The Company educated its craftsmen by apprenticeship from its earliest days and in 1872 the Company was represented at the Founding Committee that eventually established the City & Guilds of London institute.
The Painter-Stainers' Arts Society (PSAS) carries forward the traditions which shaped the Company by hosting exhibitions of its members’ work and promoting the legacy of important fine artists and decorative craftsmen in our Company's history.
The forerunner to the PSAS, the Painters' Decorative and Fine Art Society, was established in 1988 and showcased annually, 'Art in the City', a three day exhibition of members' works. Through our links with London art schools we continue to encourage our Fine Art Scholars and Decorative Surfaces Fellows through our Charity & Education Committee.
In Spring 2024 we participated in London Craft Week for the first time, showcasing our Decorative Surfaces Fellows alongside decorative craftsmen and ornamental artists in the Company over two days. The event included an exhibition (The Gilded City), demonstrations, workshops and tours of Painters' Hall. In the Autumn our Art In The City exhibition returned in sparkling new format. Illusion - the Inquisitive Eye featured a collection of outstanding selected works highlighting an eclectic mix of painters, sculptors, designers, decorators and craftspeople in the Company, whose works range across a wide variety of contemporary practice and traditional discipline.
In May 2025 we marked London Craft Week with a Craft Celebration demonstration event showcasing the remarkable talents of our members , and last Autumn our Art In The City exhibition London’s Dreaming featured 38 Company artists, from whom over one hundred works were selected ranging over a wide variety of practices. Curator’s talks ran for the duration of the show, and a number of private views helped to spread the word to interested parties in the related worlds of the Arts, the City and Livery Companies.
We were proud to return to London Craft Week this May with Restoration & Revival: Elevation of the Hand-Crafted Surface - a celebration of extraordinary craftsmanship, heritage techniques, and the makers keeping them alive today. Painters’ Hall was filled with live demonstrations from leading specialists, and we were thrilled to welcome Lucia Scalisi from the BBC's The Repair Shop to our panel discussion, joining three fellow specialists for a fascinating conversation about the art and challenge of conservation / restoration.