As ever, Lacock Art Group's next exhibition features the work of many of its members whose art covers a wide range of subjects painted with oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolour. There's sure to be something to suit everyone's tastes.

• Copies of our 2025 wall calendar will be on sale - just in time for Christmas, they make a great gift. We're donating profits from calendar sales to Lacock Primary School.
• Original art, prints, and greeting cards (most likely including some winter/Christmas themed cards) will be available to buy, all reasonably priced. 
• Free entry
• You can pay for any items purchase by cash or card.
• Children and four-legged family members are welcome to look round.

Full details are below.
Please come and see us and our art - we look forward to seeing you over the exhibition weekend.

​40th anniversary of the demolition of the Harris factory, Calne
​This year is also the 40th anniversary of the demolition of the C&T Harris bacon factory, which dominated Calne's town centre for many years and was its biggest employer. To mark this anniversary the Festival is holding a community art project, inviting people to buy and decorate one of 500 papier mache pigs. This has been under way all summer, creating a great deal of engagement from people and some impressively themed and painted piglets. A selection of the piglets will be included in an exhibition at the Calne Heritage Centre throughout October, alongside exhibits charting the history of the factory and what it was like to work there. 

Held every two years, the main purpose of this event is to encourage and promote Wiltshire artists - who are born or live in the county. Wiltshire Museum organises and holds the exhibition in Devizes home, which includes selected entries and is open to the public from 19 October to 23 November, 2024.

Key facts

• Any subject matter will be accepted but artwork for the adult category must be 2D i.e. painting, drawing, collage and printmaking but not computer generated.
• Picture size for adult category: must not exceed 80cm x 60cm (landscape or portrait), without exception due to limited gallery space.
• Entry fees for adults (over 25 years'' old): £3.50 per picture submitted.
• Maximum of three entries per artist.
• Art hand-in/delivery of entries: from Monday 23 September to Saturday 28 September, 10am to 5pm daily. There is an entry form that you must complete, print and take with you when you hand in your art submissions.
• There is a competition element and judging takes place on Wednesday 2 October.
• More information about the competition and exhibition, including entry forms, are available on the Wiltshire Musuem website.
• Alternatively, you can contact Heather Ault, on 01380 727369 or by email at oexmann@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk

Exhibition, art demonstrations and member workshop dates 
Please check out our events page, where you'll find the dates of initial activities planned for 2024. There's much to look forward to, kicking off with a demonstration by Gail Mason in January that will feature screen printing and painting and will be open to guests as well as members. You can find out about Gail's work by visiting her website.

Our Saturday workshops for LAG members only, which were introduced in 2023, have proved a popular addition to our activities so we will be holding these again in 2024. The first workshop of the year takes place in February; it will be given by Melissa Wishart and focus on oils.

More dates will be added to our events page in the weeks/months ahead so do check back regularly to see what's new.

Our last life drawing session of 2023 - a brief review
As 2023 drew to a close, at the end of November we were treated to a life drawing session, featuring a lovely model, Joy, who was making a repeat visit to our art group. It was quite a challenge, not only from a drawing/painting perspective but also from a warmth standpoint - it was a very cold evening and the hall's heating wasn't working. Joy was wearing traditional dress, brightly coloured, but designed for warmer weather. Our thanks go to Joy for modelling, for being so obliging, and braving the cold.
Here are a selection of the artwork produced on what was a very enjoyable night.

So, with a few days' left in 2023 and as 2024 approaches, all that remains to say is happy New Year.

And announcing the visitors’ vote winner
Our last exhibition of 2023, held over the weekend of 18-19 November, saw a steady flow of visitors, even though Lacock seemed quieter than usual for the time of year. 

Members of LAG contributed artwork in oils, acrylics, and watercolours, in different styles and a range of subjects, which visitors said they appreciated. 
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Sales of original artwork, prints and greeting cards totalled a pleasing amount of almost £1,100, thanks to visitors who kindly bought 12 paintings, two prints and 105 cards. The total sales value was a couple of hundred pounds less than the amount raised from the 2022 November exhibition when almost twice as many paintings were sold, whereas card sales levels were similar.

​Thanks to all our members for working together to help set up the exhibition and taking it all down on the Sunday afternoon, ensuring a smooth and speedy operation at the start and finish.

The visitors’ winner
Visitors again took part in our exhibition in their own way, by voting for their favourite painting on display. This time 57 of our paintings were voted for, and a total of 81 votes were cast.
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A different take on the famous painting ‘The Scream’ by Edmund Munch emerged as the visitors’ clear winner. Scream 2, painted by Ken Baldy (who always brings some humour into his art) in his inimitable style, received a total of eight votes putting it in first place. It’s fair to say that Scream 2 caused much amusement among many of the visitors over the weekend! 

​Four other paintings received three votes each, and nine paintings received two votes each, while 43 paintings each received one vote. 
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Congratulations to Ken whose prize was a bottle of wine. 
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Calling all local artists
Art exhibition registration deadline looms​

A firm fixture in Wiltshire's annual cultural calendar, the 49th Calne Music and Arts Festival (CMAF) is gearing up to open for business on 6 October, offering a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of activities to suit different tastes and ages.

​Central to the programme is an open art exhibition that runs in Marden House for the duration of the Festival, 7-14 October, presenting the works of predominantly local artists, professional, semi-professional and amateur, who are based in Calne and surrounding Wiltshire towns/villages. The majority of artworks exhibited will be for sale. The standard of exhibits is typically very high so, if previous exhibitions are anything to go by, this year the standard is sure to be equally impressive.

​Participation in the exhibition is genuinely ‘open’ with work only refused if it does not meet the entry criteria. Several LAG members have taken part in previous CMAF exhibitions.

Key exhibition dates and links
If you’re interested in exhibiting this year, you will need to register online by 5pm on Thursday 28 September, using the form on the CMAF website. This link takes you to the form. Alternatively you can print the form, complete it and take it with you on the artwork submission day – this is likely to take longer than using the online option.

Artists can submit up to three works each, for an entry fee of £5 per piece. You can find detailed information about entry criteria, terms and conditions in the online form.
Artwork hand-in day is Saturday 30 September, between 10am and 2pm, at Marden House.

As well as the exhibition the programme includes a number of art events, including:

• A life drawing session on Sunday 8 October, 6-8pm, £3 per ticket.
• Drink & Draw at the Lansdowne Strand Hotel, Monday 9 October, 7-9pm, no entry fee (presumably you buy your own drinks).
• A talk on flowers in art by Gail Brown of Tangerine Art Talks, followed by ‘Meet the Artists’ featuring Nick and Cathy Pearce, local potter and painter respectively, on Saturday 14 October at 10am, which is free. 

A star musical attraction this year is a concert by leading international Ukranian harpist Alina Bzhezinska who will perform a set of Solo Jazz Harp on Friday 13 October at 12.15pm (midday), cost £5. A Ukranian meal will be available to buy in the Festival café, prepared by members of the Ukranian community.

You can view the full programme here on the CMAF website where you can also buy tickets.

Successful August bank holiday exhibition for LAG

Our most recent exhibition and art sale took place over the three days of the August bank holiday weekend; a regular spot in our events calendar each year. Held as usual in Lacock Village Hall, the exhibition often benefits from the additional footfall that the National Trust village attracts from late-summer visitors on a day out, and this year was no exception.  There was also some healthy competition for us on bank holiday Monday from a few stalls set up outside the Red Lion pub (often frequented after our weekly art group meetings by some of our members), including one or two stalls selling various types of art. 

Somewhat mixed weather throughout the weekend didn't seem to deter visitors to Lacock with a steady stream of people calling in to look at the art on display at our exhibition, which was good to see.

Our August exhibition tends to generate higher sales compared to our February and November exhibitions, partly driven by the additional day. This proved to be the case this August. In total 41 paintings were sold during the course of the weekend, 35 were original works hung and displayed on boards, and six were unframed works from the browsers. 

As ever, greeting cards proved popular with 99 sold in total, 42 of which were Kay Smith's handiwork!
This resulted in achieving total sales of just over £2,500. LAG members John Harris and Joy Tickell each sold five of their paintings, and a few others sold four each including Karen Road and Richard Newsome. 

​Visitors keep on voting
We are continuing to invite visitors who look around our exhibitions to take part in our 'visitor vote' by submitting the name of their favourite painting on display. This informal competition is just a bit of fun, and we really appreciate people taking the time and effort to take part. 

A total of 257 votes were cast during the August exhibition and 99 paintings received one vote or more. 

This time, the winner of the visitor vote is . . . Kay Smith and her painting of a ballerina, featured on the poster for the August exhibition, which received nine votes. Congratulations to Kay, who won a bottle of wine. This is something of a hat trick for Kay, being the third time one of her paintings has won the visitor vote.

Finally
Thanks to all of our members who helped to set up/take down the exhibition boards, supported the event by stewarding, and for producing such a variety of fantastic art for people to enjoy.

The biggest thank you of all goes to the lovely, friendly people who visited our exhibition and showed such appreciation for our art.

Our next exhibition is in November - please check the events page on this site for details.

Coming soon - our first exhibition this year is on 15 to 16 April 
Everyone's welcome, including well-behaved dogs out for a walk with their owners! Please drop in if you're in Lacock - details are below - we'd love to see you.​

Featuring the work of South-West artists Max Hale and Paul Weaver
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​Well-known local artists Max Hale and Paul Weaver are holding their spring exhibition – Creative Journeys – at the Tetbury Goods Shed Art Centre from 29 March to 7 May 2023 (Wednesdays to Sundays).

At Lacock Art Group we’re always happy to support local artists so encourage you to visit their exhibition and tell friends and family about it if you think they may be interested.

Further details are shown below. Both are excellent artists; Max works in watercolours, oils, acrylics, and pastels while Paul specialises in watercolour presently and also works in oils, acrylics, and line and wash.

To find out more about the artists and their work please explore their websites using these links:
https://www.maxhaleart.co.uk/ and https://www.paulweaverart.co.uk/