The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Gallery inside telephone box calls for a visit
The wee red town of Kirriemuir has added a new art gallery to its list of local attractions – in one of the town’s old telephone kiosks.
The novel transformation adds to a list of Kirrie conversions which have seen disused BT boxes become defibrillator cabinets and even a mini library.
Locals are being invited to pop along to the official opening of the 128 Telephone Box Gallery tomorrow afternoon.
Conversion of the old K6 kiosk has been a partnership project by artist Deirdre Bennett and Kirrie Community Council.
Perth College creative industries lecturer Deirdre gained inspiration from a similar venture set up by an artist friend in Fife.
Lada Wilson’s 201 Gallery in an old Strathkinness phone box has been a success story for four years.
Deirdre said: “I moved to Kirriemuir in the middle of lockdown and it is such a lovely place.”
She became involved in local art projects and then stumbled across the disused Marywell Brae kiosk.
“I wanted to give something back to my new home,” added Deirdre.
“So I set out to create a micro contemporary art gallery, modelled on the 201 Telephone Box Gallery in Strathkinness.”
Ms Wilson will open Gallery 128 with a performance piece and talk tomorrow at 2.30pm.
It falls on the anniversary week of town author and Peter Pan creator J M Barrie’s birth in 1860.
Deirdre hopes the gallery unveiling will be the beginning of something to keep locals interested.
She said: “I’m looking for contemporary artists, established and emerging.
“It is somewhere for local, national and international artists to showcase their work and
I’d like to open up an art competition every year for local children.”
Like its Fife counterpart, the gallery takes its name from the last three digits of the kiosk’s original number.
“Even when it was being done up we had people stopping to tell us some of their stories about the phone box,” said Deirdre.
Kirriemuir Community Council chairwoman Heather Kelly said the group was delighted to see it up and running.
“Knowing we had adopted phone boxes in the past, Deirdre approached us to ask if we could help,” she said.
“It’s great to see it being used for something so different.”