The Story of Local Art Yorkshire

Back in April we wrote a blogpost about the winners of the Local Art Yorkshire competition, it was a hard choice and the artists over in Yorkshire certainly showed us what they're capable of!

The founder of the group recently contacted us again to talk further about where it begin and his hopes for the art group. Knowing about the art groups we have around Blackpool, it's interesting to see what artists do elsewhere... 

So here's the story of Local Art Yorkshire, written by Dave Marsen who put the group together. 

"Just over a year ago I went to some of the local group exhibits, I was amazed at the assortment of art around my local area.
Being an artist myself, I wanted to join a group, but as I was also working full time, it made it difficult to attend group sessions and meetings held during the day.
After thinking a lot about this problem, I began to think that maybe there were others in the same situation as me. I had just began speaking to Tony Lawrence, another artist, on Facebook Messenger and joked with him about starting a Facebook group... I took the plunge and did it - Tony became the group’s first member!
Every spare minute I had, I shared the group. I joined every for-sale group in Yorkshire and shared the group some more. The group now has 300 members and is still growing.
About 6 months ago, I asked the group members, if I organised an exhibition, would anyone be willing to come? I received a very good response, so I started to look for a venue.
I then contacted the Brunswick Shopping Centre, who jumped on board and allowed me to use an empty shop to set up an exhibition. I now needed someone to open the exhibition during the week, as I could only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, myself.

Tony said he would be able to open the exhibition during the week and would come in to paint. I hoped that once the exhibition was opened, other artists would also love the chance to paint or draw in the space at the Brunswick Shopping Centre.
Now, I have had so much interest, we will be building a calendar, so people can book in the time that they would like to spend opening the exhibit. This would also give Tony and myself a break.

So this is where we're at today:
1. Create Facebook group – Done
2. Grow the group – Done
3. Create an Exhibition for the group – Done

I will continue to promote the group Local Art Yorkshire, as my hope is to open another exhibition somewhere else in Yorkshire. So that more members can easily exhibit their art.

To all of the members, new and old -
Thank you for adding your art and input to the group.

Dave Marsden"

Dave standing proudly next to artwork.

If you're local to Yorkshire, we urge you to head over to the Facebook group. It's a place where you can discuss your artwork with locals that have a similar interest to you! We hope to write more about other art groups too, it's important to talk with people that love the things you do. Express yourself and talk about it, show your work off wherever you can! You'll be surprised at how many people nearby would love to see your work and possibly purchase it too. 

Click here to head to the Local Art Yorkshire Facebook page

Click here for our Facebook page