ELLINGHAM MILL

1974 - ?

Ellingham Mill

The Ellingham Mill Art Society was founded in 1974 as a Charity by the Californian artist, Chester Williams (1921-1994) and his wife Lucy Halford Williams, a British Industrial Designer. Together, they made the beautiful mill at Ellingham into a centre for modern art. They held exhibitions there, with people as eminent as artist John Egerton Christmas Piper (1903-1992) and art dealer Leslie Waddington (1934-2015) acting as their judges for the prizes. Residential Summer Art Classes were offered to six students in drawing, anatomy, use of oils, pastels, water-colour, and basic instruction in lithography. Its Charity Status was removed in 1985 when Chester and Lucy Williams moved to Gloucestershire. Suffolk artists who exhibited with the Ellingham Mill Art Society include Beverley Gooding, Jean Ketcher, Tricia Newell, Margaret Thomas and Peter Wells.