Summer 2016 b

Juggling
by
Sharon
James
Before I was a gallery owner I
was a lecturer in Art and Design.
That was fifteen years of
my life dedicated to teaching
often unruly but uniquely gifted
teenagers to septuagenarians.
From Level 1 to Degree.
A job I loved with bureaucracy
that I hated.
When redundancy was offered I
grabbed it with both hands and ran
laughing into the sunset.
Enter a horribly run down bike
shop. This was an absolute horror
of a building. Crumbling walls and
every single surface had a thick
layer of grease on it. A dark tunnel
with zero personality. Four months
of very hard work later the gallery
opened for business.
Obviously I had a good background
in art as I have been in the art world
since 16 when I entered art college.
Graduated from Camberwell School
of Art with an MA in Printmaking.
(People seem to always want
to know that) I literally have been
hanging exhibitions ever since.
I put on my first exhibition relying
heavily on the work of all my fantastically
talented friends. It was a
success. The first year flew by with
exhibitions of work of all my friends
adorning the walls. It was this that
got the gallery under the noses of
local artists. Then the bookings
started to come in and the gallery
was getting booked up a year in advance.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing
though. I faced some interesting discrimination
when I opened. People
questioned my background and often
asked where I trained in a condescending
way. It was annoying and
it often transpired that I was more
qualified than they were. I think the
crazy hair and maybe my quirky
dress sense threw people as I am not
a ‘typical’ gallery owner.
The bonus of having the gallery was
that I built my studio behind it. This
allowed me to get back to making
art. Something I had severely neglected
during my time as a lecturer.
I fell back in love with drawing and
consequently had my first major exhibition
in several years. Now I’m
the artist in residence at the gallery.
This was a big step as I hadn’t necessarily
wanted to put myself under
the spotlight. It has confirmed
everything that I already knew. Art
is a great mental leveller. I am considerably
happier when I am making
art than when I am not.
Work life = happiness so then it was
time to think about having a family.
Fast forward a couple of years and
my partner and I had a little boy after
several false starts. Now I’m a
gallery owner, an artist, and a mother.
This has meant that I spend a bit
more time with the family, which is
why I endlessly ask people to contact
me first before heading to see
me at the gallery. This is the tricky
bit though as I still need to nurture
the gallery. The constant push for
publicity and ensuring that the exhibitions
are doing their thing. There’s
no day that I don’t think about the
gallery or do some aspect of work
connected to it. Much to my partners
consternation. The truth is I
work hard as I know many of you
do. I am as keen for exhibitions to
be a success as the artists I show.
It’s good for business.
An art gallery in a recession has
been an uphill battle. No matter
how fantastic the work is people
aren’t spending in the same way.
I have always been someone who
loves a challenge and we didn’t
want our son to be an only child
so we decided to expand our family.
What we didn’t factor in was
twins. We are now parents to 3
children under 2 years old. Can I
just mention here that I have three
furry babies too. Puss Puss, Merlin
and Barney.
I’m writing this when any sensible
parent of 3 under 2 would be
asleep. I hate to let people down
so here it is.
Finally, it would be remiss of me
not to mention Shirley my gallery
assistant. Everyone should have
a Shirley. She makes my constant
juggling of life and work
and vice versa possible.
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