The Aardvark Blog

Last day of H.Art, that's it for exhibitions for 2016
25/09/2016

So today is the last day of our H.Art exhibition for 2016, and indeed our last day of exhibitions for this year. We love showing art at Aardvark, working with artists, talking to customers as they view our shows. The art programme has become a really integral part of what we do. I often say that we owe our art programme  to Gareth Rees-Roberts, but that isn't quite the case. We had shown and sold pictures within the shop before, but it  was Gareth who put together our first H.Art exhibition and therefore set the pattern for all the warehouse shows that have followed on ( including the annual map exhibitions).

We also owe a debt of gratitude to Peter Claire who donated to us the exhibition boards which we still use. Thank you also to all the artists who have shown with us this year. They have contributed to a very interesting and varied show, which has garnered much praise from visitors. Yesterday I was very pleased that we sold another of the remarkable small sculptures by Adrian Shiel. Adrian's work is very tactile and causes one to think about the nature of shape - in art and in the world. His influences are clear, but his profound feeling with stone allows him to transcend his inspiration to create works that are both appealing and thought-provoking.

It has also been a great pleasure working with Phil and Andrew from MKB editions. It is strange given that we are a bookshop, but this exhibition has been our first collaboration with a private press. This is something I hope to repeat in the future, as the purity of the intent and purpose of people who run private presses is a welcome antidote to the 21st century world of digital everything, and corporate greediness.

To move from Aardvark events passing to events future, next Saturday sees us host a five person panel of musical luminaries as part of the Arcadia festival. This is our second collaboration with Arcadia, and we are delighted to welcome them again this year. Saturday's panel will include Eleanor Alberga and Adam Gorb, Tom Bowes who will also play and Jeremy Huw Williams. I always love pre-concert lectures as it gives one something to think about whilst listening to the music, and this is the only discussion that will happen at this year's festival. Tickets are £4 on the door.

Then Sunday the 9th of October sees the Aardvark October Brocante, and stalls are filling up nicely for this event. There are still a few spaces left however, so do call or email us if you would like to exhibit. Norrie Davies returns with her trusty French accordion and we have a new secret homemade autumnal soup to enjoy in the Café. What could be a better way to spend one's Sunday!

Yesterday I completed a survey for an online books/bookshop website. The questions they posed were very clever ( providing some direction, but allowing for open answers). One of the questions they asked was about having a time machine and travelling into a dystopian future where children no longer read. The task they set was what to say to them to persuade the kids to start reading if they never had before . This led me to think about what it was that has made me such a passionate reader, and what first shaped me to like the books that I liked. I think that boringly I would have to credit my parents and some of the teachers whom I encountered during my school career. I had a wonderful English teacher at Bearwood College ( the fact that after teaching me he left to become a monk cannot be wholly blamed on  me), and the English Faculty at St Albans School was also full of talented teachers. When reading can be made both fun and an important activity at the same time, then the Dystopian future is pushed a little further into the shadows.