Espacio’s Opening Weekend will be May 19-20th. Beginning on Saturday 1-8pm continuing with Afternoon Tea on Sunday 1-6pm at 159 Bethnal Green Road E2 7DG. The inaugural show will be called 100 Metres, 100 Artists showcasing a single piece from each Espacio artist.

Exhibition continues until Tuesday 22 May 1-6pm.

Espacio Gallery
159 Bethnal Green Road
London
E2 7DG

Espacio Gallery will be opening soon on:
159 Bethnal Green Road
London
E2 7DG

The landlord has agreed to rent us the property in Bethnal Green Road.

We have spent some time negotiating all the Main Head Terms and both parties are happy with all terms.

Now I just have to wait the results of a Full Official Search to find out whether there's anything attached to the property's history such as rectification of unauthorised works and a few other things.

If all the results turned out to be clear - or reasonably compromisable, we'll be signing the contract soon.

_I have booked Hanbury Hall for our Christmas get together. Please see details below:
 
9 December from 6 to 9pm
Hanbury Hall
22A Hanbury Street
Spitalfields
London
E1 6QR

If you'd like, please bring in either a bottle of wine, juice or a pack of nibbles. I'm sorting the plastic glasses and plastic plates.

Like the last meeting, I'm afraid each one of us will have to take our empty bottle back home or to the nearest recycling point.

It's also appreciated if you could bring £1 each to help with the rent. I paid £60.

The preparation for our interim show is going well. Everything is running smoothly and Renee is working on the final touches.

The contract between 'artists and gallery project' has changed in regards to a suitable property.

The majority of artists have voted Yes for other locations. Please see the individual votes below.

From now on it's also possile to search properties in other areas - However, I'm still focusing on East London areas such as Hoxton, Brick Lane and Shoreditch where we find a very well-estabilished artistic community.

Here's the following up in response to my last email regarding our property search and particularly the property in Geffrey Street, Hoxton.

Yes to other areas:

On Thursday 15th September 2011 in the afternoon, Rebecca Feiner and I will meet on Brick Lane to view a few properties in the area. There are some properties we believe could be suitable for an interim show. If anybody else is interested in joining us please let us know.

Renee Rilexie will be organising an interim exhibition at the Menier Gallery, 51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU.

The dates are:
Monday 24 – Saturday 29 October 2011 (Ground floor gallery)
PV: Thursday 27 October 6 - 9pm

The dates are just about to be confirmed. The following details are still in progress but here's a rough idea.

1 - Each artist will get between 2 and 2.5 metres of wall space
2 - There will be between 15 - 20 artists showing. (2D artists)
3 - Sculptors are invited to participate as well.
4 - Prices will be between £120 to £150 per artist. (it all depends on the number of artists involved)
5 - Still not sure if we're allowed to have a couple of print racks selling prints.
5 - Bear in mind the gallery has no storage facilities (as usual)
6 - Menier Gallery is not too keen on  very busy walls (the art fair looks). They have hanging system (nylon strings).

If you're interested in taking part please contact Carlos ASAP. Gallery has to be booked by next week.

Reminder to  all artists who haven't sent their images, statements and other relevant information to our website to send them ASAP.

I intend to have the website fully finished by 30 September 2011. Empty pages, half-empty pages, pages missing pictures or artists' statements will be deleted.

Could you please have a look at your webpage and make sure you already sent all the relevant info. If you haven't sent, please hurry up.

1 - Artist's statement/biography - Please combine them together - 100 to a maximum 250 words.

2 - Images - 1 image of yourself (optional) + 8 to 20 images of your work. I need minimum 8 to fit nicely on the page.
(Title, Media, Size) = (e.g. Landscape II, oil on canvas, 80 x 80cm)

3 - Selected exhibitions - a list of group and solo shows, maximum 20 entries.  Please follow this format:
( Exhibition title,  venue/gallery,  city (+ country if abroad),  year )

(e.g. Northern Landscape, Mall Gallery, London, 2010)

4 - Any other relevant information such as collections or publications. Please specify which collection/publication.

5 - Email address, website link and phone number. - Please tell me which ones you'd like to be published on the page.

This week, Rebecca Feiner, Jane Bolden and I have been on Brick Lane looking for properties. We also had a look on other properties in the area but in other streets just to compare what we get for our money in terms of size, footfall, etc.

The 151 is still there and the landlord is still evasive.

We found another property that has some potential - 135 Brick Lane. However it will be free on February 2012.

It's about 1100 sqft and the rent is 40K a year - however it has no basement and that could impact/change my initial plans of using a basement for workshops, studios and also bring some extra cash on a regular basis.

There are also another 2 properties in the area but we couldn't visit them because they were close. Rebecca spoke to the estate agent and I'm waiting to hear from them in the week.

Also there is a former funeral parlor on 17 Osborne Street (this is the same street as Brick Lane with a different name, it's further down towards Whitechapel gallery). Sizewise it's a fantastic property - very large. I would say over 1500 sqft + a huge yard.

We found out that the Old Truman Brewery has bought that property. I spoke to them on Friday and they will get back to me in the week.  The property has problems with water coming in and I was told it needs some other work as well. Now we need to wait and see what they're going to tell me.

I found out that Old Truman also has another property available for rent on Hanbury Street. It's available on a "will tenancy" or 5 years lease. The shop is 1200 sqft and the rent is 60K a year. I'm afraid a little over our budget.

Rebecca and I will visit Tower Hamlets council asap to find out whether they have any council property available. With all these cuts that are going on maybe we could be lucky and they could have something suitable for us.

At the moment the search is still on and I'll get back to you as soon as we have other news.

In our last social some artists have suggested an interim show:
I found two possible locations on Hanbury Street. They are part of the Old Truman complex.

Shop 14 - 2500 sqft
1 week rent = £3.500,00 + VAT, £100 electricity, £600 damage deposit, and we need to get 5 million liability insurance.

Shop 25 - 1300 sqft
1 week rent = 2.400,00 + VAT, £100 electricity, £600 damage deposit, and we need to get 5 million liability insurance.

At the moment, I am extremely busy and I couldn't see myself organising a show on my own but I would be very happy to help if some of you would like to take this further.

Wendy Roberts kindly took notes throughout the evening. To download the notes please click HERE

I booked Hanbury Hall for our social evening. It will be on Friday, 1st July from 6 - 9pm.
Hanbury Hall
22A Hanbury Street
Spitalfields
London
E1 6QR

Each one of us could bring either a bottle of wine, juice or a pack of nibbles + £1 to help towards the rent.
I will sort the glasses (plastic ones). After the meeting each one of us is also expected to take our own empty bottle back home - or to the nearest recycling point. Thanks.

I sent an email to all artists regarding money collection and Gallery Project Agreement. The deadline for payments is 20th June 2011. If you have not received a copy of the Project Agreement please get in touch.

1 - The limited company has been created and incorporated.

2 - Website domain is up and running

3 - Bank account has been created at Barclays. (I need to wait until next week to get it up and running)

4 - Contract for artists is almost finished and will be sent out along with the bank account details.

1 - Artist's statement/biography - Please combine them together - 100 to a maximum 250 words. It could be written either on first or third person, it's your choice. Please have a look at Roan Allen's, Judith Bieletto's, Ahmed Farooqui, Dawes Gray's and Ann Kopka's statements as example.

2 - Images - 1 image of yourself + 8 to 20 images of your work. I need minimum 8 to fit nicely on the page.
Feel free to send more info with your pictures, particularly if you work with several different media.
(Title, Media, Size) = (e.g. Landscape II, oil on canvas, 80 x 80cm)

3 - Selected exhibitions - a list of group and solo shows, maximum 20 entries.  Please follow this format:
( Exhibition title,  venue/gallery,  city (+ country if abroad),  year )

(e.g. Northern Landscape, Mall Gallery, London, 2010)

4 - Any other relevant information such as collections or publications. Please specify which collection/publication.

5 - Email address, website link and phone number. - Please send me the ones that you'd like to be published on the page.

I would really appreciate if you could send all the info requested above before 30 May 2011.