Cheltenham Art

 44th Cheltenham Art in the Park, 2013

Cheltenham's Art in the Park' enjoyed a fabulous year in 2013.  Generally, the weather was excellent - which helped to boost our visitor numbers.   Because of the fine weather, the café in Imperial Gardens was also open a lot of the time. 

It's fair to say that the café and the exhibition sit very well together, providing a pleasant and entertaining place for visitors to the Imperial Gardens.  The exhibition suffered very few hitches, and the smooth running of the event was greatly helped by the enthusiasm and diligence of our artists - thanks to you all!

On the first Saturday of Week 1, the exhibition was opened by the town's Member of Parliament, Martin Horwood.  He's a tremendous advocate of our annual festival of art in Cheltenham, and we were delighted to welcome him back to our summer event:

Martin Horwood MP and Chairperson Jane Ware

Martin Horwood cuts the ribbon

We are also grateful to Regent Arcade for their support, allowing us to create a colourful display of art in one of their shop windows.  

We on the committee are passionate about 'Art in the Park' and endeavour to bring to the town the latest work by the county's best local artists.   Here's some of our hard-working committee enjoying a moment of relaxation in the gardens:

Committee members Sue, Jane, Debby, Frances and Christine

Martin Horwood invited the Cheltenham artists to Parliament for a tour of the Commons and the Lords,  as well as a look at artwork in the Palace of Westminster.   We had previously made the trip 6 years ago, and once again embarked upon a coach trip to Westminster in February 2014, with family and friends.  A clerical error by the coach company initially threatened to scupper the whole day, but fortunately things got back on course and we had a smooth journey to and from the centre of London. 

Martin Horwood's office staff managed to organise for us an additional tour of the contemporary art in Portcullis House, and annex of the main Palace of Westminster.  Half of our number were able to enjoy a superb guided tour of the portraits of some of our most well-known living politicians, provided by Parliament's curator of art Malcolm Hay.  This was followed by tours of the splendid House of Parliament during the quiet period of Parliamentary recess. 

Many thanks to Martin, David and Fionna for helping to make this such a great day out.

Andy Lloyd, 2nd March 2014

Images courtesy of Andy Lloyd and Debby Hooper