Tastes of Culture

Birmingham is a fascinating city in the English county of the West Midlands, it is an incredibly popular destination for weekend city breaks. The city features an incredible number of first class attractions including a great many listed churches and other important structures as well as many museums and galleries, including Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.

The Ikon Gallery is an art gallery specialising in contemporary art which is situated in the building which was previously the Oozells Street Board School in Brindleyplace, but it wasn’t always so suitably housed.

The Ikon was founded in 1964 by Angus Skene and 4 students of art. The 4 artists were; Jesse Bruton, Robert Groves, Sylvani Merilion and David Prentice. Angus Skene had acquired one of Prentice’s paintings and the pair of them talked about the numerous problems suffered by local artists, including the dire lack of support. The conversation led to the creation of Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.

Angus Skene financed the project initially, which consisted of mobile exhibitions in such varied venues as cinemas and post offices in a motorcycle sidecar, the idea was to make art more accessible to the general public. To to keep the expense minimal staffing was by the founding artists who did not charge. Later the Ikon Gallery established itself in a glass stall in the Bull Ring shopping centre.

During the next two decades the Ikon Gallery moved from location to location until 1997 when it purchased, with help from the National Lottery, the current premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. In the last few years the Gallery has held a number of exhibitions and its continual ability to excel has led to it becoming incredibly popular, to such a degree that it opened another gallery in 2006, Ikon Eastside in Digbeth.

If you are planning a vacation in Birmingham we hope that you actually spend some time in the Ikon Gallery. Also it is important to know that although there are many hotels and guest houses in Birmingham finding bed and breakfast in Birmingham can every now and again be pretty difficult. Because of this it is crucially important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You should be aware that Birmingham Airport is roughly 8 miles from the the city center just off the A45 and near the M42 (junction 6). You will discover that there is a useful number of guest houses and hotels nearby the airport.

If you are planning to stay in Birmingham bed and breakfast accommodation you may be interested in our listings of accommodation near the Ikon Gallery