Sunday 4 September 2011
A Walk from Cherryburn to Ovingham
Come and join us on a short post lunch walk to Ovingham and back exploring Bewick's childhood by the Tyne.

Meet and park at Cherryburn and bring appropriate footwear.
Refreshments will be available to buy from the Cherryburn farmhouse shop on our return.
Distance approx 3 miles round trip.
Date and time: Sunday 4 September 2011 at 1.30pm prompt.
Venue: Cherryburn, Station Road, Mickley Square, near Stocksfield, Northumberland NE43 7DD.
Contact: June Holmes: The Bewick Society, c/o The Natural History Society of Northumbria,
The Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4PT.

Tel no. 0191 222 5834

or e-mail bewick.society@newcastle.ac.uk

 

The York Antiquarian Book Fair
Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September 2011
Europe's largest antiquarian, rare and out of print annual book fair will be held in the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, York again this year.

This is a great venue offering a wonderful range of books for experienced collectors and first-time buyers alike. In order to raise our profile and hopefully recruit new members the Bewick Society will have a stand this year for the first time with information and leaflets.

Visit http://www.yorkbookfair.com for more information and opening times

 

Saturday 24 September 2011
BEWICK SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This year we are grateful to Newcastle City Library for allowing us to hold our AGM in their splendid Bewick Hall once again.

After the business of the AGM we will be showing a nostalgic short film 'The Bewick Man.' This documentary, made in the 1980s as a North East BBC production, takes the form of an interview with the Society's President Iain Bain in his home and discusses his enthusiasm for Thomas Bewick.

We acknowledge our thanks to the BBC for permission to show the film to our members and to the Natural History Society of Northumbria who own the copy of the original film.

Date and time: Saturday 24 September at 2.00 (AGM) for 2.30 (film).
Venue: The Bewick Hall, Newcastle City Library, Charles Avison Building, 33, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX.

Contact: June Holmes as above for further details

 

Saturday 8 October 2011
Thomas Bewick: An Introduction
Our Chairman, Dr Peter Quinn, will give a lecture to the South Tyneside Library Group in South Shields. Although aimed at introducing Britain's greatest wood engraver to a new audience, all Bewick Society members are very welcome to attend.

Date and time: Saturday 8 October at 2pm
Venue: Central Library, Prince Georg Square, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE33 2PE
Contact: Valerie Donnington 0191 4569007

 

Saturday 15 October to Saturday 19 November 2011
Good Times, Bad Times, All Times Get Over
Work by Thomas Bewick, Graham Gussin, Lutz and Guggisberg, and Bedwyr Williams
Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 3LS.
Open Monday to Saturday from 10am-4pm.

Taking its title from Bewick's depiction of a gravestone with the words "Good Times, Bad Times, All Times Get Over," this exhibition includes 24 tale-pieces and a selection of work by four contemporary artists, similarly thoughtful.

The proposition of Graham Gussin's multifaceted work, whereby natural force edgily meets manifestations of human culture, fits well.

So too Man in the Snow, a video by Swiss duo Lutz and Guggisberg, with its endlessly looping footage of a figure tramping through difficult frozen circumstances, thus recalling Bewick's many pictures of travellers in the landscape. Facsimiles of books by Lutz and Guggisberg make direct references, involving playful appropriations of Bewick's imagery.

Bedwyr William's interest in life beyond the metropolis is wholly relevant here, and a recent sculpture by him involving a small silver rat suspended from the bough of a bonsai tree is uncannily reminiscent of tale-pieces that touch on the theme of animal cruelty.

Saturday 26 November 2011
MEET THOMAS BEWICK: Bewick and Natural History
You are invited to a joint meeting between The Bewick Society and The Natural History Society of Northumbria.

Bewick Society Chairman, Dr Peter Quinn, will give a short talk on the North East's famous artist and wood-engraver Thomas Bewick, highlighting his role in the field of natural history. Peter, will look at some of the naturalists who influenced Bewick and go on to discuss how his work was admired by his contemporaries including the great American artist John James Audubon.
This will be followed by a rare opportunity to examine key works by Bewick and other naturalists held in the special collections library of the Natural History Society. Volumes on display will include Marmaduke Tunstall's Ornithologia Britannica, 1771, Pierre Belon's L'Histoire de la Nature des Oyseaux, 1555 and material by other well known naturalists such as Thomas Pennant and Audubon.

Date and time: Saturday 26 November at 2pm
Venue: The Clore Lecture Theatre, Great North Museum: Hancock, Barras Bridge, Newcastle
upon Tyne, NE2 4PT.
Contact: June Holmes as above for further details

 

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