More than 80 artists have created original postcard-sized artworks to feature in an exhibition and auction of work in Margate. The profits from all sales will support the reopening of the historic Margate Caves.
Reflecting the mysteries of the Caves, postcards will be exhibited with the artists’ names kept secret. Artists who have donated work to support The Margate Caves Community Education Trust (TMCCET) include:
– Tracey Emin, who exhibits her iconic and controversial installation My Bed at Turner Contemporary in October, and has generously donated four works;
– Paul Hazelton, who has exhibited across the world, and had a recent work in a charity auction sell for £5000. His work is included in the late Robin Williams family collection;
– Dawn Cole, who is currently Artist in Residence at Canterbury Cathedral, and her work is in the V&A permanent print collection;
– Keith Brymer Jones is a potter, who has made collections for Conran, Habitat, Barneys NY, Monsoon, Laura Ashley and Heals. He is well known as presenter of the BBC’s Great Pottery Throw Down.
Celebrities who have donated a card include comedian Mark Thomas, and there is a work by actor Montserrat Lombard, best know from Ashes To Ashes and the St Trinian’s remake.
The auction will take place on Saturday 16 September in Margate’s Harbour Arm Gallery at 2pm. Maidstone-based auctioneers Clive Emson will be wielding the gavel. Work can be viewed from Saturday 9 September, and commission bids can be placed for those who can’t attend. Check the Facebook page for details.
Margate Caves were closed in 2004. Since then, local people have been working to reopen them – and in 2017, announced that successful Big Lottery and Heritage Lottery Fund bids totalling £1.5 million meant a new visitor centre and village hall for Cliftonville could be built and the historic Caves reopened.
The group has planned an ambitious mixed-use scheme for the site. Designed by award-winning architects Kaner Olette, the building received planning permission in 2015. It is expected to open in 2019.
The Lottery funds will be used to build a new visitor centre, including a community café, will enable the refurbishment of the Caves, and provide much-needed community facilities, to be used by local people.
To find out more about the auction, to place a commission bid and to follow the Trust’s work on the new building, visit the Margate Caves page on Facebook.
Margate Caves 