Painting for Pleasure Coffee Morning

Our Community - Where we Live

We would like to thank Warwickshire County Council for granting "Painting for Pleasure" a South Leamington Community Forum Grant.

We will be working on a project called "Our Community - Where we Live". Please visit again to see the artistic interpretations of our members. We have started painting some boards for Warwick Folk Festival, on the theme of "Mythical Beasts" to line the entrance to the festival.

We have space for new members. Please get in touch to find out more if you would like to join us.

 

Poetry by Anna Harper

This project has lead to the general realisation that we have a wonderful poet in the group.
Her poems have become a valuable part of each canvas.

Patch me up and send me home

Patch me up and send me home
Once forgotten, haunted by the past.
Patched me up, sent me back to fight.

Not a care for how I felt as I could kill.
Worshiped by many, I'm treated like a king.
Patch me up, but don't send me back!

                                                                      Forgotten

Remember the stories, the larks we shared,

The ones you carved hidden from the world,

Of drunken nights, we wish not to evoke.

Remember the noise, that crashing godly

Sound, of slaughtered men crying in agony.

Killed by heroes, believing they're right.

Group celebrating work created during our WW1 project

Voices of the First World War

Link to details of the exhibition
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/events/event/1560/voices_of_the_first_world_war_exhibition_at_the_library_of_birmingham

3-foot canvas

Heritage Lottery Fund Celebration Day

Photo taken by The Observer, Leamington Spa
Read the full article:
https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/painting-group-helps-budding-artists-cope-with-disability-or-isolation/

Refreshments in the Pump Rooms cafe

7-foot canvas from the left

7-foot canvas from the right

Warwick Horticultural & Allotment Society Annual Show 2018

The Painting for Pleasure WW1 display

WW1 canvas Pump Rooms exhibition Preview

For 2017 to 2018 the group has been awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

We spent August 2017 to the end of March 2018 researching World War 1, particularly the changing attitudes towards disability and injury, now and then.

We all enjoyed looking at books and researching the internet, going on field trips and inviting specialists to talk at the Westbury Centre.

During April to July we worked on a 7-meter canvas depicting the events of WW1, taking inspiration from the copy of the Bayeux Tapestry after a visit to Reading Museum.

Bayeux Tapestry replica trip (Reading)

The group thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Reading Museum. The museum provided an extremely informative and enjoyable introductory talk about the story of the original Bayeux Tapestry and the women who stitched the replica. 

None of us realised how long the tapestry was, taking up two large galleries on the first floor.

The details were quite amusing, giving us loads of ideas for our own version we are about to create on WW1

At the bottom of the border the embroiderers have signed their work, stating where they started and ended.

Talk by Dr. Nicola Gauld

On Wed 7th March we were pleased to welcome Dr. Nicola Gould, Coordinator for Voices of War and Peace: the Great War and its legacy (based in the Library of Birmingham).

Nicola gave us an insightful talk entitled 'Wounded soldiers in Birmingham and Germany during the First World War'. The talk explored the treatment of injured soldiers in Birmingham during WW1. We also looked at images of injured soldiers in Germany taken by Kathe Buchler, a photographer working in Braunschweig during the war.

The main aim of the hospitals that were set up in the early 1900's was to patch up the injured soldiers and send them back to war. Some hospitals had special departments, such as for jaw or limb injuries. As more soldiers arrived, innovative measures were used, such as putting mattresses on billiard tables, and tents were set up in the grounds to treat the injured.

Most injuries were of shrapnel and rifle bullets wounds, and many wounds had become septic.
Shellshock was the most misunderstood medical condition of WW1, with affected soldiers unable to function normally. Symptoms included loss of appetite, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, nightmares, confusion, tremors, disorientation, limping, paralysis and impaired sight, speech, and hearing.

To aid recovery, classes and workshops were put on to keep the soldiers occupied. This would include sports exercise, art, theatre, and languages. Convalescence and Orthopedics units followed with donors making contributions to the hospitals.
At the end of the war, the injured were stigmatised, hidden away from public view, and even prevented from attending victory celebrations.

We thank Nicola for giving her talk.