What a lovely start to September we’ve had at the gallery! Last week we celebrated the launch of Martin Bush’s gorgeous exhibition “Jewel Temple” with two lovely events. The first, was our second instalment of Cocktails and Conversation, a new series of events we’re running with the support of the talented folk over at Pier Point to offer the first evening, arts and culture oriented networking event in Torbay. This month, we welcomed Tendai Chetse from the Real Ideas Organisation along with colleagues from the Torbay Youth Digital Agency, who told us more about the work RIO are doing locally as the South West bridge organisation for Arts Council England. We were excited not only to hear from Tendai but also the talented young people making up this new social enterprise, who are currently providing digital marketing support to a number of high profile businesses in the Bay, complete with their natural affinity for social media. Our guests were all immensely impressed by the competence of the young speakers and the work RIO is doing with them and we hope to work closely with both groups to bring you future updates about the work they are doing in Torbay.
The following day, we welcomed Martin Bush to the gallery for the Artist Preview of his show, “Jewel Temple”. This is Martin’s first exhibition in Torbay normally based over in Plymouth on the Royal William Yard. After a lively evening of cocktail shakers and cork popping the previous night, the Preview felt calm and serene as we welcomed some new faces to the Gallery. The consensus was overwhelming, whether you’re a lover of abstract works or not, you cannot help but feel enlivened when walking into a room of Martin’s work. Gold leaf shimmers throughout the opulent colour palette in a series that unashamedly screams its influences in the orient, with Thai lettering and Buddhist symbolism present throughout. It was great to have Riviera Magazine along to the event and we’ve had some lovely coverage on the exhibition from them as well as BoostTorbay, Muddy Stilletos, Art Share Love and Devon Life. The exhibition runs until 23rd of September so please join us to enjoy this exceptional show.
We’ve also kicked off the month with the judging for two opportunities at the Gallery. The first was for an exhibition taking place at Torre Abbey as part of the International Agatha Christie Festival Exhibition, 13th-17th September. James Tyson, Director of the festival joined us at the Gallery and we spent an enjoyable afternoon going through a very high calibre of submissions, eventually selecting what we hope will be an engaging exhibition for visitors to the festival. Then today, Richard James joined us to go through submissions for the Ageing Well Christmas Card Competition! We’ve judged several competitions with Ageing Well now to support their annual symposiums and festivals, and we always have a lot of fun. This time was no exception with some wonderfully creative responses to the theme of Christmas in Torbay featuring the iconic Torbay palms as well as our notorious winged friends. The winning designs will be available to purchase at this year’s Ageing Well Festival on Saturday 30th September.
Over the weekend we had something a little different at the gallery too. You may have noticed if you passed our shop front between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon that the blinds were down. This was because we hosted our first ever Hen Party Life Drawing Class! We’ve done Life Drawing before, but not like this, and it was a pleasure to welcome the ladies and the bride to be with flowing prosecco and civilised cultural entertainment before they continued on to celebrate that night! ;) The evening went superbly and this is certainly something we’ll happily offer in the future, so if there are any Maids of Honour out there looking to plan something a little different, give us a call!
That’s all for us today. We hope to welcome you all to the gallery once more in September to enjoy a spectacular exhibition!
