The Club’s Beginnings And Early History
In 1961* Bee Cunningham had an idea. Rye had a Society of Artists for established and professional artists who held an Exhibition every year. But there was no Club or Exhibition for amateurs and beginners in the Rye area, such as her friends at the Art Class she attended on Tuesdays in the Further Education (FE) Hall (Now St Mary’s Hall). She decided to arrange an art exhibition for herself and her friends with the help of her brother Captain Martin Evans.
And that was the beginning of the Tuesday Painters Club of Rye.
An extract from a letter from Bee tells the story.
‘In the beginning which I first came to Rye to live, I wanted to join an Art Society. After exhibiting with the Rye Society, I decided it was not the right sort of Society for my friends in Tony Pyke’s class on Tuesdays. I thought of starting one on my own. Daphne Adams asked me to exhibit in her studio with a few chosen friends and ask people to come to drinks. Lady Ferguson said ‘For goodness sake, ‘NO’ a both non exhibitors and the drinking friends would resent this. So I got Martin (Bee’s brother) to come and we suggested something more ambitious. In fact, to take a room at the FE Centre.
I approached the class and promised they should have at least one picture hung (otherwise they were too modest to submit). John Ward came and judged it.
It was an enormous success. Most of them had never even framed a picture. Daphne Adams was the first Secretary and Col. Dixon the first Treasurer. I was in charge of organising the Exhibition as I had about 40years helping with the Winchester Art Society and knew the few important things to look out for.
We then had a meeting and formed the ‘Tuesday Painters’, as we had risen from the Tuesday Class. Nobody wanted the name changed …’
The First Exhibition in 1962 ran for eight days and was open ‘to all amateur artists residing in the district, who are cordially invited to submit pictures for selection’. The prices varied from 3 guineas up to 30 guineas for the paintings by John Ward, who was asked to Judge
Additional screens were borrowed from the Romney Art Club (who were to have a close association with the Tuesday Painters over several years) and a profit of £32.2s.11d. was made
After the exhibition, her brother Captain Evans wrote several letters:
‘I am writing to you as an exhibitor of the recent Tuesday Painters Exhibition, on behalf of the committee who organized it…I would like to make it clear that the committee were self-elected and have no authority to speak for anyone…the response exceeded our highest expectations and no less than 75 artists submitted, between them, 280 pictures to place before the judge. The committee has been so encouraged by the enthusiasm which obviously exists among local amateur artists that they believe that there is room in Rye for a new society for amateur painters which would, of course, in no way be in competition with the Rye Society of Artists. In the first instance the object of such a society would be simply to organize an annual exhibition, to give encouragement and an objective to amateur artists. It is impossible at this stage, to indicate what other artistic activities might develop. I am writing now to ask you if you agree with the view that a new society should be formed, and if so if you would wish to become a member‘
The first official meeting of the Committee was held at Capt. Martin J. Evans’ home at Cannon House, East Street on Saturday 20th October 1962 and the Committee elected Capt. Evans as Chairman. At this meeting, the Rules of the Club were drafted. The Committee met at Cannon House for many years afterwards. By May 1963 there was a membership of 68 and a balance of £47 in the bank.
Full members could submit 4 paintings to the Exhibitions; Associates, 2 paintings; and non-members, 2 paintings. Non-members were charged a 2/-. entry fee and 3/- hanging fee per picture. Entry forms were sent to Ashford, Weald of Kent, Romney Marsh, Battle and District, East Sussex, Little Common and Fairlight Art Clubs, and to the villages in surrounding areas. Announcements were made each year on the BBC programme ‘Round and About’ for the South East.
In 1964 the Club approached Vincent Lines (1909-1968), who was Vice President of the Royal Watercolour Society and at one time Principal of Hastings School of Art, to become our first President .
Invitations to attend each other’s talks and demos etc. were exchanged with the Romney Marsh and other art clubs. The Tuesday Painters, together with these local clubs, applied to the Carnegie Trust of Dunfermline, who awarded funds to amateur art clubs for the cost of day or weekend schools under professional supervision. These ran from 1963-1968. By1969 the Carnegie Trust was donating less money and the Club asked Members to pay £4 a day. This was the beginning of the ‘Painting Weekends’. These generally ran smoothly but, on one occasion, a toilet was damaged and needed ‘immediate attention’ for which the Club paid. More recently, one of our painters found herself trapped in our host’s vegetable garden, when a swarm of bees settled in a nearby bush!
By 1967 membership had grown to 156 and the Rules were changed to allow applications only from artists living within 10 miles of Rye. By 1988 membership was over 200 and there was a waiting list.
In 2021, the membership has dwindled …but the enthusiasm has not!
In the early days of the Club, a draw seems to have taken place each year to find one third of the Committee to resign, and offer themselves for re-election. The Committee Members still do this every three years.
1969: The Exhibition had 1500 visitors and sold 34 paintings which totalled £328. Of the 287 paintings submitted by Members, 100 were rejected, the other 187 were hung and 24 sold. The Non-Members submitted 120 paintings, of which 45 were rejected and 10 sold.
1970: At the Exhibition, over 200 paintings were rejected. It was decided that mid-afternoon was too early to serve sherry at the AGM – although it did increase attendance! The practice was discontinued.
1984: Capt. Evans retired as Chairman, a post he had held since the founding of the Club. He was succeeded by Ernest Buckler, formerly the Club’s Treasurer, until 1996, when John Ryan was elected.
1986: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. It was proposed that champagne instead of sherry would be served at the traditional ‘hanging day’ lunch, but most committee members said they would prefer wine. There were silver invitation cards.
1997: The death of Carel Weight RA, our President since 1979.
At the Millennium, Geoffrey W. Flint ARCA was our President and Charles Smith FRSA was Vice President. John Ryan had been elected Chairman in 1997 (and later became our President). Winter Workshops were introduced. These were very successful and often over-subscribed, but high prices for room hire charged by Hastings College put an end to them for the time being. Later they were held in the Rye Creative Centre.
In the first decade of the new Millennium, lack of volunteers and attendance, meant painting weekends and trips to London were under threat, and had to be temporarily discontinued.
Bill Beattie suggested and designed new screens to hang our pictures on at the Exhibition as the old ones were looking decidedly tatty. Rosie Frost’s husband, Don, duly produced them and they really smartened up our Exhibitions!
From 2002-3: Bill Beattie, then Hon. Secretary, led the fight on behalf of the Club to retain the Further Education Centre for community use, when Hastings College threatened to sell the Centre. There was a temporary respite to this crisis when their plans were shelved. When Bill moved away from Rye in 2003, Rosie Frost took on the challenge to be Secretary… and is still continuing to do the job in 2021.
John Ryan, of Captain Pugwash fame, our much loved President, died in 2009…and Dr Richard Manwaring Baines, also a great favourite of the Club, was elected President. Soon afterwards, John’s widow Priscilla Ryan was elected Vice President.
The late Priscilla Ryan, Tuesday Painters Vice President
Richard Manwaring Baines with the late John Ryan, current & pastPresidents
Portrait of Richard Manwaring Baines by David Sandell.
John Ryan at work in his studio
In 2011 there was another crisis when HCAT again proposed selling the Centre for conversion into housing. The Tuesday Painters held their meetings at the Methodist Hall. Plans for the 50th Annual Exhibition in 2012 had to be postponed and a smaller exhibition was held in the Clare Chapel of St Mary’s Church. Rosie joined the Committee that was set up by Rye residents to fight against the proposals for the Hall, and, after many meetings and negotiations between local organizations, St Mary’s Church agreed to purchase the front half of the Centre, with the Fletcher Group purchasing the rear half of the Centre.
Also in 2012 at the AGM, we voted to dispense with the long held tradition of asking an eminent artist to Judge at the Exhibition (3 Committee Members to judge instead). Before this the process took several hours of hard work and we have since managed to shave off quite a bit of the time and effort it takes to prepare for the Exhibition.
In 2013, the Club celebrated its 50th (Golden) Annual Exhibition at the new ‘St Mary’s Centre’ and happily, apart from the last couple of years, have managed to exhibit every year since then until 2019.
With half the building occupied by the cinema, Members no longer had to risk life and limb every year when descending into the dark, spider infested cellar to carry up the screens for the Exhibition! When the building had been a school, the cellar had been an air raid shelter. (Many a time we hit our heads on the low ceilings!!) Happily a purpose built cupboard was provided by the Church in the Entrance for us to stock our large items.
In 2015, as our membership was lower, members were allowed to submit 5 paintings instead of 4 and to allow 2 unframed works as well. Our Vice Chairman and popular water-colour painter, Douglas Baldwin, died and Monica Dunn agreed to step in as Vice Chairman. (Monica sadly also died recently). In the same year, the workshops were re-introduced and in 2016, at the AGM, members voted to discontinue asking for sponsorship by two members in the Applications for new Associate Members, as this precluded artists who had only recently moved to Rye and had no contacts within the Club.
In 2017 Pricilla Ryan, the widow of our former President, John Ryan, resigned from the committee having worked tirelessly for the Club since 1989, but remained as Vice President and, in 2018, we lost Christine Fairbairns, who had arranged the visits to London for many years, and also Sue Maxwell Scott another of our Committee Members.
In 2018 we took a step into the online Community! Sarah Cooper set up a Facebook page for us. It was primarily used for announcements of meetings, etc., but it was to come into its own and prove invaluable a couple of years later. Brian & Pat Roberts resigned as Treasurers in this year and Eileen Rison also said she would like to hand over as Speakers Secretary (which had previously been organised by Jackie Solly, and for some time before that, Norman Epton).
Brian Roberts sitting for us to do a 20 minute sketch.
Thankfully Janet Haken volunteered to be Treasurer and soon after bravely offered to take on the job of Speakers Secretary as well (and the workshops!!!!).
Busy, busy at a Workshop in the Art Room of the Rye Creative Centre
We also decided at that year’s AGM to abolish the “Associate Membership” status which had been in place from the beginnings of the Club. This meant that everyone would immediately become a Full Member and could now enter the same amount of paintings for the Exhibition. We all also agreed that Mike Funnell, a professional artist who had helped the Club with workshops and critiques, should be made an Honorary Member.
In 2019 Rosie Frost managed to get together a small group of members who enjoyed painting outside….and once again arranged some sketching trips to farms, gardens, and beaches. In fact the weather was so good in this year, 10 outings were enjoyed.
By 2020 events had been booked and all was set fair for the future year. However Linda Graham had resigned as Exhibition Organiser; Claire Hill, who had covered so many tasks at each Exhibition for years, also resigned. We had lost our entire Exhibition Committee. The rest of the Tuesday Painters Committee got together and volunteered to share the tasks between them and we all looked forward to the year ahead.
From top left going clockwise: Sheila Murphy, Valerie Comber , Sue Thomson, Jean Marsh, Rosie Frost, Margaret Eastwood., Keith Friend, Dorothy Hamblyn, Pat Jacobs, Dr Chris Sotheby Pitcher, Eve Sandall, June Martin (June and Eve were responsible for most of the Exhibition Organisation) just off picture Claire Hill.
When Covid struck in March 2020 everything had to be cancelled and the main way for our Members to connect and for us all to keep ourselves busy became our Tuesday Painters Facebook Page.
Rosie and Janet organised a FB Gallery and set several Challenges and Competitions and a Photobook Exhibition to replace our Annual Summer Exhibition, which had sadly been cancelled. Since the start of Covid, we have posted at least one of our members’ pictures every day for other members to enjoy or comment upon. These posts were also forwarded to some non-FB internet members and, with 150 people (many not members) following the page, it has become a useful lifeline. Many commented that it had kept them sane during lockdown when contact with others was limited.
In 2021, Covid has meant more cancelled bookings and, by July 2021, with numbers of cases rising again, it was decided to cancel the Exhibition once again. A Commemorative Photobook is in the process of being created to celebrate 60 years since the Club was born. Also, we are excited about the launch of this website…which we hope will provide new opportunities for everyone.
Demonstrations: Critiques: Lectures:
Russell Dorey giving a lecture on his career as a full-time professional artist.
Chris Daynes demonstrating landscape painting in oils.
Trying out oil pastels at a demonstration given by Anna Wilson-Patterson.
Let’s hope that in 2022, we will all be able to meet up again and carry on with the Club’s activities as usual!
SOME MEMORABLE GUESTS
John Ward RA made many visits to the Club, both as Judge and to give critiques. Having been the Judge for the very first Exhibition, he returned to open the 25th Anniversary Exhibition in 1986 and the 40th Annual Exhibition in 2002. Among the many Exhibition Judges were Claude Muncaster RWS, Richard Eurich RA, Fred Cuming ARA, Olwyn Bowey RA, William Bowyer RA, Gus Cummins RCA MA and more recently, Robert Greenhalf, SWLA, a local wildlife artist. Carel Weight CBE RA, Jean Cooke RA, Geoffrey Flint ARCA, Clifford Bailey RWS, John Doyle MBE PPRWS and our current President Dr. Richard Manwaring Baines FROI, Past President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, have all judged on several occasions.
Among the many notable artists who gave talks, demos and critiques: Bernard Dunstan RA, Anthony Green ARA and Leonard Rosoman RA.
SOME OF OUR LONG-SERVING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The Club would not survive without its Committee Members, all of whom give of their time freely and ensure the Club is run smoothly. A few committee members stand out in the Club’s archives.
Kaye Diggle was Hon. Secretary from 1974 followed by Molly Stoker from 1985 to 1999. Christine Fairbairns arranged visits to London Exhibitions for several years, introducing us to the works of many artists. In 1989 Priscilla Ryan was asked to join the Exhibition Committee and until 2017, was one of the stalwarts of the Committee and was also our Vice President. Sadly she died in 2020.
In 1995 Rosemary Crouch and Cynthia Cox took over the painting weekends from Bernard Flack, who had organised them successfully for a great many years. The weekends were at their most popular at this time, and proved to be great social occasions with everyone joining in the picnic lunches. Rosemary is now our Chairman. Rosie Frost and Claire Hill took over the task and joined other members to sketch and paint with a tutor at so many venues thanks to the generosity of local farmers and other hosts. Linda Graham and Kit Walsh organised later trips.
Eileen Jenkins, often still mentioned in conversations, had efficiently organised the Exhibition for some time, but died suddenly in 1996. An exhibition committee was put together hastily to take her place, led by June Martin, who continued to do so until moving away from the area.
Rosie Frost