The Arts Society Henley

07/05/2026

TASH Tutors Report: Lecture #3 on Special Interest Day, "The Music of the 1960s" by Steve King, May 6th 2026

What a fantastic way to wrap up our Special Interest Day! Steve's third and final lecture, "Those Were The Days," took us on a whirlwind journey through the transformative final years of the 1960s - a period where popular music didn't just grow up; it changed the world.

Steve kicked off in 1967 with the "Summer of Love," as the focus shifted to the American West Coast. Steve highlighted how the dated surfing music of the early 60s evolved into the "Flower Power" movement, blending counter-culture with anti-war activism. We revisited classics like Scott McKenzie’s "San Francisco" and Procol Harum’s "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which Steve noted as one of the era’s most defining, psychedelic tracks.

Steve delved into the birth of new genres. We saw "Rock" emerge as a distinct term from "Pop," branching into Psychedelic and Progressive rock. Steve pointed to Jimi Hendrix as the ultimate pioneer of this era, describing his album "Are Are You Experienced" as a definitive "long player" that showcased his unmatched guitar genius. Meanwhile, the Beatles continued to break boundaries with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - the first rock album to win a Grammy for Album of the Year and the record that truly launched the "concept album" into the mainstream.

While Steve explored the manufactured success of The Monkees (who introduced us to "Bubblegum Pop") and the gritty, observational writing of Ray Davies and The Kinks, the lecture inevitably returned to the Beatles. Steve shared a fascinating chart showing that the Fab Four held six of the top ten selling albums of the entire decade worldwide. Their influence, alongside the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin and the hit-making machine of Motown, proved that the late 60s was a goldmine of creative control and social messaging.

The session ended on a moving note, touching on the Beatles' final rooftop performance and their 2023 AI-assisted release, "Now and Then". It was a perfect reminder of their enduring legacy. A huge thank you to Steve King for such an insightful, nostalgic, and musically rich day!

07/05/2026

TASH Tutors Report: Lecture #2 on Special Interest Day, "The Music of the 1960s" by Steve King, May 6th 2026

In this second session of his Special Interest Day, Steve King dived into the explosive mid-1960s, a period where British music didn't just compete - it conquered.

Steve explored the "British Invasion" - triggered by a passionate 15-year-old girl named Marsha Albert, who requested "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the radio. The Beatles took the U.S. by storm. By April 1964, they held all top five positions on the U.S. charts—a feat never repeated. Their arrival paved the way for other UK acts like The Animals, Peter and Gordon, and The Rolling Stones, creating a "British Invasion" that saw UK artists spend six months at number one in 1964 alone.

Steve then explored the rise of female icons in the US and Motown. The Supremes and the Motown label exploded internationally, bridging the gap for African-American R&B artists to find mainstream success. Cilla Black became the only significant female artist from the Mersey scene , while Dusty Springfield mastered "Blue-eyed Soul" with hits like "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me".

The mid-60s marked a shift from simple singles to the "Adult Pop" album and Steve identified a creative "one-upmanship" between Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Inspired by the high quality of the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Wilson produced the masterpiece Pet Sounds. The Beatles responded with Revolver, featuring the string-only arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby"—a shocking departure from their rock roots.

Steve stitched together the cultural shifts around significant tracks including "Good Vibrations" (The Beach Boys - described as a "pocket symphony," it was the most expensive record ever made at the time and a forerunner to progressive rock); "Like a Rolling Stone" (Bob Dylan - which signaled Dylan’s transition to electric guitar, pioneering "folk rock" despite initial backlash from folk purists); "Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones - which cemented the Stones as the "scruffy," threatening alternative to the clean-cut Beatles).

By the end of 1966, Steve observed, the studio had become an instrument itself, and the landscape of popular music was forever changed.

07/05/2026

TASH Tutors Report: Lecture #1 on Special Interest Day, "The Music of the 1960s" by Steve King, May 6th 2026

The Arts Society Henley recently enjoyed a fantastic Special Interest Day with Steve King, and his first lecture, “She Loves You,” was an absolute trip down memory lane! 🎸✨

Steve took us back to the dawn of a "golden age" in popular music, specifically focusing on the transformative years of the early 1960s.

The session kicked off by exploring how post-war Britain was hungry for change. In 1960, the music scene was still dominated by American solo artists, with Elvis Presley as the undisputed King.

Steve noted that while Elvis was commercially massive with hits like "It’s Now or Never," he was being steered away from his rebellious rock and roll roots toward becoming a "general entertainer". This move actually accelerated the decline of original rock and roll, leaving a gap in the market just as the "Baby Boomer" generation was becoming teenagers with pocket money to spend.

Steve looked at the era of "manufactured pop," where record labels held all the power, and songwriting hubs like New York’s Brill Building churned out hits for artists who simply performed what they were given. Significant tracks like the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"—the first #1 by an African-American female group - highlighted this polished, industry-led sound.

Steve also identified Motown and Bob Dylan as two of the "Big Three" drivers of change, bringing African-American crossover hits and meaningful "protest" lyrics to the mainstream.

But the real game-changer was, of course, The Beatles. Steve argued that "She Loves You" was the most significant piece of music from this period. Released in 1963, it broke the mold by ditching the traditional intro and jumping straight into the "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" hook.

Unlike the manufactured acts of the time, the Fab Four wrote their own material, allowing them to control their own destiny and move the balance of power from the suits to the artists.

From the "Shadows walk" to the rise of the Merseybeat, it was a lecture filled with nostalgia and fascinating insights into how four young men from Liverpool turned the world on its head.

30/04/2026

From The Arts Society ...

'I don't paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.' – Frida Kahlo

Learn about the life and work of the iconic Mexican painter with Frida Kahlo: Painting, Politics and Patriotism (22 July), a study day led by Latin American art expert Chloë Sayer and organised by The Arts Society Greater London Area to accompany the forthcoming Tate Modern exhibition, Frida: The Making of an Icon (24 June 2026 – 3 January 2027).

As a member of The Arts Society, you can register for upcoming study days across our regional areas, which this season also include:
- Sicily: Cultural Crossroads (13 April)
- Too Many Cooks! Food, Fashion & Fine Dining in Art & Architecture (17 April)
- Soul of a Nation: Chopin, Grieg and Sibelius and the Destinies of Poland, Norway and Finland (1 May)

Discover the full programme in our award-winning magazine – exclusive to members of The Arts Society. Find out more and join us here: theartssociety.org

🎨 Untitled (Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird), 1940, Frida Kahlo. Image courtesy Nickolas Muray Collection of Mexican Art

23/04/2026

Saint George’s Day, celebrated on April 23rd, transcends its religious origins to serve as a vibrant catalyst for global arts and crafts.

While famously known as the feast day of the patron saint of England, George’s legend—the noble knight who rescued a princess by slaying a dragon—is a shared cultural motif that inspires creative expression from Catalonia to Ethiopia and beyond.

In England, the day is marked by traditional folk crafts. Artisans and schoolchildren alike engage in making red-and-white emblems, echoing the St. George’s Cross. This includes the construction of elaborate hobby horses and life-sized dragon puppets used in "Mummers' Plays"—street performances that blend theater with handcrafted masks and costumes. The iconic red rose, the national flower, is often recreated through paper-crafting and embroidery, symbolizing courage and martyrdom.

In Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the link is often found in iconography and metalwork. In countries like Georgia and Greece, the image of St. George is a staple of ecclesiastical art, inspiring exquisite silver-smithing, wood carving, and icon painting. These crafts focus on the dynamic movement of the spear and the serpentine scales of the dragon, pushing the boundaries of relief work and detail.

Ultimately, St. George’s Day fosters a "dragon-slaying" aesthetic in the global crafting community. From knitting patterns of dragon scales to blacksmithing workshops that forge medieval-style armor, the day celebrates the triumph of light over darkness through the tangible act of creation. It is a day where the mythic past is stitched, carved, and painted into the present.

The Arts Society (Artwork by Nigel Balchin)

21/04/2026

TASH TALK Report by Robert Gurney: TURNER VS CONSTABLE - The Great British Paint Off, by Nicola Moorby, April 16th 2026

This was the second of two lectures by Nicola Moorby presented to TASH on its AGM day. This lecture, comparing and contrasting the life and works of Constable and Turner was fascinating.

Both painted landscapes, and were near contemporaries, but while Turner started life quite poor, Constable came from a wealthier business family. His family life was very happy, so he concentrated on painting Suffolk where he was happy. His career developed more slowly than Turner's, but they clearly learnt a lot from each other in techniques and even in subjects.

Even though Mike Leigh's film on Turner makes out that Constable and Turner were great rivals, this was only in passing. Their home lives were also very different. Constable had a notably happy home life, with seven children, though he was then widowed.

Turner never married, but had at least two female partners and two illegitimate children whom he basically ignored.

Nicola Moorby presented this large amount of information clearly, and both lectures greatly amplified what could be learnt from the pictures themselves.

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