The RBSA Gallery recently marked 25 years in the Jewellery Quarter. It’s truly a significant and inspiring place for artists, art lovers and historians alike which as well as displays and exhibitions includes a 200-year archive of artworks, catalogues, records and letters – one from none other than Wild West hero Buffalo Bill… 

When you’re over 200 years old, the number 25 could be seen as somewhat insignificant. But not for the glorious RBSA Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter. Opened 25 years ago by the-then-Prince Charles, the gallery has developed into a real gem of art and artists in the Birmingham cultural scene.

While the rich legacy of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists goes back two centuries, the Gallery’s much more recent history is both uplifting and inspiring. It is one of only two galleries outside London run by a society of artists, delivered and managed by its own members and trustees, with its own staff.

The Gallery held a celebratory exhibition last month, 25 For 25, which drew distinguished guests, including Birmingham’s Lord Mayor, as well as many members of the public. The exhibition involved two groups of 25 individuals, including the president, vice-presidents, members, associates, graduate artists, gallery staff and volunteers, each selecting an artwork or artefact from the collection.

OLD AND NEW

The brief was to choose something, old or new, with which they felt a personal connection, with explanations of the choices alongside portraits and text introducing the people behind the RBSA and its Gallery to visitors. As well as artworks, a number of documents featured, including letters from, surprisingly, Buffalo Bill and Birmingham-born creator of the city Cathedral’s famed stained-glass windows, Sir Edward Burne Jones.

The RBSA moved the Gallery to its current location in St Paul’s Square in 2000 from a building in New Street which now houses Medicine Bakery. As an artist-led charity, the Society supports creatives and promotes engagement with the visual arts through a hugely varied programme of exhibitions, events and workshops.

HISTORY-MAKING

Within the Gallery is the Society’s permanent collection – an archive of more than 1,000 artworks, catalogues, letters and records documenting the past 200-plus years. The works of many RBSA members and associates, past and present, are held within the collection, alongside other items important to the history of Birmingham as a city. The Gallery is, as a result of this collection, also an accredited museum and holds exhibitions showing items from the archive twice a year. The Gallery also features a craft shop which stocks jewellery, ceramics, textiles, prints, books, glassware and greetings cards from designers and makers based in the West Midlands and beyond.

A refurbishment project two years ago gave the Gallery a major facelift, and last year visitors numbers rose to 13,000. It’s a number which the RBSA’s recently elected president Ed Isaacs is keen to grow substantially moving forward.

VISITOR BOOST

“I would like to see this increase in the thousands,” he said, “by raising the profile of the Society as people don’t necessarily know who we are.” Ed says that aim is very much linked to getting more people in general into the Jewellery Quarter. “The profile of the JQ is increasing, but I would like to see it grow further, with more restaurants, bars, coffee shops and the like in the area, attracting more visitors who may then also visit the Gallery.”

While the Gallery’s 25th anniversary is a significant milestone, 2007 will see a more important landmark – the bicentenary of the first ever RBSA Annual Exhibition. The event is a tradition that has continued unbroken for 200 years with the exceptions of the war years of 1940 and 1941 and the 2020 Covid lockdown. “This is an occasion which I am very much working towards,” said Ed. “It speaks to the hugely important part the Society has played in the cultural ecology of our city.”

ROYAL GUEST?

Bearing in mind the Society’s royal patronage, could we perhaps expect a certain visitor from Buckingham Palace to make an appearance in Birmingham in two years’ time? “That’s something (how can I say?) that I couldn’t possibly comment on,” said Ed.

OK, but we think might get the bunting ready… just in case!