Dear Friends, welcome to our winter bulletin 2025.
The Friends of the Hatton exists for ‘ the education of the public by the promotion of art, and …the support of the Hatton Gallery’.
The Hatton gallery is open to all; it welcomes students, residents and visitors alike. As Friends we actively support the gallery and the arts in our region, offering workshops and increasing awareness of events and exhibitions through this bulletin and our website and Facebook page.
The article in this bulletin on the Ashington Group of painters (by Freddy Clifford of Hexham Old Gaol) highlights the importance of art and making paintings by everyone. The art appreciation classes, painting sessions and exhibitions reflected their everyday lives. It also went on to ‘change’ their lives.
I taught art to adults in community learning and often students would approach me quietly and confide ‘that they’d always wanted to learn to paint and draw, but never had the opportunity’ or that ‘they’d been told they were rubbish at school – and lost confidence’. I hope that the courses run by myself and my colleagues changed their minds; they certainly all learnt to paint and draw! Art education is for everyone; it can change lives – it definitely enhances lives.
A new study by Kings College, London with visitors to the Galleries of the Courtauld Institute, established that looking at paintings significantly reduces stress and inflammation – within 20 minutes! South Shields Museum is hosting a Monet painting on loan from the National Gallery. It has ‘wellness weekends’ every weekend from the end of January to appreciate the painting. So a visit to a Museum may also change your health, or make your day!
Hazel, the Learning Officer from the Hatton Gallery talks in her article about the learning groups who meet at the Hatton Gallery. Jo Cousins organises inspiring workshops for the Friends and we welcome non-members to join in too. We usually have workshops every month so check the later in the bulletin for further details of our winter workshops.
So why not join in! Join a group here – or where you live. Join a class to learn or revive your talents. Robert Lyon described the Ashington group as: ‘Seeing through doing’; we can all benefit from that.
Enjoy!
Geraldine Morris-Dowling
Chair of Friends of the Hatton
This bulletin contains contributions by:
Zoe Allen, Hazel Barron-Cooper, Michael Browne, Josephine Cousin, Freddy Clifford, Sallie Fulcher-Ball, Julie Louhi, Geraldine Morris-Dowling, Roger Newbrook, Kath Price (Dr).
If you would like to write an article for us for use in a future bulletin; maybe a review of a workshop, talk or an exhibition you have seen, please contact us, by emailing FothChair@gmail.com or drop us a line of our Facebook page: facebook.com/friendsofthehatton.
If you have stumbled across this page and are not yet a member of the Friends of the Hatton, you might consider joining us.
You can read our Autumn 2025 Bulletin online or…
If you haven’t already, please “Like” our Facebook page to be kept up to date with our activities and last minute announcements https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthehatton/
Friends of the Hatton 