Newsletter January 2017 Dear AMA member, Happy New Year! We are going straight into news and information for this months newsletter so no letter from our hard working chair. Diary Dates FORTHCOMING MEETINGS In this edition we have details of Margaret Condon's book on Cabot that has just been published, a review of Milagros Kuga's talk, photos from the Rugby Open and below details of our February meeting. Next meeting: Wednesday 18th January, 10.45, Craft Room of Leamington Art Gallery. Three members will be sharing the speaker's slot, Margaret Condon (print maker), Peter Lovelock (photography, drawing and graphic work), Eleanor Allitt (jewellery). See images belown and right) Len Mackin (Editor) Our first talk of the New Year is Wednesday 18th January, when there will be three members showing their work, Pete Lovelock, Margaret Condon and Eleanor Allitt. The meeting starts at 10.45 and is in the Craft Room of Leamington Art Gallery. SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW DUE It is that time of year again and your membership subscription is now due. The cost of this years membership remains 20 representing extremely good value. If you have recently joined this email does not apply to you. Please contact Victoria Smith AMA treasurer if you have queries: gandvsmith@btinternet. Editors Katharine Barker & Len Mackin 1
Milgros Kuga November talk review Our speaker for November was the young jewellery designer Milgros Kuga who was born in Peru but studied at the University of Arts in Nagoya Japan. Milli left Peru for Japan when she was 18 years old and spent her Margo Bell talking with Milagros first year in Japan learning the language. She took a degree in Design Metal and Jewellery and has also won the Japan Jewellery Award for one of her necklaces. Milli has travelled the world and in every country she visits she finds new inspiration for her work. birthstones before linking them together. After her degree Milli went on to design jewellery and headdresses for weddings.she showed us slides of the work she had produced for two Japanese brides and we all thought the headdresses were stunning and must have taken her hours of work. One of the most challenging projects she has ever undertaken was working with a fashion designer producing costumes for the stage.she worked with leather and fabric to make the costumes and had to test how they would look under the strong stage lights. Challenging but very rewarding said Milli. Milli now has an 18 month daughter and lives in Leamington with her French husband. She now concentrates on making hand crafted jewellery. Her necklaces are works of art and so unusual. She incorporates Japanese fabric in to the shapes she has designed and then hand stitches them together before adding beads and peals. The colours are very subtle although I have seen some with vibrant colours.sadly she could only bring a small amount of work to show us. The two big influences for her work are the textiles produced in both Peru and Japan. Milli explained that in Peru the crafts and weaving skills are family based handed down from generation Close up of jewellery to generation. Although The earrings she brought to show us are very she loves the bright colours used in Peruvian sculptural and are made out of thin nylon textiles and often uses them in her jewellery tubes inspired by structures and architecture she wanted to be able to create more original Milli has seen in the different countries she work. Her great grandfather was Japanese so has visited. she thought a move to Japan would allow her to explore new ways of working and give her a Milli s work is difficult to describe in words but chance to discover another culture. you will be able to see some soon in the Gallery if you missed the talk. The staff at the Milli worked with a variety of metals on her Pump Rooms were very impressed with her degree course and for her final piece of work work and spent a long time after the talk had she designed a necklace made out of finished choosing pieces to put into the segments of silver on which she had Gallery. enamelled the Peruvian symbols for 2
Was it the grey month of November that made members feel they needed to be transported to Peru and Japan? Well what ever the reason we had a full house for Milli s excellent talk which we all enjoyed. Review by Moira Lamont. Top right: Dominica admiring Milagros's work. Bottom right: Clive and Peter make their selection Margaret Condon's new book, Cabot and Bristol's Age of Discovery: The Bristol Discovery Voyages 1480 1508, 23 November 2016, Evan T. Jones and Margaret M Condon It's not often (has it ever happened?) that a member has a book published which is not about their art work or illustrated by them, so congratulations to Margaret on her achievement in this respect. Text from Amazon entry, John Cabot's voyage to North America in 1497, on the Matthew of Bristol, has long been famous. But who was Cabot? Why did he come to Bristol? And what did he achieve? In this book, the two leading historians of the Bristol discovery voyages draw on their recent research and new discoveries to tell the story of the voyages of exploration launched from Bristol at this time. The Venetian Zuan Chabotto (John Cabot), lies at the heart of this story. But his three expeditions are set in the context of the discovery enterprises funded and led by Bristol's merchants over many decades. The book is written for the general reader and is richly illustrated to bring the fruits of the University of Bristol's acclaimed Cabot Project to the wider public. Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/cabot Bristols Age Discovery Bristol/dp/0995619301 3
mages: Packing the artwork into Moira's Volvo for the drive to Rotherham. Ije and Katharine. Tammy unpacking 3D works. 4
Congratulations to our members who took part in the Rugby Open. Bryan Kelly Grace Newman Helena Godwin Nancy Upshall Moira Lamont 5
Philippa Powell Silvena Toncheva 6