It was with much anticipation that my partner and I flew to England in early April for "Castles in the Mist", the latest exhibition of my work, held as usual at Redesdale Hall, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos. This new show and sale featured 2 levels of exhibition, with downstairs being dedicated to artisans, booksellers and a live birds of prey 'interactive', while upstairs was fully dedicated to the paintings and prints--aside from the stage area. As in the past, there were lively daily features, such as Tolkien talks, talks by the artists, our Tolkien Quiz, a costume competition, longbow archery demonstration (no participants were impaled!) and our daily live music sets.
We were also very pleased to have been able to display a small number of important artifacts courtesy of Chris Tolkien of nearby Evesham. Chris is the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien's brother Hilary, and still operates the family garden nursery business. He kindly loaned us copies of letters and other memorabilia, allowing visitors a glimpse into this largely unknown aspect of Tolkien's life. We thank Chris sincerely for his time, interest and support.
The 'conviviality' of the title refers of course to the meals and general 'pubmooting' we all enjoyed so thoroughly after hours. The Bell Inn (aka The Prancing Pony) again was the venue of choice for our special Saturday evening dinner, along with less formal gatherings the other evenings.
The 'castles', on the other hand, are the subject of the newest paintings of mine being featured. These non-Tolkien works will be published in a book to be published soon titled The Complete Guide to the Ice and Fire Universe. It will be a concordance for the 'Song of Ice and Fire' novels by George R.R. Martin, arguably among the greatest post-Tokien fantasy writers alive.
This exhibition included two additional artists besides me and Ruth Lacon; Georgia-based Jef Murray and Cornwall-based Roger Garland. Jef's distinctly colourful Tolkien works in oil nicely complimented the other work, and we appreciated having him and his wife with us. Roger Garland's extensive variety of limited prints of his well known Tolkien illustrations rounded things out very nicely. We were disappointed that Roger was unable to attend on the Sunday as planned, however, but a volatile weather system bringing snow and dangerous driving conditions in its wake blew through early Sunday morning, unfortunately.
It takes a team of helpers, both paid and unpaid alike, to put on such an event, and I wish to thank you all very much! Most of all, thank you to Andy Compton as always for his organizing, generosity, promotion, and so much hard work in order to prepare this extraordinary event. And for his goodwill, humour, patience and overall passion and devotion to the promotion of Tolkien-inspired arts and crafts. I believe I can speak for Andy and say we are all very proud of the interest and loyalty our events are generating in so many of you, and thankful for the steady patronage of our work that these exhibitions help generate. See you next time, I hope!
Posted by Ted on May 04, 2008
