News — contemporary art

We reopen this year (2024) with a short exhibition by one of our founders - Dave Pentin - to celebrate our fourth year selling local contemporary arts and crafts.Feeling lucky to survive not only COVID but the current economic recession we've decided to mark our anniversary with a celebration on the 28th of February to honour all our past and future artists and suppliers by raising a glass or two of the bubbly stuff.Our year ahead boasts a wide range of local artists exhibitions with primarily new artists work gracing the walls of the gallery. It's very exciting to draw on such...

As the end of the year approaches, it's a natural time to review how our first year panned out. Well, we have to say it wasn't what we expected!  Being forced to close three weeks after opening wasn't an action anyone could have predicted. Completely necessary for the health of the country it hurt in more ways than one. A new business with very little paperwork of income, we didn't qualify for any of the government help and had to rely on our fantastic resident artists for financial support. However, the most frustrating aspect of the lockdown was the change to...

It’s strange how a business evolves. When we opened the gallery, we knew we needed an online presence, not only for a place of contact but also because art sales through a web portal can significantly boost any business. However, we never anticipated that our online offering would be our sole source of sales and our biggest marketing tool. Now it seems our choice of website structure was invaluable. We had never used Shopify to build a website before. But after some substantial research, we decided that the clean relatively easy to adapt software was begrudgingly worth the $29 basic monthly...

Exceptional circumstances often generate acts of generosity and community spirit. We are lucky that the art community is always very giving and supportive. Maybe its because most artists have at one time, or another felt the pain and heartache of barely making ends meet.  I remember living off tuna rice salad in those days of waiting for the grant cheque to come in before credit cards were every item in your wallet. Checking the emails in eager anticipation of our next booking, which meant we would survive when we started our chalet business. Fighting AXA to refund the cost of emergency surgery in...

It's International women's day, so what better excuse to focus on the contribution women have made to art. Our first female exhibitor Lee Kellgren has journeyed from a career in computer graphics, through motherhood, returning to undertake a degree in art later in life and restarting her life as a printmaker and painter. Our subsequent exhibitors, Linda Matthews, Nicola Moseley, Corinne Detain and Ella Carty, have also taken unique journeys into making their mark from their dedicated studio spaces. For years women have been represented as a subject rather than the creative force behind the artwork. Having the time, money...