McGuiness Gallery
Exhibition Guidelines
Exhibitors must be approved by our advisors. Please submit samples of work (in slide form, preferably) to:
Centre Manager
Bishop Auckland Town Hall
Market Place
Bishop Auckland
DL14 7NP
The Gallery aims to establish a reputation as a secure venue for quality exhibitions of particular interest to the residents and visitors to Bishop Auckland. The programme includes collections from individuals with a regional and national reputation and from regional centres. These will include exhibitions of fine art, sculpture and print-making, photography, textile art, craft, design, illustration, ethnography, architecture and natural history. Touring exhibitions may be initiated by the gallery and it is hoped to host artist-in-residence schemes.
The Gallery is lit by spotlights operating from lighting tracks. The Gallery has some direct daylight from ground floor windows making it difficult to control lighting levels for those paintings and fabrics which are particularly susceptible to damage from light.
The Gallery offers 50 linear foot (15.24m) of wall space with the facility to add free-standing boards in the centre of the floor. The Gallery has wooden polished floors (floor loading 100 pounds per square foot (488kgs/sq m)), and flay white-painted composition display boards (8 feet high (2.4m)) onto which pictures are usually mounted with mirror plates.
The Library, on the ground floor above the main gallery may serve as a venue for small exhibitions by local artists using a series of moveable boards.
In the case of exhibitions arranged directly with Bishop Auckland Town Hall, the Gallery staff would normally hang the exhibition and organise the publicity. Publicity would include preparing and distributing press releases, printing and distributing exhibition posters, and including the exhibition in the Events Programme. This would be prepared from text and illustrations supplied by the artist or exhibition organiser.
Exhibition material would be unpacked, arranged and hung by gallery staff so all materials should be clearly labelled to avoid confusion.
The following are guidelines pertinent to exhibitors:
These exhibitions are usually of three weeks duration, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Saturday. Exhibitors are asked to note, Gallery access may be restricted at certain times, for example, weddings, meetings. The management of Bishop Auckland Town Hall apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Work for inclusion should be delivered in the week preceding the exhibition and will be returned whenever convenient in the week following the exhibition’s close.
Works should be mounted and/or framed ready to hang whenever possible and fitted with mirror plates for extra security.
Frames comprising glass sheets held in place by metal clips are liable to split and are not acceptable. Glazed frames may be made available for the exhibition, on request from the gallery.
Final selection of work to be displayed will be at the discretion of the manager.
Individual work should be clearly labelled with the artist’s name, the title, medium and price (or insurance value). Artists may also submit a sheet of details about themselves and/or their work. This will be typed up for display.
Any artist wishing to sell work should make allowance of a 25% deduction on sales by the County Council.
Artists are responsible for transporting their work to and from the gallery, though Cultural Services transport will be made available wherever possible. Artists are also responsible for making the initial selection of work.
No fee is normally paid to artists for their exhibitions. All works are insured while on the premises.
Whilst every effort will be made to ensure the well being of exhibits, artists are reminded that the Gallery is not subject to strict environmental controls.
The exhibitions will be arranged and hung by the Gallery staff.
Centre Manager
Bishop Auckland Town Hall
Market Place
Bishop Auckland
DL14 7NP
The McGuinness Art Gallery
Comprising one large Gallery and two small adjacent rooms, the Art Gallery occupies the lower ground floor of the building. It has no permanent collection and instead features a varied programme of temporary exhibitions related to all aspects of the visual arts, plus illustrated talks, workshops, concerts, demonstrations and other events aimed at a wide range of visitors and special interest groups.The Gallery aims to establish a reputation as a secure venue for quality exhibitions of particular interest to the residents and visitors to Bishop Auckland. The programme includes collections from individuals with a regional and national reputation and from regional centres. These will include exhibitions of fine art, sculpture and print-making, photography, textile art, craft, design, illustration, ethnography, architecture and natural history. Touring exhibitions may be initiated by the gallery and it is hoped to host artist-in-residence schemes.
The Gallery is lit by spotlights operating from lighting tracks. The Gallery has some direct daylight from ground floor windows making it difficult to control lighting levels for those paintings and fabrics which are particularly susceptible to damage from light.
The Gallery offers 50 linear foot (15.24m) of wall space with the facility to add free-standing boards in the centre of the floor. The Gallery has wooden polished floors (floor loading 100 pounds per square foot (488kgs/sq m)), and flay white-painted composition display boards (8 feet high (2.4m)) onto which pictures are usually mounted with mirror plates.
The Library, on the ground floor above the main gallery may serve as a venue for small exhibitions by local artists using a series of moveable boards.
Exhibition Planning
The Gallery has a changing programme of temporary exhibitions which change monthly. Some of these exhibitions are touring collections arranged by other galleries and specific arrangements may vary depending on the exhibition content and the organising gallery.In the case of exhibitions arranged directly with Bishop Auckland Town Hall, the Gallery staff would normally hang the exhibition and organise the publicity. Publicity would include preparing and distributing press releases, printing and distributing exhibition posters, and including the exhibition in the Events Programme. This would be prepared from text and illustrations supplied by the artist or exhibition organiser.
Exhibition material would be unpacked, arranged and hung by gallery staff so all materials should be clearly labelled to avoid confusion.
The following are guidelines pertinent to exhibitors:
These exhibitions are usually of three weeks duration, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Saturday. Exhibitors are asked to note, Gallery access may be restricted at certain times, for example, weddings, meetings. The management of Bishop Auckland Town Hall apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Work for inclusion should be delivered in the week preceding the exhibition and will be returned whenever convenient in the week following the exhibition’s close.
Works should be mounted and/or framed ready to hang whenever possible and fitted with mirror plates for extra security.
Frames comprising glass sheets held in place by metal clips are liable to split and are not acceptable. Glazed frames may be made available for the exhibition, on request from the gallery.
Final selection of work to be displayed will be at the discretion of the manager.
Individual work should be clearly labelled with the artist’s name, the title, medium and price (or insurance value). Artists may also submit a sheet of details about themselves and/or their work. This will be typed up for display.
Any artist wishing to sell work should make allowance of a 25% deduction on sales by the County Council.
Artists are responsible for transporting their work to and from the gallery, though Cultural Services transport will be made available wherever possible. Artists are also responsible for making the initial selection of work.
No fee is normally paid to artists for their exhibitions. All works are insured while on the premises.
Whilst every effort will be made to ensure the well being of exhibits, artists are reminded that the Gallery is not subject to strict environmental controls.
The exhibitions will be arranged and hung by the Gallery staff.