'Garden galleries' set to reappear after successful first year

Published on Friday 6 February 2009 09:01

AN open-air art show using people's front gardens is set to expand after a successful first year.

Organisers of the "garden galleries" project in Portobello had initially planned it as a one-off exhibition.

But after thousands of visitors attended the unique show last year, they now hope to make it an annual event.

The community art group, Big Things On the Beach, say it has already had a very enthusiastic response from local people and artists.

It hopes to attract around 70 people who will "host" works of art in their gardens.

More than 6000 people visited last year's exhibition, which included 40 gardens on and near the seafront. This year it is planning to expand it to include gardens throughout the town.

The group has previously organised other imaginative community art displays, including massive pyramids of sand on Portobello beach. It was formed by residents in 2003 to explore the display of public artworks.

Curator Amber Roome said: "We're very excited about doing the Garden Galleries again. We certainly want it to expand, although we want to keep the standard of artwork high.

"It's very hard to get exact visitor numbers, but we distributed 6000 maps to the exhibition last year. We expect a lot more people looked at it though."

The August exhibition, which was part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, included a selection of local and internationally recognised artists. The works included a huge video display, sculptures and a crop of tobacco plants.

City artist Tim Taylor collected 3000 chip forks, lollipop sticks and wooden stirrers to install in the soil of one garden.

Lorna Fraser designed an array of white porcelain plants, which she displayed in a greenhouse on Bath Street.

Towerbank Primary School also took part, playing host to Natalie Taylor's creation, entitled The Secret Garden.

As well as "borrowing" the gardens, the organisers also commissioned three public works for the town.

Ms Roome said: "There'll be a few changes to the geographical area. The plan is to include the centre of Portobello. We are starting to contact hosts to see if they'd like to participate. We've had a very good response so far."

She said they would be issuing a call to artists in April.

Robert Gatliff, the chairman of Portobello Community Council, said he was delighted that the exhibition was returning.

He said: "I'd certainly welcome this, I think it's a brilliant idea."