Exhibitions, Events, Talks, Learning Projects and more – find out what’s happening at Drawing Room!
Find out our opening hours, how to get here and learn more about our space & local area.
Drawing Room/Tannery Arts Unit 1b, New Tannery Way Bermondsey London, SE1 5WS
Our Learning projects make drawing relevant and accessible to our community – for schools, teachers, families & local groups. Come and Draw!
Free and open to all, our Library is a unique collection of around 4,000 books dedicated to the exploration of contemporary drawing.
Our Members support all that we do and enjoy exclusive events, talks, tours and studio visits – find out how you can join!
Buy publications related to our exhibitions, as well as unique artworks and limited editions.
Find out more about Drawing Room, what we do, and our relationship with studio provider Tannery Arts.
Tannery Arts is a small, independent charity concerned with supporting the professional development of emerging and established artists through the provision of affordable studios, promoting their practice through opportunities to exhibit work, develop projects, generate partnerships with local authorities, private property owners and social housing organisations as well as engage in learning activities.
Explore key milestones in the shared history of Tannery Arts and Drawing Room and their longstanding connection to Bermondsey, south London.
Tannery Arts founded by artists David Austen, David Foster, Chris Pauling and Alison Wilding. It has been registered as a Community Benefit Society since 2000. Tannery Arts was initially set up in Crucifix Lane, Bermondsey, housing the studios of Alison Wilding, Rachel Whiteread, David Austen and Chris Pauling.
Tannery Gallery, directed by Stephen Hepworth, runs a series of curatorial projects in collaboration with guest curators Andrew Renton and Melissa E. Feldmann, including artists such as Paul McCarthy, Mariko Mori and Catherine Yass.
Drawing Room initiated as a peripatetic curatorial project by curators Mary Doyle, Kate Macfarlane and Katharine Stout. It launched with Drawing on Space, a book and exhibition co-curated with Grant Watson, published and hosted by fa projects London and Project, Dublin. Its next show, Beachcombers, toured to 3 venues outside London.
Rachel Whiteread leaves her Laburnum Street studio, which is offered to Drawing Room to present a public facing programme in order for Tannery Arts to obtain charitable status. Drawing Room had no backing and relied on grants to support exhibitions and publications. The space was shared with David Risley gallery for a few years to spread costs and build audiences. The first exhibition in this semi-permanent location, the Drawing One Hundred fundraiser, helped to kick start a more regular exhibition programme on the premises.
New Tannery Arts studios established at Rich Industrial Estate, Bermondsey before being relocated to Willow Walk, Bermondsey, along with Drawing Room.
Tannery Projects is founded, enabling Tannery artists to partner with organisations such as Hop Projects/CT20 and Recreation Grounds, to commission artists in public contexts.
Tannery Studios opens sites at Burgess Business Park, Parkhouse St, Camberwell, and at Rodney Place, Elephant and Castle. Drawing Room relocates to Rodney Place from 2018-22.
In 2022, Cantilever House, Lewisham, became the latest site for Tannery Arts before our move to our new home at New Tannery Way, Bermondsey, in Sep 2023.