Page 12 - Hindsight Issue 26 April 2020

KetteRIng
be built. the new gallery went on to hold many important exhibitions under the curatorship of the KDAs chairman, W t Wright. Another policy was to establish a permanent collection of local, national and, eventually international art. through this, many of the KDAs artists had their work added to what was becoming a unique collection.
Visitors today can enjoy the ever-changing exhibitions that the gallery regularly promotes plus, usually, selected works from the collection are on view.
All photos in this article
© Copyright Alfred east Art gallery – Kettering Borough Council
KETTERING CIVIC SOCIETY; SAVING THE KETTERING MOSAIC
By Monica Ozdemir, Secretary Kettering Civic Society
Kettering Civic Society celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. It is a voluntary, independent, charitable organization and pressure group that campaigns to protect, preserve, develop and improve the town, through collaboration with local authorities, and likeminded organisations. It publishes literature, holds meetings, lectures and exhibitions and fund-raises for projects, the biggest one being to save the Kettering Mosaic from being destroyed and to restore and re-site it.
the Kettering grammar school mosaic was the first mosaic and original artwork by internationally acclaimed mosaic artist Kenneth Budd. It is a modernist abstract interpretation of Kettering’s Coat of Arms showing the town’s rich religious, cultural and industrial heritage; including links to the birth of the Baptist Missionary movement, William Knibb and the abolition of slavery.
• the crown, the original grammar school was founded during the reign of elizabeth 1. the same crown appears on Kettering’s Coat-of-Arms
• the griffin also appears on the Coat-of-Arms as a reference to the Buccleuch and Montagu families who owned land in the town
• Coat sleeves and scissors represent the tailoring industry in Kettering
• A pile of boxes depict the local carton manufacturers.
• the bells and two clappers represent the bell foundry
• Above the bells is the hide from the Coat-of-Arms
• over this are three wheels representing the printing industry. timsons engineering designed machines for printing tickets and Braille
• Flames from the Coat-of-Arms indicate the ironstone furnaces
• two martins from the Coat-of-Arms
• the upper part of a boot represents the boot and shoe industry
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