The Old Bar Gallery

05/01/2024

🍉This is my last post and it’s an important one, with your help and support the gallery and were able to raise $4,585.22 which I have just donated to providing medical aid on ground in Gaza.

I am immensely grateful to the artists and musicians for donating and volunteering their time, talent and support for this fundraiser. As always the artist and music community continue to support, show up, donate and raise awareness for political, environmental and humanitarian causes, often exhausting their limited resources and finances.

Ceasefire now.
Free 🇵🇸

30/12/2023

Hello…Goodbye!

Well, this year is coming to a close and as I patiently wait to see the end of a very challenging yet rewarding 2023, I will also say goodbye to my position as Owner/ Director and Curator at Old Bar Gallery.

I have lived a dream that I never thought possible for the past 2.5 years. As an artist, it has been an incredible privilege to work in the arts, and this I don’t take lightly. I thank for offering me this opportunity, I am very grateful! Running a small gallery autonomously was a massive learning curve and although it had its moments, it was an incredibly enriching experience! I can’t begin to describe how thankful and indebted I am to Heather Fuhrer Bianca Johnson and Gabby Bartolo for their constant guidance, unwavering support, creative eye and intellect -I could not have done this without you!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the artists who exhibited during my time, it has been an utmost pleasure and privilege to have had such talented and innovative artists showcase their artworks along with the musicians who performed on opening nights. The symbiosis of these art forms played an integral role in developing the inviting and immersive space that the Old Bar Gallery came to be.

To anyone who came to an opening night or checked out the gallery while sipping on a b**r from downstairs, I am so appreciative of your support, to both myself and the arts! The arts are underfunded, undervalued and can be gate-kept by a small few making it almost impossible to enter this world and be able to pay bills, I could not have done this without you all!

The Old Bar Gallery is an antidote to the white cube mentality, and I can say that I’m really proud of what I have accomplished with the gallery. Not only did this little business survive a pandemic, but living as a q***r femme, chronically sick artist isn’t always the easiest but I made it work!

Now it’s time to depart and pass this space on to a couple of really cool artists, that will wow everyone with their artistic genius! So watch this space, they’ll be coming in hot!

Thank you everyone!! X Ash

📸

15/12/2023

Same statement as before, heartbreakingly still just as relevant.

18 more signatures added to the list, community and solidarity are working. We won’t stop protesting, speaking up and raising awareness.

06/12/2023

https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/8c751ce9-abef-43c9-afeb-8c6986dc54f3

BETTER TOGETHER” Group exhibition and live music fundraiser for Palestine - Closing day/night   Occurring on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, ‘Better Together’ is a group exhibition and live music event about iconic duo’s, perfect pairings and togetherness to fundraise for the IFRC (The ...

05/12/2023

Life Drawing with Gabby at the gallery Wednesday Dec. 6, 5-7pm!

Ticket link in bio 🥰

22/11/2023

We are a group of artist-run initiatives joining the worldwide call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. In the face of genocide, we are coming together in solidarity against the state-sanctioned colonial violence of Israel towards Palestine.

We strongly condemn the escalating violence in the region which continues to heavily impact innocent Palestinian families and civilians. We urgently call for humanitarian aid, to further prevent the loss of life, and to support those directly affected.
We recognise the important role art plays in offering a mirror to the urgent issues of the world, and the role that arts organisations have in platforming artists and shaping culture. This is a duty that we, collectively, take seriously, operating on stolen lands.

In our local arts community, we have seen artists who have courageously and bravely stood up in support of Palestine, even while facing threats of harassment and loss of opportunities and funding. As artist-run organisations, our solidarity will always be with artists, not with systems that suppress and silence artists. You inspire us with your leadership and advocacy, and our statement is written in this spirit.

This statement is the first step for our collective, and we will be sharing more shortly. If you want to co-sign this letter, please get in touch.

Signed,
Bus Projects
Seventh
KINGS Artist-Run
TCB Gallery
un Projects
Cathedral Cabinet
Trocadero Projects
Cool Change Contemporary
Constance ARI
Unassigned Gallery
Runway Journal
Best Soup
FELTspace
Wreckers Art Space
TempContemp
ALT-HOUSE
The Old Bar Gallery
Fire Escape Contemporary
Read the Room
recess .net.au
Dogmilk Films

14/11/2023

* Call for Artists*

The Old Bar gallery would like to invite visual artists of all disciplines to submit work for our upcoming fundraiser show ‘Better Together’.
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This exhibition is both a fundraiser to raise money to support medical aid in Palestine during this time of extreme crisis and hardship and an expression of unity and community in the face of hateful division, mass scale violence, and genocide.
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The gallery invites artists to reflect on the theme ‘better together’ that can celebrate iconic duos, timeless unions, perfectly imperfect pairings, and partnerships that work symbiotically. These can be fantastical or pragmatic. This theme is generously broad, to invite couplings in the human, cosmic or mythological realm. Whether it’s from the animal and plant kingdom, the human realm, astronomy, or astrology, this is a celebration of real and imagined pairings.
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After all, where would Garfield be without Odie, Wayne without Garth, Thelma without Louise? From the archer and their bow, s*x to death, the moon, and the sun, to invisible networks of trees and the symbiotic nature of fungi, and the delicious yet evil collusion of peanut butter and chocolate, we invite innovative submissions that depict collaboration and union.
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We are asking artists to donate their time and skills with all proceeds from sold artwork going to the IFRC (The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies).
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If you would like to submit artwork, please fill out the Google Form EOI - link in bio
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We will have an opening AND closing event with bands TBA and $15 entry for both nights going towards the IFRC. Opening night December 12 & closing night December 17.
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This event occurs on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri people.