I never thought I would be the person to have a favourite art gallery. A favourite art gallery that I visited regularly enough that they know my name. An art gallery that I frequent often enough that I thought I would blog about it.
And by art gallery I don't even mean the kind that you go to look at famous paintings, I mean the kind where you might go and buy something that you can appreciate at home.
Don't get me wrong, I've always liked art, but in that kind of cluelessly appreciative 'oooh that's a pretty blue' kind of way and while I could happily pass away a couple of hours strolling around art shops I didn't really know my Manet from my Monet (for a long time I thought it was a typing error).
I still do enjoy a wandering, but Artique on the High Street in Tunbridge Wells is now undoubtedly my favourite place to call. Enough that I have been prepared to drive an hour from home to see what they have in....
But why?
Well, a good start is that they stock many artists that I love so over the past couple of years we've bought some great art for our house there by artists like Doug Hyde, Amanda Gordon, Jonathan Shaw and Peter J. Rogers. We've also added many more to our mental wishlist - The Rocks Brothers, Philip Gray, Duncan McGregor and Csilla Orban. Sadly, the square footage of said mental wishlist is greater that that of the remaining wall space in our house...
When we couldn't find something on the walls suitable for a (belated) wedding present, but saw work by artist Gina Brown that we loved, Artique worked with us to commission her to paint something unique and original, an enticing and exciting idea! The chance to own something of our own, rather than a limited edition print, was something we couldn't pass up.
The process was simple, we sat and looked at work by her that we liked, talked about colours and aspects of other images that we liked and selected a landscape that was special to us (the view of St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge from the Tate Modern - the place my now-husband and I first discussed getting married.
Seven months later we were back in the gallery, gazing happily at a piece of art that we absolutely adore. Its really personal to us, the colours suit where it will hang perfectly and we will treasure it for ever. And that brings me onto the biggest reason we go back to Artique again and again.
It's their brilliant staff. When showing us the picture that we had waited so impatiently for, we got the feeling that gallery manager Yasmin was almost as excited as we were. That's true every time we visit, as we are warmly greeted by name (even Little Bit) as soon as we walk through the door and offered a drink to enjoy while wander round the two floors of gallery space, mentally redecorating our home for the fifth time and debating if its unreasonable to have winter and summer pictures to hang so that we can squeeze in just one more...
The staff are extremely knowledgeable about not only the works that they have in, but a wider range of artists and so they are great at suggesting pictures that are to their customers tastes, Furthermore, they are great and discussing art in a way that is understandable to someone (me) who doesn't know their oils from their acrylics...
We always feel like valued customers as they remember the details of not just our preferences but other things going on in our lives like where we've been on holiday and things that we are doing, especially Yasmin who we see regularly. Going there feels like visiting rather than quickly popping in and out of a shop for a browse.
Nothing is too much trouble, from emailing through suggestions for you to consider to taking orders for a picture made on the from a service station by a husband trying to surprise his wife. Then keeping the secret when said wife rings two weeks later to order something else....
They also run artist events with a wide selection of artists, we haven't been to one yet but are planning to go and meet Henderson Cisz next month and I will report back!
If Tunbridge Wells is a bit of a trek for you fear not - Artique also have branches in Brighton, Cambridge, Canterbury, Norwich and Windsor and we will doubtless visit these if we are ever in the area.
If you are interested in art, either as a professional or an interested amateur I definitely recommend a visit to Artique, particularly if you are looking for something inspiring to hang in your home. We will definitely be back - as soon as I've managed to pin down some spare wall space...
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