Birmingham City Breaks & The Ikon Gallery
Birmingham is an interesting city in the English county of the West Midlands, it is a really popular destination for weekend city breaks. The city features an incredible variety of excellent attractions including a great many Grade I Listed churches and stately homes as well as many museums and galleries, including Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.
The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham is a contemporary art gallery which is housed in the former Oozells Street Board School in Brindleyplace, however it was not always housed so suitably.
The gallery was founded in the year nineteen sixty four by 4 students of art and Angus Skene. The four artists were; Robert Groves, Robert Groves, Jesse Bruton and Sylvani Merilion. Angus Skene had purchased an artwork by Prentice and the two of them discussed the great many problems suffered by local artists, including the lack of support. The conversation formed the basic ideas for Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.
Angus provided the initial funds for the project, which consisted of exhibitions in such varied venues as post offices and cinemas in a motorcycle sidecar, the idea being to allow the public more access to art. In order to to keep the expense minimal staffing was by the founding artists, friends and family who did it free of charge. After a while the Gallery obtained a glass stall in the famous Bull Ring shopping centre.
Over the next couple of decades the Ikon Gallery moved from place to place until 1997 when it purchased, with help from the National Lottery, the current premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. In the last few years the Ikon Gallery has held a selection of exhibitions and its continuous ability to excel has led it to become incredibly popular, to such an extent that it opened a second gallery in 2006, the Ikon Eastside in Digbeth.
If you are planning a short break in the city of Birmingham remember to allow time for you to visit at least one of the Ikon Galleries. Also it is important to know that although there are many Birmingham hotels finding Birmingham bed and breakfast can at times be very difficult. It is because of this that it is vitally important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You should be aware that Birmingham Airport is about 8 miles east of the the city center just off the A45 and near the M42 (junction 6). You will be pleased to know that there is a respectable number of guest houses close to the airport.
If you are planning to stay in bed and breakfast accommodation in Birmingham you may be interested in our listings of accommodation close to the Ikon Gallery