Free Time

Opportunity knocks at Art In The Heart

Dawn Birch-James explains how art can change lives...

I’m often asked why I opened a gallery and now also gift shop and framers on Peterborough’s high street. I think for me it’s much more than the love of art and design-led objects, or the passion for business. It’s more about a love of bringing people together to enjoy creative communities and inspiring people to grow and thrive. Art in the Heart is a non-profit Community Interest Company. It has been about supporting artists and makers in their endeavours to exhibit and sell their work. We have advised on framing, labelling, pricing, writing profiles and so much more. The most rewarding thing for me, however, has been advising our artists on marketing and branding, and in many cases diversification to enable them to widen their market and increase their revenue.

Go local

Take Christine Withall, local ceramicist who exhibits in other venues both nationally and internationally. We worked with her to create the Christine Withall Pinch Pot, a beautiful small vibrantly coloured vessel packaged and branded, ideal for a special gift. So instead of the usual £40-£120 which one would pay for a Christine Withall sculptural pot, these smaller treasures retail at £16.95 and our customers love them – and so they should. They are truly lovely! We also link artists with customers who want special commissions. Take, for example, the Flying Scotsman which James Green, member of the Guild of Railway Artists, painted for a train enthusiast, or the recent portrait painted by one of our figurative artists, Francis Reynolds. Our jewellers get regular commissions and so too does our artisan felter Eve Marshall with demands for all sorts of weird and wonderful animal brooches.

Creating a base

The most rewarding achievement for us, in terms of art appreciation, has been creating collector bases for some of most intriguing and captivating artists. We have sold 45 originals by Latvian born Katie Timoshenko to art lovers around the country, mainly through social media and e-marketing. Her work always gets a reaction. It’s Marmite. You either love it or hate it. I love it and have bought two pieces myself. We have sold numerous prints and her cards are always a hit with our young audience who adore the eerie, sometimes sombre images. We have a closed Facebook group called Art in the Heart Community. It’s not just for our artists but all the people who work tirelessly on the shop floor and behind the scenes. We are one big family.

Mission to educate

Part of our mission is to offer work experience to school students. We work with the Skills Service but we also take on school students who contact us independently. We have worked with some 40 students in three years. We are currently working with our University to offer specific work experience in, for example, accounting and with the Job Centre to offer meaningful placements to adults who for whatever reason have had difficulty in finding work. Independently too, our doors have been open to highly skilled intelligent adults of all ages who have significant health or confidence issues but want to contribute meaningfully to society without the pressures and rigours of a normal working day. Sometimes we find that incredibly talented people can simply become victims of circumstance beyond their control. Very excitingly, we have recently started to offer placements to adults with specific skills and interests.

Take for example Katie Broder, who recently graduated with a Fine Art Degree and is starting to take the lead in curating our temporary exhibitions. She co-ordinated our Pop Art exhibition and will be managing our 2016 exhibitions. We are committed to working with people to offer them meaningful work and life experiences to take away with them.

Why not follow us on Facebook to find out more about our community?  www.artintheheart.co.uk • Twitter @artintheheart1

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