The Aardvark Blog

A New Year dawns
18/01/2020

I cannot believe that we are already half way through January and I haven't yet written my first blog. Not only that but I seem not to have managed a single blog in December. Well if I can get my excuses in first the flooding before Christmas caused us a lot  of disruption ( our road flooded badly for the first time in more than 5 years ) and after Christmas we were over run by people staying with family in the area ( always makes for a very convivial atmosphere).

Since then January has been surprisingly busy - both in the shop and online - but this morning the pace seems to have returned to normal for this time of year and I am able to spare the time to write this update.

The first piece of news is that in December Jo left the bookshop and in January Katy also left (for different reasons). In both cases their positions have been filled by other Aardark staff so don't worry about not seeing any familiar faces. We will be undertaking another round of recruitment to fill their jobs shortly. In both cases Jo and Katy brought a tremendous amount to the bookshop. That the shop has never been tidier or looked better is very much down to Jo, and Katy was responsible for a raft of behind the scene activities as well as her work in the bookshop. We will miss them and are grateful for the years that they spent here.

Reflecting on last year it was also a year when we lost a number of long term customers and friends of the shop. I would like to single out particularly Islwyn Watkins who died right at the beginning of last year, and Jean Price who died in the autumn. We also lost Graham Arnold, Anthony Collier and a number of others. It is inevitable that time will take us all one day, but I try to keep each of them in my mind and to remember what they brought to us here. For a shop is made more by its customers than by its contents.

Amongst the things that have already happened this year is that we have bought the biggest single purchase of art and related titles we have ever had - some 1,500 books in all. The titles cover fine art, painting, interior design, architecture, graphic design, fashion and photography and include some real rarities alongside more usual titles. So if you are interested in any of these subjects Aardvark is the place to be.

Finally, plans are well underway for our new year's programme which is already posted onto the website events page in a skeletal form. Much more to come. One great piece of news from yesterday is that our H.Art exhibition this year will feature the work of the 'Abstract Edge ' group, whose work I have known for nearly a decade. This is extremely exciting for us and will be the first time the group have shown together during H.Art for at least ten years. Also coming in April is a dynamic print exhibition curated by Michael Hancock called: '¡Revolution!¡ Resistance!', which will present prints and letterpress that are designed to change your life.

What a fantastic year we have in store!