Diversity of talent to be seen at Whitby Art Fair

The 4th Annual Whitby Art Fair will take place this year on Saturday June 30 and Sunday July 1 at Whitby Pavilion, and will involve more than 40 professional fine artists from the Whitby and Scarborough areas.
Rough Seas, Saltwick Bay, by Keith Blessed.Rough Seas, Saltwick Bay, by Keith Blessed.
Rough Seas, Saltwick Bay, by Keith Blessed.

Both these areas have a great diversity of artistic talent in quality and quantity.

The problem has always been lack of good gallery space or other platforms to showcase the wonderful talent of the artists from this area.

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Open studios have been tried in the past to reasonable success, but the distance between individual studios was often off putting for visitors wishing to see a variety of art work.

Light on Whitby harbour, by Keith Blessed.Light on Whitby harbour, by Keith Blessed.
Light on Whitby harbour, by Keith Blessed.

So under the auspices of the Facebook groups Scarborough Art Forum and Whitby Creates, a small steering group was created to look at ideas for group exhibitions. The group approached Whitby Pavilion and was met with a very enthusiastic response – and Whitby Art Fair was born.

On doing some measuring the group decided there was enough space to cater for up to 45 artists, most of which are professional, and some have fine art degrees.

The range of artwork is from the traditional to the contempory and including abstract, and covers all genres – there are painters in oils, acrylics, watercolour, pastels, mixed media and paper cuts, ceramicists, artists in glass, photographers, woodturners, textile artists, collage artists and printmakers. All the artists are in attendance at their stands, to discuss their work.

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Co-organiser Keith Blessed of Whitby Art Society, said: “This area is steeped in art history, in particular by the world famous Staithes Group of Artists who depicted scenes of the local area in an expressionistic style in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and their work is much sought-after.”

Among the artists taking part are Keith Blessed (landscapes in pastel), Trish Shaw (papercuts), Gail Hurst (mixed media), Paul Ingram (photography), Carol Black (watercolours) , Kate Smith (oils and acrylic), Ailsa Nicholson (art glass), Jake Jones (watercolours), Diane Todd (animals in acrylic and pastels), Emma Evett (art glass) and Alwyn Welburn (woodturner) with others to come on board.