close search
The Pearls & The Oyster

The Pearls & The Oyster

The Birley By The Birley

Following on from our triumphant, free painting symposium last February we are excited to bring a special painting exhibition and full program of talks, critiques and mentoring over the next year.

Preston Delivery stage

44
backers
£3,093
raised
funded icon

A project built from a successful free painting symposium we hosted in February, we brought together a diverse group of female painters from all over the north, from Manchester to Sheffield and beyond, the free tickets sold out in 2 weeks. The audience of 60plus wanted more, so we listened and developed a program, starting with an exhibition of all those painters that presented for free in February as well as a few others. We have now invited 12 and counting female painters in the north to exhibit with us this October/November. As well as an exhibition we will program a year of talks from painters, talks that are free and accessible to all but we would like to pay our artists this time! We also want to arrange critiques and feedback sessions with professional artists who can support professional practice and give useful advice for free. Mentoring could also be arranged for free. Our project encourages a ground up approach, improves wellbeing and address' isolation.

What we'll deliver:

  • A unique exhibition of contemporary female painters at The Birley, Preston.
  • Free talks by internationally exhibiting female painters based in the north
  • Free critiques with professional female painters
  • A coloured publication, documenting the program and the artists involved
  • Free mentoring sessions

Why it's a great idea:

Bringing contemporary female painters from all over the north to Preston, a new, growing and progressive destination, we aim to redress the balance of underrepresentation for female artists. We encourage involvement from the local community, to some who may not have feasible access to see exhibitions in the 'usual' more established centres like Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds. Art students, creatives, everyone is encouraged to participate in the experience of seeing exciting contemporary painting and interacting with professional, contemporary artists in an inspiring studio and project space. Our proposals serve to enable inclusivity, a nonjudgemental and safe, free program that encourages participation regardless of background or ability. It is exciting to bring new visitors to Preston and building on Preston's cultural strengths we aim to improve our contemporary art profile; encouraging accessibility, adding to the local economy as a recognised 'destination' for contemporary art.

Steps to get it done:

  • Hold a month long exhibition for at least 12 female painters from the north at The Birley in Preston and pay them
  • Produce a colour document that is an event legacy, celebrates all participating artists, documents the project
  • Co-ordinate group critiques with professipnal artists for female painters in Preston for free
  • Co-ordinate talks/presentations from exhibiting artists for the local community and beyond for free
  • Organise mentoring for female painters for free with exhibiting artists
  • A colour catalogue to accompany the exhibition

In working with female painters we aim to nurture those who nurture others. Those who have had to prioritise caregiving over creativity, this can sometimes include intergenerational commitments, at short notice and often for long periods of time. Our female artists can often be time poor or needing to take time out for maternal reasons. There are many factors contributing to why female artists are often underrepresented but we hope our work will go some way to incubate and help all artsts with ways to keep on being creative. Focusing on women has opened up new conversations for everyone to think about enabling practice when other commitments and responsibities seem to thwart creative progress.

Location Preston

About the space

The Birley Studios & Project Space, Preston.A Public facing contemporary art space in the heart of Preston.

Council

Preston City Council

How will the money be spent?Target (inc. fees)  £17,857

Artist Fees/coordination talks, critiques & mentoring - £8,430
Exhibition - Co-ordination, curation and invigilation - £3,873
Exhibition catalogue & written documentation - £3,499

Costs Breakdown

This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.

Artist Fees/coordination talks, critiques & mentoring
£8,430
Exhibition - Co-ordination, curation and invigilation
£3,873
Exhibition catalogue & written documentation
£3,499

Overfunding

This project is enabled for overfunding. If the project hits its funding goal before the end of the campaign period, any extra funds raised will be spent (in order of priority) on:

  • Contingency for the project to protect against price fluctuation
  • Additional artist talks, mentoring & critiques

Target (inc. fees)  £17,857

Our Volunteer List

We're currently looking for people to offer skills and time to develop our project! Check out the list of what we need below and then use the 'Volunteer' button to the right to get involved.

Want to help?

Do you have stuff or skills to contribute to this project? Use this tool to offer something to the project creator.

Volunteer
{{comment.UserName}} Creator Backer
{{comment.Comment}}
{{comment.Comment}}
{{reply.UserName}} Creator Backer
{{reply.Comment}}
{{reply.Comment}}