celebrating 25 years of creativity
ANDREW BROUGHTON-TOMKINS, Founding Member
Photos and Text by Andrew Broughton-Tomkins
That was twenty five years ago? Crikey! A quarter of a century!
There was so much excitement in our first meeting at Chilworth Manor, yet I have no idea how I got there. It was an early summer's evening, meeting an entirely new group of people, all sculptors, all wondering what this invitation from out of the blue would bring.
Crispin Rayner, the gardener at the Manor, had somehow drawn us together with the idea of using the venue as a sculpture trail - a place to exhibit, where the public already came to view the gardens and, consequently, notice and perhaps buy our sculptures.
I think we grasped the potential fairly quickly. The sense of pleasure we all felt in working with other artists towards exhibiting was just wonderful, a great contrast to the struggle with the gallery system.
It seemed that the few details for that very first exhibition were worked out very simply. I put my hand up to do the arrangement of sculptures in the Exhibition and others took on various tasks, clearing up the barn being the most urgent. We agreed on the name of the Society, some form of membership scheme and, I believe, one of the most important decisions made: That anyone of any standard could exhibit, as long as they were a member.
Somehow we found some plinths (but was there any lighting?) and a gallery space was created. The pieces arrived, I set them up, and along came the public, somewhat bemused in most cases. I expect we made some sales because that first showing started us off in the best possible way: Showing up, showing our work and hanging out with like-minded folk who "understood" our madness.
Chilworth Manor was a regular venue and we found that the public really did enjoy our shows, coming again and again to see us. I do recall some of the work that people brought to show but, sadly, I don’t have any photos at all.
There were some really wonderful pieces and some that made me wince, but it’s amazing that it’s always possible to find a spot for a piece where it will look its best.
Other exhibition venues were eventually found through The National Trust. Although the names of these venues and those of early members are lost to me now, I have to say we all seemed to get along remarkably well. Everyone certainly put a lot of work into bringing the Society to life.
As the Society grew and more funds became available from our sales, there needed to be a better set of plinths and a good set of lights as we often had indoor venues. I made the lighting stands out of some tubing and, despite being a bit dodgy, they definitely did the trick. I absolutely cannot bear to look at sculpture if it's not illuminated properly and, although storage of all the equipment was becoming an issue, it was worth it as we also had better and better sculptures arriving.
By the second year we were showing all over Surrey and beyond. The borders of our membership were expanding too - into Sussex and Kent.
I fear my own work suffered from the time I put in to all of this and by the end of the first year or so I was getting a bit jaded. The RHS garden at Wisley bucked us all up though as it was a fabulous venue over a huge area and we all wanted to give our best.
Andrew with one of his paintings
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