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Josie Beszant talked about her interest in collecting and illustrated her work with cabinet displays and artworks.

Her website states:
“I am a collector of stories, poems fragments of things. This spills out into my art work, whether it is in painting, collage, assemblage or sculpture the work is always about things found that I am fascinated with. This could be a scrap of a photo, a discarded letter, a story told or a song. I am interested in the beauty of the damaged discarded and broken which is a constant theme running through my work.”

She explained her early interest in natural and made objects during her childhood staying with her grandparents in a cottage with lots of interesting objects and access to the countryside. She developed an interest in drawing, making and mending things. These interests developed into making clothes, stained glass, plastering etc. as well as painting pastels and watercolours.

Her interest in old objects developed into creating collages of old photographs, old family stories, envelopes, animal bones and old objects. These represent past connections and emotions. They could be tales of unrequited love or separation.

Josie and artists, Hester Cox and Charlotte Morrison, create new ways of displaying objects in store at Ryedale Museum. These included, old glass, fragments of wallpaper from demolished houses and moths.

They were also involved in exploring and illustrating the archives of Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley. Josie incorporated the ideas into the construction of aprons from teabag material and found scraps.

Collage of old objects is not popular in the UK but has a market in the USA and Europe. Her other painting work is more important for sales from her gallery in Masham.

For further information see www.mashamgallery.co.uk/josie-beszant.html

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Andy Grinter from Green Dragon Framing talked about picture framing. He has been framing pictures for fifteen years.

He talked briefly about the history of framing including in ancient Egypt and in 13th century Europe. Early church paintings were often included in structures such as altar pieces or tabernacles. As art became more portable, frames were needed. The renaissance of art in Europe created demand for Italian carved frames.

In the 17th century the trend was for frames to match the furniture.  Impressionists adopted simple white frames. Subsequent owners re-framed them. Only one Van Gough painting remains in its original frame despite the artist painting to match to frames.

A frame supports the painting and creates an edge.  Framing is part of the design of the painting, the mount board adds distance and colour. It adds value and helps to sell a painting. Buyers often want a frame to match their decor.

Framing can be expensive, especially as good quality materials should be used, such as conservation quality mount board to preserve the white of the bevel edge, and good quality wood such as oak and ash. The lighter woods are more popular than the darker woods that were popular in the past.

A major breakthrough in framing was the development of flat glass and later float glass. Mr Grinter showed us some anti-reflective Schott glass alongside ordinary framing glass and low reflection etched glass. The anti-reflective is very clear and will enhance a painting but is quite expensive.  He also mentioned that linen canvas is worth considering for oil painting  as it is more stable than cotton and takes oil better.

Mr Grinter showed the members how a double mount can improve the look of a painting with a coloured outline.

He also showed how a coloured mount can overwhelm a painting with too much colour. The white or cream outer mount reduces the impact.

Mr Grinter also showed more complex mounts with some depth, creating shadows. He also paints mounts to create more subtle colours along the edges and along the lines created by the mount boards.

Andy Grinter trades as Green Dragon Framing at Art in the Mill in Green Dragon Yard, Knaresborough.

Website: http://www.artinthemill.co.uk