Art lecture

DR Sally Dormer, a lecturer for the Art Fund and the V&A, will examine The Love of Line in English Medieval Art and Architecture for The Arts Society Wensleydale on Tuesday, March 12, at 2pm in the Middleham Key Centre.

The Anglo-Saxons introduced Celtic design when they arrived in the fifth century, instigating an English love affair with line that persisted beyond the Late Middle Ages.

Sally, a specialist in medieval art and manuscript illumination, explores its various manifestations. From the zoomorphic interlace patterns of eighth-century Gospels to the exquisite coloured drawings in tenth and 11th-century monastic manuscripts; and from the plastic linear ornament in Romanesque Durham Cathedral to the highly sophisticated Perpendicular fan vaults of Bath Abbey.

New members will receive a warm welcome. Visitors pay £8 a lecture, refunded if they join. Contact Ros Higson on 01765 635244, wensleydale@theartssociety.org for more details.

Modern jazz

ALTER Ego, a long-established and accomplished Modern Jazz Sextet from Newcastle, will perform for the first time at Opus 4 Jazz Club, based at the Travellers Rest, Cockerton, in Darlington.

The material will revolve, in part, around the Jazz Messangers, an influential jazz combo that existed for more than 35 years, starting in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990.

Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Tickets are £8 on the door. Call the club on 01325 382676 for more information.

Blues night

THE Blues Band, featuring lead singer Paul Jones, perform songs from their new album, Few Short Lines, at the Arc, Stockton-on-Tees, on Saturday, March 9, at 8pm.

The Blues Band was formed in 1979, by ex-Manfred Mann group members, Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, originally to play a few pub gigs, then, after recruiting Dave Kelly, Rob Townsend, and Gary Fletcher, went on to produce more than 20 albums.

Tickets are £23 on 01642 525199 or by emailing box.office@arconline.co.uk.