York Art Gallery — Attraction in Great Britain

Impressed from the start ( although unfortunately it didn’t last). As soon as we entered we received a friendly confident welcome from a young woman who showed us exactly where to go and what to find. The natural light and airy-ness of the building was a refreshing change from other dark, stuffy art galleries in the UK. The upstairs exhibitions were absorbing and we stayed double the time we had intended to (so unfortunately didn’t have time to see the downstairs exhibition); the compare and contrast theme of the paintings was contemporary, thought-provoking and relevant, with both academic and personal text alongside them. In another exhibition, the pottery /glazed works was a stimulating educational narrative which I learnt much from. Downstairs in the gift shop, there was a good selection of art books and gifts, including some naturally drawn animal/bird themed coasters and mats (which were my personal favourite). And for those on a budget, there were low priced (from around £2) 2nd-hand art books on sale. The only fly in the ointment for me and why I have only awarded 4 stars to the gallery rather than my preferred 5, was the service we received in the gallery’s ‘Sketch’ cafe. Having walked around for over 2.5 hours beforehand, I was ready for a good cup of regular coffee. I asked the waitress what cup sizes there were and was told it was one size. I naturally assumed it would be a regular size cup but on receiving it, it was barely larger than an espresso cup and not even full. I felt disappointed and rather cheated of value for money- the coffee cost £2.50 - but I didn’t complain then, only asked for some hot water (to top up the coffee), this was brought to me in a teapot(fine) and I drank the coffee. I then noticed that my friend and another customer ordered hot chocolate and a latte and they both received it in regular sized cups. So I queried this with the waitress who told me that as their drinks cost more, they received larger cups. This seemed rather illogical and unfair to me; I agree that a latte, say, would be more expensive than a regular coffee, but in this cafe where I was told that there is only one size coffee cup, then whatever type of hot drink you order (bar an expresso) should be served in a adult(!)-sized regular cup and priced only according to its coffee type. She then irrelevantly and slightly condescendingly, alluded to the fact that I had also ordered some hot water for my coffee - as if that should be enough to compensate me. I told her why I had ordered the hot water but she appeared immovable, so all I could do was simply repeat that the coffee cup was too small, but it was obvious that she didn’t care and wouldn’t take it on board. Her attitude annoyed me so I soon afterwards left the cafe while my friend paid the bill. When she told me what she’d paid, it transpired that the waitress had charged her an extra 75p, for what I can only account for as the hot water I had ordered, which should have cost nothing! This left me with a sweet and sour experience of the gallery, I will return to the latter but never...

👨🏻‍🎨York Art Gallery 🆓York Art Gallery and statue of 🗿William Etty 🏗Established 📆1882 Location🗺York, England Coordinates⏱53.962873°N 🧭1.086278°W Type💯Art museum Key holdings㊙️British Studio Pottery, ㊙️Views of York, ㊙️William Etty Collections💯Western European paintings, 💯British paintings, 💯prints, 💯watercolours, 💯drawings, 💯ceramics Visitors🈵81,402 (📆2018📆-2019) Owner💰York Museums Trust The gallery was created to provide a permanent building as the core space for 2️⃣the second Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition of 📆1879, the first in 📆1866 occupied a temporary chalet in the grounds of 🏛Bootham Asylum. The 📆1866 exhibition, which ran from 📆24 July to 📆31 October 📆1866 was attended by over 🈵400,000 people and yielded a net profit for the organising committee of £💷1,866. A meeting of this committee in 📆April 1867 committed to "applying this surplus in providing some permanent building to be devoted to the encouragement of Art and Industry". 2020 "👨🏻‍🎨Harland Miller: York, So Good They Named it Once" (📆14 February 2020–📆31 May 2020), an exhibition of paintings by 👨🏻‍🎨Harland Miller and the largest solo show of the artist to date. During the 📆2020 exhibition of paintings by 👨🏻‍🎨Harland Miller ("👨🏻‍🎨Harland Miller: York, So Good They Named it Once") it was reported that commemorative posters sold in the Art Gallery gift shop were being resold online for up to £💷1000. The posters depicted a reworked version of 👨🏻‍🎨Miller's 2009 work 'York – So Good They Named It Once'; part of his '🦜Pelican Bad Weather' series of humorous book covers. During the 😷COVID-19 pandemic the gallery, along with the other 🏛York Museums Trust sites, closed to the public on 📆23 March 2020. It was announced in 📆July that the gallery would reopen on 📆1 August (🧱Yorkshire Day) 📆2020 and that it would not charge visitors.🆓;Exhibition Square,🎙York📮YO1 7EW,...

Lovely building, fancy cafe, friendly staff and interesting exhibits. Family visit on a birthday trip to York. I called ahead to check on wheelchair access and suitability for our 8 year old.

Absolutely fab visit, in fact we are visiting again this weekend as we spent so long in only a few of the exhibit spaces. Our daughter found so much to do and we adults were very relaxed as so much consideration has been taken to involve and inspire everyone. Several sculptures with signs encouraging touching! Everything was clearly labelled and we enjoyed the computer screens that showed what all the pottery exhibits were.

In terms of access, the doors are electronic, excellent lifts, locker system and fairly priced. As a wheelchair user It was half price and I could have a carer come in for free with me. As under 16 year old were free it was a very good value visit.

Ate in cafe. Maybe too expensive for every visit but as it was my birthday we enjoyed fancy open sandwiches (salmon, cream cheese and dill on foccacia .... And ham and apple) our daughter enjoyed a lovely macaroni cheese as it was a cold day. All came with fresh side salad and friendly service. Gorgeous selection of fruit cordials, teas and coffees etc. Cafe looks tricky for wheelchairs.... But after a few second of rearranging the staff discreetly made it easy.

Cracking place.... Came back on here as we're going...