Sevenoaks artist Andree Adley launches pop-up art exhibition to help emerging talent

“I think that moment changed how I thought about myself designing and doing art. It kind of made me think ‘Hold on, I must be doing something good here’.”

When Andree Adley (@andreeadleyart ) was asked to make a broach for Kent’s iconic fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, she was taken aback. Finding it difficult to show off her works due to ever-creeping gallery fees, that little boost was the catalyst for Andree to take matters into her own hands.

“It changed my thought patterns,” she says. “I thought ‘Why sit back and, in my head, complain about how things are? Why don’t I just try and do it myself?’.

Based in Sevenoaks, Andree set about creating The Secret Salon (@the_secretsalon_), a roaming pop-up art gallery aimed at offering opportunity and inclusivity for all artists.

Andree studied at Chelsea School of Art and Central Saint Martins and has worked in a number of creative industries, from music to fashion, but her passion for contemporary art has led to a drive to make a positive impact on the industry.

“It is apparent that exhibition opportunities have become something that are increasingly unaffordable for a lot of emerging artists,” she says. “Art should be inclusive - but in actuality it’s the opposite. Art is not exclusive and should embrace anyone who wants to pick up a pencil or brush.”

A first The Secret Salon event took place in the summer of 2023 at the Sunshine International Arts space in Brixton.

“It took me quite a while to find somewhere that I could afford, to be honest,” says Andree. “But it was really good. We weren’t sure whether we’d be able to do it because it was in an old archway and I couldn’t put any nails in the walls. I did start to panic, but then I saw a couple of pipes at the end of the rooms, so I got some really nice strong wire, pulled it across and I hung everything up. It worked in the end!”

Working artists were asked for a small contribution towards the fees for putting on the event, while students were allowed to show free of charge.

“Students are not to be excluded,” says Andree. “It seems to be that there are students and college and then galleries and artists - it doesn’t seem that students, you know, get into galleries unless it’s to do with college.”

Getting the word out, some 40 artists applied to be a part of the first pop-up, with 20 chosen to be exhibited.

“It was nice, you know, I wasn’t overwhelmed. And it was good because I could make it look a certain way. I’ve been in quite a lot of exhibitions myself and a lot of them can be a bit stuffy. But I’m not like that as a person, I’m more of a wildcard, so I want to have something that’s a bit exciting. It’s a bit underground and you don’t really know what’s gonna happen or what could be in it!”

Not afraid of colour or statement, as you can see from social media, Andree’s own art takes the form of paintings, sculpture and jewellery. From pearly crucifixes to Big Brother’s all-seeing eyes.

“I’m not a regular kind of person. I’ve always been a bit different,” says Andree, who is inspired by renowned sculpturist and performance artist Andrew Logan. “My mum was a fashion designer, she used to sell clothes to little boutiques in London and things. I’ve always had clothes, frills and feathers and things around me. I like black nail varnish and I like chandeliers.

“This year, I’ve been mostly thinking about freedom, really,” says Andree. “I noticed where I live that all the devices and technology are just becoming more and more prominent. There never used to be any cameras here and now there’s only one little lane without the camera on it. I just thought it’s really weird. I go to bed at night and in the morning there’s more cameras, or more things have popped up, and I think it’s done in a kind of backdoor way, in a sort of very quiet way.

“I’ve been concentrating on that and doing paintings and works to do with that.”

Andree recently had work exhibited at The Lido Stores in Cliftonville as part of the Lido Open, where her pieces were picked out of 700 entries by owner Kristen Healey and renowned stuckist artist Charles Williams.

While a second Secret Salon took place in Hackney Wick in December, the third instalment is likely to be in Kent.

“I want to do one for small works, like postcards or something, in a beach hut in Whitstable or Margate, or somewhere like that,” she says. “I love Kent, so I thought it’d be really fun because, like the first one, it’s very much a social thing. All the artists were meeting each other. Solo artists or people working on their own can be really lonely. I think it’s a really positive thing.”

The next step will see Andree look for funding for the project, to grow The Secret Salon into a more regular occurrence.

“That’s the goal. Just to try to grow it and make it longer,” she says. “It will still be a pop-up but hopefully bring in collectors or buyers, you know, people who love art. But just to grow it in a healthy and true kind of way.”