I’d have never thought I would end up founding a contemporary art gallery right in the middle of the countryside. I thought I was as urban as a dirty bus-stop outside a kabab shop. But then suddenly it happened.

If I’m honest it started as a solution to a problem – that I have an archive of nearly 9,000 books and art works from the international avant garde which I needed to find some storage space for urgently and looking around in the city, I suddenly realised I was facing huge rents that I could not afford.

And then a friend – thanks Megan – pointed out this old school house in a village just 14 miles south of Edinburgh. It was in a former Knights Templar bailiwick (where the fabled Templar gold, spirited away from Paris in 1320, was supposedly hidden between an elm and an oak tree) and had been empty for years. After a visit or two I realised it was an amazing opportunity!

So I went in and negotiated a deal with the factors, moved my collection into two big rooms and suddenly had the insight that I had loads of space left over. Especially if one took into account the four cubicle and two shower old fashioned concrete toilet block that reminded me of my own school days in Denny freezing my bollocks off in the outhouse buildings of the 1960s. There are 2,500 square feet of old school rooms here (one complete with blackboard), a 1,000 square metre garden and a car park big enough for 8 – 10 cars.

I suddenly remembered that I didn’t own 8 cars never mind 10.

So LUST AND THE APPLE was conceived. Every available space would be used to create what I thought could be a very special art gallery showing risky and challenging contemporary art continuing the work I had done at Summerhall as the curator there for the last three years. I built a 9 x 5m white internal space in one room to allow a more traditional hanging and then I started to consider a programme of artists for the coming year. Initially I decided to show three artists every quarter but I am now more likely to exhibit four or more each time as the artists are inspired by the desire to use all of the spaces including the roof and car park.

Here’s the thing – the best side to having your own gallery is that you can put on whoever or whatever you want. My opening shows were Tim Sandys, Maris and Kenny Watson (all of whom I have worked with before) and in May, the gay new York icon Cary Leibowitz will create a new installation out of tartan football scarves, alongside other initiatives by Mike Ballard from London, Edinburgh’s own Alex Allan and the New Zealand artist Elke Finkenauer; each taking over bits of this rather fantastic place. There’s a BBQ opening on the 15 May.

For the Edinburgh Festival, the famous conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner has created a new outdoor work created especially for the gallery, Denmark’s art duo PUTPUT will be creating an artist’s greenhouse in the garden, David Connearn will most probably be making a gravel drawing in the car park (although we have an offsite project for the fields nearby which may happen if we can raise the money) and Cisco Jimenez (a very significant Mexican artist) will be showing paintings and ceramics in the white gallery. There will be other artists too soon to be announced including I hope one other very well known name. We may well be running a daily art minibus from Edinburgh for the first week too.

Other artists are planned – Jonathan Monk, Maurizio Nannucci, Gregor Schneider, Christine Borland have all indicated that they are likely to work with LUST AND THE APPLE in the future if we can find the right project. And I will be showing many emerging Scottish and UK artists (much as I did at Summerhall) as I want to help the next generation of graduates get a foothold in the contemporary art scene.

Finally – this is all done out of my own pocket. I cannot see any reason to approach Creative Scotland as in my experience of them, they are deeply bureaucratic, inflexible and cowardly about contemporary art projects. If you happen to know a rich private sponsor then do email me – I could do with the help. But in the meantime I hope to make LUST AND THE APPLE a significant part of the Scottish art scene even if it means I have to live off the apples from the tree found in the garden here. I will eat them lustly.

Lust & The Apple’s upcoming opening of four exhibitions featuring Cary Leibowitz (NYC), Mike Ballard (London), Alex Allan (Edinburgh_ and Elke Finkenauer (New Zealand) will be on Friday 15 May. There will be a minibus service from Edinburgh for £8 return and all are welcome for drinks, art and BBQ (weather permitting). These shows will continue to run until 19 July.

Read more about Paul Robertson’s career on Central Station in his My First 5 Jobs article here.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues. 
Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

The Whisky Bond is designed to suit the needs of creative projects and the people who generate them. It’s more than a physical space. With a regular programme of events, talks, performances, hacks and parties an exciting community thrives, where collaboration is encouraged and new contacts are made.

The lower three floors of the building are home to Glasgow Sculpture Studios (GSS) – a unique centre for research, production and presentation of contemporary sculptural practice. GSS support a vibrant community of established artists and emerging talent, as well as offering first-class workshop facilities to artists, tenants and the general public. A large ground floor gallery hosts their visual arts programme and presents work from established and emerging artists.

Communal spaces in the building, including the ground floor café, are laid out to encourage social bustle and flow. On the 3rd floor you’ll find The Distillery – an open plan, co-working space designed to suit the evolving working styles of freelancers, start-ups and those who require a flexible working space. In The Distillery, everything’s at hand – members can turn up, switch on and start work. It’s somewhere they come to focus on work but also to be around their neighbours – artists, designers, architects, journalists, producers etc. who will be found at the next desk, through the wall or having coffee on the sofa beside them.

Adding to those already occupied on the 3rd floor, in the Autumn of this year a range of new offices and workspaces will be available. These will build on the industrial nature of the building and provide blank canvases aimed at creative businesses who wish to move away from offices with no identity, to a more exciting space where they can also become part of The Whisky Bond community.

The Whisky Bond takes a leading role in the regeneration of Speirs Locks. Not only a thriving working environment, with a canal-side location and great views of the city, The Whisky Bond offers an alternative to the congested busyness of the city centre. The opportunity for exercise, lunches by the waterside and access to a lovely community garden help create a greater, healthier work/life balance.

To learn more about The Whisky Bond, see their website here.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues. 
Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

No Man’s Art Gallery was founded by Dutch ex-lawyer, Emmelie Koster in 2010. In a very unusual career move, Koster suddenly decided to take up painting whilst in the second year of her masters degree in law. Unhappy with her paintings, she sold them online under a different name (Bob Koster) and set up an a fake art gallery to promote them. Soon afterwards, real artists began sending Emmelie their portfolios looking for representation. By the time she finished her studies and started her job as a lawyer, she realised that the gallery had become a project with serious potential and quit her legal career to focus on realising that potential.

© Max & Charlotte, Ou est Charlie, Piscine Pontoise, Paris V, 2009

The name ‘No Man’s Art Gallery’ refers to No Man’s Land, the land that has no laws and no set boundaries. No Man’s Art Gallery now provides an international platform for young artists by organising pop up galleries all over the world. Every three months they take on a different city to find local young artists with great talent. They exhibit the new-found artists’ work in their local city and travel with No Man’s Gallery to the next city. The exhibitions always show a wide variety of young artists, coming from all over the world. Previous exhibitions have been in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Mumbai, Paris, Copenhagen, and most recently in Shanghai.

Works by Sarah Wijzenbeek at the Mumbai Exhibition

The gallery has its headquarters in Amsterdam as well as a recently opened office in Copenhagen. They aim to promote artistic collaborations between the Netherlands and Denmark in addition to organising their pop-up galleries worldwide. No Man’s Art Gallery is the first art gallery to organise pop up galleries in a different country every few months. The exhibitions are open for a week before they are gone again and are always an adventure to visit. The location is secret, and only disclosed to those who sign up beforehand. So far, they’ve exhibited in special locations worldwide; the ruins of a cotton mill compound in Mumbai, a chapel on Vestre Kirkegaard in Copenhagen, a harbor building in Hamburg, an atomic shelter in Amsterdam.

© Daniel van der Noon, Mertropolis, 2012

In the three months preparation for a pop up gallery, they face the challenge of finding a location and setting up a complete network of artists, art lovers and buyers, members of the press, sponsors and local partners. They select their artists in a new city by contacting all art schools and visiting young ateliers to find the talents that the city has to offer. Everyone in No Man’s Art Gallery gets a say in the selection, and the final decisions are made by Emmelie Koster and Emma Sofie Jensen.

© Participant of the No Man’s Art Slum Photography Contest, Black Sludge, 2011

They also hope to be able to organise the No Man’s Art Slum Photography Contest annually. In 2011, private sponsorship for analogue cameras and film rolls was organised for 45 children from Dharavi, Mumbai, the biggest slum in Asia. The children were taught how to use the cameras in a short workshop and sent off to capture the moments in life that they enjoy the most. The results were absolutely amazing. All the children received the prints of their photos and a selection of the photos are now exhibited and for sale at No Man’s pop up galleries. The proceeds go directly back into buying new film and development of the film.

Mumbai Exhibition

Lyrical Artist Justus Raapgaarde reads his poetry at the Hamburg Exhibition

No Man’s Art Gallery’s latest pop-up gallery exhibition was in Shanghai. The exhibition featured local Chinese artists alongside the artists that were discovered at previous pop-up galleries in Copenhagen, Paris, Mumbai, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Additionally, three Chinese artists will be chosen to travel with No Man’s to their upcoming future exhibitions. Find out more here.

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This week, Ironbbratz Studios takes over Central Station, posting featured work and blogs. This post is about The Telfer Gallery which they support.

The Telfer Gallery opened its doors in Glasgow’s city centre one year ago, exemplifying a wide range of exhibitions and events with a focus on experimentation and cross-disciplinary practice. The diverse nature of The Telfer Gallery’s 2012 programme enabled the committee to explore the potential of the physical space and the wider environment. Within this time, the gallery hosted two residency programmes; one exploring the established modes of arts presentation – questioning the exhibition format itself;  another saw the team assemble an arts collective, Colour Deaf, to produce an alternative experience in visual art and live music through installation art and sonic design. The gallery also produced a number of exhibitions – from sculpture, printmaking and cross-disciplinary collective shows both across the design and fine art sector, and the summertime saw a collaborative project between The Telfer Gallery and Leeds-based initiative Test Space resulting in a series of workshops and an interactive exhibition as part of the Merchant City Festival.

Colour Deaf at The Telfer Gallery, 2011

Now heading into its second year, The Telfer Gallery is about to launch a new programme responsive to the experimental and diverse programme concluded last month. In 2013, the gallery will maintain the diversity of the previous year’s ethos whilst allowing each artist space to focus on the dialogue surrounding the respective body of work and conclusively, enabling the audience to understand the development of work in the gallery situation.

Aesthetic Error by Kel Glaister at The Telfer Gallery, 2012

The Telfer Gallery 2013 programme invites four creative practitioners from across the board of fine art and design to engage our audience in critical dialogue and exhibit beautiful work. We aim to provide a space of production and presentation for these practitioners through engaging with the processes of production unique to each individual. We will provide a platform for focused experimentation within a studio environment and allow time for a productive and critical dialogue to occur organically.

A Billow, a Hunch by Emily Shepherd at The Telfer Gallery, 2012

The Telfer Gallery will launch a new website in correlation with the 2013 programme in February 2013. To join our mailing list, please send an email to gallery@the-telfer.com and be sure to check in with our website, Facebook and Twitter for programme updates, or just to say hello.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues.
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Install shots from Patrick Graf’s project Mr Cow’s Swiss Delicatessen

Alongside providing affordable studios for up to 20 artists at a time, Rhubaba run an annual public programme of exhibitions, performances, screenings and other one-off events. Rhubaba’s programme has included to date solo-shows by Ed Atkins, James Clarkson, Patrick Graf and Hannah James; groups shows and events with works by Nathalie De-Briey, Alex Gross, Rebecca Kressley, Ewan Sinclair, and collaborative projects with David Dale Gallery and Studios, Glasgow, Central Reservation, Bristol, the duchy gallery, Glasgow, Intercity Mainline, London, Lombard Method, Birmingham and Outpost Gallery, Norwich and more recently significant group exhibitions with artists including Gelitin, Julius Koller, Lucy Clout, David Blandy, Gintaras Didžiapetris and others.

Catherine Payton from recent group show We Are All U.F.O-nauts

Rhubaba was founded in 2009 as a communal studio and project space, in response to a gap in appropriate studio provision for recent graduates and the desire to create a space dedicated to both the production and presentation of contemporary art. Rhubaba initially housed ten recent graduates from Edinburgh College of Art and during its first year organised a series of exhibitions in temporary spaces around the city as well as with host venues further afield. Rhubaba has continued to develop an ambitious programme and moved to its current home in 2010 to accommodate more studios and a permanent gallery space.

Graduation by Josephine Flynn, part of the group show Semi

There are currently fifteen artists working in the studios, built within the same space as the gallery, in a warehouse in Leith. The aim of the studios is to provide affordable workspace for early-career artists and foster a critical and supportive community, where self-organised activities such as meetings and critiques are enabled.

Video still from Alan Currall’s video Congratulations and Goodbye, part of the group show Semi

Rhubaba is committed to generating a supportive workspace and a dynamic platform for local and international artists. Rhubaba aims to give early-career artists the opportunity to produce new work in a discursive environment, work collaboratively with other artist-led initiatives and explore wider debates in contemporary art, bringing exciting and challenging works to Scotland. The gallery provides a welcoming and experimental environment for audiences to access thought provoking art projects.

Rhubaba Gallery and Studios can be found at 25 Arthur Street, Edinburgh, EH6 5DA.

For more information, including how to become a member of Rhubaba, visit the website here.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues.
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Prior to establishing WCS, the building was home to and led by a collective of artists, who worked hard to improve the building. Since then, due to various developments and need for investment, the coordinators at the time took on the building as part of a new company name, and became the Directors of WCS.

Since the beginning of WCS, the Directors have worked hard towards a programme that works both independently and with other individuals and organisations to produce projects, events and exhibitions. Striving to sustain itself independently as a business and arts organisation.

The WCS programme is made up of two strands: WCS Presents – Exhibitions + Events produced by WCS and WCS Hosts – Exhibitions + Events produced by external organisations, collectives + individuals, and endorsed by WCS as part of our programme.

For WCS Hosts, WCS is committed to supporting individuals and collectives with courageous and good quality ideas.

As part of WCS Presents, we produce a varied programme of mixed art forms from both established and emerging creatives, for a wide-ranging audience to experience, enjoy and learn from. We endeavour to produce high quality work whist incorporating DIY methods of producing independently and spending less to create more.

Previous exhibitions have seen successful collaborations with organisations such as The Royal College of Art, Liverpool John Moores University and Independents Biennial as well as international involvement with artists from across Europe, America, Canada and Asia.

As well as providing a unique atmosphere for exhibitions, the gallery has also played host to a number of inspirational and experimental live music acts.

In the near future we hope to combine all the creative, production and collaborative skills WCS has built up in an exhibition for Independents Biennial (September – November 2012). The exhibition will be bold and a challenge for all the senses, with a programme of events not to be missed.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday 10 May. 6pm, FREE Entry
SPECTRUM
WCS Presents | As part of Liverpool Art Month WCS Presents SPECTRUM: 15 solo exhibitions, with 5 Liverpool based Artists, Duos and Collectives from various stages of their careers, exhibiting each week.

A hugely eclectic, unique and exciting roster has been formed that will exhibit work that together spans the myriad of practice, process, medium and concept that makes up the landscape of creative practitioners in a ‘post-08′ Liverpool.

Noisy, political, personal, humorous, intelligent and determined – a reflection of the city’s current creative community.

A three-part exhibition opening on the following nights:

Thursday 10 May, from 6pm
Thursday 17 May, from 6pm
Thursday 24 May, from 6pm, feat. Julieann O’Malley’s one-night only performance piece

Gallery Opening Hours Fri – Sun, 12-4pm

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For Further Info + Advance Tickets visit www.wolstenholmecreativespace.com
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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues.
Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

The SHO was established in Sep 2010 by Emily (Jewellery maker) & Dan (Animator). Based in Roath, Cardiff, the venture was set up as a friendly boutique art gallery and shop. The SHO supports both local and international artists and designers with frequently changing exhibitions. A mix of traditional art forms alongside contemporary digital design and illustration brings the venue alive with a cocktail of stimulating and inspirational work.

On display we have a mix of Original artworks, limited edition art prints, inspirational literature & magazines, collectable vinyl toys, home-wares and wearable designs such as jewellery and apparel.

Our plan is to host many more diverse future mixed/solo shows alongside one off events such as customised toy auction charity fundraisers, of which we have a couple lined up this summer.

We welcome exhibition proposals from artists [see below for a current callout].

Upcoming Exhibition – Call for entries

We are welcoming artists’ submissions to be part of our upcoming exhibition. This will be based around the art of character creation either in the form of individual character design or compositions of them within scenes of their fictional worlds/landscapes.

Visual personalities with strong/interesting identities and atmospheric characterized settings created through imagination and brought to life through style & design.

For brief download form here and for submission form download here

Visit The SHO’s website.
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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Brows through more of our Featured Venues. Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

Since its inception in 1993 – formed in response to what was seen as a cultural vacuum – the gallery continues to be run by a group of voluntary directors on a two-year rolling basis. Through its dynamic and challenging programming Catalyst supports young and emerging local talent, often showcasing new names alongside established and international artists. Over the years Catalyst has continually promoted contemporary art practices in Belfast, and serves as a training ground for artists, curators and arts administrators.

Catalyst Arts is a non-profit organisation supported by a large members base and holds an annual member’s show, giving all its members a chance to showcase their work in the gallery.

Upcoming exhibitions:

Vicinity
22nd March – 13th April 2012
Vicinity is a group exhibition investigating temporary, adaptable and
transitory methods for exploring Belfast city. Artists will work in an
engaged manner, using the mile radius of the gallery as a starting
point to make new work in the gallery and at off-site locations.

The gallery is situated at 5 College Court, Belfast BT1 6BS and opens Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 5pm.

For more details about past, present and future exhibitions and opportunities, or to become a member, please visit Catalyst website or visit the gallery on Facebook.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Brows through more of our Featured Venues.
Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

Local project was founded in 2003 by a group of friends trying to keep the new art going in the emerging Long Island City neighborhood.

Soon LP became a home for artists and people from different backgrounds, in some cases part of the LP community found in the space opportunities to grow as artist, LP doesn’t just offer an art space but a HOME, a place to share, to talk and dialogue.

Local Project holds art shows since 2003, we have exhibit artists from all over the world, all disciplines, fostering interaction between artist and the community.

Our idea also is to create a bridge breaking down the walls between establish Art Institutions and the general public. Local Project made that real working together community based projects with the Queens Museum of Art, Museum del Barrio and recently we establish a program of art lectures in LP with the MOMA Museum.

As artists we understand the need for a space. We understand that a platform is needed for new artists to emerge and show their work, to get in contact and get the necessary feedback from the audience: that is why we created this space.

A forum for artist where the community can find inspiration, direction, friends, guidance, sin limites, LP is never boring, LP is vital for the arts and the people of New York.

The space is also home to the MadeinRoath arts festival headquarters. A community festival with interactive exhibits. Highlights from last year’s festival included the Open House art trail, artist Jennie Savage’s Guide to Getting Lost in Roath at Milkwood Gallery, SWN festival’s showcase at The Globe, a sound installation in Roath Park’s conservatory and Roath’s first pop up arthouse cinema at Milgi.

Milkwood’s firmly established alternative, eclectic space where visitors can enjoy art, craft and design in a welcoming, friendly environment. They have also hosted Gallery based workshops for local schools and groups as well as ‘make do and mend’ courses: the learning of traditional skills whilst also encouraging sustainability.

Current projects include In Hand by Heloise Godfrey. An experiment involving massaging people and recording the sound of the experience and stories that they tell.

Carboard House is also currently running and invites designers from any discipline to propose showing an object from their own ‘household’ collection juxtaposed with an original household object which they have designed and made out of cardboard.

visit the milkwood website.