Swansea Art Society

AGM: 2012 Irene Bache Cup Winner......

Congratulations to Dr. Alan Marriott, who won the Irene Bache Cup for the best members' painting entered at this year's AGM. 

Alan is pictured here being presented with the cup by our President, Miss Eileen Campbell Jones. 

The winning painting, a lovely watercolour depiction of a seascape with boats had been delicately executed by Alan. It was voted top painting in the final head-to-head vote against an atmospheric river scene in acrylic medium, by Mrs. Lilian Hopkins, which was voted runner-up.

Irene Bache Cup Winner.....

Congratulations to Tatyana Thomas, who is the society's 2011 Irene Bache Cup winner.

Tatyana has only been a member of the society for a couple of years and originally hails from Russia.

She is pictured here being awarded the cup by our President, Eileen Campbell Jones.

Her watercolour of Mumbles Lighthouse won the admiration of members for the excellent way she had depicted the turbulent waters around the rocks, which is no easy task.

Irene Bache Cup Winner.....

Congratulations to Jean Andrewartha, whose artwork was voted by members as the Best Painting entered in the annual competition, following this year's lively A.G.M.

The image is of a rugby match and one of the players depicted is her grandson, who plays for the 'All Whites', i.e. Swansea R.F.C.

She is pictured here having been officially presented with the Irene Bache Cup and this is an emotionally charged moment for Jean, as she fondly remembers Irene Bache as one of her former Art teachers.

 

Ian's Bache Cup Winning Entry...

Ian has sent us a good quality photograph of his watercolour, Oxwich Greenwoods which was voted the Best Members' Painting at the recent A.G.M. of the Society.

The painting, which was strikingly large, depicts sunlight shining through the leaves of trees:

 

 

AGM 2009: Bache Cup Winner...

Congratulations to Ian Stevenson on 'lifting' the Irene Bache Cup, which is awarded annually for the Best Painting entered for the competition at the Annual General Meetings of the Society.

He is pictured here celebrating his win after being presented with the cup from last year's winner, George Jowett.

The standard of entries was high and this resulted in the voting for this year's ballot to be very close indeed.

The top three artists voted by our members were...

• Ian Stevenson (7 votes)
• Jean Andrewartha (6 votes)
• Lilian Hopkins (6 votes)

A photo album of the evening's events can be viewed by clicking here.

A Golden Moment!

Congratulations to George Jowett, a former Chairman of the society on winning the Irene Bache cup at this year's AGM, in his 50th year of membership!

His lovely oil portrait of a woman impressed everyone - a framed version is available to view in the AGM photo gallery.

He is pictured here, being presented with the cup by last year's winner, Ian Stevenson.

Remembering Irene Bache (1901-1999)...

After publishing the blog post last September about Paul Bennet's request for more information about Irene's artworks, we have managed to locate several of her watercolours, which are currently held in private collections.

We are grateful to the respective owners for allowing us permission to photograph them for display in a special memorial gallery on this website - most of the artworks depict scenes of Swansea and the surrounding districts.

Irene, whose self-portrait is featured here, was formerly Head of Art & Craft at Swansea's College of Education and also served for many years as Vice President of the Swansea Art Society.

Irene Bache...

A plea from Paul Bennet:

"Hello, I hope that you can help with some information....
I have a watercolour of Loch Nevis by Irene Bache, dated August 1959 and I know nothing about the artist....
There seems to be little on the internet about her, but I note that she was connected with yourselves....
Could you possibly give me some history of the lady, please?"

Any member who can help Paul in his research can contact him direct via this e-mail link.

Alternatively, use the comment facility below and we will forward your information to Paul.

Student Bursary Reported...

The first award of a Student Bursary, financed from the legacy of the Society's benefactor, Irene Bache was reported on Thursday in the South Wales Evening Post's weekly Visual Arts feature.

A previous piece about this, published last week, failed to mention Irene Bache's name and concentrated more on the part that Swansea College played in the securing of the award for their student, Sean Olsen.

We had immediately contacted the paper about this omission and we are therefore pleased that the article (which has been reproduced here courtesy of the Evening Post) places the dynamics of the Bursary award in a proper context, with...

• references to Irene Bache's historical ties with education within the Swansea district
• a comment about the unique nature and potential educational significance of this new initiative
• a quote from our current Chairperson, Barbara Bevan and a picture of her.

Just click on the image of the newspaper clip to see it displayed on screen in a larger size, if you wish to read it in full.

Supporting Artists Of The Future...

The Swansea Art Society has worked in partnership with Swansea College to offer one Art and Design student a Bursary of £500.

The bursary has been awarded to Sean Olsen in commemoration of the generosity of former Society member and benefactor Irene Bache, who taught at the Llwyn-y-Bryn campus when it was a school.

“We are very keen to make contact with artists at the start of their careers and to encourage and nurture their talents in any way we can. This is the first time we have awarded a Student Bursary and it seemed fitting to choose Swansea College as the beneficiary as it has important historical links with Irene and the Society.” says Barbara Bevan, our Chairperson.

Nick Brazil, Arts Director at Swansea College says...“we are delighted to work in partnership with such a prestigious organisation as we share so many aims, namely to support local talent and to encourage public interest in the arts in the local area.”