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Overview

Join u3a Farnham member and Watts Gallery guide, Alan Freeland as he takes us on a virtual tour of the Watts Gallery and Artists' Village.

In this engaging one-hour virtual tour, Alan introduces us to the remarkable Watts Gallery Artists’ Village in Compton, Surrey.

This remarkable collection of buildings includes the home of perhaps the most influential British artist of the second half the 19th C., George Frederic Watts, and his equally accomplished wife Mary. We will tour the house and note the ceiling panels encouraging us to think moral and spiritual thoughts.

We will visit the grade 1 listed Mortuary Chapel, conceived, designed and project managed by Mary in a fusion of Celtic, Romanesque, and Art Nouveau styles.

In the Historic Galleries, we will see some of George’s most famous paintings, such as Hope, and how he strived to give meaning and a moral message to his art.

The Gallery also hosts a temporary exhibition and currently it is The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. We will be able to see and learn about some of William Morris’s early wallpaper designs

Mary’s pottery business is no longer in operation but it does mean we can finish the tour in the tea shop that now occupies the old pottery.

About the Speaker

Alan Freeland

Alan’s rewarding career explaining IT to UK Business Customers was coming to a satisfactory end when un-characteristically Alan grasped the opportunity to do a similar role from Dubai, engaging with customers from Africa to China. Another chance encounter made Alan realise he was carrying on an ancient tradition of traders and knowledge sharers plying their wares along the Silk Roads. Since retiring Alan has, as a tourist, travelled from China to Venice through Central Asia, Iran, and the Caucasus to better tell the silk roads story. He has an interest in world history - especially the histories of Russia and India.

Alan is a volunteer speaker for many u3a talks and also gives tours of the British Museum, the Watts Gallery and Artists' Village and the V&A.