SUFFOLK ART SOCIETY
The Suffolk Art Society grew from modest beginnings when Ronald McCausland-White, owner of the Phoenix Art Gallery at Lavenham who, in 1954, started a small art club, Phoenix Art Club which continued to meet and occasionally exhibit at the gallery until 1960. That year the club adopted the name Suffolk Art Society with a formal constitution. A committee was elected, and it was decided to operate independently of the gallery and from then onwards, election to membership has normally been by annual selection from applicant artists. The Society's first President was sculptor Thomas Baylis Huxley-Jones (1908-1969) to be followed by painter Edward Messon (1910-1983). The primary aim of the society is to organise exhibitions and thereby sell work for its members with at least two exhibitions organised each year. Membership is by selection with a limit of 110 members to enable all members to participate in the society’s exhibitions without any further selection process of their work. Members and their guests are invited to a preview party at the start of one of the summer exhibitions and are encouraged to showcase their work on the society website. As most members are widely dispersed geographically other activities are limited to occasional painting days, social functions, and coach trips. A Newsletter is published twice a year with a round-up of news and entry details for forthcoming exhibitions.
Website: http://www.suffolkartsociety.co.uk