Review of 2023 – Wow what a year of collaboration ….
Every day we are open we have a fantastic experience meeting our customers who visit us or contact us online. We have been delighted to be able to help and support your love of art and want to say thankyou for making this 14th year a very special one for Barewall.
Here is some of the work we have been doing across the year as well as opening the gallery in Burslem Tues to Sat 10 to 4pm.
In Jan we teamed up with Lunar Restaurant to bring Art and Wine Evenings to the Stoke Art Scene in the setting of a lovely restaurant opened and run by Stoke born double Michelin Star chef Niall Keating with Craig Wilkinson. Art talks included local artists Philip Hardaker ceramic artist, Andy Edwards sculptor, Himarni Brownsword art historian talk on Enos Lovatt, Nick Degg poet gig dedicated to Arthur Berry called ‘Cut from the Same Cloth’, Nick Moore local artist with an artist father David Moore, Edward Mackenzie on being an Assemblage artist, Peter Davis on his art and his love of Edward Hooper, Russell Gregory punk inspired artist, musician and performer. We are pleased to say that a new programme for 2024 is underway along with new artworks for the restaurant to enjoy.
Feb, March and April saw three months of refitting the gallery which included a careful removal of office style décor to a move modern and retro feel airy gallery space with reclaimed materials and vintage lighting. In Barewall’s 14th year we decided that our customers would enjoy a new look and feel to show off a new selection of artists including more women artists and those with a sustainable edge.
May saw relaunch of Barewall - the city council leader, and our local councillor Jane Ashworth OBE opened the gallery and we launched a new extended opening times welcoming customers and friends to see our new space alongside the opening a new business Lost + Found Projects in the Barewall Studio space. This helped to cement a brand new more modern and forward thinking direction for the gallery. Run by leading fashion designer Iain Archer who opened his first store to show off his passion for vintage furniture and interior restyling. Kicking off a collaboration of opening at the same time with a new spirit of direction with Barewall providing the eras of artwork paired with beautiful reworked furniture with Art and Design weekends every first Saturday of the month.
In June we were contacted by Twentieth Century Fox and Disney to provide artwork to a major Hollywood film meaning we are now on the books providing art for the talented set design team at disney. We cannot say more than that for now due to non-disclosure. As the writers strike delayed all studios, the artwork was not actually filmed in November. The film will be released in 2024.
In July/August we saw the arrival of the Three Counties Open Art Show at Burslem Shool of Art. Barewall helped to facilitate its move from Keele to Burslem 7 years ago. This team event led by the brilliant team at Keele Arts includes partnership working with City Learning Trust, Appetite, Art UK, Burslem School of Art Trust and City Learning Trust plus lots of kind sponsors. It is a great example of the power of partnership working in the arts. Barewall are a main partner in the show and this year saw the introduction of sold out workshops by exhibiting artists, the exhibition enjoyed record attendances and more volunteers getting involved, making the event a real stand out month for art in the city and for Burslem.
In Sept we teamed up with our friends at The Ginger and Spice Festival to try out a FLUX on tour day in Market Drayton at their annual event which was a great success. The team at Ginger and Spice Festival run by Jules Roberts are amazing and I’m sure we will be booking for next year too.
In Nov 2023 we worked with Potteries Auctions to provide a 4 day viewing at Barewall, to highlight the upcoming auction of 10 Jack Simcock paintings owned by the late accountant of the Mowcop artist. A hugely successful team up with works taking 10x their auction estimates smashing records for Simcock works at auction.
In Dec we enjoyed multiple Christmas events with Lost+Found for our customers to enjoy, plus the building works next door at No 6 Market Place were completed. This means the row of three is now looking beautiful in all its Georgian splender. The building has permission passed to be a bottle bar and a book shop with two 1 bedroom flats above. We hope to see the shop open very soon.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope to welcome you to the gallery in 2024.
Yours, Amanda Bromley - 30 December 2023