Passion, Determination, Vision
After our very successful 2019 Market Town exhibition, ERTF is delighted to be returning to St Albans Museum and Gallery for its 2024 exhibition. The confirmed dates are 12 July to 3 November 2024 – an excellent exhibition duration. This time we shall be highlighting and celebrating LOCAL movers and shakers – people who have made really positive differences to the life of St Albans/Hertfordshire/our wider Eastern Region.
This will not be a portrait exhibition in any conventional sense; it will instead be an exploration of diverse personalities, times, places and impacts as seen through the creative eye. Our exhibition will be selected to ensure pieces meet the brief agreed with the Museum, can be accommodated within available space and are of high quality in terms of execution and presentation.
All works must fit the definition of textile art set out on the home page of this ERTF website and may be either 2D or 3D. There will be a 3KG weight limit per piece. There is no absolute size limit but as a guide in order to help us accommodate all artists wishing to exhibit it is suggested that each single proposed piece is kept small and no bigger than A3 size (with 3D equivalent). Again, depending on number of participating members we are limiting proposed submissions to TWO pieces each for now. This may be revisited in due course depending on the overall number of participating artists.
PLEASE NOTE: ALL exhibition pieces are subject to acceptance by the Museum. Acceptance is not guaranteed. Members will be informed of the decision after a December 2023 Museum meeting to review proposed submissions (see timeline below)
There is also space for two very large pieces of c. 1m tall x1.5m width. Please let Frances Green know if you are interested in creating one of these. PLEASE NOTE: THESE SPACES HAVE NOW BEEN TAKEN
FIXINGS for wall-mounted exhibition pieces. All 2D pieces must be supplied with mirror-plate fixings. If wall-hung pieces are unframed, please use metal loops or hooks.
An important feature of our exhibition will be the diversity of individuals and their local impacts being portrayed. It is critical that submissions relate to what they have achieved/their relevance in the ERTF region. It will be necessary to ensure minimal duplication of individuals chosen. At most, the same person may be represented twice by two exhibitors, but we, and the museum, hope to avoid duplication if at all possible. To that end, please scroll down to the bottom of this page to a list of people already provisionally chosen.
If you would like to exhibit then please let Frances Green know as soon as you have identified who it is you would, assuming Museum acceptance, like to celebrate in your work. Please also supply a very short summary of what their specific impact in our region is so that we can capture that information for early discussion with the museum. Once these details are sent to Frances, your chosen person will be added to the provisional list of exhibition pieces. Sarah Keeling, museum curator, hosted a very helpful briefing on 19th September. Her notes are available HERE and HERE.
Please think about the wider diversity of your subject matter to support the exhibition’s appeal to the widest possible audience. We have prepared some notes which can be downloaded HERE.
In addition, have a look at this Museum page HERE for early inspiration. Please also take a look at the Hertfordshire Hidden Heroines page which can be found HERE, and a further St Albans website of interest is HERE. Travelling beyond Hertfordshire, you can see a list of people who have made an impact in the wider eastern region by clicking HERE.
You do not have to choose from any of the above lists: they are included to whet appetites. What you MUST do is select individual(s) who have demonstrated the qualities in the title of our exhibition and whose contributions have proved significant and lasting. All exhibition pieces must be accompanied by artists’ written statements describing their inspiration, research and techniques, and these will be displayed alongside their work. If you can find one, please locate a photo of your subject to submit with your 2024 forms. Please take a careful note of the source of the photo so the Museum can check for copyright and permissions.
SHOP ITEMS: Exhibition items will not be for sale, but there will also be an opportunity to provide some exhibition-related merchandise for the Museum shop. Acceptable items comprise: small textiles/gifts, prints, cards, wall hangings, postcards, decorations. The Museum has asked to make a pre- assessment of suitability of proposed merchandise. The form HERE MUST be completed and submitted by 5th December 2023 latest if you would like to be considered for shop sales. Please give as much detail as you can about the items you would like to submit including how they will be presented.
WORKSHOPS: We will be inviting participating members to run Museum-based workshops. Details to follow in January 2024
DROP-IN SESSIONS: We will organise a few of these for the period of the exhibition. Details to follow
In case of interest, the University of Hertfordshire is running a portrait exhibition at the end of 2023. Click HERE for details
Finally… our experience last time was that the St Albans Museum and Gallery was highly popular with visitors and a really great showcase for the high standard of our members’ work. The location and museum requirements entail certain expenditures and to help meet the cost per exhibitor will be £35 (£5 on submission of intent form) and £30 with final form submission).
Key dates:
19 September 2023. St Albans Museum briefing for exhibitors
5 December 2023 LATEST date for receipt of exhibitors’ Intent to Submit form describing your proposed work(s) and initial £5/artist payment (download a copy of the form HERE). The form will go straight to your download location. Email Frances Green for a copy if you cannot access the form (or subsequent ones) for any reason.
This is also the latest date for submission of the shop items provisional interest form. See ‘Shop Items’ above to download the form – email Frances on drfrancesgreen@gmail.com if you can’t download it.
Anyone sending in form(s) AFTER this 5th Dec deadline will be added to a waiting list. There is no guarantee of participation.
31 December 2023
Latest date by which artists will be informed if their proposal(s) for exhibition piece(s) has/have been accepted
Early March 2024
Latest date by which artists will be informed if their proposals for shop items have been approved
12 April 2024.
LATEST date for submission of exhibitor’s labelling/publicity form, stock sheets and image of each exhibition piece plus payment of final £30/artist. The form is under design and will be available here early in 2024.
31 May 2024.
LATEST date for all exhibition/shop items to be submitted. This date allows the museum time to complete freezing and other pre-hanging requirements
11 July 2024, 6-8pm.
Private View for artists and invited guests
12 July – 3 November 2024.
Exhibition!
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Please keep an eye on this web page which will be updated as further information becomes available.
Any queries to Frances Green (drfrancesgreen@gmail.com).
Provisional list of people already chosen; their local impact/context (with ERTF exhibitor)
- Alban, Saint: venerated as the first recorded British Christian martyr. Believed to have been beheaded in St Albans during the 3rd or 4th century. His shrine is in the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban (June Jessop)
- Aylett, Roger: Horticulturalist who trained at Oaklands College, Herts. Roger developed his childhood interest in dahlias into the highly successful Aylett Nurseries, St Albans (Lucy Sugden)
- Bacon, Francis: Baron Verulam/First Viscount St Albans. He inherited the Gorhambury family estate. Lawyer, St Albans MP, philosopher, essayist. Regarded as the founder of modern scientific enquiry (Catherina Petit-van-Hoey) (Catherina Petit-van-Hoey)
- Byrd, William: considered one of the greatest Renaissance composers. Resident of Stondon Massey, Essex near his patrons, the Petre family of Ingatestone Hall (Jane Barry)
- Chatto, Beth: professional English plantswoman, garden designer and author based in Essex. Her motto: the right plant in the right space has left a lasting legacy (Norah Stocker)
- Gerard, John: botanist and herbalist with a renowned knowledge of medicinal, exotic and unusual plants. Superintendent for over 20 years at the extensive gardens at Theobalds Palace in the parish of Cheshunt, Herts. Cedar Park is now a popular park in the ruins and grounds of Theobalds Palace (Jacqueline Glyde)
- Godman family of St Stephens: emphasis on John Henry and his Hertfordshire clocks. The St Albans tower clock and other church clocks in the city were made by him (Carole Nicholls)
- Gower, Pauline and the First Eight: In 1940 and based at Hatfield, Herts eight remarkable women made aviation history by joining the Air Transport Auxiliary to ferry planes between factories and front-line WWII airfields (Frances Green)
- Hawking, Stephen: theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author. St Albans educated and later, amongst other roles, Professor of Mathematics at University of Cambridge (Jackie Hodgson)
- Heron, Patrick: from early designs for Cresta Silks Ltd., a textile company that his father founded in Welwyn Garden City, he developed into one of the leading abstract artists and textile designers in Britain (Nade Simmons)
- Hignett, Cecil: Designer of the iconic Spirella corset factory building in Letchworth (Jackie Uphill)
- Hodges, Peggy: natural scientist and engineer, known chiefly for her outstanding achievements in the field of aeronautics. A tireless campaigner for more women in engineering, sciences and maths,she left a legacy which, for several years, funded the Peggy Hodges Prize for the highest performing female student completing the second year of a full time MEng/BEng Engineering degree at the University of Hertfordshire (Maggie Hands)
- Howard, Ebenezer: pioneering planner responsible for the concept of garden cities. The building of the first, Letchworth Garden City, commenced in 1903 (Penny Proctor)
- James, Trevor: naturalist and author of first comprehensive mapping of all Hertfordshire beetle species (Frances Green)
- Johnson, Josef: a well known black seafarer turned busker in St Albans in the 19th century, who used his creativity to get by in very difficult circumstances. His impact as part of the social history of the city is a process of current discovery but he is a testament to the diversity of the environment at the time (Cherry Taylor)
- Julian of Norwich: English anchoress of the Middle Ages. Influential in her lifetime and subsequently, she is regarded as an important Christian mystic and theologian. Her writings are the earliest surviving English language works by a woman (Barbara Skerry)
- Karen, Tom: Ashwell and Cambridge resident, he was an industrial product inventor, notably designs such as Raleigh Chopper, Bond Bug and Marble Run. Passionate about inspiring young generations of designers and working with recycled materials, he also had a great enthusiasm for birds – his wire and paper sculptures filled his home (Jackie Bennett)
- Kenyon, Kathleen: excavations of Verulamium, leading to foundation of Museum (Margaret Talbot) (Margaret Talbot)
- Lytton, Lady Constance: One of the Hertfordshire suffragettes. An aristocrat who disguised herself as a seamstress in order to be treated equally with other protesters when imprisoned (Christine Lockton)
- Morpurgo, Michael: St Albans born novelist whose works have been dramatised for stage and film (Alison White)
- Murray, Margaret: British-Indian egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian and folklorist who lived the last years of her life in north London and then Welwyn, Herts (Carly Simmons)
- Repton, Humphry: the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century. His landscape legacy can be seen across Hertfordshire and beyond (Marian Hall)
- Rice, Tim: Educated in Harpenden and St Albans becoming a celebrated lyricist best known for his collaborations resulting in many world-renowned musical theatre productions (Pat Brunsdon)
- Salaman, Radcliffe Nathan: Cambridge-educated and living in Barley, Hertfordshire, Dr Salaman undertook groundbreaking experiments into the genetics of potato varieties, leading to the establishment of a number of robust disease-resistant hybrids (Alison White)
- Sander, Frederick: ‘The Orchid King’. German-born orchidologist and nurseryman who settled in St Albans and turned the city into the centre of the orchis world in his lifetime (Carole Nicholls)
- Shaw, George Bernard: Dramatist, literary critic and social propagandist who made his home in Ayot St Laurence, Hertfordshire (Lucy Sugden)
- Shepherd, ‘Dolly’: Hertfordshire (Potters Bar)-born pioneering fairground entertainer in the Edwardian era, balloon adventurer and parachutist (Carly Simmons)
- Soper, Eileen: illustrator of children’s and wildlife books, notably Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and her own books studying her home garden. Lived at Harmer Green, Welwyn and attended Hitchin Girls’ School (Nade Simmons) (Norah Stocker)
- Straub, Marianne: Great Bardfield resident. One of the leading commercial designers of textiles between 1940s and 1960s. Renowned, amongst other things, for her designs for train and tube fabrics (Kirsten Yeates)
- Wain, Louis: Famous for his depictions of anthropomorphised cats, Louis was an inpatient at Napsbury Hospital, near St Albans (Aruna Mene)
- Wells, Thomas Spencer: St Albans born surgeon to Queen Victoria, he was a pioneer in abdominal surgery inventing an improved pattern of artery forceps. He was also one of the earliest surgeons to make use of anaesthetics in operations (Sue King)
- Whitelock, John: long-standing St Albans resident who has contributed positively and significantly to many residents’ lives through his work as a drama therapist in Harperbury, Shenley and Hill End Hospitals (Ditty Dokter)
- Willmott, Ellen: famous 19th c. horticulturalist and prolific plant discoverer. Established the beautiful Warley Place gardens in Essex (Bee Worsfold), (Bee Worsfold)
- Woodley, Hester: An enslaved woman brought back from the Caribbean. On her death in 1767 she was, unusually, buried with a headstone in a marked grave in Little Parndon Church, Harlow, Essex (Christine Lockton)