The Tours

Tours Around the House

Ted Coney will give a guided tour of some of his original oil paintings on one of the themes shown below.

If you book beforehand by phone or E-mail you will be informed which tours are on offer that day.

All tours last about 45 minutes and include:

  • A short film which introduces the work (surrounded by photographs of six generations of the Coney family).
  • Introduction to the tour with the first family painting made over fifty years ago.
  • A tour of seven paintings on a given theme, together with some of the objects which have inspired them.
  • A look at how one painting was made, on the Electronic Sketchbook.
  • Visit to Ted Coney’s studio to see the latest work in progress.

Tour Themes

Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death

These important aspects of family life have always been recorded. This tour looks at the most significant, so far!

Journeys

Real journeys can be taken, as way of commenting on family life. Sometimes, the journey symbolises a significant moment. Occasionally, the journey represented in the painting may be a metaphor for something else, without even having to make the excursion! This tour looks at different sorts of journeys.

Time

Time has always played an important part in the work. Looking back, recording the passing of time, the present, or sometimes looking forward. A sequence of canvases or images are often used to show this more clearly. The tour will focus at a group of paintings were Time is used in different ways.

Puppets and Dolls

Puppets and dolls are often used in the work because –

  1. They can often evoke something about a person more effectively , rather than the image of person themselves.
  2. Taking something banal and childlike and giving it other meanings can often be effective.
  3. They can suggest something about an era they were performed or used in.

This tour looks at how different puppets and dolls are used in the paintings.

Anniversaries

Anniversaries are usually very important to any family and there is a need to mark them in some way. This tour looks at a group of paintings which shows how different events have been recorded.

Objects as Symbols

Only in the early paintings, are actual people used, for portraits of the family. Later, objects are supplemented to represent them or their lives, or to put more difficult and sensitive ideas across. This tour looks at how the family have gradually become to be represented by other symbols.

Sense of Place

Places have always been important, mainly because of the people, usually the family, that are associated with them. This can be places that have been lived in, or places stayed in, on a regular basis.Also, the idea that everyone in the family has their ‘place’ within the group is something else which has been explored. This tour looks at all aspects.

Figurative vs. Abstract

The early work was always figurative, that is, clearly seen figures or objects and places.Although observed from real things in the first instance, the images will now sometimes be abstracted (that is, a section taken out of context) or the motif will be suggested in a soft focus way. The tour looks at the reasons why different formats are chosen.

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