Can you bring some joy to Arlington Arts?

CAN you help Arlington Arts?

They are inviting anyone and everyone to paint, print, draw or photograph a postcard-sized piece of artwork on the theme of ‘Joy’, in aid of Arlington Arts and Mary Hare School.

Artists, musicians, audience members, school students and staff, volunteers and supporters are being asked to donate their talents by creating a postcard, which will then be sold in aid of Mary Hare School for Deaf Children. “With spring in the air, and light at the end of the tunnel, we would like to invite you to create and donate a drawing, painting, print or photograph a postcard-sized piece of art on the theme of Joy.

“We will exhibit all entries online and in the foyer of Arlington Arts during

April, and sell them for £20 (inc VAT, postage and packaging), with all proceeds going to Mary Hare School for Deaf Children.

“We will also be asking the public to vote on their favourite pieces, and the top five will be printed as postcards and sold in aid of the school.

“Your work can be anonymous or not, you don’t have to be a practising artist, and you can use any medium you like as long as we can put it on the wall.”

There’s more information available at https://arlington-arts.com/postcards/ If you’d like to take part, please complete the entry form by Monday, March 15.

If creating art isn’t your thing but you would be interested in seeing the work or even buying an original piece of artwork, look out on the website and social media in April.

So, get thinking about what brings you joy? What does joy feel like? What is joy?

A favourite place, a cup of tea with a friend, sunshine, a view, a pet, peace, dancing or even the thought of attending live events once restrictions are lifted…

Box office: (01635) 244246. Online: https://arlington-arts.com/postcards/

THIS month’s fascinating Zoom lecture for

The Arts Society Newbury was A Brief History of Wine, by David Wright.

Persian legend has it that a lady of the king’s court feeling out of favour, found an amphora marked ‘Poison’. Deciding to take her own life, she drank some. The drink, wine, made her feel much better. From then, the court happily drank this new concoction.

Amphorae of wine were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. He seems to have had a preference for red. The Greeks enjoyed wine and the process of vinification (wine making) is depicted on much of their pottery, including processes that are still used to-day, such as treading grapes. The Romans, great party goers that they were, invented a game involving flipping wine dregs into a suspended cup. Perhaps the more wine you drunk the better you got, or at least the better you thought you got. Some things don’t change.

In the 10th century, the Cistercian monks conceived the idea of enclosed vineyards – un Clos – Clos de Vougeot being one of the most famous. From this period onwards, the method of viticulture became more structured as discoveries were made – the slopes where the snow melts first are the warmer ones and therefore a better place to grow the vines.

During the 16th and 17th century the Dutch dominated the seas trading with Southern and Northern Europe, especially with wine. They encouraged adding a small amount of sulphur to wine to keep it fresh. Even today, sulphate is listed on the back of wine bottles.

By the 18th century, marketing wine under a recognised name became the norm. Name recognition began to have éclat. Improvements in cultivation brought vinification up to the standards that we have today.

In the 19th century many French and German vineyards were blighted by phylloxera which devastated them. The root stock had to be grafted with American vines. Some vineyards never recovered.

David finished his talk showing us the art form that is the design of wine labels with examples by Picasso, Hockney and Prince Charles.

THERESA WRIGHT