All photos © Minako Jackson
The Six Rooms Gallery – Group 2
The Six Rooms Gallery
08.10.2010 – 30.10.2010
Exhibition featuring 12 Wirral artists and friends
This evening (14/10/2010) is an ideal time to take a look yourself as the gallery is part of Birkenhead’s ‘Slightly Light Night‘.
To my shame I did not manage to get to the first exhibition here, apologies to all involved, by all accounts it was a great success with many visitors and good sales. You can see why it’s doing well as Theresia Cadwallader and everyone else involved have put so much effort into making the place look good with great attention to detail and welcome support from local business in particular the adjacent Capitol restaurant and Ainsley Gommon Architects.
A new gallery on the Wirral is a rare event indeed so is thus newsworthy enough to be featured in the local press but sadly this is only a temporary space as despite being empty and neglected for some time, it is due to be re-occupied after the Biennial. Hopefully the organisers behind this event will find another more long-term venue to continue this resurgence in the Wirral visual art scene.
I was honoured to be asked to officially open the second group show last week and had time to have a good look around. There is a lot to see, as well as the six rooms there is space in the basement and the courtyard at the back – Carolyn Shepherd’s installations featured in the latter spaces, her burnt wood installation ‘Survival’ looked particularly impressive in the courtyard. Starting from the nicely arranged and inviting shop window through to the first room is Bernard Howden’s ‘Lights in a Dark Place’ installation consisting of various mixed media sculptures on the theme of ‘Coping with depression using art as a tool in a chaotic way’. Visitors are invited to write their responses to the work onto a very large book which takes up a whole corner of the room.
Prolific exhibitors David and Susan Brown are in this group though not in the same room. Other artists familiar to me include Barbara Meynell (interesting Batiks and satin scarves), Cathy Wu (beautiful Chinese painting and calligraphy), Wendy Williams (paintings and works created from recycled plastic bags), Barry Canning-Eaton (amazing jewellery) and May Chong’s delightful pen and ink drawings of peacocks.
Exhibiting for the first time is Toni Hughes who produces vivid, colourful giclee prints of HDR photographs of local scenes. Others include Linda Mary Evans acrylic/pastel landscapes, Rob Symington’s small abstracts in deep colours and a piece by Birkenhead Youth Club who also benefit with a percentage of the sales going to support their activities.
So, a large diverse group which might have been too much if shown in one large space but ideal for spreading around the different rooms. Looking forward to the next one.
