Our Featured Gallery this month is
44AD Art Space
Run by project director - Katie O’Brien
44AD artspace is one of Bath’s leading contemporary visual arts venues. Since bursting onto the scene in 2012, 44AD has created a vibrant creative community within the heart of the city - providing a vital platform for Bath’s vibrant community of artists. Regarded as an exciting and enthusiastic melting pot of creativity, at 44AD you will find two floors of gallery space that show contemporary exhibitions and events. 44AD also provides three floors of affordable studio workspace for self-employed creatives, thereby home to some of Bath’s brightest visual artists; whose practice ranges from painting, photography, and illustration, to sculpture, video art, and performance.
Gallery owner/curator is not a career path that is ever talked about when we are growing up, what drew you to it as a career choice?
Ten years ago, and in the final year of my Fine Arts degree, I realised that with no city central studios and gallery space, there was a huge gap in the Arts offering for Bath. So it has been a career path carved out of what I felt was a necessary platform for myself, fellow graduating artists, and the wider arts community.
What is your opinion on a curator, gallery owner & artist being one person? Or do you think it is important to have these roles run by separate people?
I don’t think there’s a set rule… Here at 44AD artspace, my role as gallery/studio director and curator is very much interlinked. I tend to schedule, design, market, and curate 44AD’s homespun exhibitions and projects and therefore there is probably a consistent vision and style which directs the character of our house shows. We are also are a hireable space and many artists will come and oversee and hang their own exhibition. With an accustomed eye for aesthetics, artists tend to be natural curators - especially abstract artists - essentially moving shapes, colour, and form around a large canvas.
How far in advance do you decide on who is showing in your gallery?
44AD artspace runs an application booking system and we are typically booked at least a year to eighteen months ahead for exhibition hires, longer for homespun projects in the making.
Do you run an open call to bring in new talent or do you only exhibit artists you represent?
Our mix of accessible gallery space, artist studios, teaching, and creative workspace means we exhibit and collaborate with many artists, art groups, charities, and educational organisations based throughout the city and beyond. We work hard to support new talent through open call exhibitions such as our annual Print Open, and Winter show ‘Deck the Walls’ (which is based around record album-sized artworks). Fringe Arts Bath also run the Bath Open Art Prize from our venue and we organise the biennial RCS art prize which is currently open for applications: http://www.44ad.net/rcs-artists-prize-2022.html Throughout lockdown, we organised online exhibitions for both our associates’ artists (we run an associate artist membership scheme) and the A-Z online exhibition series, which is open for anyone to enter: http://www.44ad.net/a-z_yeah_open-call.html
44AD also supports creative talent through our Flash Residency programme, open for all artists to apply, and our studio’s programme whereby a recent Bath Spa Uni graduate is awarded a studio for one year and a solo exhibition. We actively engage with all age groups and work with young people in a variety of ways - providing opportunities for local schools to participate in art exhibitions, work experience and gallery visits, alongside outreach workshops and talks in schools. CAFE 44 is one example which was recently set up by our latest studio graduate Francie with support and funding from44AD: https://www.cafe44.org/
How would a day go? In your galley can you give us a day in the life of your gallery?
We have a fast-paced turnaround of exhibitions and though each day is very different, each week will tend to see the organisation of a new exhibition go up and taken down. My day will involve liaising with exhibitors, working on upcoming projects, designing exhibition posters and graphics, social media, marketing. Last night I was at the gallery late filling holes and painting walls. Today I have been welcoming our new exhibitor all the way from the Isles of Scilly, alongside working on the logistics and promo for our upcoming Open Studios event which will take place on 26/27 Nov (we have 16 studio artists working across 3 floors) and our annual Bath Humbug Art Market which runs 24 Nov - 19 Dec and involves 20 artists and designer-makers.
How easy/hard was it to set up the gallery, how did you decide on the area or style your space would become?
I felt it was important that the gallery and studios venue had to be city central and visible. Over the years we have had two locations in the centre of Bath, which meant a big move from one to another, and both times involved taking on quite scruffy but beautiful buildings and doing them up. 44AD artspace was a labour of love, built on an absolute shoestring. Although initially, I had no financial backing, what I did have was an amazing support network around me. Studio artists (many were graduating at the same time as me and still have studios at 44AD) helped out with the DIY and behind the scenes stuff. To name but a few, Richard voluntarily built our studios. Max voluntarily built our website. Lucy voluntarily advised me on how to sort the accounts, register the company’s details, etc. I had never run a business before and had to completely learn on the job, but I received so much wonderful help and advice for which I am forever grateful.
44AD now operates as a charity with a great team - my fellow trustees Craig and Lucy are brilliantly supportive. I think a large part of 44AD’s success is that it was something that was very much needed within the city. My vision was to create a platform for artists, a creative hub that has a connective impact on the local community of Bath, and I think over the 10 years 44AD artspace has achieved this and continues to do so.
Who would be the three artists you could curate in a perfect world?
Mark Bradford, Gerhard Richter and any of the 44AD studio artists (so my world is nearly perfect!).
RCS Bath Artists’ Prize is a biennial competition open to all who live, work or study in the BA postcode area. The theme for 2022 is Hope and Humanity in the Commonwealth. The art prize and exhibition will take place with a launch event and an awards ceremony in the centre of Bath at 44AD artspace.
contact details and links to what 44AD are up to can be found here
44AD artspace 4 Abbey Street Bath BA1 1NN