Hobart
ADFAS Hobart welcomes you.
ADFAS Hobart is a not-for-profit organisation run by a committee of volunteers. It provides fully illustrated informative and entertaining lecture presentations on many diverse topics relating to the arts. In 2023 we are pleased to welcome back our UK lecturers after a three year absence, and combined with two Australian lecturers, they will make up our eight lecture program for the year. Special Events relating to the arts will be available to members throughout the year. Our society also supports young artists in the community and helps to promote the arts to young people.
We keep members updated on all our activities through this webpage, electronic bulletins, brochures, pre-lecture PowerPoints, our Facebook page and in the quarterly newsletter. We are looking forward to another stimulating program in 2023.
Lectures:
Venue:
Lectures are held at the Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay.
Parking is available on site.
Time:
Lectures are at 6.00pm on Monday evenings.
Program
Find full details of the 2023 program here
Membership:
Annual membership
Single $145
Double $270
Click here to join or email: adfashobartsec@iinet.net.au
Guests welcome:
$30 per lecture
$10 per lecture for students
Contact:
For all enquiries please email: adfashobartsec@iinet.net.au
Postal Address: PO BOX 2162, Lower Sandy Bay, Hobart, TAS 7005
ABN: 23 682 798 614
Committee 2023
Chair: Jandy Godfrey
Treasurer: Tiina Sexton
Secretary / Membership: Rosemary Sargison Ph: 0438 278 994
2023 PROGRAM
Monday 27 February 2023
ART NOUVEAU: AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Presented by Claudia Chan Shaw
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
Popular in Europe and the United States from 1890 – 1910, Art Nouveau was a decorative style that influenced architecture, fine art, illustration, advertising, jewellery, glass and furniture design, rejecting historic references of the past. A rather short-lived movement, Art Nouveau has left a lasting impression on design from graceful, iron and glass structures of Hector Guimard at the entrance to the Paris Metro to Victor Horta’s architecture in Brussels with its abstracted vines and mosaics. The lecture will cover this elegant design movement celebrating the works of, amongst others, Alphonse Mucha, Louis Comfort Tiffany, René Lalique, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard.
Claudia Chan Shaw has a multi-faceted career as a fashion designer, media presenter, author, public speaker, installation artist, photo artist and curator. She is represented at the Powerhouse Museum, presents Arts Now on radio and is a cultural tour leader for the Art Gallery Society NSW. She leads the “Art Deco to Art Now” tours around the world and is well known as co-host on ABC TV’s, Collectors. She is currently co-host of the television series, Antiques DownUnder.
Monday 27 March 2023
SADLER’S WELLS: THE THEATRICAL MOTHERSHIP
Presented by Nigel Bates
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
For more than three centuries Sadler’s Wells has been a place of entertainment and a part of London’s theatrical history with a reputation known across the world. Surviving many highs, lows and rebuildings, the theatre has hosted and nurtured an impressive array of performing companies over the years. We follow the unique story of The Wells which includes pony racing, naval warfare, Shakespeare with Sir John Gielgud as well as the strongest connections with the worlds of opera and dance and the roots of today’s Royal Ballet companies.
Nigel Bates is the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and has been a performer for nearly forty years at the Royal Opera House (ROH). He was a producer for the BBC’s ‘Maestro at the Opera’ and ‘Pappano’s Classical Voices’ documentary series. He is a regular contributor to printed and online content of the ROH. For over twenty years, Nigel has given lectures to arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.
Monday 29 May 2023
DEAD SHARKS AND OLIGARCHS: INSIDE THE ART MARKET OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Presented by Dr Tom Flynn
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
After a painting purporting to be a work by Leonardo da Vinci sold for the staggering sum of $450.3 million dollars at an auction in New York, the world looked aghast at the art market and wondered whether it was out of control. The international art market now frequently sees breathtaking prices paid for works of art by the world’s most important painters and sculptors. This lecture explores the dizzying prices paid for ‘blue-chip’ works of art and throws light on the secretive mechanisms and confidential ‘behind-the-scenes’ deals that help bring them about.
Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer, and art consultant. He holds a BA Honours degree (First Class) in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art, and a doctorate from the University of Sussex. His interests include contemporary art; sculpture history; museology; art crime; issues in cultural heritage; and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets.
Monday 24 July 2023
VAN GOGH: WHY IS HIS WORK STILL SO FAMOUS?
Presented by Lucrezia Walker
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
We all know van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, ‘Starry Night’, his self-portraits, the bright prismatic colour applied with energetic strokes of the brush. We know his life was not an easy one. But what makes him possibly the best-known artist in the world? What makes his paintings instantly recognizable? His failure to find sales or success during his lifetime, his suffering leading to self-mutilation and later to suicide at the age of 37 are all well known. What happened during his short life, and afterwards to transform him into the world’s best-loved artist?
Lucrezia Walker Is a lecturer and gallery guide at the National Gallery in London. She liaises with the Gallery’s corporate sponsors and with the Tate Gallery and the Tate Modern. She teaches US undergraduates on their Study Abroad semesters in London and was Lay Canon for the Visual Arts at St Paul’s Cathedral 2010-2014.
Monday 28 August 2023
MOSAICS IN THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC: POWER, BEAUTY AND EDUCATION
Presented by Nirvana Rommel
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
The Northern Adriatic coast showcases incredible mosaics in many small places. For centuries, Aquileia hid the largest early Christian mosaic in Europe, whilst in Poreč in Croatia, the Euphrasian Basilica displays a mosaic of an early Byzantine Madonna. These mosaics not only have great aesthetic beauty, but they also bear witness to the centuries of culture mixing and power struggles in the first Christian millennium. The lecture explains their main themes and their function within their socio-political background. It is not a coincidence that they appear in one of the most multicultural areas of Europe!
Nirvana Romell holds a BA in the History of Art, and MA in English Language and Literature. She has 20 years of lecturing experience on three continents and since her arrival in the UK in 2003, she has been working as a freelance lecturer, public programmes consultant and tour director. She presents tours of exhibitions across the UK and Europe, and study tours to the Balkans, Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and South Africa.
Monday 2 October 2023
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOUR
Presented by John Ericson
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
This lecture is an exploration of the fascinating world of colour. It is built on the premise that our appreciation of colour and how we see it, is at the very core of our common interest in art and the arts. Sometimes colour is referred to as ‘the secret influence’ as we are often unaware of how it significantly affects the choices we make every day. But what is colour? Do we all experience colour similarly? What is a colour scheme and why do some colours go well together and others not?
John Ericson has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant giving lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. In 2008 and 2011 John undertook extensive lecture tours in Australia and has been a popular speaker for The Arts Society in the UK for many years. In his professional life, John has developed a particular interest in presentation skills, including the role of pictures in learning and the appropriate use of the PowerPoint program.
Monday 30 October 2023
POTS AND FROCKS: THE WORLD OF GRAYSON PERRY FROM ESSEX PUNK POTTER TO SUPERSTAR NATIONAL TREASURE
Presented by Ian Swankie
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
Best known for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire, Grayson Perry is now a core part of the art establishment, a Turner Prize winner, Royal Academician, popular broadcaster, and colourful character. He’s possibly one of the world’s best-known contemporary artists. His works of ceramics, textiles, tapestries, and prints are highly sought after. Often controversial, he tackles difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty way and holds a mirror up to society. This talk will examine Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks
Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. He is a qualified freelance London guide and an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his hometown of Richmond in West London. He is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars.
Monday 20 November 2023
ART AND IMAGES OF THE HEROIC AGE OF ANTARTIC EXPLORATION
Presented by John Williamson
Venue & Time: Stanley Burbury Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay 6.00 pm
This lecture discusses the art and photography of the Heroic Era of exploration in Antarctica, 1895-1922. It focuses mostly on the extraordinary artworks of Herbert Ponting, Edward Wilson and Frank Hurley. These artistic geniuses not only recorded the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration, in part they created it: their sketches and photographs designed to heighten Victorian and Edwardian values of great individuals involved in, what was considered, honourable British endeavour.
John Williamson is a teacher and lecturer who specialises in topics that focus on Polar History, Art and Exploration. He has worked as a tour guide in Antarctica, has lectured on Antarctic History at the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies and was the co-writer of the State Government’s Polar Pathways – an annotated map of Hobart’s Antarctic Site.
