the globe! Selections include sparking moments from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, a heartwarming ballad from Mel Tormé, something from Soweto, a heavenly chorus from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Leipzig, and an illustration of the English carol tradition at its finest – all that alongside a more cynical take on the festive season from Eartha Kitt. And there’s even the chance to join together in a seasonal singalong…

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing; he was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.  After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. He has directed a complete performing cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas and is a first-call double bass player on the London jazz scene. Since 2013 he has devised and led cultural holidays all over the world, taking music lovers to venues as diverse as the opulent Leipzig Opera House and the intimate jazz clubs of New Orleans. He runs an online classical music appreciation Listening Club, and is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music.

An American artist in London, James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a leading proponent of the idea of "art for art's sake". He signed his paintings with stylized monogram of a butterfly with a long stinger for a tail – as much a symbol of his love of Japanese art as his assertive and sometimes combative nature. Having lived and worked with the Paris avant-garde he settled in London in 1859 having created a distinctive Post-Impressionist style at a time when many of his British contemporaries had yet to come to terms with Impressionism.

Julia Musgrave got her first degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to become a Chartered Information Systems Engineer and IT project manager. In 2008 she decided that life was too short for just one career and decided to become an art historian. She teaches Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit) and the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute (HLSI). She is also an accredited Arts Society lecturer.

Image - Arrangement in Gray- Portrait of the Painter

The beauty of the Alhambra of Granada, built by the Nasrid dynasty in the 13th and 14th Centuries, speaks for itself – or does it? Many visitors, while stunned by the exquisite architecture, are unaware that the walls, covered in Kufic script, are talking directly to them. This lecture begins with an overview of the structure of the monument and the way in which it was used, as well as the broad decorative programme of the interior of the two principal remaining Nasrid palaces within the complex. It explains the hidden meanings in the complex geometry of the glazed tilework and the stalactite-like muqarnas plasterwork

Ian Cockburn is art historian specialising in the nearly 800 years of Islamic occupation and Christian reconquest of medieval Iberia. He also cover some areas of Italian and Northern Renaissance art. He has a BA (Birkbeck College) in art history and an MA (Courtauld Institute of Art) in medieval Spanish art history. 

As an accredited lecturer of The Arts Society, he regularly delivers lectures to local societies around the UK and in Spain. He also gives occasional guest lectures at institutions such as the V&A, and has delivered lectures at SOAS and the London Art History Society, as well as presenting papers on art history topics to conferences at Christies Education and at the Complutense University of Madrid.

He is a co-founder and director of Art & Culture Travel Ltd, which specialises in organising and delivering guided art history tours in Europe.

Image - Patio de los Leones

Medieval bestiaries are wondrously colourful worlds, blending fact with fiction, morality with mythology. They represent an understanding of the physical world, but also fulfilled the need for symbolic creatures to supplement biblical stories, offering a wide array of noble or crude behaviours with which to compare ourselves. What happened if you chased a bonnacon? What was a beaver's superpower? What did owls mean? And how did animals graduate from bestiaries into the realm of heraldry? In the course of an hour, we'll explore all these and more.

Jonathan Foyle is a career communicator, best known for presenting TV series such as BBC2's Broadcast Award-winning 15-part 'Climbing Great Buildings', as well as contributing to Channel 4's 'Time Team' and Channel 5's 'Secrets of the Royal Palaces'. His former roles have encompassed Curator at Hampton Court and Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain, writer for the FT Weekend, and he is now a lecturer at the University of Bath.

Jonathan has authored seven volumes on great cathedrals and castles and has spoken across the world about discoveries in British arts.

Image - Dragon on a column at Wells Cathedral

From the early sixties, when he left the Royal College of Art more famous than his teachers, Hockney's paintings have shown a charm and humour that sets them apart from others of his generation. A naturally gifted draftsman, his love of ingenious visual devices has led him to experiment with a whole range of techniques, from stage design to coloured paper making. From the early abstract expressionist images, through his famous Californian scenes of swimming pools to the photo-montages of the mid eighties, this lecture follows the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered.    

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of  The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on Whistler and the exhibition video on William Morris. Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, River of Light, has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

Image - Boy by pool

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) was a key player in early twentieth century avant garde art, design and literary/theatrical circles in Paris. As a widely travelled polymath, Dufy's charismatic personality, wit and curiosity about the world was infectious. His imagination and technical virtuosity - across a range of media including painting and lithography, posters, book illustration, theatrical set design, textiles and fashion, ceramics and large murals - cut across all conventional boundaries. Whether a small intricate woodcut illustrating a love poem, or the truly gigantic 1937 world fair murals depicting the role of electricity in the modern age, the effect is mesmerising.

Mary Alexander trained as an art historian and graduated with a BA Hons in History & History of Art (University College London) and later an MA (with Distinction) in History of Art (University College London). She moved to Manchester to take up the post of Assistant Curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of English Costume, a renowned collection of historic dress. Subsequently she lectured in art history at the University of Leeds, the Open University and Manchester University Extra Mural Department. From 1995 - 2008, she was a Visiting Lecturer at Christie’s Education in London. Mary has also combined academic work with the world of design consultancy. In 1985 she joined Pentagram Design in London, a leading international design consultancy, and coordinated client presentations, publications, conferences and international special events, including the 1986 British Design event in Aspen Colorado. In 1988 she transferred to Pentagram’s New York office with the task of organising an international design conference held at Stanford University involving business, design and education leaders. As an experienced international speaker, Mary lectures regularly for The Arts Society throughout the UK, Europe and Australia and New Zealand. She also contributes articles to magazines, newspapers and professional journals. She was President of The Arts Society Glaven Valley, Norfolk from 2016- 2021.  

Image - Raoul Dufy Open window at St Jeannet

By 1960 interest in rock ‘n’ roll had started to fade, its biggest star was moving on and a new generation of teenagers were seeking something different. It came in the form of the Beatles, who broke all the rules and all the records. This is the story of the first five years of the 1960s, one of the most creative and innovative periods in the history of music, featuring all the major artists, important songs and principle musical genres. 

Steve King has spent 35 years working in the radio industry as a Broadcaster, Programmer and Events Director. He has managed some of the biggest radio brands in the UK and has interviewed and worked with many well-known popular music artists. He has also directed over 50 multi-artist events at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium and Manchester Arena. His work in the broadcasting industry has been recognised on numerous occasions.    

Victorian Barbara Bodichon (1827-1891) was that rare bird, a successful professional female artist. Taught by Corot (among others), her vivid water-colours arguably bridge the gap between the Pre-Raphaelites (most of whom were close friends) and the Impressionists. But that's not all: this unsung heroine was also responsible for the development of feminism in Britain. She campaigned for equal opportunity in the workplace, the law, the polling booth, at home, and in the world beyond the kitchen or the drawing-room. She co-founded the first university college for women in Britain (Girton at Cambridge) and kick-started women's fight for the vote.

Jane Robinson

Dubbed by the BBC 'one of our most original and engaging social historians', Jane is a popular guest at literary festivals and on radio and television. She was born in Edinburgh, brought up in North Yorkshire, and educated at Oxford. Since childhood she’s been an insatiable book-collector (necessarily so, after being banned from the local library at 7 for using a jam-tart bookmark) and worked with a London antiquarian bookseller for ten years before becoming a full-time writer. She specialises in social history through women’s eyes; her 14 books to date include Bluestockings: the Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education (which inspired the successful stage play by Jessica Swale) and Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders, about the first women in the traditional professions. Her most recent book is Trailblazer, an acclaimed biography of the Victorian artist and social reformer Barbara Bodichon, and she’s currently working on Out of Sight, Out of Mind, a social history of women’s madness. As well as writing, lecturing and mentoring early-career writers, Jane is an Enrichment Speaker on Viking Ocean Cruises, and designs pop-up Escape Rooms for charity