It was nice this morning to find something cheery to come out of the lock down weeks when IW potter, Kirstie Hayley, brought these delightful owl and the pussycat themed ceramics and wall hangings in to the gallery.  She had been working on them during lock down and they are just so smile inducing! I'm looking forward to putting them out on display and just thought I would give you a sneak preview first. Don't forget, We are now open again and will welcome a visit sometime soon.

Yarmouth Gallery is open again! Feels so good to be back. We have entirely re-organised the space to create a one way system, installed perspex screens, provided plenty of hand gel and free face masks. What hasn't changed is the quality and originality of the art work.  Craft work is, as ever,  hand made by the artist to their own design. We are showing beautiful original paintings and prints. ceramics, glass, textiles, sculpture - all on a domestic scale and all by IOW and UK artists.  And, of course our very nice little card shop is full of great cards. All we need now is YOU. 

Yarmouth is still uncannily quiet. We are open 10am to 4pm weekdays (except Tue Closed)10am to 5pm Sat 11am to 3.30pm Sunday. We are all set to welcome visitors from around the Island now and soon we hope from further afield.

Suddenly re-opening seems to be an imminent possibility and we are taking steps to see how we can do so safely, both for our customers and for us.  We are ordering a perspex screen for the desk. Hand sanitiser will be in plentiful supply, and anti bacterial wipes for frequent cleaning of sufaces.  We are looking at changing the layout to open up more floor space and create a one way system around the gallery.  There will be restricted access, particularly to the card shop area and we would like visitors to wear a face covering for the protection of other customers and to avoid coughs or sneezes over the artwork!

A new volunteer, James, will be joining us to help make all this work.

It may take some time for the gallery and all Yarmouth's small traders to get through to self sufficiency and we hope very much that local support will be strong until our mainland visitors can safely return.

One thing is certain, we will not re-open until we are sure it is sensible to do so.

Here on the Isle of Wight we have woken every morning for two weeks to beautiful, sparkling spring sunshine: bird song, and the wind in the trees fill the silence that is the sound of the Covid-19 lock down, how can it be we are so fortunate amidst so much international distress.

Yesterday I added more prints to Linda Beale's page in the Yarmouth Gallery 'buy art' on-line shop.  They are full of sunshine too. Calm. Bright. Optimistic.  Like Linda herself.

www.yarmouthgallery/.com

After days of mentally adjusting to the challenge of the weeks ahead I feel a certain sense of relief settling in, not that any of this has gone away, rather just that there is nothing to be done but to see it through: now we have done all we can to prepare for the worst we can concentrate on hoping for the best and look forward to re-emergence

So - we had planned an exhibition by guest artist Frans Wesselman in August.  You may know Wesselman's paintings, etchings and stained glass, if not first hand then maybe from his brilliant series of greetings cards from Mistletoe House which we stock at YG.  We have postponed the exhibition for now but I thought I might post one of his delightful woodcut prints, and two of my favourite cards from an etching and an oil painting by Wesselman - just as a taster of what is to come.

Of course all of this can only work if you, our customers continue to support us

Yarmouth Gallery is now closed until further notice

The website is still open.  To inquire about or arrange a purchase of an artwork  please follow the advice below.

• contact us by email yarmouthgallery@gmail.com

• check out our 'buy art' pages on the www.yarmouthgallery.com website

• or call  07917 124979  for further advice or info

• NOTE that only a small part of what is on offer at Yarmouth Gallery is currently shown in the on line shop and I will be adding more as the days go by.

   

We are currently open Wednesday - Sunday and we love you to visit our gallery but also - if you are having to self isolate and would like to buy on line, please do contact us by email and tell us about what you are looking for.  Only a tiny part of what is   on show at the gallery is in our online shop.  Things come and go everyday and each piece is individually made and unique, so it makes sense if you tell us about what you are interested in. We can take a photograph of any relevant piece with the smart phone and send it to you directly and we can take payment either by Paypal, over the phone using your credit/debit card, or by bank transfer. 

Meantime here is an image of Dennis Fairweather's latest ceramic lamp (Dennis calls it a boulder lamp) and sitting next to it is his shore bird sculpture.  The smooth, grey glaze is inspired by the pebbles of Freshwater Bay.

Soon after the Wight Link Ferry casts off from Lymington it will pass the local yacht club on the starboard side before winding its way out into the Solent.  Sue Stitt has made her latest poster a celebration of this busy stretch of the river, bustling with activity, colour and sunshine; a welcome glimpse of the summer we hope lies ahead after this long, grey, wet, windy winter. Our first copies should arrive at the gallery in the next few days.  You can reserve your copy now.  It is a limited edition of 195 and will cost £90 for the A3 mounted print or £135 for the A2 size.f  All are signed and numbered by the artist. 
 

Hope you had a super Christmas Day and Boxing Day - we did.  Now we are back to work at the Gallery and are open every day 10 - 4pm  the rest of this week and from 11am - 4pm on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  Here are a few new arrivals from just before Christmas