In April, we Arran Open Studios, had our first exhibition on the mainland, in The Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine. The exhibition featured 61 artworks from 31 participating artists from Arran. The idea behind this venture was to raise the profile of the AOS weekend and the profile of Arran’s visual arts and crafts offerings on the mainland.
We were grateful for the use of the Eco Savvy minibus to transport all the works. Use of the van meant some of us had to have a lesson in driving an electric vehicle. https://arranecosavvy.org.uk/
On Arrival at the Harbour Arts Centre, we unloaded and helped unpack the pieces of art. We were so relieved that the ferry sailed and we got everything there safely.
Over the 6-week duration of the exhibition there were over 6,000 visitors. This far exceeds the island’s population and resulted in several sales of original artworks and a significant publicity for the open studios event which takes place in August
Some great feedback from the exhibition
Harbour Arts Centre staff curated the exhibition and did a fantastic job of it. If you haven’t visited the Arts Centre, it has a lovely exhibition space, there’s a small theatre where there’s lots happening and a café /restaurant. Highly recommend a visit to this great asset to North Ayrshire.
All the work was safely delivered back to Arran by us on the Eco Savvy van .. job done! It was a valuable experience to take this exhibition on to the mainland and we hope it might encourage visitors to come to Arran during our Open Studios weekend 16th-19th August.
Over the next few weeks, our blog will focus on some of the artists taking part in August. We are lucky to have Emily Rose-Mawson to help with this.
Next up is our preview exhibition in July in Brodick Hall ahead of our main event August 16th-19th.