word

gary.byrne.121398@facebook.com
hotspur or tottenham

AT BOW
yesterday’s unseasonable
 warm sunshine brought temperatures of remembrance
  of that  early Spring.
 A return to Bow Cemetery  to see if the bulbs were showing yet around you. 
Some Snowdrops, Hellebores , a few Primroses,
 You , my life garden.
And  at Bow I was welcomed by the silent song of  thousands of Crocuses of every colour and variety spangling, spacing ,sprucing the graveyard .
And you lived on with these  gleaming flowers.
You in those last days , beaten and bowed, grey-faced and sneezing, coughing and shivering, the harsh Winter had taken it out of  you and us,you wished for nothingness and believed it too.
 But Gods  feeling 
and the warmth of the sun today I saw you again.
My eyes seeing these sprouting bulbs , a profusion of life. 
I saw you once more

spring clothes casual

islington painters

In the Spring of 1941, A. E. Hickman-Smith, an amateur but professionally competent painter, feeling thoroughly fed up with the German bombing of London, decided to do something to counter its effects and assembled a number of artist friends, who formed the Islington Art Circle. As soon as its first exhibition was hung in the large hall of the Central Library, a landmine exploded nearby, destroying the glass roof of the hall. Miraculously, no paintings were damaged! This was an auspicious start for the new group.
After A. E. Hickman-Smith’s death in 1965 the IAC was led by George and Deborah Bunting who staged a successful Autumn Exhibition. At the close of the exhibition they formed a committee with artists: Geoff Wickham, Leonard Renton, James Hardy, Sylvia Leibson, Joan Sexton and their partners. From the beginning, this committee was determined to preserve the quality of work. As proof of IAC’s standard, the first president was Sir Basil Spence, of Coventry Cathedral fame. Following his death, subsequent presidents were Sir William Coldstream and Anthony Green, RA. George and Deborah Bunting continued their commitment to the IAC for a further 35 years until their deaths in 2000.
In 2002 the group changed its name to Islington Art Society, which continues to promote art and artists. Its members include painters, sculptors and printmakers both amateur and professional. It also benefits from the assistance of members who are not practising artists. IAS holds Spring and Autumn exhibitions each year. In 2006 the IAS started holding exhibitions in The Gallery attached to the Stoke Newington Library, in the London Borough of Hackney. Since 2009 it has held one of its twice yearly exhibitions in the galleries of the Hornsey Library in the nearby Borough of Haringey.
a lively, friendly, community based art society run by its members for artists living in and around Islington. Our members represent a range of disciplines including painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.
We mount two shows of members’ work every year, one in spring and one in autumn (for more information see exhibitions page). All members are eligible to submit work for which there is a small administrative charge. Membership costs £15 a year - please see the membership page for further details.

The School Art Club at Barnsbury Secondary School for Boys was initiated by Mr Frank Walton, the head of the Art Department at the request of about five boys who were very keen on art. It was an immediate success and 20 boys signed up as members, with the promise of additional recruits. Our activities in the art room began at four o’clock on Wednesdays and Fridays and it was plain to see that the keenness was quite contagious as the boys painted, drew or made anything they wanted. Their interesting work was displayed in the art room and was a source of pride to both pupils and mast”
Not that members of the Art Club were restricted in any way - indeed, Mr. Walton expected a diverse output of work ranging from conventional painting techniques to clay modelling and experimental media such as papier maché

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I.

Barnsbury Secondary School for Boys 1965

                                     
                                                                              

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      Frank Walton

abigail macdougall

leon kossof

Leon Kossoff (born 7 December, 1926) is a British expressionist painter, known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England.
Leon Kossoff was born in 1926 in city road Islington, London, and spent most of his early life living there with his Russian Jewish parents. In 1938, he attended the Hackney Downs School in London. In 1939, he was evacuated with the school to King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he lived with Mr and Mrs R.C. Bishop, who encouraged his interest in art. During this time, Kossoff made his first paintings. When he returned to London in 1943, Kossoff went to St Martin's School of Art, and studied commercial art. He also attended life drawing classes in the evenings at Toynbee Hall.
After his education was completed he spent three years in military service with the Royal Fusiliers, attached to the 2nd Battalion Jewish Brigade, and served in Italy, Holland, Belgium and Germany. After his military service, he returned to the St. Martin’s School of Art in 1949, and at Borough Polytechnic, took special classes under David Bomberg from 1950 to 1952. He was also influenced by another one of his teacher’s students, Frank Auerbach. Both young artists dealt with similar emotions and subject matter in their work, and employed heavy impasto in their paintings. Kossoff chose his subject matter mostly from the area of London where he was born. From 1950–1953, Kossoff's studio was located at Mornington Crescent; he then moved to Bethnal Green, where he lived until 1961. Kossoff studied at the Royal College of Art from 1953–1956.
In 1956, Kossoff joined Helen Lessore’s Beaux Arts Gallery, located on Bruton Place in London.
In 1959, Kossoff began to teach at the Regent Street Polytechnic, the Chelsea School of Art, and the St Martin's School of Art, all of which were in London. While teaching, he continued his artistic such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Keith Critchlow a school friend from St. Martin's. During this time, Kossoff moved his studio to Willesden Junction, and in 1966, moved his studio to Willesden Green, where he lives and works today.

career, and soon started featuring in many galleries and shows, along with his friend Frank Auerbach and other artists,
In 2007, the National Gallery (London), held an exhibition of Kossoff's work entitled "Leon Kossoff: Drawing from Painting"
Kossoff was offered the honour and declined appointed of a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

In 2010, Kossoff exhibited a traveling show of new paintings and drawings, beginning at Annely Juda Fine Art, London, then traveling to Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, and ending at L.A. Louver, Los Angeles.