2024 Recap
As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to look back at all that’s happened this year at The Heart of The Tribe Gallery nestled in the centre of Glastonbury...
Probably one of our biggest changes was our makeover. In April, we changed colour and our building turned a deep blue. Art the same time Jon Minshull created his Dahlias mural on the side of our building to the delight of Glastonbury’s residents and visitors.
Commissioned by The Heart of The Tribe, Jon’s touching tribute to his sister brought new life to Glastonbury’s high-street. It’s drawn praise for its striking vibrancy and saturated detail resulting in a feature in The Sunday Times. It also helped Glastonbury in Bloom win an award for Exceptional public engagement – Arts and culture in this years Britain in Bloom awards.
Our first exhibition of the year was a collection celebrating our favourites from last years Winter Open. Ask always, discovering new artists is one of the most exciting parts of being a gallery. The show included the work of Glastonbury’s own Delphine Barney, a painter of expressive landscapes full of colour. Michelle Dash, whose weird and wonderful creations fascinated all who saw them and Graham Hawkins who is a wizard in wood and metal.
Followed by Old Gods New Monsters: by Jim Pilston – a firm favourite with our gallery team. An array of new sculptures by the artist who manages to create treasure out of other peoples rubbish
As a celebration of this wonderful, quirky place we call home, ‘Glastonbury; The Exhibition’ showcased the work of over 40 artists in a show that demonstrates what makes this town so special. Earlier in the year, the gallery announced a competition for artists to submit their work for a chance to be exhibited and prizes to be won.*** The winner was Mortimer Sparrow with their watercolour painting; ‘Lord of Avalon.’
From the 18th of July to the 8th of September, printmaker Gemma Trickey had her first solo exhibition at The Heart of The Tribe; ‘Wyrd Folk.’ The exhibition invited viewers into Gemma’s mythical and medieval world, taking inspiration from west county folklore, anglo mythology and tales of Somerset legends. The show was greatly enjoyed by the public with Gemma’s prints now being a mainstay of the gallery.
This year, The Mural Trail celebrated it’s 5th year! Organised by the gallery’s own Kim von Coles, our accompanying exhibition showcased work from muralists and a pictorial display of the various murals, past and present that’ve coloured Glastonbury’s walls over the years.
During the show, the gallery also held a fundraiser, a raffle and a silent auction with prizes being made by exhibiting artists and muralists raising over £2000 for the Community project to continue adorning our towns walls with world class murals.
We once again participated in Somerset Art Weeks, with artists working at the gallery allowing visitors to witness the act of creation and talk with the artists about process and inspiration. Len Green, Wil I Om, Penelope O’Gara, Frank Harwood, Ruary Allan, Sara Trenchard, Rowena Draper all spent time at our Glastonbury Art gallery inspiring people. Plus we had a fantastic workshop led by Jim Pilston and a great Art Talk by Jon Minshull about his murals.
Finishing off the year was our annual Winter Open Exhibition. After receiving hundreds of submissions, we narrowed it down to just over 40 artists, with returning exhibitors alongside many new faces which made for an excellent show. We had the even more challenging decision of deciding which works we wanted to award as our favourites. With plenty of feedback from our visitors and all staff in agreement, Fiona Gill was chosen for the first place prize for her stunning wet felt piece ‘Moonlight Magic,’ which captivated us all.
This has always been one of our favourite reoccurring exhibitions as it introduces us to so much new work and makes for an exciting and eclectic show.
Our last major event of 2024 was the annual Glastonbury Frost Fayre. The whole town was transformed into a festive market and the energy was fantastic. We had the wonderful Amanda entertaining passers by in her winged unicorn outfit which even made the front cover of the paper. We’ve also had the exceptionally talented Jon Minshull painting oil our window, wowing us all with his stunning paintings which have been taking shape right before e our eyes.
We are excited to see what next year brings. Each year at Heart of The Tribe gets better and better. We will be launching a new website and sharing more amazing work with you all. We hope to continue to provide opportunities for emerging artists as well as hosting inspiring exhibitions.
We will be closed for the festive period, re-opening on January the 9th with our first show of the year ‘Here & Now’. We wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. We look forward to welcoming you back soon.
