I almost missed it, but took a walk to the Grand on the final day of the show selected from, what is now being called, The Creative Foundation Collection, (formerly The Metropole Collection).

There is some interesting and enjoyable work in the collection. Some personal favourites were woodcuts by Monica Poole, a linocut by Peter Ford ( based on a superb engraving by Bruegel, of an artist and connoiseur, that I once used on a business card), a Fred Cuming mono-type of a wave, and some Alice in Wonderland prints by Peter Blake. I was also pleased to see a watercolour and pencil study of Sandgate Castle, by Kevin Hennessy, my old art teacher, and an etching of a redstart by David Koster, who taught me on foundation at Medway.

Surprisingly, the large Carel Weight painting was a disappointment. Partly because Weight’s thin scratchy brushwork seems less impressive to me now than when I enjoyed it as a student, partly because it is in poor condition, which must surely be due, to some extent, to the conditions it has been stored in(?), and partly because it was not displayed to its best advantage in the drawing room of the Grand.

This last point highlights the biggest issue to come out of the show for me. The Grand is a superb building, lives up to its name as a fine place to go for a meal or a drink and some rowdy converstion, but with the best will in the world, it is not a fitting venue for a serious art exhibition.

All of the glazed works in the Palm Court were difficult to see through the complicated reflections, and there is just too much (understandable) restaurant ‘clutter’, to see the works properly.

In the drawing room, the bird of paradise wallpaper fought against the paintings hung against it, and there was an inescapable sense that the larger paintings were squeezed into the only spaces they would fit, regardless of how well they looked.

The problem is, that with the closure of the Metropole Galleries, there is no venue in Folkestone capable of housing an exhibition of any scale and stature. The Triennial succeeded by using the whole town and its environment as the venue. But with the Metropole collection having been fought for and saved from being sold off, and (reluctantly?) taken on by the creative foundation, what is the future for it? Is it to be a stagnant collection, or will it grow, and either way, will there ever be a space in Folkestone, fit for it, and other larger shows, to be seen in?