Another new frontier for Space Gallery in Whanganui with the launch of Stock Room

Whanganui artists Katherine Claypole (left) and Mike Marsh will have their work displayed in Sarah Williams' stockroom collections on the new-look Space Studio & Gallery website. Photo / Bevan Conley

"The world has lots of boring things to look at and Mike's work is not one of those things."

Space Studio and Gallery owner Sarah Williams is talking about Whanganui artist Mike Marsh who is the first to feature in the newly launched Stock Room section of the gallery href="https://spacestudiogallery.co.nz/" target="_blank">website.

He will eventually be joined by nine other artists whose exclusive work will be available on the site.

"Each one of the artists will have 10 of their works featured exclusively on the website and two of each of those will also be physically on show in the gallery stockroom," says Williams.

She has selected the 10 Marsh works she wanted for the Stock Room.

"Sarah has known me for a long time and I was happy for her to make the selection because I would have had trouble deciding," says Marsh.

Four other Whanganui artists have been selected so far and all have been long-time exhibitors at Space.

Patrick Cush, David Traub, Mark Rayner and Katherine Claypole have been invited and accepted the offer.

Claypole will be putting together her own selection of 10 works and says she looks forward to creating dedicated works.

"I have an exclusive contract with another gallery so I want the works I make for Space to be different from other things I've done."

Williams closed the original small Space Studio & Gallery at 64 Taupō Quay at the end of 2018 after seven years and around 300 exhibitions.

She opened the new premises with three galleries at number 66 Taupō Quay in February 2019.

"Developing the website and expanding the market outside Whanganui were included in the expansion plans and now that phase has begun," she says.

David Silvester and Brad Tipper of Whanganui web design company Liquid Edge Creative Ltd were engaged to make the upgrade.

"Sarah tasked us with rebuilding the Space website to better reflect the new gallery's expanded offerings," says Tipper.

"We created a new homepage to present new and upcoming shows as well as a stockroom system where collectors can enquire about and reserve works."

They have also added a searchable archive of past shows to allow site visitors to enjoy past exhibitions.

"Overall, a nice functional upgrade."

Current exhibitions at Space Studio & Gallery are Licentiate - a photographic exhibition by John Smart and Melanie McRae, The Footprint of a Working Artist - mixed media paintings by Dan Mills and Ghost Surf - a dialogue between the North Atlantic and South Pacific by Neddal Ayyad. Gallery hours: 10am to 2pm, Wednesday to Saturday.