ARTS CAFES: An old dream of mine! Creating a platform for the arts within  the warm and sociable environment of a welcoming café.

 

THE LONDON ARTS CAFÉ   (1996-2008)

This one was a virtual café, its members meeting in interesting places eg the top of Canary Wharf tower, behind the scenes at the British Library, St Pancras Hotel (before it was re-developed) etc  There was a regular programme of exhibitions including:

• City markets at the Alan Baxter Gallery in Cowcross Street (1997)

• Housing and Homelessness at the Candid Gallery, Islington (1999)

• London Now – City of Heaven, City of HelL at Guildhall Art      Gallery (2005)

I devised and ran the programme of visits, talks and parties which were regularly held in various London locations – and occasionally outside London – between 1996 and 2006.

 

THE QUEEN'S TERRACE CAFÉ  (2011-2012)

The Eyre Estate in St John’s Wood was generous enough to let me use their former pub, ‘The Knights of St John’, prior to its sale in 2012. With the help of friends I turned it into a Café/Gallery, which seduced many local residents. Exhibitions included:

• Café Jiro

• ‘St John’s Wood’s Secret Gardens’ with blow ups of Peter Marshall’s  photographs of local gardens