Gallery continues its gradual re-opening

Young people and families will be a focus of Newtown's Oriel Davies Gallery.

After it partially re-opened last week, the gallery is preparing to gradually open other parts of the facility in the Town Hall grounds, as well as other projects.

However, it said it had undertaken a survey to find out how it could prepare it re-opening with a focus on the needs of local people.

Kate Morgan-Clare, Creative Producer said: “Younger audiences are a key growth area for us. We want young families and young people to get involved.

"It’s your gallery! We’ll be restarting Criw Celf as soon as we’re able. We’re delighted that people still want workshops, so we’ll be developing more adult workshops initially, followed by children and family activities and these will be available in a variety of formats: face to face, online with support and materials, and pre-recorded material available through our website.”

The gallery is currently working remotely with designer Hefin Jones who’s been working with young people aged 18-24 during lockdown. One of the aims of this project will be to develop a voice for young people at the gallery, to influence thinking over coming years. This project was made possible through funding from the Arts Council of Wales’s National Lottery Fund. The residency is one of 3 in the UK to explore place-based commons and commoning for Craftspace’s nationally touring exhibition We are Commoners which will open in Newtown next May. 

Oriel Davies works with local partners and through collaboration with national arts organisations to increase both local audiences and develop the renowned visitor destination. “We are so grateful for the financial support we receive from our main supporters, The Arts Council of Wales and Powys County Council. The National Lottery is playing a critical role in supporting people, projects and communities during these challenging times.”

During lockdown the gallery has been sharing online exhibitions from around the world on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. They opened an online Oriel Davies People’s Gallery on Facebook. The gallery will produce more home grown online content in the future. Oriel Davies were recently awarded a stabilisation fund for organisations from the Arts Council of Wales. Thanks to National Lottery players, up to £600 million has been made available to support communities throughout the UK during the Coronavirus crisis. They will use this money to upgrade digital capacity to allow increased accessibility and offer new features. A new more accessible website will be launched and will include an online shop to increase generated income. 

Carol Naden, Visitor Experience Assistant said,
“We’re using the grant to ensure that staff and visitors are safe as we reopen, and we’ll be carrying out essential maintenance to ensure we can operate a smooth return to the gallery for our visitors.

We’re a charity and we rely on earned income, grants and donations. We’re going to be developing exclusive products, and selling more hand made things, primarily from Wales, so we hope you’ll enjoy shopping online with us in the near future.”

The cafe and other areas have re-opened and as other parts open it is introducing two metre distancing, hand sanitiser at entrance and exit points, limited numbers in the building and a one-way system.

Card payments will be encouraged though they would still love you to donate any change you have to help them do projects in the community.

Protective screens have been introduced to protect visitors and gallery staff. Appointments for visits can be arranged if you’d prefer to book in advance, just call the gallery to arrange.

Carol Ainsworth, Administrator said: “We’ve invested in Zoom during lockdown and we think we can make some of our activity even more accessible using this technology. When we are able to offer room hire Zoom will also be available, meaning that meeting attendees will be able to join from anywhere in the world.”

Steffan Jones-Hughes, Director said: “Some of our exhibitions will be on for longer to allow more people to see them, and we’re looking at working outside of the gallery spaces, online and in the community and green spaces. We’ve got some really exciting projects coming up in the next 12 months.

"It’s your local gallery, please support us however you can, financially by donating either online or in the space, or maybe donate your time. We’ll be looking for volunteers over the next few months to join us and get really involved in the local community.” 

"When we realised we were going to re-open with social distancing measures in place we wanted to do something different. We wanted to support freelance artists and find ways to make the experience of visiting us in a time of pandemic just a bit more of, well, an experience.
 
"We spoke to Simon Proffitt of Amgueddfa Llwch and gave him the necessary phrases and messages that we wanted to convey to visitors and he became our first Social Distancing in Virtual Residence Artist.
 
Simon has a statement on his website that says: "My work explores the relationship between emerging sexualities and copycat violence. With influences as diverse as Nietzsche and Buckminster Fuller, new synergies are created from both opaque and transparent meanings.

"Since childhood I have been fascinated by the essential unreality of the human condition. What starts out as yearning soon becomes corroded into a dialectic of temptation, leaving only a sense of what could have been and the unlikelihood of a new beginning.

"As shimmering forms become reconfigured through diligent and repetitive practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the edges of our world.”