Mornington Peninsula

ADFAS Mornington Peninsula welcomes you

ADFAS Mornington Peninsula provides an opportunity for those interested in Arts and Culture to participate in a program of lectures and other events including excursions to Melbourne and beyond in a friendly group.  Members enjoy an annual program of nine illustrated lectures given by overseas and Australian lecturers chosen for their expert knowledge of their chosen subject, and their communication skills. Half-day sessions are also held when topics are examined in more detail.

Lectures:

Venue:
Our lectures take place at the Balcombe Grammar School
389 Nepean Highway, Mt Martha.

Time:
Lectures are on Fridays, from 5.30-6.30pm, followed by refreshments.

Program
Find full details of the 2023 program here

Membership:
Annual membership – $170
To join email: adfasmp@gmail.com

Guests welcome:
Guests of members and visitors are most welcome.
Cost per lecture – $30

Contact: 
For all enquiries please email: adfasmp@gmail.com
Postal Address: PO Box 572 Mornington 3931
ABN: 51 654 880 821

Committee
Chair: Vicky Davison
Vice Chair / Membership Secretary: Ann Hawker
Treasurer: Lilian Pascoe
Secretary: Jan Getson

2023 PROGRAM

Friday 17 November 2023
Wartime Quilts: Quilts made by soldiers, kings, and talented tailors
Presented by Dr Annette Gero
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

This presentation will showcase the spectacular, geometric quilts made from military and dress uniforms. Military intarsia quilting is a craft that was practised widely in British and European militaries when soldiers repurposed scraps of discarded uniforms to construct textile mosaics with intricate and beautiful patterns. Many of the quilts were also commissioned by 18th and 19th century kings.

Dr Annette Gero is one of the world’s leading quilt historians. Documenting and collecting quilts for forty years, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Quilts (London) and sits on the Advisory Board of the International Quilt Study Center (USA). Focussing upon quilts made by soldiers (often of a type called ‘intarsia’) Dr Gero will detail her masterpieces made from military fabrics.

2024 PROGRAM

Friday 23 February 2024
THE STORY OF THE COOK SISTERS AND HOW THEY USED OPERA TO SAVE THEIR LIVES
Presented by Anne Sebba
Venue and Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

This lecture is the story of how two eccentric opera loving sisters undertook undercover missions in the 1930s rescuing Jewish musicians and others from the Nazis.  We explore the world of opera in the 1920s and 1930s – the clothes, music, celebrities, and the signed photographs coveted by fans.

Biographer, historian, and author of eleven books Anne Sebba lectures in the US and UK, and to the National Trust, British Library, and Imperial War Museum. Formerly a Reuters foreign correspondent, Anne presents on BBC Radio and television talking about her books, including biographies on Jennie Churchill, Laura Ashley, Wallis Simpson and her latest book Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy published in 2021.

Friday 22 March 2024
ACQUIRED TASTE: THE INVENTION OF THE RESTAURANT IN 19TH CENTURY PARIS
Presented by Sylvia Sagona
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

From a restorative broth for delicate stomachs to new dining rooms and post French Revolution catering, we investigate the first great restaurants, chefs, patrons and gastronomes leading to the invention of modern cuisine with Escoffier at the Ritz.

After living in Italy and Spain, Sylvia returned to Melbourne to be appointed in the Department of French, Italian and Spanish Studies at the University of Melbourne where she specialized in nineteenth century French art and literature and Italian Romanticism. Sylvia’s formed her own cultural and historical tourism company, Travels Through Time, and she has led specialized art and literature based tours to Paris, Rome, Venice and Northern France. She has been commissioned by French television and SBS to write a documentary on the development of the first Parisian department stores and the invention of shopping in 19th century Paris. She is also working on a documentary on Josephine and the Australian flora at Malmaison.

Friday 10 May 2024
HOW WE GOT IKEA: SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN 1880-1960
Presented by Anne Anderson
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

This is the story of how Norway, Sweden and Denmark looked to the British Arts and Crafts movement for design reform and influenced how Scandinavian design came of age in the 1950s. Scandinavian modern offered and ideal lifestyle for the post-war era, based on clean lines, natural materials and the notion that ‘less is more’.

An Arts Society lecturer since 1994 Anne was senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University and is currently Hon Associate Professor at Exeter University, a tutor for the Victoria and Albert Learning Academy, and Ceramics Consultant for Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. Anne has published on Art Deco teapots, the Pre-Raphaelites, Edward Burne-Jones, and Art Nouveau architecture. She held various fellowships and has curated national exhibitions, the most recent Beyond the Brotherhood; the Pre-Raphaelite Legacy (2019-20).

Friday 5 July 2024
DECEIVING THE SCHOLARS
Presented by Daniel Evans
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

In a world of terrible mistakes, apparent forgeries, and cover-ups, and featuring works for Simone Martini, Michelangelo and Velazquez, we will look at how misinterpretation and misattribution of art can lead to stony silence, violence and even arrest!

Dan Evans, an educationalist with a passion for European art and architecture. He teaches History and A Level History of Art at Cheltenham College, a full boarding independent school established in 1841. Dan has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer and tour guide for Art History Abroad and he was once voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards. 

Friday 2 August 2024
WOMEN IN ART: VIRGIN, VENUS OR VAMP
Presented by Lynne Gibson
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

The painted female has been an ‘object’ to be gazed at, admired and owned by men. Most artists and collectors of art have been men and academic art history has been dominated by men. We will explore some of ideals of womanhood: virgin, pure wife and loving mother, and re-interpret historic images of women.

Lynne Gibson is a freelance lecturer in History of Art, and in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. She has worked at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol and has conducted lectures, courses and guided tours for organisations including Art Galleries and Museums, The Art Fund, The National Trust and The Arts Society. She is a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching, has been exhibited widely and her work used in a range of publications.

Friday 30 August 2024
PARADISE LOST AND RESTORED – 400 YEARS OF GARDEN DESIGN IN OXFORDSHIRE
Presented by Timothy Walker
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

Over 400 years, successive Horti Praefecti (head gardeners) changed the features of the Oxford Botanic Garden, reflecting the art of gardening, and occasionally the science of botany.  How is this displayed in garden design at the beginning of the 21st century?

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy Walker was the Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.  Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators talk about them in the same way as museum curators do. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms and Timothy’s lectures investigate this relationship.  Since 2014, he has taught Plant Biology at Somerville College Oxford. 

Friday 20 September 2024
MORE ENGLISH THAN THE ENGLISH: THREE TREASURE HOUSE LIBRARIES
Presented by Shane Carmody
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

For the aristocracy and the gentry, the English country house was the proof of social status. Often palatial in scale, these great houses were decorated with extraordinary collections of art and antiquities. Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, Lord Fairhaven and Sir Paul Getty had many things in common. They were all immensely rich, all immigrants, and all great book collectors, creating remarkable libraries.

Shane Carmody has a great love of libraries and archives. He is widely published on the history of Libraries and collections.

Friday 18 October 2024
UNFOLDING THE ART OF GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
Presented by Deborah Jenner
Venue & Time: Balcombe Grammar School, 5.30pm start

O’Keeffe’s special vision bends, buckles and lobs flowers, landscapes, and space itself into similar smoothly painted folds of swirling hues, to unearth a deeper truth. By redefining her art’s erotic, biomorphic folds within a more symbolic context, this study reveals a uniquely all-embracing vision of her work.

Deborah Jenner, American-born art historian; member of College Arts Association has resided in Paris since 1990. She has worked at the Ecole du Louvre, the Sorbonne, the Catholic Institute, and the British Council. Her Doctorate thesis proved non-western influences in Georgia O’Keeffe’s art. Deborah’s publications include catalogue essays for Musée d’Orsay and Centre Pompidou, many scholarly papers and Gallery critiques. She gives public talks, guided walks and museum tours for ex-pat organisations and study-abroad programs.

Excursions

Visits to museums, galleries, gardens, private collections and places of architectural or artistic interest are also arranged.

 

Volunteer Guides and Heritage Volunteers

Members of ADFAS Mornington Peninsula have the opportunity to become volunteer guides at Beleura-House-Garden conducting tours of the house and garden, or heritage volunteers archiving, researching and conserving the collections. Mr John Tallis bequeathed this beautifully refurbished Italianate villa to the people of Victoria as a place of historic and educational interest in 1996.

 

Local Links

Mornington Peninsula Young Arts

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