NEW life is being breathed into a gallery in Dumfries.
Following their AGM, a new committee has been formed at the Yellow Door premises in Queen Street with a commitment to keeping it open.
And in a statement, they said: “The year from April 2019 to 2020 proved tough for the Yellow Door making us face up to the question of closing our doors indefinitely, however, the Covid situation has thrown us a lifeline, they do say every cloud has a silver lining!
“The new committee has taken the decision to grab the nettle and breathe some new life into the Yellow Door, making this the ideal opportunity to update and refresh the way the gallery operates and seek new artists and makers to join our merry band.”
They are clearing the gallery of all existing work and looking for guest exhibitors and volunteers to help man the space. An official launch will take place next month and new opening hours will be put in place, covering Thursday to Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm.
The statement continued: “We hope that the reduction in opening days and hours will make volunteering in the gallery more attractive and sustainable in the meantime. We would also seek to rebuild a bank of non-exhibiting volunteer members to help man the gallery. Over the last year we have learned how damaging erratic and unreliable opening can be to business and has threatened the viability of the group and the gallery.
“We plan to reduce the number of exhibitions by half and we will now host six exhibitions a year whilst promoting events.
“There will be three group shows; spring/summer and Christmas.”
This year’s Christmas show will kick off in November and will be a retrospective look at the show that launched the gallery at the Yellow Door.
Meanwhile, 2021 will start with Spinning a Yarn, planned for late January. It will be an open exhibition inviting makers, artists and writers to collaborate on a piece of creative writing and an associated artwork.
They hope to be able to hold reading and storytelling evenings by then too, as well as a fundraising supper.
The committee added: “We have had lots of positive ideas from people about how we might improve and take the gallery forward.
“Please get in touch if you want further information or want to be involved.”
The new Yellow Door Group committee is Craig Martin, chair; Alison Bixler, treasurer; Evelyn Gray, minute secretary; Vanessa Courtier, chief of staff; and Samantha Borrows, membership secretary.
- Pictured above, the winner of the Yellow Door 2018 portrait competition
