BEDS & HERTSA JOURNEY THROUGH 3,000 YEARS OF CHINA'S HISTORY Date: 14 March 2012Time: 10.00am-3.00pmVenue: Woolmer Green Village HallTutor: Anne HaworthPrice: £27 (inc. lunch)Contact: Roger Cooke, 36 High St, Ashwell, Baldock SG7 5NWThe lectures are intended to introduce Chinese culture, history and traditions of arts and crafts, such as silk, porcelain and jade, to those with a limited knowledge of the topic but who would like to develop a broad understanding.EAST SURREYBRITISH ARCHITECTURE NOW AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE OLYMPICSDate: 30 March 2012 Venue: Yehudi Menuhin Hall, Stoke D' Abernon, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3QQTutor: Anthea StreeterPrice: £16.50 (inc. coffee/tea)Contact: Booking forms available by sending SAE to: Ann Hollywood, 'Kames', 34 Park Road, Limpsfi eld, Oxted RH8 0AW. Email: ace@nadfaseastsurreyarea.org.uk Anthea Streeter's fi rst lecture will bring members up to date with the architectural scene in Britain today. Many of the buildings are those which have either won or been shortlisted for the annual RIBA Stirling Prize since it was inaugurated in 1996. Among the projects which have caught the Area Courses... across the country during spring 2012 and beyondpublic's imagination recently are Foster and Partners distinctive 'Gherkin', Stirling Prize winner in 2004; and the Scottish Parliament building, winner in 2005. The second lecture will look at the new structures for the Olympics designed by leading architects, such as Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre at Stratford's Olympic Park. This lecture sets these buildings in the context of both the architects' other works and prevailing trends in architecture today. Other modern buildings of merit which form the backdrop to the Olympic events will also be considered.ESSEXTHE ARTISTS PARADISE Date: 15 May 2012Time: 10.30am-3.30pmVenue: Foakes Memorial Hall, Great Dunmow CM6 1DG Tutor: Celia FisherPrice: £25 (inc. coffee & lunch)Contact: SAE please to David Hattersley, 22 Malvern Drive, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 0JW E-mail: davidhattersley@aol.com The word paradise comes from a Persian word for garden, and garden settings have attracted artists since ancient Egyptian and Roman times, often combining a sense of earthly pleasures with more spiritual themes. Through the ages these images and ideas can be explored not only in Western paintings such as Botticelli's Primavera, but in tapestries, oriental rugs and Islamic miniatures. During the 17th century idealised gardens appeared in the backgrounds of portraits, and the landscape garden movement began. Finally, Impressionist and modern paintings created colourful and more personal garden spaces. All this will be explored during the morning sessions while the afternoon will concentrate on the history of a specifi c and well-known garden - the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.GREATER LONDONPlease contact the Study Course Organiser (SCO) to book on the relevant course. Please send a cheque made out to Greater London Area NADFAS (unless otherwise specifi ed) and send an SAE to the SCO of each course. Refunds are only given in exceptional circumstances, unless there is a waiting list. Tickets can be sold on by the member concerned.Above: Re-evaluating the career of Johan Zoffany (Greater London)Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 18 NADFAS REVIEW / SPRING 2012 www.nadfas.org.ukDANCE IN ARTDate: 10 March 2012Time: 10.00am-2.45pmVenue: Vera Fletcher Hall, 4 Embercourt Road, Thames Ditton, KT7 0LGTutors: Sian Walters and Darren RoystonPrice: £32 (inc. coffee). Please bring own lunch Contact: Ruth Cane, 10 Ewell Road, Long Ditton Surrey, Surrey KT6 5LE. Tel: 020 9398 4730. Cheques made payable to Kingston Decorative and Fine Arts society. Enclose SAE.Art Historian Sian Walters and Dance Historian Darren Royston will look at how dance and movement have been represented in art through the ages. Professional dancers in historical costume will take you back to the courts of Tudor England, Phillip lV of Spain and Louis XlV, and give a valuable insight into the lives and pastimes of men and women from Renaissance Italy to the age of the Impressionists. They will also discuss the development of ballet and how it evolved into the techniques shown in the painting of Degas.EDUCATION: COURSES

Above: The Scottish Parliament building is a fi ne example of today's British architecture (East Surrey Area)www.nadfas.org.uk NADFAS REVIEW / SPRING 2012 19 EDUCATION: COURSES DOGS, DRAGONS AND DEVILS: AN INTRODUCTION TO HERALDRY AT KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGEDate: 26 March 2012Time: 10.30am-3.45pmVenue: King's College CambridgeTutors: Chloe Cockerill and Liz Hodder Price: £34 (inc. tea/coffee. Lunch available at extra cost)Contact: Marian Griggs, Blakes, Toot Hill, Ongar CM5 9PU. Email: marian.griggs@gmail.com The morning lecture will introduce the heraldry that is all around us - not only in country houses, cathedrals and castles, but also in our towns and villages. The Royal Arms appear in our newspapers, passports and on the outfi ts of our sporting heroes while councils display their arms on their offi ces and vehicles. In the afternoon there will be a visit to King's College Chapel, and a look at its history, architecture, spectacular 16th-century glass and the royal heraldry.THE ZOFFANY EXHIBITION AT THE RADate: 27 March 2012Time: 10.30am-1.15pmVenue: The Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1 (Lecture attendees will need to purchase an RA exhibition ticket and a guided tour is not included)Tutor: Clare Ford-WillePrice: £18 (no refreshments permitted)Contact: Rosemary Baldwin, 24 Speer Rd, Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0PW. Email: rosemary@baldwins24.co.uk Two lectures giving an overview of the Zoffany: Society Observed exhibition at the Royal Academy. The exhibition presents a radical re-evaluation of the extraordinary life and career of Johan Zoffany, who enjoyed great popularity for his society and theatrical portraits, and who was a brilliant and enigmatic artist and a founder member of the RA in 1769.LORDS OF THE RENAISSANCE, THE ESTEDate: 30 April 2012Time: 10.30am-3.30pmVenue: Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1Tutor: Margaret KnightPrice: £25 (no coffee or lunch)Contact: Jenny Mulholland, 16 Landford Close, Rickmansworth, Herts, WD3 1NG. Email: jennymulholland@uwclub.net The Este Dukes dominated Emilia for more than fi ve centuries, fi rst as warrior lords, then as autocratic tyrants and immensely wealthy patrons of the arts. Their city of Ferrara was one of the brightest stars of the Renaissance, with beautifully planned streets, gardens and fi ne palaces, while the Este court was the most brilliant in Italy, attracting prominent artists, poets and humanists. This study day will follow the Este from their rise to power in the Middle Ages and will look at the glittering world of these Lords of the Renaissance.'ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE': DECODING DANTE'S 'INFERNO'Date: 11 June 2012 Time: 10.30am-3.30pmVenue: Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1Tutor: Margaret KnightPrice: £25 (no coffee or lunch)Contact: Jenny Mulholland, 16 Landford Close, Rickmansworth, Herts, WD3 1NG. Email: jennymulholland@uwclub.net The fi rst part of Dante Alighieri's epic Divine Comedy takes the poet and his guide Virgil on a journey through the nine circles of Hell. Here they speak to evil doers from myth, ancient history and from Dante's own time, each suffering punishments appropriate to their crimes. The poem gives us insights into the medieval concept of hell, life in 14th-century Italy and to Dante's own religious and political convictions. Using some of the works of art based on the Inferno, we can follow Dante and Virgil from Limbo to their encounter with Satan.OXFORDSHIRE GARDENS: CHIVEL FARM, HEYTHROP; DEAN FARM, DEAN; DEAN MANOR, DEANDate: 18 June 2012Time: 10.00am-4.00pmVenue: Self drive. Directions will be sent with booking.Tutor: James BoltonPrice: £69 (inc. entrance to three gardens, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. NB Lunch is available for the fi rst 20 members only. Please contact for availability and price without lunch).Contact: Di Lines, 32 Lawn Crescent, Richmond TW9 3NS.Tel: 020 8940 3227. E-mail: dlines@onetel.comChivel Farm: At Chivel Farm visitors will see box-edged beds and pots with white fl owering Hydrangeas or Plectranthus, plus many thickly planted beds with Salvias and Nerines, and steps fl anked by golden yew columns. Dean Farm: The north-facing entrance has shade loving plants, such as Ruscus, Daphne and Hydrangea aspera all growing enthusiastically. The south-facing courtyard was originally designed by Rupert Golby. Dean Manor: Yew hedges divide the space, with vistas, mature trees and a stunning herbaceous border. The garden has daring design and lovely planting. SOLDIERS OF CHRIST: THE TEMPLARS AND THEIR MEDIEVAL MONASTIC COUSINSDate: 21 June 2012Time: 10.30am-12.00pm and 2.30pm-3.30 pmVenue: (Morning visit) South Door, Church Courtyard, Temple Church, London EC4Y 7BB (off Fleet Street opposite Chancery Lane). (Afternoon lecture) Gradidge Room, Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Sq, WC1N 3AT Tutor: Sally DormerPrice: £34Contact: Rosemary Baldwin, 24 Speer Rd, Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0PW. Email: rosemary@baldwins24.co.uk Spend the morning visiting the Temple Church and follow this by an afternoon lecture at the Art Workers' Guild. Founded by