The Drawing Room

Dark Olive programmed and production managed Open Space, Oriel Davies Gallery's two year pilot project, as well as developing the website platform it ran on.

Open Space began as an open call, an invitation to propose how a gallery space might be turned into an engaging participation project, with the phrase "open space" as the theme and little else fixed. Our answer started with the phrase itself. A space is a room; and in an art gallery, the room to make is a drawing room - drawing for what happens in it, drawing room for what it feels like.

Everything followed from that. Dark Olive conceived it, developed it and made it happen, and that included sourcing every object in the room - a father-in-law's barn full of old furniture, antiques and relics, charity shops, furniture recycling centres - as well as programming the four months of activity that filled it. Oriel Davies provided the room and the budget. The measure of whether it worked was what happened when someone walked in: not a gallery room any more, but a warm, gentle, welcoming one - somewhere to sit down, read a book, pick something up and lose track of the time.

The Drawing Room Make / Play / Share 22 October 2016 - 25 February 2017 | Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown

The Drawing Room was the first edition of Open Space: a pop-up project and event space at Oriel Davies Gallery, and a multi-use one - an artist studio, boutique cinema, stage set, newsroom... A place for ideas, where discussion, learning, creativity and play were encouraged. A space for hanging out and entertaining friends - Newtown's living room in an art gallery.

Developed as a creative, social space where art, performance, craft and film were made, shared and inspired, Oriel Davies worked in collaboration with artists and the public to create The Drawing Room, a curiously inviting room assembled from found, collected, customized and bespoke objects. Everyday items from sofas, cabinets and tables, to books, soft furnishings and ornaments were collected, created and redefined for the space.

Through open calls, conversations and invitations - residents, schools, voluntary groups, established and emerging artists took part and contributed to the ever changing environment. Artists could apply for residencies, commissions and seed funding. Anyone could propose something to do in the room, from scratch nights and music recitals to crochet clubs, book groups and script readings. Much of what filled it - furniture, fabric, craft materials - was given by the people of Newtown.

Open Space was Oriel Davies' two-year pilot project that ran from March 2016 to March 2018. In both years, Open Space presented a broad platform of cultural activity from October to January, which ran alongside the Gallery's existing exhibition and learning programmes.

Open Space was an Oriel Davies project supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Arts Council of Wales.