DISCOVERY DAYS

19 NOVEMBER 2025

“The Art of the Automobile”

From art deco inspired cars of the Great Gatsby era to the iconic Italian supercars of the 21^st century, some of the most beautiful cars in the world have been influenced by art movements. Expect some wonderful images of fabulous works of art.

Roger Mendham

DISCOVERY DAY

13 November 2025 10am to 3pm

Bankrolling the Renaissance

A history of the Medici family: their huge contribution to Renaissance Art, including patronage of Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli and many more. Also managing to produce Popes and Royalty!

Douglas Skeggs

DISCOVERY DAY

What did the Greeks and Romans ever do for Art?

Wednesday 22nd October 2025

Ancient Greek art blossomed and the Romans took the sculpture, frescoes, vase painting and architecture and made it their own. What did the Greek and Roman artists achieve that was so world changing? Their unforgettable creations echoed for millennia were a mind-set that established how art has been viewed for centuries.

Gillian Hovell

DISCOVERY DAY

"Antiques Roadshow"

Wednesday 12th March 2025 10:00 to 15:00

Budleigh Salterton Public Hall, Station Road,
Budleigh Salterton EX9 6RJ

Join Lars for a fascinating Discovery Day talking about ceramics in the morning, followed by discussions based on selected members’ items.

This event will be open to the wider public.

Details to follow.

Lecturer: Lars Tharp

Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland is a forgotten Georgian gem, designed by Adam and furnished by Chippendale and others with stupendous interiors, fabulous contents, and gardens. It was acquired for the nation by a last-minute intervention by the then Charles, HRH The Prince of Wales. The story of its controversial rescue is both fascinating and entertaining.

Matthew Williams

Specialising in Victorian houses and design, Matthew's lectures and study days are lively, informative and amusing. With 30 years’ experience as Curator of one of Britain's finest Gothic Revival castles, Matthew is an experienced lecturer, writer and broadcaster. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2019.
He trained as an art and architectural historian before undertaking postgraduate Museum Studies and lectures widely on the subject of design, and is especially interested in that of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
A recognised expert in the work of the designer William Burges, he was the Curator of Cardiff Castle in south Wales for many years and has published widely in art and architectural journals.

DISCOVERY DAY

Why Paris?

Thursday 14th November 2024 10:00 to 15:00

Budleigh Salterton Football Club, Greenway Lane, Budleigh Salterton EX9 6SG

A unique day exploring how and why the city of Paris has acted as both a magnet and a cauldron of talent for aspiring artists and designers.  Join Mary Alexander to discover more about the key events and personalities shaping the 'City of Light' during the first half of the twentieth century. We will venture beyond the 'mainstream' to identify the creative individuals who shaped the Parisian concept of 'modernity' (including the many female innovators described as 'wife/ sister/ muse/ assistant of ....!) 

The international exhibitions of 1900, 1925 and 1937 will be used as focal points in each of the sessions to identify shifting patterns of emphasis and inter-connections between various arts and design media, including  interiors, graphics, fashion, photography.  Whether strolling along the new boulevards, calling into a favourite cafe, nightclub or gallery, the descriptions of Zola, Stein, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald will accompany the imagery and recreate the sense of 'being there'. In particular, the significant role of Parisian couture and fashion within French culture will be examined as a response to the rise of German  industrial and military ambitions.

Session One: The Belle Époque: the City as Spectacle 

Session Two:  1920s - Partying into a new Future

Session Three: The 1937 Paris Exposition, Occupation and Defiance

Lecturer: Mary Alexander

Mary will be bringing a selection of historic artefacts from her personal vintage postcard collection, advertisements, magazine covers, fashion plates, and official exhibition catalogues (1925 and 1937) for you to enjoy.

DISCOVERY DAY

Thursday 29th February 2024
Budleigh Salterton Football Club

Coffee

Lecture 1
Part 1: Principles of Impressionism
Part 2: Impressionism in Britain

Lecture 2
Impressionism in America

Lunch

Lecture 3
World Wide Impressionism

Lecturer: Julian Halsby

Julian Halsby studied History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He joined the staff of Croydon College of Art lecturing in the History of Art and Design and rose to become Senior Lecturer and Head of the Conservation Department.

Julian was elected to the RBA in 1994, to the International Association of Art Critics in 1996, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1997 and to the Critics Circle in 2006.

DISCOVERY DAY

Elizabeth to Elizabeth: Four Centuries of British Art

Thursday 30th March 2023

When Elizabeth I came to the throne, England was an artistic backwater when compared to the rest of Europe. In the turbulent centuries which followed, with Civil War, Industrial Revolution, the rise of Empire and two World Wars, British art developed and changed until, by the end of the reign of Elizabeth II, it is now prominent in the international avant-garde.

Lecturer: Valerie Woodgate

Thursday 2nd April 2020 from 10:00am

The Lion of the Sea -
The Art of Venice

With Douglas Skeggs

For three hundred years, Venice was the most powerful city-state in the Mediterranean, and much of its wealth was put towards ornamenting itself with works of art. Then when the Republic collapsed and the city fell into decay, it became a treasure house for artistic imagination and painters from all over Europe came to Venice to paint its quiet backwaters, shadowed doorways, sunlit reflections and the city was reborn as a romantic vision. The Discovery Day looks into the artists who have lived and worked in Venice, their styles, techniques and how each has added their own unique contribution to the artistic legend of the city.

Cost to be confirmed.

Venue: East Budleigh Village Hall, East Budleigh, Devon EX9 7DU

Thursday 10th October 2019 from 10:00am

New York, New York

The subject is  NEW YORK, NEW YORK, a social and architectural discovery, exploring “The Big Apple” from its earliest settlers, onwards via the immigrants passing through Ellis Island - and its architecture from brownstones to skyscrapers , museums etc.

Our lecturer is Andrew Davies MA (Hons) (Oxon). He read law at Oxford but his vast knowledge is varied and extensive.  He is Extra Mural Tutor at London, Essex and The Open Universities, author of nine books, a frequent contributor to radio and television and has lectured all over the world. He is a very popular visitor to BUDFAS.

The Discovery Day starts at 10:00am with coffee. There will be three lecture sessions starting at 10:30am with a break at 11:30am and lunch at 12:45pm. The day will finish at 3:00pm.

Cost: £27.50 per person.
Venue: East Budleigh Village Hall,
High Street, East Budleigh EX9 7DU.

Download a registration form here or contact Jan Sokell on 01395 519028 or email jan@lilactree.co.uk