Sometimes in life you get the opportunity to do what millionaires do after breakfast; in our case when we had finished the reconstruction of the top floor of the Tyneside Irish Centre after the Late Shows, it was obvious that we had the potential to do something we’d always wanted to do and have a proper art gallery.
The room itself is an old industrial space with long walls and high ceilings and the oil and ink of the printing shop that it used to be on the battered parquet floor. The addition of some canvas to hide some storage space and the introduction of some lighting allows the potential for the appreciation and proximity of the people to the art. But we only had bare walls and they are always a challenge.
A new venture
At the Tyneside Irish Centre, we know many people who’ve attended our events or come to a meeting or two or just had a few bevvies on some occasion. Last month we had the Late Shows, last Sunday we had the 60th Anniversary of The Morden Tower Poetry Group but fine art is a new venture for us. So we asked our most influential artist friends to a meeting and suggested very tentatively that they might be interested in exhibiting their work and would they care to have a look? Sheila Harrison, Aleks Dogrumadzi and Petra Ondrova, three of the most talented local artists that we have, who all have a distinct style and immense challenge and power in their work looked at each other and, in a great tribute to their trust in the project instantly agreed to exhibit their work together. They also agreed to help us with the construction, catalogue, invigilation and curation of the work.
The artwork
So, it’s all installed. Sheila’s work bursting with drama, light and colour; Aleks with her power and stop-you-in-your-tracks thunder and Petra’s 40 foot long masterwork Stranded which challenges everyone looking at it to do better and remember the innocent – that’s what it means to me, some of our older Irish people took one look and said in whispered shock “The Famine”. As I said, it’s installed, ready to look at, ready for people to see and feel that closeness and intimacy that great art can impart. It’s ready to shake your soul, challenge your future and make you a better person.
The Gallowgate Gallery
We just need some more people to come and look at it. The Gallowgate Gallery is something that we at the Tyneside Irish Centre were able to do for our city, its artists and those who feel. It’ll grow and secure its place in our city soon but I’d like the brilliant women who started it all for us, so I’d be obliged if you’d come along on Thursdays 1-4pm, Fridays 11am to 5pm and Saturdays 3-6pm and we close the exhibition on 19 July. Other times are available by appointment. Please come to see it and tell people.
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