'Can Art Change the World?' Special Interest Day with Val Woodgate

On Wednesday 6 April, we (The Arts Society Maidenhead) finally held our Special Interest day, ‘Can Art Change the World?’ just over two years after it was originally planned. It was worth waiting for! Val Woodgate’s knowledge, enthusiasm and enjoyment for art shone brightly throughout three sparkling lectures.

Val approached the subject by topic, covering poverty, race, war and propaganda, the environment, feminism and gender politics, protest and Utopian Vision. Slide after slide played on our emotions; in turn we were sad, angry, amused, shocked, chilled, educated but always stimulated. A member wrote, ‘Although the topics could have been depressing she steered an upbeat, informative path’. The artworks we looked at ranged from the 1700s, including work by Blake, Turner and Goya to the present day, featuring pieces by Ai Weiwei, Grayson Perry and David Hockney. Val spoke throughout without notes, an indication of the depth and breadth of her knowledge, and of the research she had carried out beforehand. Her timekeeping was superb; she was able to cover everything on her handout, including the Mondrian bonus. I found it interesting – and understandable - when she said that she had not studied anything on the previous day. Another audience on another day would receive a slightly different, but equally wonderful, selection of facts and interpretation from her vast store.

We asked attendees for feedback on the day – your ‘take-away moment’. Responses are still coming in but here are a few. 

'Perhaps because we are all so upset about it at the moment, our key take-away moments were the explanations and images of war. That is Guernica and the Paul Nash and Nevinson paintings. It made us realise how so many lives of ordinary people are lost through political ambition driven by ego’.

‘Mine was the Victorian artist Augustus Egg’s triptych, ‘Past and Present’ of 1858. More than any verbal or written politicising about the excessively repressive, self-serving Victorian patriarchy’s attitude to women, these three narrative images left me seething with anger. Incredibly, these morally abhorrent attitudes prevailed only 160 years ago. Egg’s ‘Past and Present’ has indeed had an effect over time and may have contributed to the massive changes we now see in our society concerning the balance of equality between the sexes today, as compared to back then. 

‘For me it was the fact that we find comfort in order and straight lines, so when we were looking at "The Night" by Max Beckman we were immediately ill at ease before even evaluating the narrative’.

‘The stand out moment was the realisation that sadly we seem to have learned little from history precisely because of that relevancy. I acquired a lot of knowledge and new information from an excellent and knowledgeable lecturer. I also appreciated the interactive approach to the subjects being discussed’.

‘One of many highlights for me was her brief explanation about Mondrian. I could have listened to her for another couple of hours just talking about him’. (Several members mentioned Mondrian, so the committee are considering including a lecture on his work in the future).

Many thanks to members who have taken the time to share their opinions. Let’s finish with this one. ‘Personally, the whole day was one memorable ‘take-away moment!’

This was the first time that we had used the Baylis Theatre for a Special Interest Day and overall, we were very pleased. The vast space allowed us to have sociable round tables for coffee and lunch, plus a single semi-circle of seats for the lectures so everyone had a front-row seat. We could comfortably have accommodated the fifty that we had hoped for – next time! Special mention to Judith Davies, ably assisted by Anne Booth who masterminded administration of this great day.

We are left with the question, ‘Can art change the world?’  To some extent yes, there were numerous places where we were shown its influence and the fact that every totalitarian regime controls its art demonstrates its importance. Val finished with two quotes -

‘Art is the highest form of hope’ Gerhardt Richter

‘We all know that art is not the truth. Art is the lie that helps us realise the truth’ Pablo Picasso.

Linda Glithro, Committee Member