The Shop Front is a studio and project space in the Cliftonville area of Margate on the East Kent Coast
Our shop window is given over to show work & project outcomes by a range of artists, community groups and others, with a broad theme of people & place.
On now
Crushed – Kavel Rafferty
A selection of old coke cans, collected from the streets of Thanet. A pop art piece using this iconic brand, reminiscent of Warhol of course, but also a comment on the rubbish left in our towns. The original uniformity of these mass produced tins has been destroyed, yet are still recognizable. Each Coca-Cola tin has now become unique with damage and decay.
For this installation at the Shop Front, Kavel has used limited edition lithograph prints as a repeat, treating them as wallpaper.
Past collaborations
Players and Steppers
An exhibition by illustrator M. Oliver, inspired by the spontaneity, humour and playful power of music and dancing. Including an animated loop presented as a kinetic sculpture in the Shop Front window.
Margate Capriccio
A large scale photography piece was the first work to be produced in the studio and show at the Lombard Street Gallery as part of Margate Festival.
Reconstructing Reality
An installation by Heather Tait based on her project Reconstructing Reality, in which alternative newspaper headlines appeared around Margate.
Cliftonville Camera
To coincide with the Margate Festival 2016 we experimented with turning the whole of the shop front into a camera obscura.
Eat My Words
‘Eat My Words’ a neon and mixed media installation by Margate artist Annie Nichols, originally shown at the Barbican Centre, as part of the Fish Island Labs showcase, Interfaces.
London Outline
A set of plan prints from Jon Spencer’s London Outline project which explores the representation of the capital's buildings as found in graphical depicitions of the London skyline.
The Itinerant
In collaboration with the Margate Festival we hosted a show of tintype photographs by Rob Ball - these wonderfully evocative images were all taken at the celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool.
Cultural response to climate emergency
We joined more than 50 theatres, arts venues and community spaces across the world, including the Liverpool Everyman, Bath’s Walcot Chapel, Aberdeen Performing Arts in the UK, and venues in Zambia and Canada, Latvia and New Zealand, to host readings.
POW Festival
We were delighted to be one of several venues across Thanet showing one of the fabulous banners made by various local groups (in our case Drapers Mill School) with Artist Jessica Voorsanger for POW 2019.
Print Pop Up
A pop up photography print shop was held across the project space and studio featuring the work of a range of photograhers; Heather Tait, Jo Bridges, Ollie Harrop, Gabrielle Hall, Duncan Robertson and Jon Spencer.
Players and Steppers
An exhibition by illustrator M. Oliver, inspired by the spontaneity, humour and playful power of music and dancing. Including an animated loop presented as a kinetic sculpture in the Shop Front window.
Margate Capriccio
A large scale photography piece was the first work to be produced in the studio and show at the Lombard Street Gallery as part of Margate Festival.
Reconstructing Reality
An installation by Heather Tait based on her project Reconstructing Reality, in which alternative newspaper headlines appeared around Margate.
Cliftonville Camera
To coincide with the Margate Festival 2016 we experimented with turning the whole of the shop front into a camera obscura.
Eat My Words
‘Eat My Words’ a neon and mixed media installation by Margate artist Annie Nichols, originally shown at the Barbican Centre, as part of the Fish Island Labs showcase, Interfaces.
London Outline
A set of plan prints from Jon Spencer’s London Outline project which explores the representation of the capital's buildings as found in graphical depicitions of the London skyline.
The Itinerant
In collaboration with the Margate Festival we hosted a show of tintype photographs by Rob Ball - these wonderfully evocative images were all taken at the celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool.
Cultural response to climate emergency
We joined more than 50 theatres, arts venues and community spaces across the world, including the Liverpool Everyman, Bath’s Walcot Chapel, Aberdeen Performing Arts in the UK, and venues in Zambia and Canada, Latvia and New Zealand, to host readings.
POW Festival
We were delighted to be one of several venues across Thanet showing one of the fabulous banners made by various local groups (in our case Drapers Mill School) with Artist Jessica Voorsanger for POW 2019.
Players and Steppers
An exhibition by illustrator M. Oliver, inspired by the spontaneity, humour and playful power of music and dancing. Including an animated loop presented as a kinetic sculpture in the Shop Front window.
Margate Capriccio
A large scale photography piece was the first work to be produced in the studio and show at the Lombard Street Gallery as part of Margate Festival.
Reconstructing Reality
An installation by Heather Tait based on her project Reconstructing Reality, in which alternative newspaper headlines appeared around Margate.
Cliftonville Camera
To coincide with the Margate Festival 2016 we experimented with turning the whole of the shop front into a camera obscura.
Eat My Words
‘Eat My Words’ a neon and mixed media installation by Margate artist Annie Nichols, originally shown at the Barbican Centre, as part of the Fish Island Labs showcase, Interfaces.
London Outline
A set of plan prints from Jon Spencer’s London Outline project which explores the representation of the capital's buildings as found in graphical depicitions of the London skyline.
The Itinerant
In collaboration with the Margate Festival we hosted a show of tintype photographs by Rob Ball - these wonderfully evocative images were all taken at the celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool.
Cultural response to climate emergency
We joined more than 50 theatres, arts venues and community spaces across the world, including the Liverpool Everyman, Bath’s Walcot Chapel, Aberdeen Performing Arts in the UK, and venues in Zambia and Canada, Latvia and New Zealand, to host readings.
POW Festival
We were delighted to be one of several venues across Thanet showing one of the fabulous banners made by various local groups (in our case Drapers Mill School) with Artist Jessica Voorsanger for POW 2019.