40 Years of Open Eye Gallery: 1977-2017
Open Eye Gallery’s success is down to the many people who have shaped and grown the organisation over the last 40 years. The new Wall Work features snapshot-quotes from 40 people reflecting upon their experience of Open Eye Gallery. Shaped by our Research Curator and oral historian Dan Warner, and designed by Thom Isom, through the 2017 facade of the gallery we wish to pay homage to a much larger group of photographers, volunteers, partners, visitors and staff who have championed our work.
Share your experiences
#OEG40
About Thom Isom
Thom Isom is an artist and graphic designer based in Liverpool. For Open Eye Gallery’s 40th Birthday, he has created this large-scale work that celebrates the history of the Gallery by exploring the memories of those have been personally involved in its journey.
Isom uses the facade as an artspace in and of itself; adorned with forty years’ worth of anecdotes from over forty artists, photographers, visitors and staff, the work offers the chance to explore the gallery’s history ahead of experiencing the exhibits inside. The stretched and skewed timeline that wraps itself around the walls is visually striking yet informative, providing history and context to the gallery itself. The distinctly angular design of the gallery and its surroundings are echoed in the graphic background, which wraps around and between these stories.
About Dan Warner
Dan Warner is a 3rd year PhD Researcher and Teacher at the University of Liverpool. Having completed a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Cultural History, his thesis utilises social documentary photography to explore working class culture in British inner cities during the 1970s. Dan completed a placement at Open Eye Gallery in 2015, composing and delivering the Spoken Words and Photographs event during which images from the Gallery’s archive were matched with local oral histories.
Open Eye Gallery’s success is down to the many people who have shaped and grown the organisation over the last 40 years. The new Wall Work features snapshot-quotes from 40 people reflecting upon their experience of Open Eye Gallery. Shaped by our Research Curator and oral historian Dan Warner, and designed by Thom Isom, through the 2017 facade of the gallery we wish to pay homage to a much larger group of photographers, volunteers, partners, visitors and staff who have championed our work.
Share your experiences
#OEG40
About Thom Isom
Thom Isom is an artist and graphic designer based in Liverpool. For Open Eye Gallery’s 40th Birthday, he has created this large-scale work that celebrates the history of the Gallery by exploring the memories of those have been personally involved in its journey.
Isom uses the facade as an artspace in and of itself; adorned with forty years’ worth of anecdotes from over forty artists, photographers, visitors and staff, the work offers the chance to explore the gallery’s history ahead of experiencing the exhibits inside. The stretched and skewed timeline that wraps itself around the walls is visually striking yet informative, providing history and context to the gallery itself. The distinctly angular design of the gallery and its surroundings are echoed in the graphic background, which wraps around and between these stories.
About Dan Warner
Dan Warner is a 3rd year PhD Researcher and Teacher at the University of Liverpool. Having completed a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Cultural History, his thesis utilises social documentary photography to explore working class culture in British inner cities during the 1970s. Dan completed a placement at Open Eye Gallery in 2015, composing and delivering the Spoken Words and Photographs event during which images from the Gallery’s archive were matched with local oral histories.
