On Thursday The 27th of October, The Whitworth Art Gallery has teamed up with Venture Arts for a print edition launch. 

 This free entry launch event will take place from 5.30pm-8.30pm at The Whitworth on Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6ER.

Part of The Whitworth’s Thursday Lates events with free entry and is open to everyone. (Refreshments will also be provided.)

  Venture Arts is an award-winning charity based in Hulme, supporting people with learning disabilities helping them to reach their full potential through visual arts and culture.

Find out more about their work here – https://venturearts.org/

This stunning collection of prints has been created by these Venture Arts artists ;

Darren Bates – 

 who has been a Venture Arts studio artist for over 10 years. He is a painter, ceramicist, musician, and printer and is inspired by birds. Flamingo is part of a series of bird prints drawn from Manchester Museums collection.

Michael Beard –

 works across various disciplines including painting, drawing and ceramics. His artwork enables him to articulate his immense passion for travel. Compulsive writings of names of cities, famous towers and graphical signage and symbols that he identifies in each location, are strong themes in his work. The repetitive overlapping and fluidity of his handwriting conveys Michael’s vigorous energy and speed in which he creates his work.

Amy Ellison –

 works in a wide range of media including photography, digital illustration, textiles and printmaking. In 2018-19, she was one of three Venture Arts artists selected for Other Transmissions, a collaborative residency project with emerging contemporary artists. Work by Amy and five collaborators toured to venues including Tate Liverpool, Artlink Hull and The Whitworth. In 2020 Amy had her work Cocktails acquired by The Grundy, Blackpool.

 Barry Finan – 

 Manchester born artist. Defining himself as a writer, actor and artist, he produces bold, text based visual art he calls ‘WRRIGHHTINNGSERRSS’. He uses repetitive letters to elongate his words, which can become scripts, personal messages and hopes for the future.

 Andrew Johnstone – 

 works in a careful, precise and deliberate way – a style that shines through in any medium he chooses. He works in textiles, ceramics, printing and drawn media, often-depicting animals, transport and portraits, with a specific reference to 80s and 90s television shows and idents.

 Ahmed Mohammed –

 used to draw at home all day, producing reams of repetitious, semi-abstract work on his family’s kitchen table. Since coming to Venture Arts he has discovered his artistic identity and developed a creative practice which spans textile art, printing, ceramics, drawing, photography and multimedia.

Leslie Thompson – 

 who has been attending Venture Arts studios for over twenty years. He has a highly developed drawing style, drawing both from memory and through live observational drawings. Leslie depicts scenes from popular culture, mostly from the seventies and eighties, and his drawings are often punctuated with memories from film, music and TV.

Each print comes in a limited edition of 50 on Giclée 300gsm Monte Carlo mould-made cotton rag paper. In addition, the whole series is available as a special box set in an edition of 10. Postcards of the artworks will also be available. All profits from the prints are split equally between the artists and organisations.

 Alistair Hudson, Director at The Whitworth, University of Manchester: 

 “This is the latest project in the longstanding collaborative relationship between Venture Arts and The Whitworth. Our partnership is driven by a shared understanding of the importance of creativity for all, working with the broadest range of artists in the most innovative ways, to ensure life is as gloriously rich and complex as it can be. We’re proud to be able to publish and share work of such quality and joy.”

The Whitworth was founded in 1889 as the Whitworth Institute and Park in memory of the industrialist Sir Joseph Whitworth for “the perpetual gratification of the people of Manchester” and continues this mission today in new contexts. In 2015 the gallery undertook a £17 million redevelopment by architects MUMA, which doubled the public space, creating new facilities to house the collection of over 55,000 works of art, textiles and wallpaper.

Along with expanded gallery spaces, a study centre, learning studio, and collections care centre, the gallery reconnected with its park, with communal gardens and outdoor programmes. The gallery is driven by a mission to work with communities to use art for positive social change, and actively address what matters most in people’s lives.

If you are interested in checking out what else the gallery has to offer, find out more here – https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/