Helping local artists for over 20 years

15 years ago the Harbour Gallery in St Aubin became the home of Art in the Frame Foundation, the not-for-profit charity which celebrates 20 years this year. But where did it all start? Sarah Jane Holt spent an afternoon with Pat Robson 

Back in 1998, Pat Robson was Head of Art at Beaulieu and Elizabeth Le Gal was Head of Primary School Art, but they realised that living on an island had its limitations, as they often needed outsiders to bring in more creativity, more ideas.

“I had sent a lot of students to art college and they were coming back to find that there was nothing here for them. I was feeling quite guilty, how were we going to help these people? We also knew we needed to help with art education, not so much primary school, but more for GSCE and A Level as a lot of the exam papers they want the students to have first-hand experience of artists.

There was the most amazing art advisor at that time, Grant Jones, who came up with such fantastic ideas that we decided we needed to do something about it, so Art in the Frame Foundation was set up. The aim of the foundation was to promote local art and crafts, especially for up-and-coming artists and craft workers, plus bring to the island really topquality artists and craft workers, textile artists, 3D artists, etc. to run workshops.”

At the time, Sister Marie Louise was the Head Teacher at Beaulieu, and she allowed the foundation to use the art block at weekends. After five successful years they had outgrown the art block and needed a permanent home for the foundation to operate seven days a week. “That’s when we moved into the Harbour Gallery – although a lot smaller than it is now!”

Pat recalls

Once the foundation was established, they started doing more classes for kids and school work. Now they offer GSCE and A Level Art & Design, Textiles, Photography. “Many of the children in our classes are home schooled, or some attend because the art they’re interested in can’t fit into the school curriculum and they are desperate to do those subjects, so they come here.

So many people still just look at us an exhibiting gallery without knowing all the educational work we do. The education side here has grown enormously, in the last two years we’ve doubled the number of children taking exams here. We are also part of the Creative Arts as well which provides awards equivalent to GSCE and A Level, just a slightly different way of doing it.”

Starting the 2018 celebrations to mark 20 years of the Art in the Frame Foundation and 15 years of the Harbour Gallery, the fantastic ‘Oddities & Curiosities’ event had a steampunk and circus theme.

The Art in the Frame Foundation work with Les Amis and Mencap students, with Elizabeth Le Gal going the gallery to teach them.

“It’s a safe environment for them. They have to get themselves here (some are brought in), then they buy coffees and snacks so that they are learning to use money in a safe environment. Rosemary Hill, who was a head teacher at Beaulieu, often comes in to help with these particular workshops. It’s such a great atmosphere and the students get a lot out of it - they are socialising, learning skills and they even sell stuff through their corner in Gallery 3. Elizabeth really enjoys it too, it’s doing something that makes a difference to people’s lives” explains Pat.

There is a process to exhibiting at the gallery - they want pieces that will sell as they need to raise funds. Not many people realise that the gallery is run by a charity, so the foundation charges a commission to help with the running costs.

“Artists submit their work and we have a chat. Sometimes it’s an immediate yes, or we have to let people down gently. We often get full as there is only so much space.

The response for an event for this year called, ‘All Washed Up’ has been so huge that we’re now having to tell people we may only be able to accommodate one piece as it’s oversubscribed. Other exhibiting artists we just come across purely by chance. When we were organising February’s Oddities & Curiosities exhibition I came across a Facebook post from an artisan ironworker, Kevin Crozier, his imaginative iron sculptures are incredible.”

Even though the foundation is a charity, they receive no funding at all and have to rely on money from workshops and sales just for running costs. “We’ve got very few sponsors as we’re not medical or sport, people don’t see our charity as being that important. Last year a bank did kindly give us some money which enabled us to set up a second workspace and refurbish an exhibition space, that was a very welcome donation. The money paid for the new displays and the materials, but all the work was done by volunteers. I’m a volunteer, but we do have a few part time paid positions including students at weekends. The biggest challenge is keeping the funding coming in as our overheads are extremely high.”

The foundation is non-stop, and Pat explained that they work a year ahead with exhibitions. “We’re totally full up for this year and we’re now looking at 2019 for exhibitions. We work well as a small group, we like to promote a very friendly, encouraging positive atmosphere here. With the Harbour Gallery celebrating 15 years and the Art in the Frame Foundation 20 years, it’s a very special time for us, a time to look back at where we’ve come from, where we are now and the local artists and craftworkers we’ve helped along the way.”

The Art in the Frame Foundation gets regular top UK and continental tutors to the island to run weekend talks and workshops for adults and children. For the younger children there are regular arty crafty fun workshops every half term and holidays, putting the fun, excitement and inspiration back into learning.

We can all continue to support the work of the Foundation by purchasing items from the Gallery, attending an exhibition or event, and by sponsorship. To find out more visit the website www.artintheframefoundation.com

For events, visit the ‘What’s On’ page at www.theharbourgalleryjersey.com