Amma Gyan wants to give more people the ability to proudly proclaim exactly that after expanding her Amanartis business into atria Watford. The artist and designer joined forces with Watford Borough Council in 2020 to re-imagine the chapel at Vicarage Road Cemetery into a creative space where artists can originate and exhibit their work. That will continue but Amma, who moved to Watford from East London approaching 15 years ago, has been seeking a more central location in the town to reach more people.
After speaking to the shopping centre management, a proposal was accepted and she has taken on a lease for the Gallery area on Level One, next to Palace car park. “It’s always been the Gallery but it’s never been fully occupied as such,” she said. “I think the centre manager’s very experience-driven and wanted to make the most of it.
Art and all things creative is one of the ways you can do that because it’s different and it changes. “I think it was fortunate that I’d had the chapel so I had a bit of a track record of doing something similar that had been received well.” Amma has taken the rooms at the Gallery and is using them to “map the journey” – from having an idea and putting it on paper, to exhibiting it and selling it.
A studio is available to hire on a longer-term basis for those who want to commit more time and develop their practice, there are two smaller, more flexible spaces which Amma is open to ideas to how best to utilise, as well as a .