An exhi­bi­tion of etch­ings by artist Tere­sa Schip­pel Hales, inspired by the Vic­to­ri­an The­atre at Alexan­dra Palace, has opened at the pio­neer­ing new Green Rooms arts hotel in Wood Green and will run until Sun­day 10th July. The exhi­bi­tion takes place in the bar on the ground floor (see pho­to of Pri­vate View below) and is just one minute from Wood Green tube station.

Tere­sa is a local artist and mem­ber of Friends of Alexan­dra Palace The­atre. She has cre­at­ed a series of 16 etch­ings, based on pho­tographs she took of the build­ing; a strict­ly lim­it­ed num­ber of each etch­ing is avail­able to buy dur­ing the exhi­bi­tion. The etch­ings are based on pho­tographs of the unique inte­ri­or of the the­atre, which remains much as it was when it was opened in 1875.

The work is exquis­ite­ly detailed, and I love the fact that this medi­um allows the tex­tur­al qual­i­ty of the work to shine through. Tere­sa has includ­ed the Alexan­dra Palace logo as part of the work, an effec­tive and dec­o­ra­tive addition.

The Vic­to­ri­an The­atre has not host­ed reg­u­lar pub­lic per­for­mances for 80 years, and was used as a props store by the BBC when they broad­cast tele­vi­sion from Alexan­dra Palace. Now, with fund­ing from Her­itage Lot­tery Fund and Haringey Coun­cil, it is part of a major restora­tion of the East Wing of Alexan­dra Palace. Re-open­ing in spring 2018, the restora­tion will bring the the­atre back to life, with sched­uled live per­for­mances. The Alexan­dra Park team, who I met at the pri­vate view, are pas­sion­ate about bring­ing the space back into the pub­lic domain.

 

The Pri­vate View was held at the Green Room Arts Hotel, an excit­ing and pio­neer­ing new ven­ture in Wood Green. The build­ing was pre­vi­ous­ly used as a hous­ing office by Haringey coun­cil, and has been turned into an afford­able arts hotel by Nick Hartwright, who runs a social enter­prise scheme.

 

It’s a project which pro­vides nec­es­sary space and inspi­ra­tion for young (and not so young) cre­atives, with per­for­mance and stu­dio space as well as rooms. It is cer­tain­ly an impres­sive and socia­ble space, with a huge and wel­com­ing ground floor bar. Fea­tures such as a fine her­ring­bone par­quet floor have been beau­ti­ful­ly ren­o­vat­ed, and the space is dot­ted with a col­lec­tion of pre­dom­i­nate­ly mid-cen­tu­ry furniture.

To buy a lim­it­ed edi­tion etch­ing, please see infor­ma­tion at the exhi­bi­tion or con­tact the artist direct­ly: teresa_hales@hotmail.com. All pro­ceeds from the sale of the art­work will go towards the £1million fundrais­ing tar­get that is need­ed to com­plete the restora­tion of the East Wing at Alexan­dra Palace. Etch­ing prices are approx £125 framed.

The Green Room Arts hotel