Exhibition in Long Melford, near Sudbury will be followed by another in Bury St Edmunds in October
Suffolk - famed as the birthplace of two of Britain’s greatest painters, Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable - has a rich artistic heritage stretching back centuries.
Today the county is home to numerous artists, from high-profile professionals to those who simply love to draw or paint for their own pleasure.
Among the leading lights carrying the creative torch into the 21st century are the 90 members of the Suffolk Art Society, which itself has a history dating back almost seven decades.
The society began in 1954 as a small art club based in Lavenham, where its founder Ronald McCausland-White owned the Phoenix Gallery.
Members met at the gallery, where they held occasional exhibitions, until 1960 when they adopted the name Suffolk Art Society and became a more formal group.
Now its primary aim is to organise exhibitions and sell work for members with at least two shows each year. There is also a website, suffolkartsociety.co.uk, where they showcase their work.
Last year, for the first time, charity fundraising was added to its list of goals.
Julie Iveson, who chairs the society, suggested the move realising charities had seen a dramatic drop in donations since theCovid pandemic and were struggling in the current economic climate.
Members unanimously agreed to support local causes by giving 20 percent of their profit, and in 2022 raised £1,400 for Bury-based St Nicholas Hospice Care.
Their three shows this year will help EACH (East Anglian Children’s Hospices).
Currently members’ work can be seen at a summer exhibition in Holy Trinity Church at Long Melford near Sudbury. It runs until August 6, and visitors will also be able to vote for their favourite painting.
It is their second show this year, following a spring outing at Lavenham Church where 100 artworks were sold. An autumn exhibition takes place at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in October.
“Our artists are amazingly talented and these exhibitions are a wonderful vehicle for showcasing their work,” said Julie when speaking about the Lavenham show.
“However it is also lovely to help others and lend our support to worthy causes, not to mention the churches that kindly support us.”
She described EACH as a wonderful cause that helps and supports so many children, young people, and families across East Anglia.
Members of the society come from a wide area including Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Saxmundham, Stowmarket, Mendlesham, Lowestoft, Newmarket, Diss and Sudbury.
Their work and inspiration is as varied as the landscapes of Suffolk itself, ranging from realism to impressionism to abstract, and from the delicate to the robust and powerful.
They include professional and amateur artists and use a wide variety of mediums including oils, watercolour, pastel, pencil and collage.
Some are young working people. Others have returned to art in their retirement after demanding careers that left little time to pursue their creative passion.
Membership is by selection and is limited so they can all take part in the exhibitions without any further screening process.
Julie says: “Suffolk Art Society continues to gain enormous interest in membership. Applications are received every week from amateur and professional artists.
“Due to limited hanging space at the events, and to ensure a pleasing exhibition, the society holds just one selection day a year to consider artists’ work with a view to membership. The next will be in April 2024.
“The standard of art at the society’s exhibitions remains very strong. A diverse and exciting selection of art can be seen and any work bought can be taken on the day.
“Artists are encouraged to replace sold work so new pictures appear throughout the exhibition.”
At Long Melford four new members will be making their debut - Sandra Naish from Great Yeldham, Sandra Fernando from Nayland, Caryn Noad from Sudbury and Richard Thomas from Lavenham.
Sandra Naish returned to her childhood hobby of drawing in the summer of 2021 after retiring from a career in cancer research and teaching.
At first she drew in coloured pencil and then discovered the vibrancy of soft pastel. Favourite subjects include animals, both domestic and wildlife, aiming for a realistic representation.
She has also ventured into landscapes and seascapes, initially as backgrounds to portraits, and looks forward to developing this further.
Richard, who has lived in Lavenham for 28 years, trained in Brighton and Leicester in the 1970’s and became an art teacher in secondary schools, progressing to become a headteacher.
Finally, he became executive director of a headteacher organisation as well as an educational consultant, and those demanding roles left little time for painting until he retired.
He originally worked in oils and pastels, but now uses acrylics and occasionally watercolours, specialising in landscapes.
Sandra Fernando’s work is heavily influenced by her Sri Lankan heritage and love of travelling to far flung places.
Her interest in art came from a lifelong appreciation of sculpture and paintings. She has often sketched and occasionally painted people or even ventured down the road of wood carving. But a desire to create some artwork for her own home has re-ignited her passion.
Art has enabled Sandra to translate her emotions to canvas. This has evolved as abstract art and has been incredibly meditative in the process.
Sandra’s artworks are formed organically and intuitively. Inspired by the four elements, air, water, earth and fire, her experiences, feelings and emotions, they evolve layer by layer, building the colours instinctively.
Caryn is a self taught artist, although she studied print, design and planning
at college, and previously worked in pottery and sign writing.
She started exhibiting her artworks in 2019, working mostly in watercolour, pen and charcoal.
Caryn appreciates colour and greyscale equally and enjoys the diversity of using both in her art. She draws inspiration from her love of travel as well as her local surroundings.
The subjects determine the materials she uses which can create interesting and sometimes unpredictable results.
She finds as much beauty in a decaying piece of rusting metal as she does in the natural landscape.
The patterns, textures and colours that surround us, from a splash of graffiti to the way someone walks, a smell or even an overheard sentence, can inspire a painting.
The exhibition in the Lady Chapel of Long Melford church is open daily from 9.30am to 6pm until Saturday August 5, and from 9.30am to 4pm on Sunday August 6. Admission is free.
The next exhibition in St Edmundsbury Cathedral runs from Friday October 20 to Saturday October 28. Open 9.30am to 5pm each day except Sunday, which is 12pm to 3.30pm.
For more information on the Suffolk Art Society go to suffolkartsociety.co.uk
