Cedars Hall Arts Talks Series
Join us for the CHATS,
Cedars Hall Arts Talks Series
We launched CHATS in response to Antony Gormley’s new sculpture DOUBT, on loan to Wells for a period of 18 months from the end of August 2021. These monthly talks will usually take place on Thursdays at 7pm in Cedars Hall, Wells Cathedral School. Subject to the speaker’s agreement audiences will be able to livestream the talks. Young musicians from Wells will perform in the auditorium before each talk. There will be an opportunity to continue the thought-provoking conversation after the talk with a glass of wine and food.
These talks have been curated by Sophie Rucker
CHATS is kindly supported by the Blair Foundation and Terence Mordaunt
CHAT 18 James Russell introduces
Eric Ravilious:
Drawn to War
Thursday 18th January 2024 7pm
Curated by Sophie Rucker
Art critic and writer, James Russell, introduces the first full-length feature documentary film on Eric Ravilious (1903-1942), one of Britain’s greatest landscape artists, who was killed in a plane crash while on commission as Official War Artist in 1942.
The film Drawn to War recounts a life as compelling and enigmatic as Ravilious’s art, set against the dramatic wartime locations that inspired him. Margy Kinmonth’s film brings to life this brilliant but still grossly undervalued British artist. Caught in the crossfire of war 80 years ago, Ravilious’s legacy largely sank without trace, until recently.
Told in his own words through previously unseen private correspondence, and made with the blessing of the Ravilious estate. Shot entirely on location in UK, Portugal and Ireland, the film asks what it is to be a war artist, featuring Ai Weiwei, Alan Bennett, Grayson Perry, Robert Macfarlane and released in 2022, the 80th anniversary of his death.
CHAT 16. Doug Allan - An Eye Below Zero
CHAT 15 Olivia Fraser - A Journey Within
CHAT 14. Gavin Plumley on Wells Cathedral - Heaven on a Human Scale
CHAT 13 Rebecca Salter RA in conversation with Tom Marks on Painting as Sculpture
CHAT 12 David Abram on The Aeriel Atlas of Great Britain
CHAT 11 Hettie Judah in conversation with Gemma Brace on Art, Stones and Motherhood
CHAT 10 Jo Baring in conversation with Olivia Bax
Chat 9 Rachel Campbell Johnston on Visions of Albion, Samuel Palmer and William Blake
CHAT 8 Dr Xa Sturgis
CHAT 7 Antony Gormley in conversation with Prof. Stephen Bann
CHAT 6 Randall Wright
CHAT 5 Tim Marlow
CHAT 4 Richard Long in conversation with Hettie Judah
CHAT 3 Sir John Eliot Gardiner
CHAT 2 Gavin Plumley
Chat 1 Jo Baring on the story of 20th Century Modern Sculpture
Suki Harris @c.h.a.t.s Instagram
The Project team
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Sophie Rucker
Suki Harris
Ann Whalley
Emma Lefevre
June MacFarlane
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Wells Cathedral School
Cedars Hall
Niche 338 at Wells Cathedral
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Mendip District Council
The Blair Foundation
Terence Mordaunt
Freya Mitton
Speakers include:
Jo Baring, art historian and curator
Rachel Campbell-Johnston, chief art critic of The Times
Olivia Fraser, artist and great niece of Eileen Agar
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, renowned conductor and polymath
Hettie Judah, art critic and writer
Richard Long RA landscape sculptor
Tim Marlow, Director of the Design Museum, London
Gavin Plumley, cultural historian, writer and broadcaster
Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum
Randall Wright, award-winning arts filmmaker
Antony Gormley in conversation with Professor Stephen Bann