Our Melbourne Gallery Launch
Last night marked a big moment for Bluethumb as we celebrated the launch of our Melbourne gallery. For the first time ever, Bluethumb has a physical space of our own to house exhibitions and events for our art community. A momentous occasion calls for a big event – and the turn out did not disappoint!
At one point there was a line out the door to get in!
The gorgeous red brick building at 52 Cambridge St in Collingwood was bursting at the seams with attendees from all of Bluethumb’s network. Collectors, artists, designers and industry professionals gathered to take in 3 floors of artworks. Over 80 pieces filled the walls, with everyone from bestsellers to emerging talent represented in the gallery. As with our stall at the Affordable Art Fair, the Tjanpi Desert Weavers Papas were a popular hit – and this time we displayed them alongside their short film, Ngayuku Papa.
Sandwiched between works by O.HIISI and Belinda Nadwie was the captivating stop motion short film by Tjanpi Desert Weavers.
After 7 years of being exclusively online, the transition was a huge step for Bluethumb. Co-founder George Hartley explained the journey in a speech on the night: “We’ve grown by listening to artists, and building tools to help them be more successful. Bluethumb has been cast as a disrupter, competing with art galleries or Etsy. But they’re not our competition.
“Our competition is the part time job of any talented Australian artist that gets in the way of them creating art. That is our competition. That is what we are disrupting. We want any talented, driven artist to sustain themselves from their craft. That’s our mission, and it’s bloody exciting we have our own space here to do it.”
Co-Founders Ed & George Hartley in front of Bluethumb’s new gallery.
The launch was sponsored by Taylors Wines and Coopers Brewery, who kept everyone in high spirits throughout the evening. And of course, Bluethumb’s famous cheese platters were scattered around and looking tantalisingly tasty.
The whole team would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who came to share in the next stage of Bluethumb’s journey.
Experience the night for yourself with a few of our favourite photos from the evening snapped by our photographer, Megan. Keep scrolling down to have a look.
The Bluethumb Melbourne team (L-R): Grace, Sheeraz, Freddy, Sarah, Alexandra & Julian
It was lovely to see the friendly faces of our artists, including Jen Shewring, Eve Sellars, Kirsty McIntyre, Kathy Best, Corinne Young and Peta Tranquille.
Look who stopped by! Former curator Janni popped in for a drink and to take in the new gallery.
Sorry that I could not make it to the launch, I had previous commitments
Everything looks great and I wish all of you and the artists much success
Kind regards
Ivana Pinaffo
What a fantastic night, wishing you every inevitable succes. I will be aspiring to have my work up on these walls 🙂
Bluethumb are a wonderful enterprise for we artists and they always have our interests at heart. Great team to work with for curators collectors and artists.
Looks like a great exhibition, sorry we could not attend, we are proud to belong to Bluethumb,
Murray and Aileen McLeod.
Looks fantastic. Hope you have lots of sales.
Looks fabulous, really sorry I couldn’t help you celebrate! Hope to call in when we’re in Melbourne.