A Merry Christmas to You All, a print by Bernard Cheese c.1958. Cheese was born in Sydenham, London in 1925. He studied at Beckenham School of Art and at the RCA. While addressed ‘to all’ this card was most likely sent to Marianne Straub who included it her 1950s scrapbook, now in our collection.

A reminder that our 2nd winter talk is this Friday 12/12 at 7.30 pm, by distinguished wood engraver Anne Desmet RA. Her talk explores this historic technique and shows some of the imagery it is capable of producing. Tickets via our website or on the door at the Quaker Meeting House, Saffron Walden.

We are seeking a new Chair of Trustees - could this be you? Skills to Chair and a passion for our cause are essential. Applications close on 19 December. Further information about the role and appointment process can be found via this link fryartgallery.org/chair-of-tru...

We’re feeling festive! Join us Saturday 6 December 10-1pm at the gallery (19a Castle Street, Saffron Walden) for some Christmas shopping: books, prints, jewellery and textiles galore 🎁 #essexevents #sale #buyart #giveart

Back by popular demand the Fry Gallery Christmas Sale returns on Saturday 6 December! Join us at the gallery 10-1pm for access to a great selection of gifts and collectibles - vintage and costume jewellery, hand crafted buttons, fabrics, a wide range of books, Olive Cook sketches and so much more…

Did you miss our annual picture sale? Are you looking for the ideal seasonal gift for friends and family? Look no further than the Fry Gallery Christmas Sale. We’ll have a range of greeting cards, new and secondhand books + original prints by Edward Bawden and others. Saturday 6 December 10am – 1pm

Our 2nd @FryArtGallery winter talk will be on Friday 12 December, by Anne Desmet RA: ‘Wood engraving, a personal view.’ In 2011 Desmet was elected a member of the Royal Academy and is only the third wood engraver to be so elected. Join us 7.30pm at the Quaker Meeting House, High St, Saffron Walden

To our visitors and amazing contributing artists, thank you for making this year's Annual Sale @fryartgallery a success. These sales are months in planning, so special thanks to our curators for their vision and hard work. Very many thanks too to our volunteers who helped in so many ways all weekend

Not too late to buy more beautiful collectable pieces @fryartgallery today. Visit us before 4pm - see you soon! Maggi Hambling, Wave VII etching and aquatint Jessie Ann Matthew, Last Chance oil on paper Alex Malcolmson, Sumburgh Head mixed media Edward Bawden House and Garden in Moonlight

Still time to take home some fantastic paintings, prints, ceramics + mixed media work @fryartgallery : Richard Bawden water colour, Stockeld Park Edward Bawden water colour, Azaleas (RA exhibited) Brita Granström acrylic on canvas, Rain & Nasturtiums Edward Bawden Linocut, Printing the Sunday Times

Day 2 of our annual sale! We’ve lots more covetable pieces to buy from Fry favourites including Polly Fern (Romantic Platter, tin glazed white earthenware) and Debbie George (Transfer-ware Cup and Spring Flowers, acrylic on gessoed board). Find a perfect gift or grow your collection @FryArtGallery

It's Day 1 of our Annual Sale! Azaleas, a watercolour by Edward Bawden is one of many special works to buy @fryartgallery today. Bawden was born in Braintree in 1903, and was perhaps more firmly rooted in Essex than any other artist represented in the NW Essex Collection at the Fry. We open at noon.

Our sale price list is now live - find it under ‘news’ on our website. Items include Sue Marsdon’s wonderful rag rug, Edward’s Kittens. Sue works in the tradition of Fry artists such as Lucie Aldridge, making rugs from pre-loved fabrics. She responds here to Edward Bawden’s graphic print style.

Drum roll please! We’re ready to welcome you all to our Annual Sale tomorrow and Sunday. Our 40th Anniversary event brings together some exceptional pieces by artists working in most mediums. We’ve works to suit everyone - take home art to enjoy forever from the Fry 19a Castle Street, Saffron Walden

Another sale double-feature. Kiku stoneware by Nicola Gillis and Brio, screen print by Mark Hearld. Look out for our sale price list this afternoon under ‘news' on our website. Warm and tactile, Nicola’s pieces are Annual Sale favourites, as are Mark’s joyful prints. Join us 15-16/11 Saffron Walden.

We’re previewing 2 works by artists inspired by rural and coastal subjects. Rain and Nasturtiums, acrylic on canvas, by Brita Granström and Sunburgh Head, mixed media, by Alex Malcolmson. Both feature this weekend in the @fryartgallery 40th anniversary annual sale (19a Castle St, Saffron Walden).

Let the Sunshine In, a collage by Michelle Thompson, could be yours at our Annual Sale this weekend. A graduate of Norwich School of Art and the RCA, Michelle is well known in illustration, working successfully in publishing, editorial and design. We’re also delighted to be exhibiting her work soon.

Find Emma Hambly’s luminous Six Irises, handmade ceramic tiles, sgraffito and underglaze colour in our Annual Sale. Featured irises were bred by Cedric Morris at Benton End. Do not miss this opportunity to buy Emma’s work as well as pieces by other talented ceramicists 15-16/11 at Fry Art Gallery

Today’s sale preview is Eclipse and Forms by Melvyn Evans. Initially a marine engineer, Evans retrained as an artist, becoming professional in 1992. His bold, elemental imagery explores connections between folklore, history and human interaction with the landscape. Available at the Fry next weekend.

Lunch Table, oil on board by Tessa Newcomb will be in the Fry Annual Sale 15-16 November at our gallery in Castle St, Saffron Walden. Rural life, and Suffolk’s coast and countryside, provide the inspiration for her work. She has pieces in public collections and has exhibited in many galleries.

Illustrator, painter and printmaker Chloe Cheese grew up among the Great Bardfield Artists at the heart our collection. Chloe’s own work is widely exhibited and collected. This playful collage is for sale at the Fry Annual Sale on 15 and 16 November. Find us at 19a Castle St, Saffron Walden

Norfolk painter Rosie Phillips (@rosiephillipsart) specialises in oils, specifically portraiture. Intimate paintings of individuals and family groups, often with much loved pets, all add to this young artist’s growing reputation. Sunday, oil on linen, will be for sale @fryartgallery 15-16 November

Today’s preview for the Fry Annual Sale 15-16/11 is Florentine Birds, by artist and illustrator Emily Sutton. In demand for her evocative work and literary collaborations, Emily trained at Edinburgh College of Art and Rhode Island College of Design. Join us soon at 19a Castle Street, Saffron Walden

Delighted to begin the count down to this year’s Fry Annual Sale with a preview of one of four works by Maggi Hambling ( @hambling_hambling ) This is Sunrise II, oil on canvas, which could be yours next weekend, 15 and 16 November @fryartgallery We look forward to seeing you there!

A reminder to join us this Friday at Friends Meeting House, Saffron Walden (7.30pm) for the first of our winter lecture series. Local sculptor and artist Ian Wolter discusses a recent commission, The Making of Safe Haven. Tickets are £6 via our website or on the door #fryartgallery #arttalks

M R James, scholar and chronicler of East Anglian churches, loved to write and read his spine tingling ghost stories aloud to rapt audiences. Do you have a favourite chiller, book or film you enjoy at this time of year? Image: Paul Beck’s atmospheric Linocut of St Mary’s Bury St Edmunds #halloween

As the nights draw in there’s still a welcome glow in the landscape to compensate for the shorter daylight hours. This screen print, Autumn Tree, is by Michael Rothenstein (d. 1993). He had quite an artistic pedigree; his father was Sir William Rothenstein, and his brother was Director of the Tate

We’re delighted to start our winter lectures on 7 November with a talk by local artist Ian Wolter The Making of Safe Haven - the Harwich Kindertransport Memorial. Ian made the Bardfield Artists Sculpture now installed in front of the Gallery. £6, 7.30pm Quaker Meeting House, High St, Saffron Walden

A theme in Finding a Home at the Fry was how our artists handled the 'kitchen table still life’. In this modernist example, Robert Macbryde shows his celebrated flair for colour. Loaned to the Charleston in Lewes for ‘Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders’ until April 2026

A wonderful limited edition fortieth anniversary annual sale poster designed by Mark Hearld is now available to order from our on line shop. This year’s sale #fryartgallery on 15 and 16 November will be a special one. More details to follow soon …

We are proud custodians with @townergallery of these rare woodblocks by Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood. Believed lost, they were recovered through the initiative of members of the artists’ family and @artlossregister with the support of @artfund and an Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant.

Don’t miss the final weeks of Finding a Home at the Fry. For our 40th anniversary, this exhibition celebrates the domestic interior with a vibrant personal curation. Also find prints and paintings to buy at Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years. Both exhibitions close 26/10 so we hope to see you soon

Our fortieth anniversary exhibitions close in just four weeks! Don’t miss this chance to visit (or re-visit) Finding a Home at the Fry and Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years, curations we’ve so enjoyed presenting. Image: The Glass Bowl, etching, Richard Bawden #greatbardfieldartists #fryartgallery

We are thrilled to have received a donation of around 200 of Edward Bawden’s original lino blocks. These form part of a larger group which have been shared with @thehigginsbedford, home of a substantial Bawden collection. This is ‘Gnat and the Lion’ (1970) from his illustrations for Aesop’s Fables.

Bamboo Hall (watercolour 2010) shows Richard Bawden’s affinity for interiors. Richard worked in other media, including etching, linocut and glass engraving. He illustrated books, and made murals, mosaics and furniture. ‘Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years’ is our current exhibition of his later work.

Our work of the month and another exciting new acquisition generously donated by David Reed is Apple Tree, oil on board, by Olga Lehmann. Trained at the Slade, Lehmann had a life long career both in the US and the UK. See more of her work in next year’s Fry programme

Acquisition news! Michael Ayrton frequently created imaginative, myth-infused landscapes with classical architecture floating in half-realist, half-dreamlike settings. The Fry Gallery is very grateful to Adam Forman for this generous gift. Sacred Place, oil on chipboard by Michael Ayrton, 1958

Both of our current exhibitions, Finding a Home at the Fry ( curated by @ellaravilious ) and Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years, offer insight into the domestic artistic practices of Fry artists who lived and worked in N W Essex. Rich curations to explore! Image: Clutter, Richard Bawden aquatint

As the summer temperatures rise again, we’ve a cool, calm pencil and charcoal drawing for you by John Aldridge, Mug and Jugs. This undated work is a fine example of balance, proportion and line. Aldridge was self-taught, enjoying a distinguished career as a painter and as a teacher at the Slade.

Richard Bawden’s tabby ‘Sasha’ is immortalised in diverse media. He also appears in several etchings on display at the gallery in the exhibition Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years. Many original works are for sale. Kitty (etching 2012) is available - in the gallery only - as a handsome A2 poster.

Today we welcomed our first visitors to view and buy a selection of later works from Richard Bawden’s creative life. Moving freely between media, his exceptional drawing skill and sensitive but varied colour palette is evident in these works. Framed purchases may be collected either 27/10 or 29/10

Installation in progress…Richard Bawden, the Hadleigh Years opens on 26 July. A prolific and versatile artist, there’s such warmth, wit and keen observation to enjoy in Bawden’s post 1985 works.This special commemorative exhibition is curated in collaboration with Hattie Bawden #fryartgallery

If you enjoy this picture, see more of the artist’s work in our commemorative exhibition, Richard Bawden: The Hadleigh Years, which opens in the Gibson Room on Saturday 26/7 and runs until 26/10. Some of the works will be for sale. Image: Sitting Room of His Home, watercolour by Richard Bawden 1997

Don’t miss Bardfield Murals, closing this weekend. It has been a pleasure staging this exhibition @FryArtGallery for our 40th Anniversary. Sunday is the last day to view, so find time to visit + see rare works by renowned N W Essex artists #muralpainting #twenthiethcenturyart #greatbardfieldartists

Fabulous at 40! The Fry Art Gallery celebrated with a joyful anniversary lunch at Madingley Hall, Cambridge on 29 June. Thanks to all who joined us for this special occasion.

Many of the artists championed by the Fry were talented muralists, working in Britain during a period of revival of the medium from the 1930s onwards. Kenneth Rowntree’s Mount Vernon mural, 1956, is a rare survivor now in the V&A collection #fryartgallery #twentiethcenturyart #greatbardfieldartists

Our ‘Interiors’ Wall in Finding a Home at the Fry showcases domestic still life works and depictions of the home. We’re delighted to include among the exhibits Eric Ravilious’ 1938 watercolour ‘Still Life with Acanthus Leaves’ - fresh and precise, we love this work’s contrasting shapes and textures.

Olga Lehmann enrolled at the Slade School in 1929 to study theatre design, making London and later Essex her home. An accomplished and prolific muralist, her training also led to Hollywood commissions. See this 1992 Los Angeles mural panel sketch in ‘Bardfield Murals’ until 13 July #fryartgallery

‘Wake up, old tomcat, then with elaborate yawns and stretching, prepare to pursue love’ Issa’s haiku captures perfectly the languid appeal of a pleasure-seeking domestic cat. See some of the most evocative images of our artists’ feline friends @FryArtGallery. Image: Tom Cat (Sheila Robinson, 1973)

Mural study by Edward Bawden, 1951 is our Work of the Month. This preparatory sketch of ‘Country Life’ for the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion at the Festival of Britain is a recent addition to our collection - see it until 13 July in ‘Bardfield Murals’ #fryartgallery #saffronwalden #twentiethcenturyart