ALL WHITE ON THE NIGHT

Gayfield Square is perhaps not where you’d expect to encounter a thriving alternative art scene, writes Rhys Fullerton, but that’s where you’ll find Whitespace.

It's a gallery very different from others you've probably come across before in Edinburgh and Broughton. 

Since 2011, it's had its home in the former tyre depot (later Doggerfisher) overlooking the side entrance to St Mary’s RC Primary School. It’s now linked to Gayfield Creative Spaces, but with the facility to run shows in its own right or team up to provide scope for larger exhibitions and events.

Whitespace began life in Out of the Blue’s drill hall on Dalmeny Street, but founders Leigh Chorlton and Kenneth Le’Riche had bigger ambitions. In Gayfield Square they found a space with room for them to  pursue creative careers in the studio area (Spurtle reviewed Chorlton’s political plates last summer) as well as to hold exhibitions and run classes and events. 

Chorlton is the gallery manager, with a very hands-off approach when it comes to the exhibitions the gallery hosts. The space is hired out on a weekly or fortnightly basis for exhibitions, installations and creative workshops, giving artists an affordable space in which to show their own work. 

The exhibitors get full creative control; there are no commission charges or curatorial inputs. They’re just given the keys and left to their own devices. Chorlton doesn’t want to act as an agent or have his own stamp on the works displayed. He wants the artists to have the control and freedom to do what they want. It’s a laid-back approach which means Whitespace is never really in competition with any other gallery.

A diverse mix of contemporary artists use the building – students, artists new to exhibiting and looking for a stepping stone into the professional art world, and some more established talents including Robert Montgomery, Chad McCail, and Keith Farquhar. 

Whitespace also runs evening and weekend classes, including two weekly drop-in life-drawing classes as well as six-week portraiture courses, taught by Chorlton. 

During August, the venue becomes part of the Fringe Festival and holds an exhibition as well as shows in the evenings. Events like Leith Late and the constant flow of new classes have kept the gallery’s profile high and allowed it to keep building on previous success.

Edinburgh Printmakers' planned relocation to Fountainbridge in 2017 will be a huge loss to this area. But Whitespace and Gayfield Creative Spaces have shown that Broughton’s art scene can flourish in the unlikeliest of places. Let’s hope any local loss will be only short-lived, and that Whitespace continues to go from strength to strength    

For more information on exhibitions and classes, visit http://www.whitespace11.com or e-mail info@whitespace11.com.