News

Cambridge Drawing Society member Frances Colquhoun sadly passed away in June after bravely fighting a prolonged illness. Frances had been a member of the Society for sixteen years and exhibited her work in every CDS exhibition, including the Spring 2017 exhibition, despite being very ill at the time.

Frances originally trained as an actor, and she was ever ready with an amusing story and was always good company. Long serving member, Anthony Hopkinson, fondly remembers her Joyce Grenfell impressions were often better than the originals. Frances and Anthony often collaborated in Cambridge Open Studios events and he recalls that she had a great way with people, especially the young. She would always encourage youngsters to look at artworks and say what they really thought.

As an artist, Frances seemed equally happy with oils, watercolour and pastels, though oils were probably her favourite medium.

Society President, Janice Anderson, along with other long standing members, remember her willingness to support all the Society’s activities and in particular her incredible catering efforts. For many years, she was responsible for magnificent post AGM suppers and delicious lunches on Selection Days at the Cambridge Guildhall. Nothing was too much trouble for Frances and she was always willing to help.

The Society has lost one of its most valuable members. Frances will be greatly missed by all.

CDS Member Tracey Ashman's latest work appears on the front cover of the Spring edition of the Venue magazine. Tracey was approached by the magazine for an article, after being invited to exhibit her latest series of works at the Cambridge Contemporary Art gallery. The two page article in the magazine explores Tracey's inspiration for her latest series. The exhibition at Cambridge Contemporary Art runs from March 11th through to April 2nd,

CDS member, Marko Humphrey-Lahti MRBS has been awarded the 2016 Brian Mercer Stone Carving Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy by the Royal British Society of Sculptors. This is a fully supported scholarship for Marko to work with artisans for 3 months at world renowned Fondazione Sem in Italy. Marko will be experimenting with marble from Carrara from 1st March - 31st May 2017. His resulting works will be exhibited at the Royal British Society of Sculptors HQ in London towards the end of 2017.

This year the Society again held it's 2016 Autumn exhibition in the Leys School, Cambridge.

97 local professional and amateur artists exhibited 265 original pieces of work for the first time. The diverse selection of works included paintings, drawing and prints, together with ceramic and stone sculptures. Many artists also displayed cards for sale, which proved extremely popular.  Overall, the exhibition provided a broad range of work, with something of interest for all visitors. This exhibition turned out to be the Society's most successful in the last six years in terms of works sold. Once again visitor feedback has been positive, highlighting the high standard and diversity of the work. 

Visitors had the opportunity to vote for their favourite work. This year they chose The Other Gardener (above), a charcoal drawing by Andy Dakin. In previous exhibitions Andy has consistently been in the top ten. Well done Andy for getting the top position this time!

Iona Howard, one of our member artists who specialises in printmaking provided the raffle prize, which was an original print "Great North Fen". The winner of the draw was Lucy Winter from Great Shelford. Lucy is a Friend of the Society. Congratulations Lucy!

The Society is grateful for the professional help and support of the Leys School to enable us to complete one of our most successful and well received Autumn exhibitions in recent years.

The Society's next Spring exhibition will be held in the The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street Cambridge, running from Saturday 1st April to Saturday 8th April 2017.

Cambridge Drawing Society was once again delighted to assist the Cambridge Decorative and Fine Arts Society at the Exhibition for young artists, held at Cambridge Central Library from 6-18  July 2016.   The artists, from schools in the Cambridge region, are studying art for A level and all displayed a very high standard of work, ensuring an extremely difficult task for the judges.

Zoe Dawes from St. Mary's Convent - Presidents Cup Winner 2016

Cambridge Drawing Society lent its display screens for the exhibition and awarded two prizes, the silver President’s cup for the artwork that the CDS judges, Godfrey Curtis and Clare Maria Wood, considered to be best in show and a £100.00 token for the most original. The cup, which will be engraved with her name, was presented to Zoe Dawes from St Mary’s School for an impressive still life oil painting. The £100 prize for originality was awarded to Alexandra Ruchmskaya-Sweet from Long Road VI Form College for a large painting of a city scape in oil, acrylic and collage. 

Alexandra Ruchmskaya-Sweet  from Long Road VI Form College -  Most Original Work Winner 2016

 70 CDS Members and Friends, together with family and friends enjoyed the summer garden party hosted by Godfrey and Pauline Curtis in their beautiful house in Comberton on Sunday 19th June.  Although the weather leading up to the event had been very changeable, on the day it was pleasently warm and enabled everyone to enjoy the garden at it's best. 

The Society is not only indebted to Godfrey and Pauline for their wonderful hospitality but to all the members who helped make this occasion a success.  A huge thanks go to our President, Janice Anderson and member Tracey Ashman who teamed up and provided a delicious buffet. Thanks to Anthony Hopkinson, who again acted as shopkeeper for a ‘bring and buy’ sale of unwanted art materials. To Richard Baker and John Tordoff for making themselves available in the morning to help with the erection of the marquee and finally, to Harry Baker for his professional photographs capturing the day.

As always, the party proved a great opportunity for members and Friends of the Society to get to know each other, discuss their shared passion and exchange ideas. 

Eve Corder happens to be the 100th Cambridge Drawing Society member to publish their biography in the members' section of the CDS website. I'm afraid there is no prize to go along with achievement.

Thank you to all these members who have taken advantage of this facility, and contributed to raising the profile of their own work and showcasing the abilities of the CDS membership.

Remember that the CDS Twitter account is active, and many items of interest to CDS members are tweeted or re-tweeted there. If you do use twitter (even if it's just a little bit), do consider following the @CambDrawingSoc. Of course, you can always see what's been tweeted on the home page of the website.