Oxford Arts Week 2010
The Oxford Arts Week saw the opening (at long last) of our Strawbale Gallery in Duns Tew. We have just finished building this gallery as the site for our periodic exhibitions, courses and workshops. Although it is far from being fully finished, we have got it into the state where on a sunlit, non-raining day, without too much humidity, it is an acceptable gallery space for about forty hanging paintings. There is plenty of floor space for tables, which in this instance we used to contain browser racks of lino-images, printers caps, and examples of our lino-blocks which we used to explain our print-making process.
The week being fine, we were both surprised at the high numbers of people coming through the gallery at all times during the week. I HAD hoped to get some work done carving a few new blocks. In the event I didn't really manage to do anything which could be described as 'work'. What a fun week though! Sunshine, interested and interesting people, and one or two sales every hour or so. Each one getting us nearer that elusive goal of covering our material costs. In the end, we have been fortunate enough to cover our material production costs for the next exhibition at the end of July in Cheltenham (and to pay one or two outstanding bills too).
The week being fine, we were both surprised at the high numbers of people coming through the gallery at all times during the week. I HAD hoped to get some work done carving a few new blocks. In the event I didn't really manage to do anything which could be described as 'work'. What a fun week though! Sunshine, interested and interesting people, and one or two sales every hour or so. Each one getting us nearer that elusive goal of covering our material costs. In the end, we have been fortunate enough to cover our material production costs for the next exhibition at the end of July in Cheltenham (and to pay one or two outstanding bills too).
The Gallery itself is built from standard blocks of straw bales sitting on oak railway sleepers and a waterproof membrane. We have used reclaimed windows and doors, which give the building an older feel than it deserves. One visitor congratulated us on "this great old building" and asked us its age. The reply "We finished it last Tuesday" was not what she expected. The exterior and the main exhibition room look moderately finished because we have plastered the walls with a traditional sand and lime mix. The smaller back room remains un-plastered and the raw bales are still visible. A number of people who visited us did so specifically to see the gallery. I will try to add an article showing how we constructed the building. I am happy to answer any questions which anyone has for us on the gallery.
