| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Leader: | |
| When: | Monthly on Friday mornings 9:45 am-11:00 am Monthly on 1st Friday |
| Venue: | Guides HQ |
| Cost: | £2 per session |
The Art Appreciation group is a friendly, informed but not nerdy, group and all Thame u3a members are welcome to join us on the first Friday of the month. Group members are encouraged to give an illustrated talk on a subject related to the visual arts, and once a year we invite a guest speaker and perhaps make a gallery visit.
We meet in the small hall at the Guide Headquarters in Southern Road from 9.45 am for a chat before a 10 o’clock start and normally finish at around 11 am, depending on the speaker.
If you would like to join the group, or have a query about our events, please don't hesitate to contact Nick Deschamps (Group Leader - Art Appreciation).
Jan Steen, 'As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young', c 1668-70
Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands
| 2026 Meetings |
| Date | SPEAKER | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd January | The Quiz Team | The January Quiz |
| 6th February | Simon Evers | Turner & Constable |
| 6th March | Sarah Grimwood | Sonia Delaunay |
| 3rd April | NO MEETING | Easter Bank Holiday · Good Friday |
| 1st May | Andy Gunn | Gaudi - A Life Devoted to Architecture |
| 5th June | Rosemary Taylor | John Piper’s Stained Glass Windows |
| 3rd July | Bridget Hill | Anna Boberg |
| 7th August | Christine van Winkelen | Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise |
| 4th September | Bernadette Tildersley | Caravaggio - The Bad Boy of Art |
| 2nd October | Leigh Guyatt | Stanley Spencer & Beryl Cook: similarities and differences |
| 6th November | Pat Horn | Jan Steen |
| 4th December | Nick Deschamps | Mannerism - The Renaissance going off the rails |
| 2025 MEETINGS |
| DATE | SPEAKER | SUBJECT |
| 3 January | The Quiz Team | January Quiz |
| 7 February | Rosemary Taylor | The Gilded Age in America |
| 7 March | Leigh Guyatt | Walking Tour of the Oxford Grotesques |
| 4 April | Graham Rogers | Nobility and Authority |
| 2 May | Sue Oswell | Art of the Early Renaissance |
| 6 June | Nick Deschamps | Vienna Secession |
| 4 July | John Gardner | 20th Century Architecture |
| 1 August | Pat Horn | English Medieval Art |
| 5 September | Nina Deschamps | Potters & Potteries of the Arts & Crafts Movement |
| 3 October | Hazel Boundy | Tintoretto |
| 7 November | Bernadette Tildersley | “Expressionists - Love them or loathe them” |
| 5 December | Jackie Ainsworth | Dame Laura Knight |
| 2024 Meetings: |
| DATE | SPEAKER | SUBJECT |
| 5 January | The Team | Quiz |
| 2 February | Sue Oswell | Flowers in Art |
| 1 March | Kathy Lemaire | Edgar Degas |
| 5 April | Guide HQ Closed | Day Trip to Oxford: Christ Church Picture Gallery and Cathedral Tours. Details to follow. |
| 3 May | John Wilkinson | Comic Cuts |
| 7 June | John Gardner | Architecture |
| 5 July | Nick Deschamps | Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema |
| 2 August | Jean Alvey | Frederic, Lord Leighton |
| 6 September | Bernadette Tildesley | Frank Brangwyn |
| 4 October | Hazel Boundy | Giacometti's art: What he was exploring |
| 1 November | Jackie Ainsworth | Dame Laura Knight |
| 6 December | Dawn Cumming | The Art and Architecture of Lucca |