The calendar has worked round to January once more and it’s time for this highlight of Blackpool’s artistic year. Doors opened at 10:00, 18th January 2025 and David Simper caught the service 61 bus to see what was on offer, and see where his own piece had been hung in this year’s Grundy Open.
Last year I blew it and didn’t get a piece into this annual opportunity to exhibit at The Grundy, now a gallery of national standing. And so this year I was ready before Christmas with my watercolour. Needless to say, despite my efforts, they look quite poor against some of the glories on display here. This is a fine show and should be broadcast widely to counter Blackpool’s usual national image of candy floss and rock.
Work must be by residents within the FY postcode and have been produced in 2024. There really is an incredible range of work on display and it’s of a very high quality. It’s always fun to track down pieces by one’s friends, which were widely dispersed through the collection.
I noticed that the pieces seemed more tightly packed this year, which may be a sign of more demand to join the show. Both the foyer and the two side galleries were occuped by other complementary exhibitions. I didn’t get to view these, but will try to review them on a later occasion.
The wall-hung pieces were very effectively supported by sculpture and 3d art using the floor plinths. Overall I would say that there’s more colour in this year’s show than previously, but there’s also some very nice monochrome photography, black and white film being my favoured photographic medium. So many pieces that could be favourites.
It being the opening day, a lot of visitors were people like me who had a piece in the show, but I don’t think that this was all the visitors I saw. There was a steady flow of people coming through and this was naturally good to see. Blackpool can rightly claim to be an artistic hub with its range of galleries and array of talent to fill them. I noticed that a number of very talented people had not entered a piece this year, which if they had, would have increased the quality even more.
As ever, this show is well worth a viewing – look out for emerging talent and pieces from our fine old stagers. After two or three turns allowing me to take in the work and get the photos I needed for this article, I repaired to a favourite eatery before attending and reviewing Girls Like That! at the Grand Theatre in the afternoon. An enjoyable and productive day.
Thanks as ever to The Grundy team for hanging all these pieces, which really must be quite a job.
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