Poole & East Dorset Art Society is a long established and very active local art society. We were founded in 1924 and count notable figures such as Augustus John and Henry Lamb amongst our past members.
PEDAS is an inclusive society and welcomes artists in all media genres – figurative and abstract painters, sculptors, felters, embroiderers, and photographers.
CHARITY: In 2019 we were very pleased to have been granted charitable status; the objective to promote art amongst the local community.
WORKSHOPS: PEDAS hold lively workshops in Poole for members and visitors every Thursday evening and on the first Sunday afternoon each month. These range from simple still life sessions to more challenging exercises. We might be sculpting in clay, printing or sketching digeridoo players – the programme is never dull or predictable!
PAINTING ‘OUT AND ABOUT’: Over the Summer months, we provide a weekly Plein Air programme to local venues around Poole, Wimborne and the Purbecks, often arranging access to otherwise private venues.
PROJECTS: Regular challenging art projects are organized for members. We have provided art work for waiting areas at Poole Hospital Trust, and have produced sculpture for an exhibition at The Study Gallery in Poole. Our most recently completed project was “Birds of our Shoreline” – decorating the ceiling of the courtyard entrance to the Gallery Upstairs. Read more about this installation on our blog
EXHIBITIONS: Members exhibitions are held at least twice a year, usually at the Gallery Upstairs in Upton Country Park. We have also held exhibitions in The Study Gallery, Scaplens Court and Poole Library, and have donated a permanent exhibition to the Radiotherapy Department at Poole Hospital. PEDAS also takes part in Dorset Art Weeks, a fortnight of exhibitions and open studios across the county, and hosts an open exhibition at The Gallery Upstairs in Upton Country Park.
MEMBERSHIP: around 100 members and a short waiting list for those who’d like to join.
Benefits for members include eligibility to exhibit with the society, discounted attendance at meetings and regular newsletters. Membership currently costs £30 per year.
NEWSLETTER: members are kept in touch with events by their bi-monthly newsletter.
THE GALLERY UPSTAIRS: PEDAS runs The Gallery Upstairs in Upton Country Park in partnership with the local council (BCP). We aim to give all artists – professional and amateur – a place to exhibit their work. The gallery is located in the beautiful surroundings of the country park on the edge of Holes Bay, only a mile or so from the centre of Poole.
2020
This has been a strange, unsettling year for everyone and we have had to react to the changing situation and guidelines.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMME
Unable to hold our indoor group meetings, we have tried to keep our members involved by organising weekly “virtual” activities and have established a new Facebook group (PedasAtHome) to enable them to share their artwork.
Meeting Safely
We also extended our “plein air” programme beyond the usual summer months to enable people to continue to meet at a safe distance outdoors.
Exhibition October 2020 – “A Breath of Fresh Air”
We were only able to hold one exhibition for our own group at The Gallery Upstairs this year.
Titled “A breath of Fresh Air”, the exhibition consisted of over 100 entries of artwork, it was well supported by the visiting public and was very successful.
Online Exhibition
Most recently we have introduced a virtual exhibition to give our members another way of exhibiting their work – you can see this on our website at pedas.org.uk/art-for-sale
PEDAS Blog
We have also started a new Blog on our website with the first article being published on the 14th December which describes a new project that we have been involved with – read the article here www.pedas.org.uk/blog
2021
Looking forward to the new year:
- Members are very enthusiastic about our virtual exhibition so this will continue to evolve and grow, providing an outlet for members’ artwork and an interesting display for visitors to the site.
- We expect to be able to resume our weekly meetings and workshops indoors very soon – our new programme will be published on our website in due course www.pedas.org.uk/programme
- January 16th to January 25th – Exhibition ‘New Beginnings’ at The Gallery Upstairs, members’ work
- May 21st to June 7th – DAW (Dorset Art Weeks) – postponed from 2020, we continue to prepare for our entry in 2021 with the theme “Tree”
- August 25th to 30th – Art Pro Loco at Upton Country Park. All ages invited to draw and paint in the park. Work to be completed on location in one day – the artworks will be displayed in The Gallery Upstairs.
- October 15th to November 1st – PEDAS Autumn Exhibition, members’ work.
