Tuesday 16th September 2025 at 10.45am
Lecturer: Isabelle Kent
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain rose as the great superpower with an empire spanning the globe. This vast wealth, alongside the renewed catholic fervour of the counter reformation, kick-started the Spanish siglo d’oro – literally the century of gold - the great flourishing of painting, sculpture, literature, and music. This lecture explores this period, looking at the historical moment and its vast array of art.
Tuesday 21st October 2025 at 10.45am
Lecturer: Christopher Garibaldi
2024 marked the 300th anniversary of the birth of George Stubbs and North Lincolnshire celebrated his connection with the region. Between 1756 and 1758, under the patronage of Sir John Nelthorpe, Stubbs spent 18 months in Horkstow dissecting and studying horses which led to the publication of ‘The Anatomy of the Horse’ in 1766. His legacy and influence are still an inspiration to today’s artists. There were further exhibitions and events at Normanby Hall and Scawby Hall, home of the Nelthorpe family.
Koestler Awards supported by ASHER
“Being creative has given me a new lease of life. I can share my thoughts and feelings through colour. I no longer feel suppressed or confined. Art has shaped a stronger version of me.”
Koestler Arts is the UK’s best known prison arts charity aiming to encourage people in the criminal justice system to change their lives by participating in the arts. ASHER annually donates money to fund prizes so that prisoners know that there is an outside group that wants to see them thrive and cultivate a creative life through their art. Three prizes were awarded in 2023.
A Woodland Waterway Birdwatch and Back in Time were made by an artist at HM Prison Humber, a men’s prison near Hull. This artist has been entering the Koestler Awards since 2018, and in that time has entered and won a handful of awards in a variety of categories - Sculpture, Painting and Mixed Media, a huge achievement.
Sitting Donkey was created by someone fairly new to the Koestler Awards, first entering in 2022 with another Matchstick Model. This piece impressed our judges, with the clever shaping of the body and the donkey’s cheeky expression!
Your support has helped recognise the talent and ingenuity of people finding their voice and confidence through creativity and the Koestler Awards. These artists will receive bespoke certificates confirming that they’ve won the 2023 Arts Society Hull & East Riding Award and personalised feedback from our Koestler Awards judges and feedback volunteers.
Ferens Open Young Artists Prizes supported by ASHER
In 2023 it was decided to rebrand the Junior Open Exhibition as Young Artists, in order to encourage a wider age group to exhibit their work. It has been a resounding success, with a record-breaking 600 entrants – doubling the average number over previous years. The art was displayed to full advantage in Gallery Four and with its striking new logo, the effect was tremendously colourful and exuberant.
The presentation was a most enjoyable occasion. ASHER’s support is part of a collaborative initiative in partnership with the Ferens Art Gallery, the Friends of the Ferens, and this year, Heritage Learning. We have encouraged this celebration of emerging talent for some years now, sponsoring, selecting and presenting awards to students up to the age of fifteen across Hull and the wider area.
Mary Glen Memorial
The National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies was set up in 1968 and our own society was the ninth to be formed that year. Maybe this explains our wide-ranging name – Hull and East Riding – as in 1968 there were no other NADFAS societies in the region. Now there are many with Beverley, Driffield, Scarborough and York being the nearest.
Mary Glen was our founder chairman (as the position was then called) from 1968 – 1970 and then she became our first president from 1970 – 1973; she was on the committee for a total of 25 years and was made the first honorary member of the society in 1993.
Mary Glen was a generous benefactor giving the society many gifts including the silver chain and badge of office now worn by the president.
On her death in 2007 her family set up a trust fund to finance an annual memorial lecture to be given in her name.
Our first Outside Visit of 2024 was to Doddington Hall, on the outskirts of Lincoln. Begun in 1595 by Robert Smythson, this late Elizabethan ‘prodigy mansion’ was built for Thomas Tailor, the Registrar to the Bishop of Lincoln, and deliberately sited with a direct view of Lincoln Cathedral from an upstairs gallery window. It was completed in 1600, and has seen over 400 years of unbroken family occupation, passing through successive generations of four different families, in all cases through the female line.
In 1749 the Hall was inherited by John Delaval (of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland), who carried out extensive internal redecoration. He incorporated the elegant Georgian style, and established the eclectic collection of paintings, ceramics, tapestries and furniture which we enjoyed in our excellent Guided Tours of the Hall.
The surrounding Gardens have been restored by the present owners, Claire Jarvis and James Birch, and at the time of our visit were spectacularly enhanced by a biennial international sculpture exhibition. Interested members of our party were treated to a special tour by James of their unique Military Uniform Collections, as a highlight of what was a most enjoyable day for us all.
Keith Bottomley
..…A most interesting and beautiful manor house. A.F.
…..A marvellous visit…...what a treasure trove! Such beautiful china, paintings and exquisite furniture described in detail with a touch of humour by our charming host. A.S.
.….Wonderful inlaid furniture and the Japanese bedroom was exquisite….Anon
…..I loved the Dutch corner cabinets….and our guide had such an amazing memory, he knew all the details of his collection. Anon
…..Both house & gardens have been renovated and restored marvellously. L.D.
This was our much-anticipated Covid-delayed visit from 2020, on a rather overcast day at the start of the predicted July heat-wave but very much enjoyed none-the-less. Sion Hill Hall is one of the last Edwardian stately homes built in Yorkshire before the Great War. It is a Grade II* Arts and Craft inspired country house with outstanding neo-Georgian detail and was designed and built in 1913 by the renowned local architect Walter Brierley of York – known as the ‘Lutyens of the North’. It stands on the original site of the 13th century manor of Kirby Wiske, near Thirsk. The original house changed ownership many times over 600 years, ending up with the Lascelles family of Harewood, who in 1911 sold what was then a decaying Georgian mansion to Percy Staincliffe, who commissioned the present house from Brierley.
In 1962, Sion Hill Hall was bought by a Yorkshire businessman, Herbert William Mawer, an enthusiastic collector of antiques and he filled the house with fine art, French furniture and porcelain. To ensure the collection remained together as a lasting memorial to his life’s work, Mawer put it into a Charitable Trust, which then passed to the current incumbent, Michael Mallaby – an equally passionate collector of antiques. After being greeted on arrival with tea/coffee and biscuits in the Edwardian kitchen of the Hall, we were warmly welcomed by Michael Mallaby himself. who gave us a fascinating tour of the ground floor reception rooms. As Simon Jenkins has said of the interior of Sion Hill – ‘The style is rich and crowded, sometimes Curzon Street Baroque, sometimes antique dealer’s Louis XVI . . .Yet no inch is without thought or interest’ (England’s Thousand Best Houses, p.901).
We were then left to explore the upstairs bedrooms at our leisure, with informative guides to hand, before being directed to the carefully landscaped gardens. After many years of neglect, these too have been lovingly restored by Michael Mallaby and provide a perfect setting for this unique antique collector’s dream of a country house.
Keith Bottomley
ASHER’s second visit of 2024 was to the Auckland Project in Bishop Auckland, the inspired brainchild of retired investment banker Jonathan Ruffer. We began with a guided tour of Auckland Castle, the former Palace of the Prince Bishops of Durham, from the spiritual heart of St Peter’s Chapel, through the state rooms and Bishops’ private apartments, culminating in the formal dining room, with its unique portraits of the 12 sons of Jacob, by the famous Spanish painter, Francisco de Zurbaran.
After lunch in the Old Library of the Castle, our afternoon was free to visit other attractions of the Auckland Project. The newly opened Faith Museum traced the fascinating religious heritage of Britain from its early prehistory, through the development of Christianity right up to the diverse variety of religious faiths in the 21st century. The Mining Art Gallery reflected the huge local significance of the Durham mining industry, economically, socially and personally, with moving pictures of what it was like working down the mines, painted by miners themselves.
Keith Bottomley
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