Wednesday, 12 August 2026

Time: 1000 for 1030 – 1315

Venue: St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG

(free on-street parking, or E2/E9 bus stop in front)

Lecturer: Ian Swankie

Cost: £25 includes two 1-hour lectures with coffee, tea & biscuits

Contact: Susan Parsons – spsecretarytase@gmail.com for tickets and further details  (booking is essential)

This a chance for us to explore old and new as we examine the very best of British architects from the 17th century to the present day. In these two one-hour lectures, we take an informative and lively examination of some brilliant British architects and their legacy. It is not a technical morning, but colourful and fun.

Lecture 1: the Gleaming Spires of London

London boasts a remarkable range of architecture and this talk reveals the evolution of the capital through its great buildings. We start with a brief look at the development of architecture in the capital and then focus on the modern. Whether we like it or not, there are currently well over 500 new buildings over twenty storeys high planned for London in the next few years, including dozens more than twice this height. This is in addition to those already completed. This talk looks at the best of these buildings including the cutting-edge designs of the latest towers such as the Shard, the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie, the Leadenhall Building, the Scalpel and 22 Bishopsgate. We will discover their amazing architectural and engineering challenges and also examine the controversies and difficult social decisions needed to manage this dramatically changing skyline.

Lecture 2: Thomas Heatherwick - a Modern Leonardo?

The past decade has seen the meteoric rise of this extraordinarily versatile British designer with his acclaimed Olympic cauldron, the iconic new London bus and designs for a spectacular new HQ building in King's Cross for Google. Over the last thirty years the Heatherwick Studio has used an intriguing combination of curiosity and experimentation to produce a vast range of solutions to design challenges around the world. This talk looks at the problems presented, and the wonderfully creative ways in which Heatherwick and his team have responded.

Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery, and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is also a freelance London tour guide. 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, one of the City Livery Companies.

AGM Notification will be sent to all members in late February 2026. Full papers for the meeting were sent out by Monday 6 April 2026.

THIS EVENT IS FULLY BOOKED WE ARE KEEPING  A SHORT WAITING LIST AND MAY BE ABLE TO ACCOMODATE YOU.

SEE CONTACT DETAILS BELOW.

Time:        1000 for 1030 – 1315

Venue:     St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG

                 (free on-street parking, or E2/E9 bus stop in front)         

Cost:         £25 includes two 1-hour lectures with coffee, tea & biscuits

Contact:   Susan Parsons – spsecretarytase@gmail.com for tickets and further details  (booking is essential)

Explore the world of Art Nouveau from Paris to Vienna. From 1890 to the First World War, Art Nouveau transformed all the arts: architecture, interior décor, painting, ceramics, jewelry and even dress. The style proclaimed modernity, a fitting response to the coming of the 20th century. In Scotland, it was Charles Rennie Mackintosh who responded to the challenge of creating exciting new art forms.  

 Lecture 1: Art Nouveau Around the World

At the Paris 1900 International Exhibition Art Nouveau reached its apogee. Across Europe, cities responded to the call of Modernity: Brussels, Paris, Nancy, Glasgow, Riga, Barcelona, and Vienna were all transformed by Art Nouveau, also known as Secession and Modernisme.  

 Lecture 2: Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style

As a national response, the New Art was used to forge a distinct identity seen at its most distinct in Glasgow in the art of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald.

 Dr Anne Anderson has curated exhibitions at Leighton House, Southampton City Art Gallery, the Russell-Cotes and the Tate Gallery, and has been a tutor for the V&A Learning Department. Anne has published in a wide range of commercial and academic journals, and has written a number of books, including major books on the Pre-Raphaelites and, in 2020, on Art Nouveau.

Time:        1000 for 1030 – 1315

Venue:     St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG

Cost:         £25 includes two 1-hour lectures with coffee, tea & biscuits

Contact:   Susan Parsons – spsecretarytase@gmail.com for tickets and further information

Pamela’s first lecture will Celebrate the Centenary of the Paris Expo. Held in 1925, 16 million visitors witnessed the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, which played a fundamental role in the new style that we know as Art Deco.  The second lecture will discuss Art Deco’s being the most glamorous and popular style of the 20th century, prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s. Pamela will review the development of the style looking at objets d’arts and architectural buildings in the UK and beyond. 

Time:          1000 for 1030 – 1315

Venue:       St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG

                      (free on-street parking, or E2/E9 bus close by)         

Cost:           £25 includes two 1-hour lectures with coffee, tea & biscuits

Contact:     Susan Parsons – spsecretarytase@gmail.com for tickets and further details

This wonderful river in France was a great influence on the 19th century French artists and key to the development of Impressionism. It was the estuary and the many established artists already working there that first attracted a new wave of artists; then a tiny loop of the river west of Paris became their home, and has since been known as the Cradle of Impressionism.

Carole’s two lectures will follow the course of the river from the Estuary.  In lecture 1 she will focus on those who influenced the radical new wave of painters and in lecture 2 she will focus on the founder members of the Group later to be known as the Impressionists.

 Carole has been a guide for 20 years in France leading tours specialising in art and history. She has lived and worked on a number of converted barges and bespoke river vessels on the Seine and Paris Basin and confesses that the Seine very much flows through her veins.

Guests and friends are especially welcome to join us.  The event is expected to finish by 1315. There are lots of places to go for lunch afterwards.

Venue St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, W5 1QG.

Time 10am for 10.30am - 1.15 pm

Plenty of free parking and on the E2 and E9 bus routes.

Cost £22 (includes coffee, tea and biscuits).

Contact Susan Parsons  spsecretarytase@gmail.com

Ever since the arrival of the Romans 2,000 years ago, London has been at the heart of Britishand often world affairs. It's great men and women such as Shakepeare, Elizabeth 1, Hogarth and Dickens have shaped the London around us.

We shall explore the major events of the capital's history- the Norman invasion of 1066, the role of the River Thames, the Great Fire of 1666, the coming of the railwayand Dockland - to find out what has made the vibrant, stimulating and often infuriating city 'tick'.

In the 15th century in Italy, the Netherlands and Central Europe there was an extraordinary blossoming of painting, scupture and manuscript illumination. With new ideas from an interest in classical antiquity emerged one of the richest periods in art history. From the frescoes of Gra Angelico, luxuriant paintings by van Eyck to the intriguing works of Bottecelli, Michelangelo and Bosch.

Our lecturer for the day Clare Ford-Wille is an Art Historian known for her courses on european art, architecture and sculpture at The Unicversity of London, the Art Fund, National gallerGand the V & A. She also leads art study tours in Europe and the USA.

This day will be held at Ealing Golf Club: 10.30 am until 3.15 pm. Tickets £35 include coffee and a sandwich lunch. During the 3 lectures , we will find out about the works and careers of these artists. There will be ample time for questions and discussion. 

Contact spsecretaryTASE@gmail.com for details and to book a place. 

This will be a lovely evening with a concert, a short talk and drinks & finger food. A good reason for us all to get together in the middle of winter.

The event will start at 7:30 pm, and tickets are available to purchase, at £10 each, or else pay at the door.

Why not join The Arts Society Ealing in order to attend events such as this?