Following the closure of Inverleith House, a historic mansion that doubled as an exhibition space in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland, the exhibition space of the Glasgow Sculpture Studios is now set to close citing financial hardship as the primary cause. There’s a little room left for hope, however, as the studios will continue to function as normal and the possibility of reopening the exhibition space will be revisited in three to five years. Read Phil Miller’s full report for the Herald Scotland in partial below, in full here.
Scotland has lost another gallery space, with Glasgow Sculpture Studios closing its exhibition space at its Whisky Bond venue.
The current show by Polish artist Zofia Kulik will be the last for at least three years.
The decision has been made by the GSS, which moved into the redeveloped building in 2012, after its board decided it had to make financial cuts.
Mhairi Sawyer, business director, said that overhead costs, in particular rent, of being based in the Whisky Bond have been a “challenge”.
Ms Sawyer said that the long term ambition of the GSS is still to hold exhibitions but for the next 3 to 5 years the body has to “live within its means”.
The GSS hopes to generate income from the exhibition space on the building’s ground floor.
The body will now concentrate on its “core” activities which is providing studio and manufacturing facilities for artists and sculptors.
Two jobs have been made redundant as part of the changes, with Kyla McDonald leaving as well as programme curator Louise Briggs.
Exhibitions planned for next year have been cancelled.
GSS is one of Creative Scotland’s regularly funded organisations.
*Image of The Whisky Bond, which houses the Glasgow Sculpture Studios, via Herald Scotland