Bigger Picture Gallery is the trading name of Progress Through Art Community Interest Company of which I am a founding director. Progress Through Art formed in March 2010 following on from our success at the first Bigger Picture Gallery in 93 Church Road, Crystal Palace. The idea to turn empty commercial premises into creative spaces to showcase local talent was formed in response to the growing number of empty shops and a desire to provide a focus for the many artists and creative people in local area. Here is a brief history, but for more detailed information please visit Bigger Picture Gallery website or pop in and visit us over a weekend.
Summer Exhibition launches on Saturday 5th evening with an awards ceremony for the winners of the SG Smith Art Prize and the NADFAS Prize for the Young Artist - Saturday 5th June 10
We have keys! As a former SG Smith Mercedes car showroom the space has enormous potential as a creative space and Bigger Picture will be putting on a range of exciting events to put Crystal Palace on the map for Arts and give local creatives a focal point of inspiration.
The space has huge windows of which one is retractable, which will be great for sculpture and installations, that look out towards Crystal Palace park. It has high ceilings, excellent transport links, local facilities and of course plenty of creatives to fill it.
For more information about Another Bigger Picture project Please go to the website
The space will again be open on Saturdays from 10.30am until 5.30pm. Please do pop along and say hello. Perhaps you have a creative idea that would fit with the new space?
Now in November we have secured a second venue for our project to really become established in the area.
For more information about the Bigger Picture project please go to the website
It all started as an idea in April to revitalise the area working with business to raise the profile of artists by using disused spaces in The Triangle.
We secured our first venue in May. Working with the owner and Croydon Enterprise we helped bring the space back to life and on 6th June The Bigger Picture Gallery opened at 93 Church Road with 200 people through the doors.
We popped up a notice on virtual Norwood
There are far too many closed and abandoned shops in our neighbourhood discouraging visitors and discouraging forward progress. Yes we are in a financial downturn but with everyone pulling toghether we propose to use these empty shop fronts to display artworks by local artists. This will not only brighten up our High Street but will stop the area from looking as though it has died and been abandoned. Yes we have a number of thriving businesses and we only want to enhance what we have. We have surveyed business owners and local residents and received a favourable response. We want to support all businesses in our community and make sure that we grow together The Crystal Palace area is abundant with top notch artists of every sort. Not only current but past members of the community such as musician Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, opera singer Kitty Stephens (Katharine, Countess of Essex), designer & builder Sir Joseph Paxton, novelist Mrs Henry Wood, novelists Lady Diana Huddlestone, painter Camille Pissarro have thrived in the clear air of one of the highest areas in London. We want to make Crystal Palace famous for creativity and ingenuity and inventiveness. The 2012 Olympic games are only a few years away and this will bring so many new visitors but will they remember the thriving local area or the dilapidated and shutdown high street? To really get the ball rolling we are now looking for fellow artists who would like to get involved in making this happen. If you are interested or know a local artist who maybe interested in our project please contact us with a name, phone number, medium, what other skills they can bring to the project, an email address and website if they have one.