"The National Gallery is really coming into its own now,'' says director Laura Gorham.

"We're just starting strategic planning this month to set the vision for the future. Our vision was, `let's get it open' and prove its importance in our community. Now we are up and running we can look down the road. It's an exciting time.'' As well as staging exhibitions of art from all over the world, the National Gallery hosts a Biennial Exhibition, showcasing the work of local artists judged by an international jury.

"The mission of the gallery is to promote, benefit, and advance art in Bermuda,'' Laura says. "Ten or 14 years ago, artists painted to sell to the visitors and to their local, very conservative community. What you saw was art created and reinforced by commercial sales.

"When we opened, we committed ourselves to challenging our artists, to encouraging and nurturing them to do the best work that they could, and to do work not for the commercial audience, but for themselves.

"There's been a general getting away from doing scenes because they sell. We want to stretch and challenge the local audience and artists, open up new possibilities.

"We're looking for originality and inspiration, use of new materials, not using a formula that's going to sell. That's what we're looking for in the Biennial.'' Born in Philadelphia, Laura studied art history in the United States and completed the prestigious Sotheby's course in London. After working in the Knoedler Gallery at the top of the New York contemporary scene, she married a Bermudian and moved to the Island. She worked in Heritage House for five years and also joined the steering committee of the fledging Bermuda National Gallery before becoming its first and only director in 1991.

"Whereas in New York I would be just another person working in the art world, here I can make a significant difference through an institution like the National Gallery,'' Laura says.

"I think that museums are quite possibly the most exciting organisations to work in. You are not just connected with the community, you are doing something that you know makes a difference. You don't do it for the money -- you do it because it is such rewarding work.

"I think what I like most about working in the museum, as opposed to a commercial gallery, is that you don't have to sell the art. You don't have to ensure that your audience loves it. An audience doesn't have to love everything that they see. If they come in and say `Oh, that's absolutely dreadful!' you don't have to try to sell it for above their sofa. You can talk to them about it, try to explain it and put it into context.'' Educating a Bermudian audience about different styles of art has been an integral aspect of the growth of art on the Island. It has been a gradual process, however.

Laura said: "If you became abstract too quickly, you'd lose your audience.

We're educating an audience over a number of years. When you first learn a new language, you do it slowly and take bite-sized pieces. You shouldn't expect to like it or feel comfortable with it immediately.'' From soup cans from floor to ceiling in an Andy Warhol exhibition to an Ivory Coast mask designed to ward off sorcerers and soul stealers in an exhibition of African masks, the National Gallery has sought to appeal to a wide audience, as well as to stretch people's ideas about different styles of art.

"Art is part of your everyday life, it's all around you, everywhere you look, whether it's a chair, a building, a fork,'' Laura says. "If the only thing you're ever exposed to or see is a certain type of art, then that is all you will be comfortable with.

"With shows we have done, we have asked people to become tolerant of images, ideas, cultures, that we are not all familiar with.'' "We would not do a show because somebody painted pretty pictures. We are a museum and educational content is therefore important.'' Laura said she feels that the educational content of the shows is not only important for audiences, but also for local artists themselves.

"They can come in and see contemporary Azorean art, see the technique, the styles, be exposed to that right here at home,'' she says.

Continued on page 31 Gallery has come a long way in bringing artists together Continued from page 29 And she said she believes that a new confidence and professionalism is welding the art community together.

"There's a feeling of confidence,'' she says slowly. "They've met each other, talked to each other, shared ideas. There is a whole group of artists committed to being professionals. This has never happened before. For so long, people would come back from school, unable to sell their work, with no positive feedback and no place to show their work where cutting edge art could be seen.

"It can't all happen overnight, but we've come a long way.'' Laura has a deeply vested interest in the future of art in Bermuda.

"I'm not Bermudian, but my daughter is,'' she says. "I care very passionately that she grow up in a place where art is important.'' Laura Gorham No caption