Imagine Gallery

"Kids, what are they like"?

Those 'wizzkid' youngsters at Blogger almost stopped me writing this.

They used to say "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

To someone like me, it now seems it's a case of "lets **** it,  just because we can and they pay us".

Which is obviously a sign of my age or their admittance that it wasn't very good before.

Anyway, lets give it a go,

although I'm not going to use any of those fantastic new templates and stuff,

they weren't there when I needed them, and having to "make do" then, I will continue doing so.

Back to the real world.

Which of course is not true as I do appreciate more and more that "my world"

is not really the "real" world and for that I am very fortunate, and I never forget or cease to think

"how lucky am I"?

With the fast approach of our opening exhibition things are becoming a little bit fraught, and I confess

at the moment I just can't imagine how everything will be completed and ready on time for 

June 10th.

But, somehow I just know that it will be.

This is only because there are people involved who I know I can rely on, and that is a blessing.

Getting the building finished, decorated, and ready to hold an opening exhibition is a "full on"

experience, but, at the back of my mind I have had the concerns that I might be let down by artists.

Why? You might ask.

Because I haven't had enough time to correspond with them, and to remind them how important this is to us as a gallery. Normally I would be in contact with all artists involved in an exhibition to discuss

and plan things, but this time I have had no time to do that and it has concerned me.

I need not have worried.

Different artists from around the world [literally] have been in contact and at the moment there is a wealth of beautiful artifacts on there way to us.

In fact they are not all "on route" as some arrived here today.

Margaret Brampton delivered her beautiful, gentle Reliquary's.

Some in my opinion the best she has made, although she has never made a bad one.

In all honesty, Margaret was the biggest inspiration behind our opening exhibition.

I am not only a great admirer of her work but also her 'blog', where she spends more time promoting the work of others rather than her own.

That is a rare thing, and I have been the lucky recipient and reader of her trips to different museums,

where she photographs the wonderful creations she admires.

Her words, work and photographs inspired this opening exhibition.

From her inspiration I became excited and that excitement took me to many destinations around the globe, and to my amazement I found many artist who were creating Reliquary's.

As a result I have had lovely conversations with people that I have never met but who are creating incredible art that can only be described as a "Reliquary".

One such person is Sim Taylor who arrived today with his sculptures.

I will talk more of him and his work when I have photographed it, but I fear that no photographs will capture the "magnificence" of his creations.

But, more later.

So not only did I have the arrival of Margaret and Sim's work in one day, I also had confirmation that

other pieces of art were on their way from France, America and even Alaska.

Not bad for a gallery in rural Suffolk, but not something that I take lightly at all.

These are "world stage" artists and I consider myself very, very fortunate.

So the work above that doesn't belong to Margaret is by three different artists.

Anne Bachelier, the French painter.

Anne to my great amazement and delight asked "could she contribute a Reliquary painting"?

I'm still getting over the shock and delight of such a request.

Another is Daniel Essig, the famous and so incredibly talented "book maker" from America.

His work has long intrigued and delighted me, so to think that some will be on show here is such an

incredible personal pleasure. Plus he is such a nice man.

Lastly, but by no way least is Stephen Godfrey.

A ceramist who lives in Alaska.

The very thought of showing an artist from there, "here" in rural England leaves me feeling numb.

Although it is hard to find much of his work on the Internet, everything that I have seen I have loved

and it became something of a personal crusade to track him down and to ask him

"would he be involved"?

He is.

Today he told me that after the snowiest winter on record spring has at last arrived, the trees are budding and the snow is melting from the trails.

He attached a picture of one of his favourite places 'Matanuska Glacier'.

Even though here we have had a hot English summer's day I find it moving to think that we are all so close and connected by the love of and the creation of art.

Thank you.