We haven’t written a great deal about the how and why of VentnorBlog, so forgive us this slight indulgence.
How we got here
We’re on the Island due to a night of insanity, when, in the course of a single evening, we decided to sell our place in London, leave and move to Ventnor, lock, stock and barrel.
Sal had never been to the Island and I’d only been a handful of times, starting with the classic school trip, including the inevitable Blackgang Chine visit, way back when I was around ten.
Moving in didn’t go as planned, due to an increasingly awkward house vendor (thanks Eva!)
Once we’d actually got in to the house and settled in, one thing that really impressed us was the considerable talent on the Island – artists of all sorts as well as musicians.
Shows like Mash and Shopping Trolley knocked us sideways – exciting us wildly.
Why start the Blog?
Frankly when we got here, we couldn’t believe how much was going on and wanted to tell others about it.
Given our previous experience with online stuff, we thought we’d knock together a little blog for people locally and beyond.
The bomb in The Haven was the impetus for us to start, which was followed in pretty succession by the Chicane blast down the Cascade; The Bees playing The Venue and Peter Lawson at the Quay.
It was pretty clear that we weren’t going to be short of things to write about.
Back then, we had no idea what we were getting into or that it might become what it is now. Frankly over the past 2.5 years, it’s spiraled out of control.
Keeping the VB beast fed with content and stories takes up a considerable proportion of our lives, something that we’re willing to donate at the moment because we believe in making a positive contribution to the community – that’s right folks, we don’t make any money out of doing this. But who knows, that might change in the future (fingers crossed!).
Why VentnorBlog Presents …
While the Quay Arts and various art collectives (tip of the hat to icandi) have done great work for local artists, people were still telling us that they were struggling to find places to be exhibited.
We wanted to find a great venue to hold the event in, and at the end of last year we thought we found a fab place. Health and Safety issues put the kibosh on that in the end, so we were overjoyed when Shuba and Mark at the Bonchurch Manor Hotel were so enthused when we suggested the idea to them.
It felt like a natural extension of the artistic coverage we’d had on VentnorBlog, to try and get together an exhibition.
Organising it, we quickly came to realise (and continue to) how much work is involved with this type of thing. Hats off to other who have done similar events in the past.
If this goes as we hope, there’s a chance that we might do another one.
We hope you all take the opportunity to come along over the weekend and see the output of these great artists. The work that they’ve created has never been shown here before.
Don’t forget your cheque books. You could get to own a unique piece of Island art.
[Image of Blackgang Chine reproduced with kind permission of Isle of Wight Attractions
Image of Bonchurch Manor Hotel Lounge courtesy of Bonchurch Manor Hotel]
