Put off by attitude and atmosphere

Beverley Daniels: St Margaret of Cordona with Heti and Ada (top)

Jean Hurst: We4 in the Garden with Van Gogh (below)

The Herstory exhibition at the Link Gallery in Winchester in which I have two pieces is about to end this weekend. I should have written a post about it ages ago, but somehow I have felt rather negative about the whole experience. I am certainly delighted with the quality of the
work with which mine is keeping company, and the space itself is a bright attractive gallery on two floors with lots of light.
When I knew about my inclusion in the exhibition I looked up the gallery, and saw that an interesting exhibition of photographs was on there for another few days. My husband and I decided to pay the venue a visit to see the pictures of Chernobyl, and to suss out the space.
We found the place easily enough from their website, but they had not warned us that there were no public parking spaces - indeed there was hardly anywhere to pause! I dashed in while my husband waited in the car, primed to move out of the way if needed. I found folks setting up a temporary conference, and sought out someone who could point me to the photos. Well, the photos were obscured by the conference stands, which would be there until beyond the duration of the exhibition. And although normally we could have parked -if a place was available - and come in to request a parking permit (no information about this had been on the website, nor on the numerous displays round the place saying no parking without a permit) we could not park today anyway because of the conference!
I complained to Women's Work who were about to put on the Herstory exhibition, and it is true that the gallery website did change some of their information - and at least one of the listings has the dates of the gallery's opening down as just weekdays now. But it still feels as if the venue is there simply to make the University feel good about its cultural credentials.
I wanted to return to see the Herstory exhibition, and so we got a bus there. We found a variety of good work, well hung, but bereft of anyone around. The exhibition had been on for at least a week, but there were only a handful of comments. I had the distinct feeling that no-one other than exhibitors and their friends had been to the opening, and perhaps no-one else had visited the show. There was certainly no-one there during the half hour or so that we were there, except one of the other artists checking whether any of her free postcards had gone - they hadn't, which she found most unusual.
There were large pieces of catering furniture clogging up one side of the first room, and another table with coffee and cups along another wall. While we were looking round several women who appeared to be staff of the University whose gallery it is came for their coffee and chat, and looked at us as if we were invaders with no right to be there.
Nonetheless we did have a good look round, and I was pleased to be in the company of such a diverse and interesting group of artists. So many pieces attracted me, and some intrigued me; but the ones which stood out for me were Penelope Wakeham with her two What if? collages (pictured immediately above). I later saw technically similar collages at the RA Summer Exhibition by David Mach, but found Penelope Wakeham's so much more engaging and worthwhile in thought-provoking exploration of subject. She has sourced internet images and carefully collaged together fantasy other life possibilities - in these cases tongue-in-cheek 'ideal'.

Next to my piece above, and unapproachable because of the table with the coffee cups was the work of another artist I liked: Ruth Wallace. I loved the density of her drawing and the subject matter - and its mysterious atmosphere, slightly diminished by the adjacent furniture, but not completely lost.
Other artists I was drawn to were Beverley Daniels, Caroline Kirton, and Lisa Traxler.
I was also intrigued by one piece of work which roamed over three areas in the gallery, but which had no label anywhere. I later found that it is by Gill Horn and is called Life Drawing - part of the University's public collection, as is another piece in the gallery: another multi-piece work entitled Repetitious Landscapes. This I found beautiful, but wished it had not been hung so high that I could not see it properly.
Overall, I was pleased with my inclusion in such diverse quality work - but my bitter taste from the encounters with the gallery still linger. Is it true that any exposure is worthwhile as long as one is seen with companions of merit?