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2026 Monthly Meetings
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Monthly meetings are usually held at Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Road, LE2 2PP - except for meetings in January and February which will be held via Zoom, and the Summer Social which will be at Wigston Academy, Station Road, Wigston LE18 2DT.
Usually the first Wednesday of the month, 7.00pm till 9.00pm.
Non-members are welcome to most meetings - £5.00 on the door
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Wednesday January 8th, 7pm - ZOOM
Joining details will be emailed before the meeting Members' talks: We welcome three members of the Sketch Club who have been invited to talk about their work, share images and explain their developing practice - Ian Cox, Maria Potemptski, and Maxine Dodd. Ian Cox paints Leicester scenes in charcoal as shown below. He also paints natural forms such as knarled trees and reflections and light on water in oils. Maxine Dodd is an acclaimed painter of rhythms and movement, particularly in sport and dance. She regularly runs critiques for the club. Maria Potempski captures colour, atmosphere and mood in landscapes and gardens. Her work is joyous, experimental and painterly. 
Maria Potempski
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Maxine Dodd
Ian Cox
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Wednesday February 5th, 7pm - ZOOM
Joining details will be emailed before the meeting Fun evening - Sharing work on the theme of growth and decay Take a literal or sideways view of the topic. We will enjoy the variety of approaches. |
Toni Northcott
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Wednesday March 4th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls,
454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP Henrietta Corbett Artist talk Raku fired ceramic sculpture “I think It’s imperative for Artists to develop their own language their own way of expressing themselves, their own symbols and forms.” We are delighted to welcome guest speaker Henrietta Corbett, and look forward to an inspiring and instructive evening. Henrietta works across all three disciplines; Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture. When asked which of these methods of creating she prefers, she almost always says Sculpture. She studied Fine Art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic specialising in bronze casting (the lost wax method) She learnt to make moulds, takes casts, sculpt in clay and wax, all within the university’s working foundry. She has never really gone back to the method of casting, preferring to work directly in clay and fire the work in an electric kiln so producing ceramic sculpture. More specifically, Raku fired ceramic sculpture. Henrietta mainly produces her work for gallery exhibition, she is represented by several well known galleries in the UK and has a lead time of about 3-6 months for delivery. She is best known for her animals and birds, her abstracted landscapes and her horses. Her imagery is often compared to that of cave paintings or Neolithic art. She uses simplified images that are often pared down to their bare minimum to show a representation of the original form. Henrietta will talk about her Raku fired ceramics, and show a visual presentation of how the Raku process is achieved. She will bring examples of her work and talk about her imagery her inspirations and the rural life that fuels these. |
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Wednesday April 15th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls,
454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP Critique - Heather Harley Members only. Full members are invited to bring along a piece of recent work to be critiqued - this can be work in progress or a completed piece. Associate Members and Students are very welcome to attend - please contact the Committee first if interested in bringing work along. These sessions are helpful for working out how to move on with a particular piece, or even how to move forward with your subsequent work. New ideas, new materials to try, new artists to discover. And see what members are working on! |
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Wednesday May 6th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP Paul Bailey Artist talk and demo - Abstracting the Rural Landscape The demo: Paul will produce a semi-abstract landscape which will focus on his strategy to establish the big compositional blocks early on, his use of layering, masking tape and the technique of shaping foreground items with background elements. The demo will be in acrylics. "My career started as an apprentice illustrator for a respected company in Central London. After a couple of decades in the print and design industry I began painting again in my spare time and, to my surprise, my paintings became sought after and I sold work to collectors in the UK and internationally. Almost a decade ago my family and I moved to Mid Wales, and this move gave me the opportunity to dedicate more time to art. Also, I started exploring the spectacular coastlines of West Wales and these seascapes have been the major source of my inspiration since. I fuse my original inspiration (comic book, graffiti), my experiences in the print graphics industry, and my willingness to experiment with the acrylic medium, and this has created a unique style which is instantly recognisable and admired. My dynamic, experimental semi-abstract paintings, and openness to share my knowledge, has led to further opportunities to run workshops with respected organisations across England and Wales, teach with a prestigious online art school, and eventually led the publication of my book: Experimental Nature in Acrylics: Our Landscapes." |
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Wednesday June 3rd, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls,
454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP Sarah Kirby - artist talk ‘A Printmaker’s landscape / a walk in the park’ "I had lived in Leicester for 30 years and work from my home studio and also use the facilities of Leicester Print Workshop. Most of work over the last 20 years have been linocuts - multi block and reduction. The Talk will focus on a collection of linocut prints that made up ‘A Printmakers Landscape’ at Yorkshire Sculpture Park…the walking and drawing and planning the show in 2025 People might know my ‘Leicester linocut series’ which I have been recording beautiful and significant in the city buildings over the two decades and of course I will refer to and bring a few examples … and describe how it all started ! I will bring a selection of linocut prints and also the lino blocks from which they were printed so people can see the process. A recent catalogue of work and cards will be available to purchase ." Website: https://sarahkirby.co.uk/ |
Sarah Kirby - Blunts Shoes
Sarah Kirby - Glasshouse, Cambridge Botanic Gardens
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Wednesday July 1st, 7pm - Wigston Academy
Summer social - bring your sketchbooks! Please note venue for this meeting! Site A hall, Wigston Academy, Station Road, Wigston LE18 2DT Site map here Please note: There are two entrances to the site and either can be used. The main car park is only about 50m from the hall entrance, and there is parking very close to the hall entrance for those who need easier access. Access to the Site A Hall is not through the main entrance to the academy. There is a separate entrance to the building which is to the left as you are looking at the main building from the car park. Summer social and sketching evening - bring your sketchbooks! |
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AUGUST
NO MEETING
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Wednesday September 9th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP Critique - Scott Bridgwood Members only. Full members are invited to bring along a piece of recent work to be critiqued - this can be work in progress or a completed piece. Associate Members and Students are very welcome to attend - please contact the Committee first if interested in bringing work along. These sessions are helpful for working out how to move on with a particular piece, or even how to move forward with your subsequent work. New ideas, new materials to try, new artists to discover. And see what members are working on! |
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Wednesday October 7th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP
Roy Young Artist talk - Cloud Factory My children described Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station and the ‘cloud factory’, and I have always been fond of the sight of it on the horizon, when I returned to Nottingham. And so, when its closure was announced, I was keen to capture its strange magic from within. I was fortunate to become the artist in residence at Ratcliffe from 2023 through to the end of electricity generation in 2024. In my talk I will explore the challenges of painting and drawing the industrial plant and the people who worked there. I will reflect on what the experience has done to transform my current practice. 
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Wednesday November 4th, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP
Robert Wenley from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham "Two brilliant women: Lady Barber and the Barber Institute/ Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun and England" We are delighted to welcome guest speaker Robert Wenley, from Collections and Research at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. His talk will explore the stories of the founder of the Barber Institute, Hattie, Lady Barber (1869-1933), and of the creator of its most popular artwork (the Portrait of the Countess Golovina, c.1800), Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842).
The Barber’s opening exhibition in Spring 2027, after a long period of refurbishment, will be ‘Vigée and England’, the first ever exhibition in the UK devoted to this outstanding and extraordinary artist. Tonight’s talk will give members some fascinating insights into the artist and will be an excellent taster for those wishing to visit the exhibition. Here is a little introduction to these two remarkable women: - The daughter of a local industrialist, Hattie Onions studied at Cheltenham Ladies College and then at the Royal Academy of Music, but her marriage in 1893 to the wealthy lawyer and property developer Henry Barber enabled her to live the life of a country gentlewoman on their estate near Henley-on-Thames. The Barbers had no children but she filled her time with a host of hobbies and pursuits: horse-riding, Yorkshire terriers, alpine-rock gardening, needlework, collecting historic lace and textiles, painting and piano playing. After her husband’s death in 1927, shortly before her own, in 1933, she saw through their joint wish to found an arts centre at the University of Birmingham. Through the trust she established in her husband’s name, Lady Barber provided funds and directions for the establishment of a fine and decorative arts collection at the Barber Institute. One of the most remarkable acquisitions made with this fund was the purchase of the French artist’s Vigée Le Brun’s Portrait of the Countess Golovina in 1980, the only example of her work in a non-national UK museum. The forthcoming exhibition will consider the fascinating group of portraits Vigée Le Brun made of English sitters, while in England during a brief sojourn here, or that were acquired by later collectors in England, so reflecting the changing appreciation of her work in this country. Robert Wenley has extensive experience as a curator and before joining the Barber Institute in 2010 , he worked with Glasgow Museums and with the curatorial section of the Wallace Collection, London. At the Barber, Robert has curated numerous exhibitions and displays, including 'Portrait of a Lady: The Life and Passions of Lady Barber' (2012-13), 'Chance, Order, Change: Abstract Paintings 1939–89' (2016), 'Pride and Persecution: Jan Steen's Old Testament Scenes' (2017–18), 'Truly Bright and Memorable: Jan de Beer's Renaissance Altarpieces' (2019–20), and ‘Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art, 1500–1860’ (2022–23). His specialisations include French bronzes c.1550-1800, co-founding the international French Bronze Study Group in 2000. He is currently the Chair of the Specialist Advisory Board of the Public Statues and Sculpture Association. His other specialist areas of interest are Dutch and Flemish seventeenth-century paintings, and the history of collecting, particularly in Britain. He has published several articles on these subjects in academic journals and publications. Robert is Chair of Birmingham's Public Picture Gallery Fund (founded 1871), and was a member of The National Gallery's Advisory Committee for Research on European Paintings (2012–19). 
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Hattie, Lady Barber, founder of the Barber Institute
The Institute's most popular artwork: the Portrait of the Countess Golovina, c.1800 by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842).
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
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Wednesday December 2nd, 7pm - Leicester High School for Girls, 454 London Rd, Leicester LE2 2PP
AGM and social evening |
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