Now in its 30th year Marlborough Open Studios is enabling art lovers, collectors and potential purchasers to see a sample of the artists’ works in one central Marlborough location. The Little Gallery, Grant Ford’s recently opened gallery at the top of The Parade is showcasing a wide and representative selection of works for the next couple of weeks until Friday 18 July. This is the first partnership between Marlborough Open Studios and the new Little Gallery.
This exhibition is a curated glimpse of what visitors can expect during their tours of the artists’ studios. As do the works of all the artists, this exhibition embraces painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, glass, and mixed media.
Marlborough Open Studios does exactly what it’s name implies – it enables the public to go to view each participating artists’ own collection in their own studio. And to talk to the artist, find out what inspired them and to learn about their work. Open for each of the four weekends of July, starting on Saturday (5 July). Sometimes this will be in the artist’s own house, other instances it will be in a setting of their choice, somewhere the artist feels that their works can be displayed to greatest effect. Some artists are sharing studios
But to get some idea as to which artist to visit and where to go is where this exhibition at The Little Gallery comes in. A focal point for the works of many of the sixty five participating artists.
Since opening the doors in February last year The Little Gallery has become one of Marlborough’s ‘must visit’ art galleries. It’s where Grant Ford displayed many of the Henry Orlik surrealist works, following the London West End exhibition and before the major New York exhibition in a top gallery just off Madison Avenue which has just ended. It’s where an exhibition of limited edition signed album cover prints and great music images – Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy and more – were displayed, even including a unique ‘spinning Oasis coffee table’, created for a collector by Michael Spencer Jones, the photographer who took many of the iconic Oasis, album cover images.
But it’s where Marlborough Open Studios can reach out to the Marlborough community, within the town. Something that was possible when the Wagon Yard studio was still open but which has now sadly closed.
The exhibition at The Little Gallery will help plan all the visits of everyone’s Marlborough Open Studios trail. Some artists might not have been on the ‘visit list’, but seeing their work in The Little Gallery may change your mind and lead to a studio visit.
The Little Gallery has, even in it’s relatively short life become a point of note on the map, any map. But not just a map of Marlborough. Its reputation, underpinned through the quality and range of its exhibitions and works on display has marked it on a far wider scale map, and by implication, has helped make Marlborough a richer destination to visit.
Not every artist’s studio will be open every day but click on the panel below to enlarge, as this shows which days each artist will have their studio open to the public:
Creative Art Workshop held at The Parade Cinema for youngsters from the Marlborough Community Youth Project
