IN response to York Open Studios 2020’s cancellation, Pyramid Gallery owner Terry Brett is stepping in with a lifeline to artists, offering the Stonegate gallery’s website as an online showcase at a much-reduced commission.
Its name prompted the lyrics of The Doors’ song from 1967, Strange Days is an “Art behind the doors” show that aptly is growing through springtime with new additions each day, trailed on Terry’s blog at pyramidgallery.com.
“We’ve opened the show to all York Open Studios artists and any York artists who already do business with the gallery, and I’ve lowered my commission to just 20 per cent, plus VAT, to make it work for them,” says Terry.
“This enables York artists to show their new work to our customers, without a selection process, and allows them to earn more from each sale.
“The gallery is closed and my staff are furloughed, so I can operate with lower overheads during the Coronavirus lockdown, hopefully maintaining contact with my customers who are confined to their homes.”
For those living at a YO postcode, there will be free delivery of artworks, subject to the present lockdown restrictions. “So, delivery might be in a few weeks if the items cannot be sent through the post,” says Terry.
To complement the Pyramid virtual gallery, he has addressed the challenges presented to galleries by the Covid-19 pandemic in a candid piece on his blog.
Among the York Open Studios artists taking part in Strange Days are Kate Buckley; Peter Park; Jo Walton; Chiu-I Wu; Lesley Birch; Colin Black; Linda Combi; Zoe Catherine Kendall; Michelle Hughes; Sally Clarke; Adrienne French; Hacer Ozturk; Jill Tattersall; Karen Thomas; Kate Pettitt and Ruth Claydon. #
The second weekend of the 2020 event would have taken place on April 25 and 26.