Melbourne
ADFAS Melbourne welcomes you.
ADFAS Melbourne is a welcoming and friendly society presenting nine lectures a year in the comfortable Lido Cinemas complex at Hawthorn. Our stimulating program comprises a range of impressive topics from international and Australian specialist lecturers chosen for their expert knowledge. Topics in 2024 include the visual arts, architecture, history, literature, jewellery and photography. Each lecture concludes with supper.
Members are very welcome to bring along a friend or prospective new member to lectures with prior booking and payment of the guest fee. A new member welcome evening is held each year to introduce new members to the committee so that when they attend a lecture there is a friendly face in the crowd. Members book into each lecture via the Eventbrite booking link detailed in the annual program and which become active approximately two weeks prior to each lecture.
Lectures:
Venue:
Lectures are held at Lido Cinema 1, 675 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn.
The cinema is accessed via both a staircase and a lift from the arcade linking Glenferrie Road with the large off-street parking behind the cinema complex. Quite a lot of additional free parking is available opposite the cinema accessed via Wakefield Street through to Liddiard Street. Parking is free after 6pm but can be difficult so allow plenty of time to park and be seated by 8pm.
Time:
Lectures are on a Thursday and begin at 8pm
Program
Find full details of the 2024 program here
Membership:
Annual membership:
$180 single membership
$340 Double membership (couples)
Click here to join or email: adfasmelbourne@gmail.com
Admittance to each lecture requires display of a name-tag for members
Pro-rata membership will be available from June 2024 onwards.
Guests welcome:
Guests are welcome to attend the lectures for prior payment of $30 per person.
$25 Members of other ADFAS Societies
$15 students.
To book and arrange payment contact Veronica Rickard on 0408 113 669 or adfasmelbourne@gmail.com
Contact:
For all enquiries please email adfasmelbourne@gmail.com
Postal Address: PO Box 931, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
ABN: 36 971 725 705
Committee
Chair: Jane Sims
Treasurer: Jaye Gregory
Secretary: Julie Thompson
Membership: Veronica Rickard Ph: 0408 113 669
2024 PROGRAM
Thursday 29 February 2024
THE FASCINATION OF JEWELLERY: IMPORTANT WOMEN COLLECTORS
Presented by Clare Blatherwick
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
Looking at the collections of four vastly different women and their approaches to jewellery, how their backgrounds influenced their choices, and the messages jewellery can send in respect of status, wealth, and politics. Marjorie Merriweather Post, Evalyn Walsh McLean, Madeleine Albright and Elizabeth Taylor are the subject of this richly illustrated talk.
Clare is an independent jewellery consultant with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. She spent 10 years as Head of Jewellery for Bonhams in Scotland, which involved travelling internationally searching for unique jewels to auction. Clare has a passion for the historical aspect of jewellery and lectures widely in both the UK and the US. Clare is also a member of the Society of Jewelry Historians
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Wednesday 17 April 2024
MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE: STAINED GLASS IN MELBOURNE’S HOMES
Presented by Bronwyn Hughes OAM
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
It was wealth brought in the wake of Victoria’s gold discoveries that saw the development of Melbourne into a premier city, dubbed ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ by George Augustus Sala in 1885. The town’s grand mansions included stained glass that proclaimed their owners’ erudition by picturing characters from Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott and their British heritage in scenes of ‘home’. Edwardian or Federation style homes did not warrant the extravagance of the past, but embraced a modified Art Nouveau style that befitted the new architecture. Later, the Californian bungalow and Spanish Mission incorporated local scenes in their windows.
Bronwyn is an art historian with specific interests in stained glass of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and prior to her ‘retirement’ lectured in glass at Monash and Melbourne Universities and Holmesglen Institute over several decades. More recently she has contributed to development of new courses in glass design and making at Melbourne Polytechnic.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 16 May 2024
THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Presented by Roger Mendham
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
Photographs have the ability to stop time, to provide a freeze-frame of a moment in both time and space. They give the observer the opportunity to think, to react, to feel and soak in the details of the circumstances surrounding the image. This talk examines some the most important photographers and images of the past century. It explores why these images are so powerful and influential in our understanding of history.
A keen and accomplished photographer, Roger has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. A scientist by background, his interest in art was sparked by his wife’s academic studies into the History of Art and he has a particular interest in 20th century art. He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. His talks are all richly illustrated with both his own images and images from some of the leading photographers in history.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 13 June 2024
BLOOMING MARVELS: THE GLOBAL ART HISTORY OF FLOWERS
Presented by Dr Sam Bowker
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
This lecture travels the world in search of exquisite and compelling flowers, as chosen and interpreted by artists. Along the way there will be drugs, erotica, jail, science, secret messages, economics, war, extinction, and Instagram. Maybe we will also discuss Monet’s Garden and Van Gogh’s sunflowers, but this is not going to be your usual walk in the park.
Sam Bowker is an Associate Professor in Creative Art at Charles Sturt University. He has curated diverse international exhibitions and published widely on Islamic art, Australian art, and the history of Egyptian tentmaker applique. He is also an avid gardener, birdwatcher, and awarded educator, who believes the best stories grow from where we are.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 18 July 2024
ANTONI GAUDÍ I CORNET (1852-1926): MASTER BUILDER OF BARCELONA
Presented by Vivienne Lawes
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
Genius Spanish architect and designer Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), a key figure in Catalan Modernism, stands as one of the creators of Barcelona’s urban identity. Inventor of new techniques and a magpie enthusiast of all things botanical and sacred, Gaudí’s most famous building, the Barcelona Church of the Sagrada Família, is Spain’s most-visited monument and one of seven of the architect’s works listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Building works on Sagrada Família were begun in 1882 and are still ongoing, a fact that stands in stark contrast to contemporary building projects and brings to life the nature of cathedral building in medieval Europe.
Vivienne is an art historian, art market analyst and curator/writer who combines a hands-on career in the art business with academic research and teaching in Higher Education. She teaches at several London-based universities and her courses at these institutions cover a variety of topics, including The Art Market, History of Western Art 1350-1970, and the History of Design 1350-1970. She writes for a wide array of publications and private clients and has been published in numerous arts journals, newspapers, catalogues, handbooks, and websites.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 15 August 2024
THE GUGGENHEIMS: NEW YORK, VENICE AND BILBAO
Presented by Dr Andrew Hopkins
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
The Guggenheim family managed to amass extraordinary art collections, and design or acquire astounding buildings to display their art, their name even becoming a brand. This talk, based on Andrew’s experience working at the Guggenheim in Venice, examines the celebrated museums in New York, Venice, and Bilbao, as well as the stunning works they display.
Andrew was previously Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from 1998 to 2002 and since 2004 Professor at the University of L’Aquila. He was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti in Florence in 2003-2004, and in 2009 was the Paul Mellon Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 26 September 2024
THE SCULPTUES OF THE PARTHENON OR HOW LORD ELGIN GAINED AND LOAST HIS MARBLES
Presented by Alan Read
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
In the two centuries since they were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, the meaning and significance of the ‘Elgin marbles’ has changed dramatically. From architectural decoration to disputed cultural objects this lecture looks at the response to them over their time in Britain, from the original controversy over their purchase to the current debate surrounding the restitution of the marbles to the new Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Alan holds a master’s and first-class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, London. He is a gallery guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery and for Frieze Masters and regularly lectures at the National Portrait Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Plymouth City Art Gallery, and other galleries in the UK. He also works as a London Blue Badge Guide and a City of London Guide.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 24 October 2024
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE DECORATIVE ARTS
Presented by Andrew Spira
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
The Industrial Revolution had a profound impact on the decorative arts, bringing objects that had previously been associated with the nobility within reach of the ever-growing middle-class. Radical new inventions and techniques reduced the cost of manufacturing products, leading to the evolution of shops and entrepreneurs, leading to completely new attitudes towards taste. A great legacy of this period was the development of printed cottons – one of today’s staples. The metalwork and ceramics trades were also dramatically affected. The story takes us to the threshold of the computing age – the maker of the first modern computing machine acknowledged his debt to the designers of 18th century looms.
Andrew studied at the Courtauld Institute and Kings College, London. For several years, he worked at the Temple Gallery, London and as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum where he worked on the British Galleries and for the Silver, Metalwork and Jewellery Department. Besides lecturing on a wide range of subjects, he has taken numerous groups on cultural visits to Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Romania, Crete, Turkey, Tunisia and all over Europe.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
Thursday 21 November 2024
JEFFREY SMART
Presented by Dr Nick Gordon
Time & Venue: 8pm, Lido Cinema 1
Jeffrey Smart remains one of Australia’s most endearing modern artists, and the quiet stillness captured in many of his works is instantly recognisable. In this lecture Nick explores how Smart used geometry in his art, from the games he played with the golden ratio, to his mastery of linear perspective and his subversion of the rules of composition. The playfulness this formal analysis reveals stems from his diverse influences, including Renaissance masters such as Piero della Francesca to the giants of modernism such as Cézanne and his teachers, Dorrit Black, and Fernand Léger.
Nick holds a University Medal and PhD in history from the University of Sydney. He has taught European and architectural history and the history of political thought at several universities. He has lectured regularly on art and history topics for different NSW based galleries and museums and has led art-focused tours to Europe and in Australia. Also, as an artist he brings deep knowledge of materials and techniques to his analysis of art.
The AGM is generally held prior to the November lecture & the evening concludes with a Christmas themed supper.
Non-members of ADFAS Melbourne need to liaise with Veronica Rickard, Membership Secretary to make payment prior to registering using the Eventbrite booking site.
