wELCOME!Welcome to the Harpenden Arts Club! The Harpenden Arts Club aims to provide a wide range of creative workshops, demonstrations, life drawing and studio practice evenings, as well as a sociable meeting point for artists of all abilities. In normal times, we meet most Thursday evenings at 7.30 - 9.30 pm in the small public hall, Harpenden Public Halls, Southdown Road, Harpenden, AL5 1PD (behind the Harpenden Arms pub) from September to May. Regretfully we are having to cancel all indoor meetings until further notice due to Covid-19. We will resume meetings as soon as it is advisable. Please accept our sincere apologies. In the meantime, we are sketching outside, and will be organising a programme of online art demonstrations and zoom-based meetings. More details to come.. SUMMER OUTDOOR SKETCHING
We are organising some sketching sessions through the summer/autumn months to offer a chance for members to meet outside whilst maintaining social distancing. Each session will be led by a committee member who will happily help where they can.
Please bring all your own materials, e.g. drawing and/or painting materials, brushes/pencils etc, paper/canvasses/sketch books, an easel or boards to lean on if necessary, water containers and water, paper towels, tape/clips to hold down paper. Also please bring portable seating if you need to and all your own refreshments. A wide brimmed hat or cap is very useful to help judge colours and tones in sunshine. Full details, meeting place addresses and contact telephone numbers will be emailed to HAC members in the week before the sketching session. Outdoor sketching sessions usually last around 2 - 2.5 hours and are relaxed and untutored, but people are happy to chat and exchange ideas. The list of sessions are as follows:
Wednesday 8th July at 10.30am, meeting at Sarah Poppleton’s house in East Common, Harpenden to sketch her garden or the surrounding southern end of Harpenden Common. Due to forecast of rain this session is rearranged to Saturday 11th July at 10.30am. Saturday 25th July at 2.00pm, meeting at The Silver Cup Pub to sketch the northern end of Harpenden Common, Baa Lamb Trees, the Ponds and the cricket club. Due to the weather this session is being repeated on Saturday 1 August, 2pm, same meeting place at the Silver Cup pub. Wednesday 5th August at 10.30am, meeting in the Walled Garden, Wheathampstead, to sketch the Walled Garden, St Helen’s Churchyard or the River Lea. Saturday 22nd August at 10.30am, meeting at Peter Brown’s house in the countryside between Redbourn and St Albans, to sketch the garden, surrounding woods and maybe the odd pheasant or two if you’re lucky! Wednesday 2nd September at 10.30am, meeting at St Mary's Church, Redbourn to sketch the Common and surrounding buildings. Wednesday 9th September at 9.30am, meeting outside Pizza Express to sketch in Harpenden town centre. Wednesday 23 September at 12.30pm, meeting outside St John's Church, Southdown, Harpenden AL5 1DJ, to sketch in the surrounding area. Please do not congregate in groups of more than six for Covid reasons. 
Sketching by the canal, Hemel Hempstead, 2019
KEEPING IN TOUCH
Hopefully we will be able to start indoor art sessions at some point, but in the meantime, we are staying in touch with Members via the weekly emails, and a private Harpenden Arts Club Members' group page on Facebook (all HAC members can request to join this private discussion group on Facebook). Also you can see our Brushstrokes newsletter here:
Change of Venue Notice The redevelopment of the Harpenden Leisure Centre is impacting our art sessions unfortunately. All the group exercise classes are being relocated at short notice from the Leisure Centre to the Harpenden Public Halls from Monday 16 March onwards, and our art meetings are having to be relocated. When we are advised that we can start up our programme of meetings again (currently cancelled due to the Coronavirus advice) we will be meeting in Bennet's, in the Royal British Legion building, directly opposite the Public Halls on Leyton Road, Harpenden AL5 2HU. We apologise for these changes, and hope you can bear with us. We usually break for tea/coffee and biscuits halfway through the session. Please bring your own coffee cup. This is particularly important in the light of the current coronavirus situation. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided for a minimal charge. Please do not attend if you have a dry cough, sore throat or other flu like symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has recently returned from the Coronavirus high risk areas. Finally please wash your hands frequently to minimise the risk to all members at meetings.
How to Find Us:
Location of the weekly (7.30 - 9.30pm) Thursday evening meetings are no longer at the Harpenden Public Halls, but in Bennet's, Leyton Road, Harpenden, AL5 2HU: |
aBOUT uSWe are a sociable and creative group of people who enjoy learning new art techniques and sharing ideas. We have over 130 members and a strong committee of nine enthusiastic individuals who, along with many willing helpers, organise and run the activities. 
SOME MEMBERS CELEBRATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY
As a temporary measure, while we are unable to hold physical indoor meetings due to Covid, we are suspending the art club subscription fees. However we are still active online and outside, and are still accepting new members. If you would like to join:
HARPENDEN ARTS CLUB ANNUAL EXHIBITION
Our annual exhibition would normally take place in November each year. The committee have sadly come to the conclusion that the Covid-19 situation makes it impossible to hold an exhibition this year. We look forward to things returning to some degree of normality so we can hold another fabulous HAC exhibition again.
In the meantime, here is a reminder of our 2019 exhibition: BEST IN SHOW PUBLIC VOTE RESULTS IN 2019 EXHIBITION
First place: "Footprints in the sand" - oil painting by Sarah Poppleton
Second place: "St Peter's, Rome" - oil painting by Peter Brown Third place: "Harpenden Arms, wet evening" - oil painting by Peter Brown 
First prize: "Footprints in the sand" by Sarah Poppleton
second prize: "St Peter's, Rome" by peter Brown
third prize: "harpenden arms, wet evening" by Peter brownMEMBERS' GALLERIES
Don't forget that there are pages here on the HAC website that can display your work. If you would like your own section or would like to update the current pictures you have on display, please do email Sarah Poppleton on poppleton94@yahoo.co.uk with jpegs of your paintings (up to 6 images, under 1MB file size each please) and a paragraph about you and your work. gdpr iNFORMATIONHarpenden Arts Club has now published a data protection policy in line with the new General Data Protection Regulations.
Are you getting our emails?Emails to members now come from info.hac2018@gmail.com . Please make sure your email system accepts this new address and doesn't put our emails into your Junk folder! Also, please make sure we have your current email address. If in doubt, contact Membership Secretary Peter Brown on 01582 793174 or pjbrown4242@gmail.com.
If you have any comments or suggestions for this website or would like to contact the webmaster, please email Sarah Poppleton on info.hac2018@gmail.com .
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