Lansdown Gallery in Stroud is hosting Vintage Mary – Pushing 50, an exhibition tracing the history of the iconic weekly market in the town.
The exhibition, open on Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16th from 11am, features work from artists that utilise pieces bought at the Vintage Mary market.
History
In 1978 Mary Shiner helped a friend sell second hand school uniforms at the Friday Shambles Market, which quickly became a hub for meeting friends and having a chat.
When their market neighbour closed his bric-a-brac stall he was very much missed and Mary – having always had an affection for lovely old things – thought they could incorporate second hand homewares into their stall. Everyone loved all the quirky, useful things that she found at local auctions and so the second-hand items soon began to take over. The people of Stroud began to fill their homes with vintage china, and also began to create new things from this weekly source of interesting unique finds.
In 2008 Abi Fisk came onboard to help Mary, working behind the scenes doing the buying and preparation and also running the market.
In 2014 Rebecca from the vintage clothing shop, Strangeness & Charm, came up with the idea of doing a map with a ‘vintage shopping trail’ around Stroud. She very much wanted Mary’s vintage stall to be part of it but other than on Fridays it was invisible, and she needed a link to be able to put it on the map. She insisted that Vintage Mary would have to have a social media link and started a Facebook and Instagram Page.
The Friday Ladies was really not a very suitable social media name to use, so after much thought Vintage Mary was finally born, and everyone already knew exactly who she was.
In 2020, as a non-essential stall, Vintage Mary was closed during all the Covid lockdowns. With social distancing it became a major headache as to how to be included again. The conclusion was that Vintage Mary would have to move to a different day to continue with the stall, so in July 2020 Vintage Mary nervously opened for the first time on a Monday with the whole of the Shambles Market to fill. The space was transforming; visitors still came and now had room to talk to one another.
“After almost 50 years, practically every home in Stroud is full to the brim with beautiful vintage crockery, glassware, cutlery, textiles and some completely bonkers vintage gems – surely adding to the eccentric reputation of the town,” said Abi.
“This exhibition is a small snapshot of the many people that are inspired by the market who make, create and furnish their homes with treasures found amidst the weekly melting pot of interesting conversations and people.
“We have brought a little bit of the fun of the Monday market to the exhibition for you to experience, so feel free to sort through the vintage buttons, read the old letters & diaries, rummage through the photographs and odd books… We hope you get as much enjoyment and laughter as we do looking at them.
“We’d like to thank our generous sponsor, local resident Cath Kidston, all the artists and contributors who have shared their work and time, and Woodchester Valley Vineyard.”
The Vintage Mary Team of artists
Annie Hutchinson – Little Wren House – Annie is a multi-media textile artist who makes magical creations. @littlewrenhouse www.littlewrenhousefactory.co.uk
Annie – Shambannie – Annie creates one of a kind of wearable pieces using pre-loved material. @shambannie_creations
Antony Churchill – Antony has a fairy tale mixture of tiny homes in old clocks, copper teapots and other unlikely objects to delight and amuse you. @churchill.anthony
Carmel King – photographer specialising in documenting British craft and industry. @carmelkingphoto www.carmelking.com
Clara Bethell-Sacks – Clara is a Kintsugi artist who takes broken objects and makes them even more beautiful. @clarakintsugi www.clarakintsugi.com
Cleo Mussi – Cleo is a professional miscellaneous folklore mosaic artist who creates figurative gestures in china. @cleomussimosaics www.mussimosaics.co.uk
Delight Vintage Hire – Vintage crockery for hire. lu@delightvintageteasethire.co.uk
Dennis Gould – Stroud legend with his Victorian hand printing press. @letterpressanarchy
Emily Lawlor – ChinaJack – Emily is a professional designer maker who creates beautiful handmade mosaics from vintage china. @chinajackmosaics www.chinajackmosaics.com
Guy – Di-Sect – Outside collage artist, using scissors and glue. @disect_art www.disect.me
Kirstie – The Upcycled Tudor – Period costume maker. @theupcycledtudor
Milliagan Beaumont – Milbo Couture – Millie is an inspired textile artist specialising in giant hand embroidered giant Kimonos made from vintage materials. @milliganbeaumont
Myfanwy Brice – Textile artist. myfanwybrice@gmail.com
Susie Hetherington – Pattern and printmaker. @susiehetheringtonpatterns www.susietherington.co.uk
Sylvia Hammond – Slow Stitch Sylvia – Indigo dyeing and shibori artist @slowstitchsylvia
Zoe Heath – Zoe is a multi-disciplinary artist and collector of found objects and ephemera. @zoeheath_artist www.zoeheath.co.uk
