Art Matters July 2024

When it comes to creativity you needn’t have looked further than the Art Matters exhibition, held over two weekends in July – and to cap it all we raised an amazing £16,600 for charity!

Hundreds of visitors over the five days saw artwork created in just about every medium. The original blank 12-inch canvases were transformed using paint, watercolour, tapestry, wool, collage, wood, photographs, crayon, even electronics…and everything in between. All were for sale at £50 each.

This was the eighth 12-inch canvas exhibition at Gravelly Barn since 2007, raising a total of nearly £100,000 for charity. This year the three main beneficiaries were Samaritans, Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK Foundation and the Princess Alexandra Hospital Breast Unit at St Margaret’s Hospital Epping. A further donation was sent to the Razed Roof Inclusive Theatre Company in Harlow.

Visitors were unanimously enthusiastic about the quality and sheer diversity of the work, which seems to get better every year. Many of the artists were entering for the first time and had never had their work shown at an exhibition. They came from all over Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, London and as far away as Wiltshire and Scotland with ages ranging from young children to our oldest aged 99.

Setting up such an exhibition takes a huge amount of effort and the Gravelly Barn team want to thank everyone who came along, completed canvases, bought them, made donations, entered the raffle, provided cakes and served behind the counter and were always around to help behind the scenes. We couldn’t have done it without you.

This could be our last exhibition but we said that 2 years ago. So watch this space!

Some of the wonderful art works at the exhibition