Connecting with Local Artists in The Cotswolds
When I was a young student at university, I thought I should go to law school. And so, for my first two years, I read law. I was terrible at it and it held no interest for me.
At the end of my second year, a professor of mine drew me aside and said, “You should get out of here. You are wasting your time.”
And so, working with him, I left school and spent a year working in coal mines in Appalachia, on a farm in Iowa, and doing construction work. That was an education. During that time, I had brought a camera with me, and I started to take pictures. The camera was a door to another world.
When I returned to university the following year, I left the law and became an art student. I rented a room from another professor, Tom Krenz, who would go on to become the Director of the Guggenheim Museum, and I did print editions with the American artist, Jim Dine.
When I graduated, I got a grant from IBM to spend three years traveling the world, taking photographs, which I turned into silkscreen prints.
But the life of an artist is not easy.
I left art and went into the film and TV business, which was a lot easier and certainly paid better. But I never lost my love of making art.
A few months ago, my wife Lisa gave me an art gallery or at least the potential for an art gallery as a birthday present.
I know all too well how hard it is to be an artist. It is hard to create work. It is a solitary existence, and it is even harder to sell it.
So we created the Murray Pitkin Gallery. The Pitkin Gallery is not your normal ‘art gallery’. Rather, it is designed to become a home; a nexus for local artists where they can gather, meet each other, share their work, and share both their work and their stories with the community.
The physical gallery is going to be limited solely to local artists in the Wychwoods, of which there are many. They are invited to use the gallery to show their work but also to have evening talks on their work or even to set up their easels and work in this space, with doors open to anyone who wants to come and visit them.
The Pitkin Gallery is an experiment in integrating the artist with the community on a regular and ongoing basis.
We hope you’ll come by for a visit.
We hope you’ll support our artists and buy their art.
- Michael Rosenblum.
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Meet the Founder
Murray Pitkin
This is Murray, the famous Long Haired Jack Russell Terrier of Shipton-under-Wychwood who owns his very own art gallery.
While his humans may hold the lease and domain it is really Murray who is calling the shots here.
Murray has a sharp mind and a keen sense of smell but it is his eye for art that is his passion. Murray can usually be seen strolling the high street of Shipton-under-Wychwood or patrolling the Wychwood Wild Garden.
He’s very friendly, so if you run into him make sure to say hello and ask him how the gallery is doing.
Meet the Curator
Emily Hawtin
Emily Hawtin, working artist and Head Curator for the Murray Pitkin Gallery whose aim is to showcase the vastness of quality and creativity seen from a range of local artists.
By teaming up with Michael and his emerging gallery, this duo aims to create a different kind of gallery than you are usually used to or expect. The gallery focuses on the importance of community, partnering with artists with the aim of setting up workshops for both adults and children, artists talks, open evenings, and much, much more. We are keen to work with local businesses to share projects with.
They hope you share in their excitement for all things to come.