The History of
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Otter Vale Art Society started quite a while before the formal constitution and rules were established.
Graham and I joined the Ottery Medical Practice in Sept 1963 . For the first 6 months we rented a property from Dorothy White (?) . A skilled watercolourist who was visiting her daughter in America . Dorothy had a group of friends who formed a core of like minded artists . At that time West Hill was expanding with many properties selling off parts of their gardens for development . So much so that the practise number which was only around 11000 when we arrived and by the time Graham retired in 1995 had risen to 17000 . These newcomers were young , fit and eager to explore hobbies in retirement . There were – school teachers , bankers , accountants , architects etc all with time o their hands and wanting an out for their artistry . They happily busied themselves with fronting the society with rules and all the legal requirements needed to start .
Ray Balkwill was very helpful at this time and gave a lot of professional guidance . Early meetings were held at the Kings School . I remember an initial sale of work to raise funds where I bought 2 watercolours off Dorothy which are still on the walls of my sitting room . One of the founder members marked her 100th birthday last year. Others not quite as old are still around . Before long the Society was up and running with Chairman , Treasurer and committee in place – the first president was a practising artist , Greg Davies who now lives in France .
The original logo was designed by the man who masterminded the construction of the screens for the exhibition . This was moved to the new logo at the start of the new century . The annual exhibition became a regular feature in the late 1970’s / The first one held in the old infants school , now Ottertots Nursery , then in the old Boys school (now Ottery Larder) , but until last year its home has been the Institute and that is where the meeting have been held until recently . Membership increased steadily and had to be capped at 150 due to fire regulations at the Institute, so had to be limited to people living in the EX11 postcode area .
Covid hit us hard as it has every club but the committee have embraced the new technology and we enjoyed online demonstrations and even an online exhibition . The society has survived with a core of enthusiastic , skilled and hard working committee members who are keeping the ship afloat . With other societies struggling to survive we have seen a resurgence of interest in our activities and have a vibrant membership , the more active members enjoying a weekly practise painting session which is in addition to monthly demonstrations and regular workshops . An annual exhibition was held for the first time last year at Kennaway House, again well supported by our loyal public from Ottery St Mary and district and now being appreciated by a wider audience of holiday makers.
Graham and I joined the Ottery Medical Practice in Sept 1963 . For the first 6 months we rented a property from Dorothy White (?) . A skilled watercolourist who was visiting her daughter in America . Dorothy had a group of friends who formed a core of like minded artists . At that time West Hill was expanding with many properties selling off parts of their gardens for development . So much so that the practise number which was only around 11000 when we arrived and by the time Graham retired in 1995 had risen to 17000 . These newcomers were young , fit and eager to explore hobbies in retirement . There were – school teachers , bankers , accountants , architects etc all with time o their hands and wanting an out for their artistry . They happily busied themselves with fronting the society with rules and all the legal requirements needed to start .
Ray Balkwill was very helpful at this time and gave a lot of professional guidance . Early meetings were held at the Kings School . I remember an initial sale of work to raise funds where I bought 2 watercolours off Dorothy which are still on the walls of my sitting room . One of the founder members marked her 100th birthday last year. Others not quite as old are still around . Before long the Society was up and running with Chairman , Treasurer and committee in place – the first president was a practising artist , Greg Davies who now lives in France .
The original logo was designed by the man who masterminded the construction of the screens for the exhibition . This was moved to the new logo at the start of the new century . The annual exhibition became a regular feature in the late 1970’s / The first one held in the old infants school , now Ottertots Nursery , then in the old Boys school (now Ottery Larder) , but until last year its home has been the Institute and that is where the meeting have been held until recently . Membership increased steadily and had to be capped at 150 due to fire regulations at the Institute, so had to be limited to people living in the EX11 postcode area .
Covid hit us hard as it has every club but the committee have embraced the new technology and we enjoyed online demonstrations and even an online exhibition . The society has survived with a core of enthusiastic , skilled and hard working committee members who are keeping the ship afloat . With other societies struggling to survive we have seen a resurgence of interest in our activities and have a vibrant membership , the more active members enjoying a weekly practise painting session which is in addition to monthly demonstrations and regular workshops . An annual exhibition was held for the first time last year at Kennaway House, again well supported by our loyal public from Ottery St Mary and district and now being appreciated by a wider audience of holiday makers.
