How do we get our members talking about art?
Benjamin Franklin said:
"Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I will remember, Involve me and I will learn".
If your new members want to learn about Art, then their involvement in talking about art, will certainly deliver. New members can contibute by talking about art, perhaps just one image or artist of their choosing, perhaps for just five minutes. Within a short time longer talks can follow, and the adventure into Art will expand. Longer talks for 20 or 30 minutes, will be enjoyable for your member and that of the group.
If you want to get a little more contribution from your members, you could try a short session at the end of the talk, to have all the group, talk for a couple of minutes about an item, they have seen in the since the last meeting. This could be an item online, at a gallery, in a newspaper, magazine, or on TV. If they need an image, they could email this to the leader, and it could be put up on the screen/TV, or bring the image on their phone, newspaper, magazine etc. This is a good start for new members, even just a small way, increasing confidence, in finding out about art, and talking to the group.
My own group does this on alternate months, to fill in at the end of the meeting, with some interesting images, which often sparks a subject for others to research and use for longer talk.
A slightly longer talk of just ten minutes, with a title slide and up to three additional slides, we call it Desert Island Art. Started during lockdown to get the most out our zoom meetings, it was such a favourite, that we have run it once a year since. Each member chooses an item of art, to take with them to a desert island, explaining why it’s been chosen, describes it and the artist, using other images, to illustrate their talk. With 15 members in our group, we now allocate to meetings to allow time for the talk, with questions and discussion.
Both these short talks, have encouraged new members, to get involved and when it is their turn for a longer talk of around 30-45minutes, with some additional support, they have done incredibly well. They enjoy the research “being an Art Detective”, and have tackled some complex subjects, including Kasmir Malevich and his Constructivism.
On the other months, some of our members who have been with the groups for a longer time, volunteer to give an extra short talk about a subject of their choice, just 20 minutes including questions.
Having all these various options means that we get a huge variety of art in many types, genres, locations, artists and periods in history.
Where can my group find new subjects for Art Talks?
- Look at the Galleries listings available for download from this website
- Wiki Art an online art encyclopedia, has a large quantity of art available online, which can be selected by:
- Artists, by Art Movements, Schools and Groups, Genres, Fields, Nationalities, Centuries, Art Institutions
- Artworks, by Styles, Genres, Media
- The Art Story, has a search by, Art Movements, Country, Gender, Period,
- Landscape, Seascape, Cityscape
- Photographers
- Designers
- Architects
- Sculptors
- It also includes influences and connections between artists and some videos when available
- Invaluable.com lists past art sales, and often if you search for an artist, even some obscure ones, you will find some images and how much they fetched at auction.
- Artnet.com, has current auctions of art, and has links to many galleries with art for sale, and you can see some of the “up and coming” artists
- Artgallery.co.uk has similar modern artists featured.
- Oxford Art Online, which allows you to sign in with your local library card, had a huge range of articles about Artists, Movements, Style, Genre and often by country. Articles are sometimes not recent, and links to images might not be up to date, but will always give gallery or institution details
- My own group in Bath, have covered a wide range of subjects in the last 7 years and are listed alphabetically here below. (to January 2025) Some were short 10 minutes, but most have been longer, normally up to an hour. All subjects have been chosen by the speaker.
- New subjects may be added to the Blog on this website as we hear about them from other groups
You Tube Art Talks Online
The u3a doesn't have online talks for groups to watch, on demand, but on YouTube there are hundreds of Talks on Art from Galleries, TV Art presenters, including Waldemar Januszczak, Michael Palin, and there are almost 50 talks from Nigel Humphreys, Art Appreciation Leader at Aberystwyth u3a. Download the list below.
