Momentous year ahead for Barnet Guild of Artists as annual show attracts wide support and approval  

High praise for entries at this year’s annual exhibition was another boost for the Barnet Guild of Artists as members await the completion of their new purpose-built studio.

Art critic Estelle Lovatt – above right – said she was delighted to open what she described as “a very fine, well curated exhibition” which was a credit to the guild.

Paintings, prints, cards and other exhibits are on display at the Wesley Hall in Stapylton Road until Saturday 31 October.

Ms Lovatt, art critic for the BBC and lecturer at the Hampstead School of Art, joined the guild’s membership secretary Helen Leake in admiring two paintings by Malcolm Brown.

She liked the contrast between the old and the new in his ink and water colour of The Arkley Windmill and the contrast of colours in his painting Two Birds.

Two other eye-catching entries which attracted their attention were by new member Iskra Sale – Bluefall and Ela in graphite, white charcoal and engraved gold leaf.

Ms Lovatt has always encouraged the painting of familiar scenes in an around High Barnet – a classic view of Monken Hadley village was chosen by Chris Baker for his painting, Riders at the Gate.

Ms Lovatt looked ahead to another momentous turning point for artists in Barnet as they prepare to leave their present studio at Whalebones, which has been their home for the last sixty years, and move into a new purpose-built studio on the other side of the Whalebones estate.

Fields around Whalebones, once the home of the late Gwyneth Cowing, one of the guild’s founding members, are being redeveloped by Hill Residential with the construction of the 112 new homes, which has required relocation of the studio.

In opening the exhibition, Ms Lovatt, who has collaborated the members in mentoring sessions and other events, acknowledged the guild’s success in becoming a real community, welcoming people to the wider family of artists.

“I know you all make a considerable contribution in time and effort to your work, and such is the artistic value of what you do, that whenever people buy a piece of art, they are buying a part of you.

“Art makes people happy and with the cultural shift towards everything happening on a screen, we need art more than ever because art includes everyone.”

Prior to the formation of the guild in 1948, local artists met at the former Abbey Art foundation in Park Road, New Barnet,

After staging their first exhibition at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, they decided to form a guild and one of the founders was the late Gwyneth Cowing, whose family established the Barnet Press and who lived in Whalebones House in Wood Street.

Miss Cowing built a studio for the guild’s use – see above – in 1961 and stipulated in her will that the guild could use it in perpetuity.

When housebuilders Hill Residential of Waltham Abbey and the Gwyneth Cowing Will Trust were jointly granted planning permission in 2024 to develop the 12-acre Whalebones estate, approval was given for a new artists’ studio.

Work is well underway on the construction of an estate of 115 new homes and the guild’s new studio, which fronts on to Wellhouse lane, opposite the Barnet Hospital bus terminus – see above – should be completed by January next year.

Helen Leake said the guild was hoping to move into their new premises in the early months of next year.

Inevitably it would be quite a wrench leaving the studio which Miss Cowing had built, but members were looking forward to enjoying their new premises, with a much bigger art studio, full disabled access and modern facilities.

In future the guild would have the opportunity to widen their appeal and work with other arts groups.

Barnet Guild of Artists annual exhibition at Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road: from 10am to 6pm until Thursday 29 October; from 10am to 8pm on Friday 30 October; and from 10amn to 12noon on Saturday 31 October.

For more information on the guild’s activities see www.barnetguildofartists.com