Lotte Attwood: Reflection of Fen Ditton Gallery's 2nd Anniversary
Construction work at the Fen Ditton Gallery, Jan 2018
It was with absolute trepidation that I bought 23 High Street, Fen Ditton in October 2017. I wanted to move from Cambridge to be near my mother and when this property came up for sale bang next door to her, I thought it was meant to be. Instead of sizing down, as one usually does at my age, I upsized and took on the responsibility of running a gallery, which is an integral part of the house.
The gallery space needed updating so with the help of Amanda Game and Matthew Maier of Brocklehurst Architects, the design of the space came to fruition and my son Luke started work. This wasn’t an easy time for me, establishing a new life in Fen Ditton and adding the new career path as a gallery owner to my photographic work, whilst also managing the building work on the property for five months!
As the opening date of our first exhibition as Fen Ditton Gallery came closer, I began to realise that all the hard work was paying off and we would open with a truly lovely, elegant gallery, boasting extraordinary natural light and the first exhibition Borderlands (May 2018) looked great.
Co-creator of Spitting Image, Roger Law at Fen Ditton Gallery with his Fogg Dam Tapestry
In June 2019, I curated my first exhibition Birds, a mixed exhibition of works by artists who study the habits, form and character of birdlife. During this exhibition, I introduced the work of Spitting Image’s Roger Law to the gallery – his first Cambridge exhibition, despite his life-long connection to the area. The exhibition received a fantastic response from the visitors and Roger’s Fogg Dam Tapestry was an eye-catcher as you entered the room.
So here we are, two years on and Amanda Game is still very much actively involved, curating exhibitions, offering advice on establishing the gallery from her 40 years of experience.
Hannah, my daughter, has now joined the enterprise and is on hand to manage just about everything! Thank goodness she is practical, has experience in marketing and along with it the enthusiasm and creativity to push the gallery forward into an exciting future. Hannah and I are both passionate about black and white photography and that’s something we have been working with Amanda to bring into the gallery programme and be recognised for.
The last two years have been a huge learning curve me and I have gained confidence in living up to the title of gallery owner. I look forward to welcoming our artists and visitors back to the gallery for a much-needed glass of bubbly soon!