Vacations Blog

Birmingham is a vibrant city in the English county of the West Midlands and it is a really popular vacation destination and  day trips. The city has an incredible selection of superb attractions including many churches which have Grade I status and other important buildings as well as many museums and galleries, including Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.

Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery is an art gallery focusing on contemporary art which is situated in the building which was once the Oozells Street Board School in Brindleyplace, but it was not always in such surroundings.

The gallery was founded in nineteen sixty four by Angus Skene and 4 artists.  The 4 artists were; Sylvani Merilion, Jesse Bruton, David Prentice and Robert Groves. Angus Skene had acquired and the two of them talked about the numerous problems suffered by local artists, which included the extreme lack of venues and support for local artists.  The discussion resulted in the basic concepts for Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.

Skene initially funded the project, which consisted of exhibitions in such varied venues as cinemas and post offices in a motorcycle sidecar. The idea was to allow the general public more access to art.  In order to keep the overheads down staffing duties was by the family, friends and the founding artists who did not charge. In 1965 the Gallery established itself in a glass walled stall in the Bull Ring shopping centre.

During the next couple of decades the Ikon Gallery moved from location to location until 1997 when it bought, with help from the National Lottery Fund, the current premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. recently the Gallery has held a selection of exhibitions and its continuous ability to excel has led to it becoming surprisingly popular, to such an extent that it opened another gallery in 2006, Ikon Eastside in  Digbeth.

If you are thinking about taking a Birmingham vacation we hope that you would think about visiting the Ikon Gallery. Also it is important to know that although there are many guest houses and hotels in Birmingham finding Birmingham bed and breakfast can sometimes be rather difficult. Because of this it is vitally important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You should be aware that Birmingham’s international airport is about eight miles east of the center of the city just off the A45, near the M42. You will discover that there is a number of guest houses near to the airport.