Birmingham Vacations, Places To Visit & The Ikon Gallery
Birmingham is a vibrant city in the county of the West Midlands, England and it is an immensely popular destination for weekend city breaks and day trips. The city features an immense number of superb attractions including many churches which have Grade I status and other important structures as well as many museums and galleries, including the Ikon Gallery Birmingham UK.
The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England, is an art gallery focusing on contemporary art which can be found in the building which was previously the Oozells Street Board School, Brindleyplace, but it was not always in such surroundings.
The gallery was founded in 1964 by 4 artists and Angus Skene. The 4 artists were; Sylvani Merilion, David Prentice, Jesse Bruton and Robert Groves. Angus Skene had bought a painting by Prentice and the two of them discussed the numerous problems suffered by local artists, including the lack of venues and support for local artists. The discussion led to the creation of Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.
Skene financed the project initially, which consisted of exhibitions in such diverse locations as cinemas and post offices in a motorcycle sidecar. The concept being to increase the accessibility of art to the public. In order to keep costs down staffing was by the founding artists, family and friends who did not charge for their services. Later the Gallery obtained a glass kiosk in the infamous Bull Ring shopping centre.
During the next two decades the Ikon Gallery moved from place to place until 1997 when it purchased, with help from the National Lottery, its current premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. recently the Gallery has put on a selection of exhibitions and its continuous ability to produce the superb has led it to become surprisingly popular, so much so that in 2006 it opened a second gallery, Ikon Eastside in Digbeth.
If you are considering taking a vacation in Birmingham we hope that you would think about visiting the Ikon Gallery. Also it is important to know that although there are many Birmingham hotels and guest houses finding Birmingham bed and breakfast can every now and again be pretty difficult. Because of this it is vitally important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You will need to know that Birmingham’s international airport is roughly eight miles away from the the city center just off the A45, near the M42. You will discover that there is a respectable number of hotels and bed and breakfasts close by the airport.