Liverpool Artists: Your City Needs You

Did you know that next month is the very first Liverpool Art Month? We kinda did, but we were a little hazy about the particulars. So we asked Dot Art’s Lucy Byrne to colour in the finer details for us. Seems we were just in time, as the event will stand or fall on us all getting involved.

“The reason I started dot-art over seven years ago, was to provide local artists with new, innovative and practical ways to get their work to the public, and to make it easy for the public to access original, affordable art,” Lucy tells SevenStreets.

“When we were looking at how to get involved with Liverpool Art Month, a large scale art fair seemed like the next natural step for us to take. While I appreciate it is ambitious, and certainly won’t be easy to get right, both artists and buyers have been asking for this type of event for a long time.

“If we can make it a success, I hope that Liverpool Art Fair can become an annual event, and grow into something really valuable to both artists and art buyers across the region. We have had great support from the arts community so far, but really need people to get behind the event and help us make it work,” she says.

So, if you’re an artist based in the region, here’s your chance. Submit work, tell your friends, stick a notice up on the canteen cork board. This is a chance for us all to get it out there, and see if it sells. And for those of us still wrestling with the finer points of Draw Something on our iPads, maybe it’s a chance for us to buy something affordable by someone with a little more talent.

“Artists are struggling like the rest of the country at the moment - some would say more so, with the cuts that have hit arts organisations,” Lucy says. “The art market in Liverpool is still small and underdeveloped, but we try to see this as a positive – it is still growing. Events like this can only help. Artists aren’t asking for charity- they’re asking you to help them make a living, by taking home a beautiful , inspiring, unique piece of art, which will give you pleasure for years to come.”

WHAT:

This May, an exciting new festival of visual arts in coming to the city. Building on the success of the Liverpool Art Prize, which started in 2008, some of Liverpool’s studio groups and galleries have come together to develop Liverpool Art Month. This will take the form of an exciting programme of events, exhibitions and workshops for Liverpool during the month of May 2012. This is the perfect chance to discover local artists and their working environment throughout a series of interconnected happenings and performances. Visitors can also buy some artworks at affordable prices.Full listings can be found here

Dot-art is involved with two events; The Art Show SS12- New Liverpool, and the inaugural Liverpool Art Fair. Both exhibitions are taking place at Camp and Furnace.

The Art Show SS12 is a partnership with Matt Ford Photography (pic r) and features work by Matt alongside three dot-art member artists, short listed for their experimental artworks of the local cityscape and personal interpretations of their city today. As well as visual art, the event will feature live performances from award winning a capella group, Sense of Sound, followed by a DJ set from the marvellous CantMixWontMixShdntMixDontMix.

The event will take place from 7pm on Thursday May 3rd, and the exhibition continues Friday 4th-Sunday 6th May, 11am-6pm- full details here.

Our second event, the Liverpool Art Fair, is an ambitious new open submission selling event over five days, designed to connect local artists with new art buyers on a large scale, break down barriers, and make affordable art accessible to all, whilst giving all artists based in the Liverpool City Region a platform through which to sell their work. Showcasing a wide range of affordable original art by selected local artists, both established and up and coming, the fair will include a section of specially created work under £100, and a maximum price level of £1,000.

Liverpool Art Fair will take place across two large exhibition spaces in the newly rejuvenated Camp and Furnace in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle; launching on the evening of Thursday 31st May, and open to the public from 11am-6pm from Friday 1st - Monday 4th June (Jubilee Bank Holiday Weekend). Full details can be found here.

GET INVOLVED:

Artists: Submit your art work by 16th April.

Art Lovers: Come along! Visit Liverpool Art Fair’s website for details, or email [email protected] for an invitation to the Launch Evening.

You can also sponsor the Liverpool Art Month and claim some great rewards, here.