ASOC, the Artists’ Society of Canberra, turned on a grand opening over the weekend for its newest venture.

Loyal members of the society, the oldest art group in Canberra, gathered at Bespoke Framing and Photography in Phillip, where owner Steve Brown, himself a photographer and passionate aficionado of art, has offered the society a shopfront area for the sale of paintings by ASOC members.

While initially the organisers had expected that a modest number of paintings would be hung, the eventual number of works on display was over 80, so Brown had rejigged his arrangements to make space for the works, including one and two of his own photographs.

Brown told “CityNews” that his long-range plan was to turn the shop into a “hub” for arts, where people could gather, buy art supplies, sell their work and listen to talks about painting and other visual arts.

As he expanded into another section of the building on busy Townshend Street, Phillip, he envisaged offering exhibition spaces to artists at very reasonable cost, offset, if they wished, by a framing deal that would see their work looking the best it could.

The president of ASOC, Alan Jones, said that in the face of rising rental for art spaces, the society had been motivated to find another exhibiting outlet and this partnership seemed the perfect answer. Brown would take a small commission on sales and so would ASOC, but not on a prohibitive scale.

ASOC shopfront at Bespoke Framing and Photography, 8 Townshend Street, Phillip, open Mon-Fri 8.30-5pm, Saturday 9am -2pm.