Heritage
M5 was yet to be completed, cider continued to escape the attentions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Ian Botham was a schoolboy.
What a different place Somerset was in 1972!
But something bright and creative was about to emerge in a Somerset more concerned by the three-day week and decimalisation – contemporary art!
The artistic movement that had begun in Britain after the war had become fashionable with professional and amateur artists alike and was to reach its zenith during the 70’s.
A group of modern artists (some of whom had been working together since the 60’s), formed a group that is as dynamic to-day as it ever was.
The roots of this eclectic collection of individuals can be traced back to 1965.
One of the founders of the group, Joy Barnes of Castle Cary, now in her nineties and still painting, had arrived in the county after the end of the Second World War. She had trained in London at the Chelsea School of Art under Henry Moore and Graham Sullivan and then took a post in an advertising agency after graduation before moving to the South West where she joined the Bruton Art Society.
After a South West Arts Conference (where she represented Bruton) Joy became aware of the new modern arts group that was forming in Ilminster. It was based around a summer course of tuition led by Hilary Duke and taught by Frank Lisle from Leeds College of Arts.
Lisle’s charismatic teaching style and his presentation of a new approach to art known as the Basic Course (created by Victor Pasmore at Newcastle University) gathered a hardcore of adherents on the summer course. Lisle’s students were inspired by abstract painting and were in tune with the fashion for modern art in the 70’s. Using their new found enthusiasm and mutual interest they decided to break their allegiance with the more traditional (and it should be said perfectly respectable) Ilminster Art Society and form a new modern art group.
Thus in 1972 at a meeting chaired by Jean Piers the group pondered on a name for their organisation. Various ideas were bandied about the room but like modernists everywhere they liked contemporary references. To get to the meeting many of the artists had driven along the main road in the town, the A303. The well-known main road that runs east to west across south Somerset became the symbol for the bright young turks of modern art. The group settled on Artists303 and the name stuck.
Indeed this year, true to the traditions of the group, A303 was adopted as the new logotype for the group.
In the early days, membership was restricted to 40 but as the group developed a reputation, Artists303 became an organisation that progressive local artists wanted to join and membership was expanded to 50 and the group updated its selection process.
The broader membership brought with it new styles of art and design including mixed media artists and printmakers. Many of these members came from further afield and exhibited in their own right at the Royal West of England Academy and even the Royal Academy, London.
Membership of the group is again under review with the planned appointment of up to six graduate members later this year and an increase in membership to 60.
The future of the group now seems secure in a county that has a thriving arts scene with an ever increasing number of candidates submitting their work for membership.
Artists303 may not have created tidal waves within the art world or produced a school of art that has left an influence internationally but its achievements in individual terms is perhaps more significant.
Scores of artists in the County over nearly 40 years have received the recognition and encouragement with the aid of the members of the Society to help achieve their creative endeavours.
When asked what she thought of the group that had gained a reputation for colour, excitement and quality and its achievements since the 60’s, Joy Barnes, after considering the question replied:
“Well, it has been a great force for good and a stimulus to rise above the easy and the commonplace.”
