THE Engine Room Gallery in North Street, inner city Belfast, is now probably the largest exhibition space in town.
Asking artist and gallerist Lise McGreevy, she tots up the four main galleries over three floors and the corridor used as hanging space, before making the claim. "Yes, we are, although I don't know the exact square footage."
The Engine Room certainly gives The MAC and The Ulster Museum a run for their money in terms of its ability to present the work by noted painters and new talent. If there is an optimum space in which to view paintings, drawings and small sculpture, the Engine Room probably has it.
Too little room and a great piece of art can dwindle: I remember once trying to back away enough from Stanley Spencer's The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-27) in a too narrow gallery within Tate Britain. But here the work can sing.
There is material by famous names such as Neil Shawcross and Brian Ballard, who belong to the East Belfast Arts Collective that runs the show. They don't create together, unlike recent Turner Prize winners Array Collective, but democratically decide on Engine Room artistic policy.
There are gems, including a vibrant Shawcross still life with white objects roughly outlined on an intense red background. The second floor gallery contains stunning ceramics, some patterned slipware, plus some non-uniform plates and round jars with neat openings.
The paintings are impressive too. Talking to Fred Woodhead, a local artist who is thrilled to have recently sold a cityscape for £140, he says: "This is a great place to show work. I painted a view of a city, could be New York, on cardboard, then when I cropped it saw this Day of The Triffids figure in the foregound."
The result suggests nature fighting back against human interference, and chimes with our times.
Artist Cliff Brooks remembers founding The Engine Room with his partner, Joanne, back in 1996 at its original site in the Portview Trade Centre on the Newtownards Road: the gallery was named for the former function of its original space in this converted linen mill.
"I started it about 25 years ago and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster," he says.
"I was just back in the studio, every hour of the day."
Cliff's notable artistic career began 63 years ago when he started off working for Rowley Sign & Poster and he says he remembers designing cinema posters, before spending time in Dublin.
"I returned and became a freelance. The gallery is great and has helped a lot of people, including myself and my partner."
Brooks adds that he retired from the board eight years ago, saying: "Four years ago I was also trying to step down from constantly curating and hanging shows. I recognised artists are great at painting but, when it comes to putting nails in, are not handy."
Enter volunteer Leanne McLean, who has work on show – a cheeky bird in a box ("It swears, but I haven't put that on the label," she advises) – and is good at hanging art.
"I've been involved for five to six years. This is one of those galleries where you don't need formal art training to be exhibited, which is quite unusual. And we encourage students."
With Lise McGreevy as guide, I descend the three floors, noting the abundance of images, of abstract and representational and expressionist art, plus installations.
On the lower ground floor is Lisa McGreevy's own show titled I Am Woman, which runs until January 14. Informed by the current #MeToo movement, it details the artist's take on deeply felt feminism.
Facing you as you enter the room are large female portraits representing aspects of the female condition.
"I am a strong feminist and promote equality, so it's not just females who are included. Everybody can relate to these emotions," the artist explains.
"I guess I wanted to produce a body of work and this show, which contains 20 works, has taken me two years."
The thought-provoking exhibition has already done a kind of tour, being shown at Stormont where it attracted support from politicians including Nichola Mallon and Bertie Ahern. Lise, who trained in art at "the old Met", has conducted related workshops.
She points to a large portrait of a woman surrounded by harlequin colours, looking as if about to draw a curtain of colour: "That's I Am Creative. It's related in a way to the ideas of the peace and reconciliation programme."
The artist reveals that she likes to emphasise what brings us together rather than what divides us, painting a positive sense of Northern Ireland.
There is an appealing painting, titled I Am Mischievous, whose subject has a twinkle in her blue eyes. There are photographs of London, with red buses, also of newer residents of Northern Ireland.
A talented photographer, Lise worked at The Irish News in the early 2000s where her photographic ability was fostered by one of the paper's award-winning staff photographers.
"Hugh Russell was brilliant, very helpful and taught me to wait and always take the second shot, not the obvious one everybody else might get," she explains.
There are views of urban Belfast on show, plus a touching shot of two swans intertwined, illustrating True Love. One wall contains female nudes, unabashed and illustrating a kind of 70s or even 60s pop art poster style. They're brightly coloured and have a subtext about the female condition too.
We stop by the Engine Room's impressive £50 Gallery where you can acquire original works of art by named artists for five tenners. It's a way for the artists who show here to contribute something and the money helps the gallery.
After tea and mince pies, Lise and I head to the space newly vacated by the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts. Again, we skirt a raft of works defining the range of contemporary art practice.
A side room contains some witty, even charming work by Sarah Falloon. Her art involves surprising materials, with a shaving brush, for example, fashioned into a Brushhead Duck.
Thanks to a progressive arrangement with the building's owners, the Engine Room Gallery doesn't charge admission. The gallery hopes to attract students and youngsters who would benefit from some local modern art history and might even be inspired to produce their own work.
Each year, the Engine Room awards a prize to the best student, in their view, graduating from Ulster University's Belfast School of Art. The prize? You've guessed it – a show at the gallery.
This month there will be a student show and the selling exhibitions also continue. If you want a painterly sense of where we live, the Engine Room Gallery is worth a visit or two.
:: The Engine Room Gallery, 59 North Street, Belfast. Open Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
