Rather unbelievably, it's been 5 months and two changes of exhibition the last blog entry.The fifth change in September started off very well with some wonderful pastels by Anthony Barrow, intense landscapes by John Ryan and incredibly serene work by Paul Smith. Sales then went rather quiet until the end of the exhibition with two works by Paul Smith selling in the last week and one of Suchi Chidambaram's on the day we were taking the exhibition down! A very beautiful painting by Michael Little also sold on the last Saturday as a Christmas present. This was then accidentally collected by the artist as I wasn't there first thing on the following Monday morning!
I'm not sure what happened to the optimism that was bubbling up just before the summer holidays; perhaps it was dampened by holiday costs, but the sales for the September exhibition were not great. A shame really as the work was very much admired and, particularly with new artists to the gallery, it's always a pleasure making the phone call to the artists.
The change of exhibition for our anniversary show was fraught with difficulties. My very lovely father in Law died last month. Because he died abroad, knowing when to take time off for the funeral was difficult. It was completely unexpected. He was fine. And now he's gone. Wherever he was in the world, he always managed to make it to the private views and was a big supporter of the gallery. I miss him.
So, I was very late in organising invitations, selecting artwork and contacting artists. Then during hanging week, not only did the office manager, my right hand man for change of exhibitions, have to take time off for family reasons, but I came down with a very nasty flu - it was so bad, I'm sure it was ManFlu! I woke up with fevers on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings and, on Monday, completely forgot about various commitments, including site visits and the fact that several artists were collecting work. I hadn't prepared poor Abi and she was inundated. I had spent the Saturday late afternoon taking down work and preparing it for collection, but had not told her that the Michael Little painting in the office was sold! Whilst most of the artists were lovely and professional, one made Abi wrap the paintings while she stood and watched. She's off my Christmas card list.
I was sitting on the gallery wall about 2.5m up full of various ibuprofen and paracetamol concoctions putting up the Christmas lights whilst Abi held the ladder in between preparing wall labels, feeling pretty overwhelmed with the prospect of hanging the show in time and wondering how on earth I was going to open on the Thursday night. John Gibson, one of the builders I work with regularly, called and offered help. Not being someone who knows how to accept help graciously, I said I was fine. I'm delighted to say that he didn't believe me and on Tuesday evening he turned up at the gallery with three of his men and completely transformed the situation. They helped hang, they hoovered, they cleaned and they moved work; they got rid of rubbish and they were a god send. Then on the night of the private view, Abi cancelled her commitments to help serve the wine and Adam, my wonderful nanny's fiance, gave up his evening to be barman. The whole week was transformed by nothing less than angels - John and his team, Abi and Adam. I am very lucky to have such good friends.
The other angel - one that has stopped me going completely bonkers - is Mickey Bodimeade. Not only has she designed the invitations for the last two shows, she has also redesigned our website and it is fantastic. Apart from removing huge amounts of work from my to-do list - the invitations were taking so long because I was using an inappropriate programme - its wonderful having a superbly talented graphic designer, one that genuinely justifies the title "designer" as opposed to "selector of font type and size". She has an excellent eye for arrangement, has redone our logo and our identity is starting to come together and look more professional. All this talent and a beautiful person as well! You can see another of her websites at http://www.terra-creative.com/index.html
It nearly went rather horribly wrong when the wine didn't arrive but the guests did - although we advertised an opening time of 7.00pm everyone started arriving at 6.15 as we're the first stop after the lights! Must remember for next year. Majestic Wine had got stuck in traffic but got there just as the first group of guests were filing in through the door. Majestic on Cross Deep have been consistently good in providing a very nice "party" wine and plenty of glasses! Thanks to Alex and his team at the Strawberry Hill branch!
A local cameraman video'd the evening and its on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZUQoVSeS4Q - watch out for the gallery, it appears for about 3 seconds at the beginning, but its a lovely film if you're a local! And I am, very proudly, a local gal!
You can see Andy Waite's beautiful work in the window, and the piece I wanted for myself has already sold. In the first week we have now sold three pieces of work including a Steve Capper work - they are always lovely and do very well. I love the current exhibition - apart from Andy Waite's work and Andrew Hoods, there are some new artists that I'm rather proud of. One is Maureen Stephenson with her impressions of light through rainy glass. Her brush strokes are quite complex and the detail of each painting is quite fascinating and as mesmeric as the whole.
Another artist whose work I'm showing for the first time is Andrew Radomski. Having trained as an artist and art restorer, his surrealist work using pastels is incredible in every sense of the word. I'm amazed that this man is not incredibly famous for his skill, his vision and his classically trained hand and eye. In my view, he is the next Dali and I intend to try hard to ensure that his work does not go unrecognised.
So, two weeks into this exhibition and I'm delighted with sales so far - if the construction side is any indication of the economic situation, then we are on the mend for sure. I'm rather resentful of media misery that propagates a myth serving no one except for newspaper sales and wish they would just leave the economy to start healing itself. Yes, its been an undoubtedly tough year and yes, it was a pretty bad recession and we're left with a huge national debt. But enough. This isn't the first time nor will it be the last. Neither will we learn too many lessons from it. But it is time to recover now. I see us as a resilient and optimistic nation (in spite of Daily Mail readers) and we have reached our fill of negativity. It is time to start rebuilding instead of the economic hibernation that has only perpetuated the problems.
Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.....
So, what's next. Two exhibitions are in the offing, both rather short as they include two or three artists each.
The first is a project that I've been trying to move forward for some time. It's not a unique idea I'm told, but it was inspired by a friend, Philip Wells - otherwise known as The Fire Poet. Whilst I love his performances (and he is a superb performance poet, receiving a standing ovation on the 14th November at The Albert Hall), I can't always remember the words. I wanted a painting with one of his poems inscribed into it. I had contacted Kurt Jackson because his artwork is just beautiful and evocative of landscapes and histories and also quite often includes scribed text, although not poetry. Jackson, rather understandably, is booked for the next two years! So the search continued until I came across the work of Lisa Henderson. Having also trained as an art historian, the layers of her mixed media work, their depth of colour, their links with the landscape and recognition of works past; together with the intelligence of her compositions made her the perfect artist for the project. All that was left was for her to be inspired by Philip's poetry and that wasn't difficult. Some of Lisa's new works are hanging in the current show as well - ariel views of Teddington and Kingston, one of which I'm rather desperate to own as its a location map of the gallery, and quite beautiful.
I'm very excited about this project and it is now in the making. It will require apt and timely promotion and that needs to start now.
The second was proposed by Alistair Tucker, another of my favourite artists. He proposed an exhibition of his work together with that of Jason Hicklin and Norman Ackroyd RA. This will be a fantastic exhibition, not just because of the standing of the artists and the incredible beauty of their work, but also because of the uniformity of the show. Having hung several mixed shows, usually with 12 artists or more in each, it has been quite tricky to get the gallery to "hang" well. A unity of theme and media will be a pleasure to hang. Watch this space for complexity - perhaps I speak too soon!!
In any case, I'm also excited about meeting Norman Ackroyd! I've always been a fan of his work.
There is a complexity with Jason Hicklin in that he is tied to another gallery so part of the commission will go to them. Having spoken to the gallery, they do sound rather decent, but nonetheless, I'm curious as to how these agreements are structured and why an artist would agree to them. Is the investment in the artists much greater than the usual made in any artist when they are shown and promoted by a gallery? If so, how? It already costs a fortune to change shows, hang the work, print leaflets and brochures (and that's before starting to print individual artist brochures which I'm hoping to do in the future), advertise the exhibition, promote the artist on the website, print in house information on them, etc. etc. The only thing I haven't done so far is take artists to the Art Fairs - and that is something that is planned for next year, depending on available funds! Different gallerists tell me different costs for showing at the Affordable Art Fair; some say its from £3,500 others say its around £15,000!! For a weekend! I will find out and let you know, but someone has said that if it wasn't worth it, gallerists wouldn't do it. The reports for last year's shows was that they broke even. So its probably worth trying at least once!
Having completed the gallery's first year with a degree of success - measured by the aims, which were to promote the gallery's existence and to survive! - the new year's intention is for the architect's gallery to become one of the best known is respected galleries in London! That, of course, and to become profitable! We have quickly become a part of Teddington life and the regulars to the gallery, whether buyers or admirers, always comment about the excellent quality of the work we show and the interesting variety in every exhibition. I wonder if at some point we're going to have to be shocking to be notable?
Part of next year's resolution though is to also spend more time with my family. I have been averaging 64 hours a week, including working on Saturdays, which is just not good for my kids. I'm hoping that in the New Year I will work every other Saturday and the lovely Julie will do the other two! Julie is a multi talented artist in her own right - an actress, a poet (of erotic poetry for vegans and vegetarians - her latest book, of which I have a signed copy, is printed on elephant dung paper!) and a gallerist having worked at another gallery before. She is also a complete charmer and a delight to speak to!
It is one of the unexpected delights of the gallery - I have met a plethora of people, some of whom are just a pleasure to know and definitely life enriching.
The next exhibition is planned to open on the 30th January 2010 with the PV on the 29th. I'm looking forward to it. I will update this blog with some images of work later.
