Sneak Peek: Renovations

Here's a little sneak preview of what's been going on behind the scenes at View Point - we've been lightening and brightening the (soon-to-be) cafe seating area and the stairwell to the gallery, stay tuned for the finished product!

A few quick notes...

While the blog has been rather quiet, it would be safe to say that View Point has been a hive of activity lately!

We've welcomed many new and exciting stockists over the last few weeks, stay tuned for stockist spotlights in the coming weeks.

Bendigo was featured in the latest Peppermint Mag, including a mention of us in the shopping section! This issue is available in store (only a handful of copies left, so get in quick to secure yourself one).

We've also been in the local paper: Pleased with the progress by Rosemary Sorensen

We had a stall at the Peppergreen Farm Community Festival and spent the day spreading the View Point word far and wide!

We've been hosting an exhibition by Djonn Cosgriff in the gallery space upstairs, have you checked it out yet? With only a few days left before the exhibition ends, pop in and have a look through our gallery space at some incredible esoteric works by the Visual ENdjinnEER.

And finally we'll be altering our trading hours slightly over the Easter period, with extended trading hours over the Easter Saturday and Sunday.

Exciting things are a-bewin'!

 

After a six month incubation period, the Next On Now Art Blast is almost upon us! Next On Now will culminate in a weekend long arts festival, the Next on Now Art Blast from 24^th to 26^th February. Showcasing seven artists throughout Bendigo in a variety of mediums.

The Art Blast features seven installations with works by artists Leonie Kelsall, Tom Pender, Kelly Robson, Christine Sayer, Katie Sfetkidis, Isobelle Sirianni, Amy Turton and Rick Whateley. You can meet the artists and learn more about their journey at the Next on Now Art Blast launch on Tuesday 7^th February, 5-6:30pm at El Gordo Café, Chancery Lane, Bendigo.

The Art Blast opens on Friday 24^th February from 6pm-8pm upstairs at Viewpoint Handmade Gallery, 13 View Point, Bendigo and runs through Saturday and Sunday. A weekend pass to the Art Blast costs $10 and provides you with a program containing locations map, cultural notes and admission to all installations and performances. Passes are available from the Capital Theatre Box Office at 50 View Street, Bendigo or telephone 03 5434 6100. For more information about Next on Now visit the artists’ blog at www.nextonnow.com. 

 

This will also be the first chance for the public to catch a glimpse of View Point Handmade Gallery's upstairs exhibition and workshop space - don't miss the opportunity to see what Central Victoria has to offer!

Celebratory Giveaway

View Point celebrated it's 2 month birthday yesterday, with cake (well, tart... but cake is more traditional) Since opening we've been overwhelmed by the amount of support we've received from the Bendigo community and the Art and Craft community both locally and further afield.

We don't just have a successful first 2 months of trading to be excited about - we're also making progress on the renovation of the rest of the building, the eventual arrival of our EFTPOS terminal (we have entered a new age!) and we're creeping up to a milestone 350 fans on facebook.

We'd love to celebrate with all of you by doing what we do best, sharing a little handmade love around!

We've decided to host a giveaway, with some gracious donations from some of our wonderful stockists, here's more about the prizes and details on how you can enter.

The Prizes:
I couldn't decide what to pick for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize, so instead have opted for THREE prize packs of equal awesomeness. More prizes are likely to be added over the course of the competition, but here is a terrible photo (I really must remember to bring my camera in to the store) of one of the prize packs as they stand currently. (as a side note, how adorable is our christmas fabric in the background??)

Each pack is worth around $40 (currently) and contains:
- a vanilla chocolate cupcake soap from Urthly Organics
- a metal or cord bookmark from Mrs Monkei Jewellery
- a badge pack from Badger & Coyote
- a blank card from Able & Game

Stay tuned to our facebook for details of the additions to the prize packs!


How to Enter:
Perform one of the following to earn an entry into the competition. You can enter as many times as you like, but please leave a separate comment below this post for each of the following actions:

• Like our facebook and leave a friendly message! (Note that only likes from your personal page count!)
• Publicise View Point in some way- and let us know how (Tweet, blog, shout-out…whatever!)
• Follow our blog (that's where you are now!) and comment on one of the other posts.
• Tell us about something you’ve already bought from View Point, customer appreciation photos earn extra points - upload a photo to our facebook or email us a copy.
•  Follow this blog (or say hello if you already are!).

The competition will run until the 1st of December, 2011 and the winners will be drawn randomly from the comments below. Good luck!

We're open!

Front Window Display

Pheww - It's been a whirlwind, to say the least, but we've opened the retail store for business!

Stage one was launched last Friday, the 2nd of September and boy what a response we've had from the community of Bendigo! It's been wonderful meeting all of our stockists and customers, each with a story or words of wisdom to share.

Head on over to our facebook page to read some of our customers reviews and have a look at the photo gallery for more images of the finished space.

Also launched at the same time was our first exhibition - a mini group show in the retail space, featuring 5 artists who entered pieces centred around the theme of 'In The Beginning'. Images of the pieces in this exhibition are available via the 'In The Beginning' photo album. Sorry for directing everyone to facebook photo albums, but we've been having some technical difficulties with our internet and can't upload much for the time being.

You can also read more about View Point Handmade Gallery on these stockist blogs: Muska & Elvis, Able & Game and Booqi.

Still to come at View Point - a cafe, outdoor eatery/live music area and a dedicated art space upstairs.. And hopefully more regular blog posts as we get into the swing of things over here at the Gallery.

Sneak Peeks

the 'Secret Garden' courtyard

For more sneak peeks of our location and progress updates are we start the shop fit out, head on over to our facebook page and 'like' us!