Crocus - Back to the Drawing Room
On Friday evening last, I made my way to the Crocus Gallery, an intimate art space hidden within Lenton Centre square. It was the opening of 'Back to the Drawing Board', a collection created by the gallery's own volunteers as a celebration of their hard work and enthusiasm. However a shadow hung over proceedings. The Crocus Gallery, like many small institutions that rely on council funding, is under threat. Having received a stay of execution from September to December this year, Crocus are pinning their hopes on receiving a NatWest Community Grant of six thousand pounds which will give them a further years' life among the students and citizens of Lenton.
Crocus itself is a small but welcoming gallery, peopled by interested, warm, community-spirited types such as Alyn Mulholland and Kay Richards. Alyn is a sculptor who has submitted sketches inspired by carnivorous plants he came across whilst on an art course in Canada. “One of the reasons I volunteered is to get people off of their sofas to participate” he explains. Alyn's dark drawings make up a part of the show, as well as a collection of photography and charcoal drawings.
Organisers Alice Thickett and Kay Richards
Crocus Gallery was set up by the Dunkirk & Lenton Partnership in an effort to rejuvenate the area and give an opportunity to local artists and youngsters to experience and participate in the running and commissioning of a small art gallery. As volunteer co-ordinator Sophie Merriman explained “the gallery is a way of opening up the imagination of the volunteers and allows them to be a bit more ambitious in the way they think.” Sophie, who as well as contributing a pair of pictures set on wooden blocks, is a gallery assistant at the Nottingham Contemporary tries to combine the two as much as possible. “Whenever I'm talking to someone at the Contemporary, I'll always recommend this place as something different.”
Crocus' remit is a broad and inclusive one. Since opening in May 2010 it has hosted a number of different artists and media including Steve Panton, a Notts veteran now living in Detroit, who returned after 30 years to document the manifold changes that have taken place in the city. Crocus has also exhibited and supported a local mental health group as well as hosting open days and events for the children of the local school.
At the front of the gallery is a selection of jewellery and sculpture for sale as well as a selection of eclectic flyers and a petition to prevent the eviction of a local woman. A large screen cycles through pictures of previous events and people, invariably smiling and in groups. As the evening continues, two young men with guitars sit down and begin playing. The Curry Cave, a takeaway opposite the gallery, brings over four pizzas unprompted and free of charge, after hearing the Crocus was putting on an event tonight. I bid everyone farewell and head out into the night.
The Crocus Gallery has blossomed in Lenton and there’s a danger that if it disappears then the innumerable connections it forms and maintains will disappear as well, tumbling into the age of austerity. The artists, community groups and everyone that emerges from the gallery enriched and empowered will instead have one more boarded up building to walk past each evening. So please visit the Crocus Gallery, take a tea at next door's café then show some support by voting online at the Natwest Community scheme and help this shoot flourish.
Back To The Drawing Board ran on 7 October 2011. Crocus are looking for artists to contribute to their upcoming Open Show. For more details and to vote in the Natwest Community Force Campaign, follow the link(s) below:
Crocus Gallery website
Natwest Community Force Campaign for Crocus Gallery
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