Birmingham is a lively city in the English county of the West Midlands and it is an immensely popular destination for weekend city breaks and day trips. The city has a huge selection of world class attractions including a great many Grade I Listed churches and other impressive buildings as well as many museums and galleries, including the Ikon Gallery Birmingham UK.
The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham is an art gallery which specialises in contemporary art which is housed in the former Oozells Street Board School in Brindleyplace, but it wasn’t always so suitably housed.
The gallery was founded in nineteen sixty four by Angus Skene and four art students. The 4 artists were; David Prentice, Jesse Bruton, Robert Groves and Sylvani Merilion. Angus had bought one of Prentice’s paintings and the two of them discussed the great many problems suffered by local artists, which included the terrible lack of general support for local artists. The discussion ultimately led to the creation of Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.
Angus Skene initially funded the project, which consisted of mobile exhibitions in such unusual venues as cinemas and post offices in a motorcycle sidecar. The concept being to make art more accessible to the general public. To to keep the expense minimal staffing was by the founding artists, family and friends who gave their time freely. After a while the Gallery established itself in a glass walled stall in the famous Bull Ring shopping centre.
For almost 2 decades the Ikon Gallery moved from location to location until 1997 when it purchased, with help from the National Lottery, its present premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. recently the Ikon Gallery has held a selection of exhibitions and its continual ability to produce the superb has led to it becoming incredibly popular, to such an extent that it opened a second gallery in 2006, the Ikon Eastside in Digbeth.
If you are thinking about taking a short break in Birmingham we hope that this article has interested you so much that you will be visiting the Ikon Gallery. Also it is important to know that although there are many Birmingham hotels finding bed and breakfast in Birmingham can at times be very difficult. Because of this it is crucially important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You should know that the nearest airport is approximately eight miles away from the center of the city just off the A45. You will find that there is a number of bed and breakfasts and hotels close by the airport.