Empty shops art group opens gallery in new home

Artist Pauline Cooke said she hoped the smell of fresh paint would be less pungent when the doors to a new gallery in Bradford open to the public.

Volunteer-run artists' collective Trapezium Arts, which she co-founded, has converted a former travel agency into a creative space after having to leave its last base.

The group takes over empty shops as part of its Meanwhile Space scheme, and had to move from a unit in the Kirkgate Shopping Centre just before Christmas.

The gallery will open on February 22.

Ms Cooke said: "We're all artists ourselves and we got together about seven years ago and decided we needed somewhere to display our work.

"There aren't the opportunities to do that in Bradford so we thought we'll get an empty shop and do it up.

"We've had more than 50 exhibitions over the last seven years.

"Sometimes community groups take it over so we do other events in here.

"But our main purpose is just to exhibit artwork by Bradford artists. So we're really championing the art community in Bradford."

The group has taken down internal walls and two countertops and repainted the walls to make the former shop into a space where art can be displayed.

She said: "It'll just be what we did before in here, rather than two doors up the street.

"That's become a shoe shop now. They were in the market upstairs and we've talked to them and they're very nice.

"It's just how we operate. We haven't got any cash, so we rely on having empty shops and we get moved around when commercial businesses want them.

"That's just the nature of the beast."

The first exhibition in the new gallery on Kirkgate will be a retrospective show by Inkers, a group of independent contemporary printmakers based in Yorkshire.

Spokeswoman June Russell said: "In our response work, we've been inspired to push the boundaries of printmaking.

"You'll see woven prints, layered prints, 3D constructions, artist's books and more, on a vast range of topics: landscapes, machines, mills, looms, ropes, working men and women, birds, bees, mummies.

"These have all been inspired by the museums, galleries and collections of our city, district and region."

RESPONSES by Inkers is at Trapezium Gallery from Saturday 22 February until Saturday 15 March.

Opening times are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 11am – 3pm.

There will be refreshments and a chance to meet the artists at the launch event on Saturday 22 February between 12-4pm.

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