Yarra

Thursday 13 February 2025
THE ART OF THE CARTOON
Presented by Harry Venning
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

This lecture traces the story of cartoons and cartoonists over the last two hundred years, from Hogarth and Gilray to Herjé and Schulz, focusing on those artists who have made an abiding impression upon culture, language, history and, specifically, on Harry himself. There will be humour, there will be history and there will be live drawing as Harry shares some of the tricks and techniques of the cartoonist’s trade.

Harry Venning is a cartoonist, comedy writer and performer whose cartoons have appeared in publications as diverse as Mathematics Today, Radio Times, Music Teacher and The Stage. For twenty-five years he provided The Guardian with the weekly strip cartoon Clare In The Community, about an unaware and empathy free social worker. Harry is a winner of a Sony Radio Award for Comedy and a former UK Strip Cartoonist of the Year.

Image: Me Big Pencil, Harry Venning

Thursday 13 March 2025
AUCTIONEERS TALES – 35 YEARS IN THE ART MARKET
Presented by Marc Allum
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

With three decades under his belt Marc has gathered a wealth of experience and fascinating tales based on his work in the auction business. This insightful talk will both amaze and amuse as he recounts incredible stories of great discoveries and emotive situations.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire, UK. He has been a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow for over 25 years. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc’s interests range from pre-history to modern design, and he is a self-confessed ‘collectaholic.’ Marc has lectured widely to organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust and at literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath and Wells. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Image: Marc with Gibson Guitar

SPECIAL INTEREST AFTERNOON

COVENT GARDEN: The Theatres Royal and the birth of Theatreland
Wednesday 30th April 2025
Presented by Simon Whitehouse
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Time:    1.30 pm – 4.00 pm

Learn the origins of two legendary theatres that gave birth to modern West End theatre. In 1663 King Charles II revived British theatre after 18 years of closure by issuing royal licenses to two men, laying the foundations of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Meet the men that shaped the buildings and starred at the theatres: David Garrick, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and Augustus Harris. Encounter the trailblazing women who took these stages by storm including Nell Gwynne, Mrs. Siddons and Adelina Patti.

Simon is a (recovering) actor, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher, and award-winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide in-house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion, and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

Image: The first Theatre Royal, Covent Garden before it burned down in 1808

Thursday 1 May 2025
 A HAAAAND BAAAAG? The Importance of Being Oscar (& Earnest)
Presented by Simon Whitehouse
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

This lecture explores Oscar’s literary successes, beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray,1890. Simon will focus on The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the funniest, most performed and most quoted plays in English. Described as ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’, it was of its time and yet ahead of its time, satirising the shallowness of upper-class Victorian society. Simon explores the hidden elements which the audience then (and now) were not aware of and we discover that, for the author, this triumph heralded the beginning of his own fatal final act.

Simon is a (recovering) actor, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher, and award-winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide in-house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion, and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

Image: The first Ernest & Algernon from the original production

Thursday 5 June 2025
LIGHTS EVERLASTING: Australia’s commemorative stained glass from the Boer War to Vietnam
Presented by Bronwyn Hughes
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

Australia’s war memorial stained glass, which stretches across more than a century from the Boer War to Vietnam, holds a rich artistic, technological and architectural history. While stone soldiers were erected in suburbs and country towns across the country, churches, schools and civic buildings installed stained glass to remember those who fought for God, King and Empire. Despite their artistic excellence many windows are largely unknown or forgotten. This presentation aims to reveal the diversity of commemorations in glass – all of which increase our awareness and knowledge of Australian art, history and society.

Bronwyn Hughes is a glass artist, teacher, lecturer, and art historian, specialising in stained glass and is a consultant to heritage architects and organisations. Her research interests are in stained glass history and conservation, nineteenth century art and architecture and twentieth century sculpture. Since completing her PhD on Anglo-Australian stained-glass artist, William Montgomery, she has been compiling and editing the first encyclopaedia of Australia’s stained glass makers and researching stained glass war memorials.

Image: Geelong All Saints Chapel

Thursday 3 July 2025
South America – Paracas: The Most Splendid Textiles of the Americas – Peru
Presented by Maria Chester
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

The Paracas civilisation developed between 800 BCE and 100 BCE. Paracas textiles included complex weaving techniques, elaborate plaiting and knotting. Paracas necropolises contained bodies in baskets wrapped in large cotton textiles embroidered with camelid fibres. Paracas embroideries are considered the finest ever produced in the Americas and are remarkable works of art. Designs on textiles were achieved by painting, embroidering, sewing feathers of rare tropical birds and using 3D ‘structural weaving’. Peruvian weaving remains one of the finest traditions in the world.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, multilingual Maria Chester studied Fine Arts and Art History and is a Professor of Pre-Columbian Art. She taught in several South American universities and at private institutions. She is a Senior Lecturer and tutor on Art History for BEA – Berwick Educational Association in the Scottish Borders, where she lives. She also works for Berwick Visual Arts delivering conferences linked to art exhibitions complemented with guided tours. In May 2018, she was made a Visiting Research Fellow at CAUA Research Centre for International Elderly Education, Shanghai, China. She became an Accredited Lecturer for The Arts Society in 2018.

Image: Paracas Textile – Mantle Detail

Thursday 7 August 2025
NOW YOU SEE ME: The History and Mystery of Cryptoportraits in European Art
Presented by Sophie Oosterwijk
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

A portrait can be much more than a straightforward likeness of a person. A cryptoportrait may, at first sight, not look like a portrait at all because it can be ‘disguised’ e.g. as an Adoration of the Magi with real people playing the parts of the Magi, or as a statue of a prophet or saint with the features of a patron. Throughout Western art we may discover such concealed portraits if we look carefully and are prepared to recognise these visual games that artists and patrons chose to play with the beholder.

Born in Gouda (Netherlands). Sophie has an MA in Medieval Studies (York) and a PhD in Art History (Leicester), as well as an MA and PhD in English Literature (Leiden). Sophie has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and organised many study days, tours and visits. She is also a regular lecturer for Cambridge University and travel companies, and Vice President of the Church Monuments Society, and has numerous publications to her name.

Image: The Jewish Bride, Rembrandt van Rijn 1665-1669

SPECIAL INTEREST AFTERNOON

FROM SUPREMATISM TO SOCIALIST REALISM: European Art of the Avantgarde 1917-1930
Wednesday 3rd September 2025
Presented by Anna Mosznyska
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Time:    1.30 pm – 4.00 pm

1. This lecture looks at the exciting and diverse ways in which the role of art changed in post-revolutionary Russia. Russian pioneers of the early 20th century (including Kasimir Malevich, El Lissitzky and Varvara Stepanova) will be discussed.

2. In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, the De Stijl movement was launched in Holland which anticipated the opening of the Bauhaus in Germany two years later. This lecture explores how this exciting range of work embracing art, design and architecture came together and created an impact that has lasted into the 21st century.

Anna is a London-based lecturer and writer specialising in contemporary art. During the 1990s, Anna oversaw the development of the first British Master’s Degree in the subject at Sotheby’s Institute. She has also taught at institutions including The City Lit, the Royal Academy and Tate London, as well as lecturing globally from Dubai to New York. Anna currently teaches in London and continues to write on art. Her books include Abstract Art and Sculpture Now. Anna enjoys introducing art to audiences in a lively and approachable way to make modern and contemporary art both accessible and interesting.

Image: Suprematism – Cafe d’Aubette, Strassbourg, Theo van Doesburg, 1926

Thursday 4 September 2025
FEMALE ARTISTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1990-2010
Presented by Anna Mosznyska
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

This lecture considers the fascinating range of women artists who have emerged from the Middle East, those still working in the region and those who now live elsewhere. Reacting against the exoticised depiction of women as seen in the West through 19th-century Orientalism female artists from the region have, since the end of the last century, re-examined visual notions of the gaze; engaged with contemporary society, religion and politics and offered fresh insights into contemporary issues.

Anna is a London-based lecturer and writer specialising in contemporary art. During the 1990s, Anna oversaw the development of the first British Master’s Degree in the subject at Sotheby’s Institute. She has also taught at institutions including The City Lit, the Royal Academy and Tate London, as well as lecturing globally from Dubai to New York. Anna currently teaches in London and continues to write on art. Her books include Abstract Art and Sculpture Now. Anna enjoys introducing art to audiences in a lively and approachable way to make modern and contemporary art both accessible and interesting.

Image: Angel With Ten Thousand Wings, Shirazeh Houshiary 1988

Thursday 9 October 2025
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PICTURE RESTORER: Conservation and Restoration
Presented by Sarah Cove
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

This lecture discusses the nature of oil painting materials and common problems associated with the ageing and deterioration of, and damage to, easel paintings. These can be on canvas, panel, board or paper in a range of mediums: oil, acrylic, egg tempera, or mixed media. Problems can involve natural deterioration and neglect, accidental damage, vandalism and even war. Modern approaches to conservation and restoration will be illustrated with slides ranging from early Italian religious paintings via rapid oil sketches on paper to 20th century British paintings and modern abstract works.

Sarah Cove ACR is an accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with several decades of experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She is London and Falmouth based and is a specialist in British portraits, 19th-20th century British landscapes and oil sketches on paper and board. She founded the Constable Research Project and is the leading authority on Constable’s materials and techniques. She has lectured for The Arts Society since 2003 and lectures independently at major public and gallery venues across the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Her presentations are lively, enthusiastic and passionate about her work and research.  

Image: Portrait of Charles II before and after Restoration

Thursday 6 November 2025
ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF RUMANIA
Presented by Nick Gordon
Venue:  Glen Eira Town Hall
Morning lecture:   10 a.m.  Afternoon lecture:   1.30 p.m.

This lecture introduces you to the art and architecture of Romania from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. It begins with folk traditions, such as wood carving and the painted glass icons of Transylvania, before turning to the emergence of a distinct style of painting that draws on eastern and western traditions at the painted monasteries of Bucovina. We then look at the creation of a unique architectural style in the early 1600s by Constantijn Brancoveanu, a style which unites an eclectic range of influences from traditional rural architecture to Byzantine, Ottoman and the classicism of the Renaissance and Baroque.

Dr Nick Gordon has taught European history at the University of Sydney (2004-2009), the history of political thought at Western Sydney University (2009-14), and architectural history at the University of NSW. He has lectured regularly on art and history topics. and has led art-focused tours since 2007. He is an artist and brings his deep knowledge of materials, techniques and the insights of his “artist’s eye” to his analyses of art in his lectures. 

Image: Painted Monastery in Bucovina, Rumania