Over the period of Stony Live 6th - 12th June, Gallery Live will turn the High Street, Stony Stratford into a walking outdoor gallery.
Shop and business owners along the High Street, Stony Stratford, will be supporting artists by having their work in their windows.
Alongside the art works there would be info about the artist, the cost of the work and how to buy. Visitors will have the chance to follow a map to show where the works are and which shops they can be found in.
The live gallery will run from 7th June for one week, with a private view evening taking place between 7th June 7-9 pm. Viewers will get the chance to meet the artists and have a vote for the favourite work of art.
Art tours will also take place throughout the evening, so people will have the chance to learn about the various artists and their work.
The art work will be on show in the High Street shop windows for one week between the 6th June and 12th and available, 24 hours a day.
Tuesday 7th will be ‘Turn Stony Red Day’ using the red dot symbol of a sold piece of artwork, where visitors will be actively invited to put their money where their mouth is and buy work they love.
No commission is taken from the artists so they can offer great deals on their work and a donation will go to Stony Live who have enabled this event to happen for each work sold.
Debra Danu Matthews is the brainchild of the project and is spearheading as well as funding this event in a bid to expand support for artists and highlight a growing lack of independent galleries and opportunities locally.
This is what she said about the project: "With a background as an artist and involvement in pop-up galleries in the past, I had a vision that you could turn my hometown high street into a live gallery. It seemed a simple idea, but logistically it was a large area to work with and the only way I could make it work would be to get the artists showing their work to work together to make this happen.
"Approaching Stony Live I asked if they would be interested in pushing this further to gain if there was interest and if there would be that support in shops giving over their valuable retail windows. I was blown away with the interest and support from shops, with one or two offering their entire window over to others giving us full sections.
"Putting out a call to local, Milton Keynes and local artists via Facebook and I also approached several that I knew of their work to see if they would be interested in showing at the event. The agreement being that we all work as a team, be responsible to hang their own work in their designated space, promote the event actively and be a true collective working together to make it happen.
"16 Stunning Artist have now been selected, the work is incredibly diverse so anyone visiting the event will find something that appeals to them."
Debra Danu Matthews is an established versatile artist and art consultant based in MK. As a fine artist, she has exhibited widely within the UK and was the subject of a BBC 'Art Pause' documentary as well as a number of national editorial features.
The other hat Debra (pictured below) wears is as an art consultant who works with both business and private clients where she sources work for her list of artists as well as her own creations.
"With involvement in various pop up galleries, community arts projects and running the gallery space and artworks for the Winter Gardens previously I feel I have the right skills to get this done."
For more information about her work you can visit her website.
The 16 Participating Artists include:
- Steve Urwin
- Annabelle Shelton
- Sally Luff
- Debra Danu Matthews
- Diana Tonnison
- Shelly Wyndebank
- Barrington Loines
- Barry Blake
- Hanalee Vaike
- Roddy Clenaghan
- Victoria Holton
- Sharon Douglas
- Trevor Jeavons
- Jenny fisk
- Chris Howard
- Melanie Watts
- Hanalee Vaike
Shops Confirmed to be taking part so far include:
- Rags Boutique
- French Affair
- Preloved-Reclaimed
- DW Roberts
- Cafe Latte
- Christos
- Browns
- Carters
- Milton Keynes Veterinary Group
- Skills
- Willis Flowers
- On The High Street
- Woodstock Bakery
- Carpetwise
- Rohan
- The Great Gelato
Artwork that will be on display during the event includes:
Chris Howard is a digital artist and has successfully been designing and illustrating book covers for many years.
This year he has been working on a project, amongst other things, imagining an alternative view of Milton Keynes in these imaginative, clever, beautiful yet at times dystopian images.
Gallery Live are excited to be showcasing this work publicly for the first time.
To see more of his work you can find him on instagram.
Diana Tonnison's colourful artworks are inspired by fresh Fish, Fruit and Vegetable produce from local markets in this country and abroad. Her still life images are inspired by fresh fish and vegetables on the kitchen table waiting to be prepared for a tasty supper.
Diana is a ceramic artist and has had a professional studio in Hanslope since launching her ceramics and paintings in 2007. Apart from her ceramic wall art she also produces unique reclaimed wood panel art. These images all come from her ceramic wall art which are professionally photographed and then expertly digitally printed onto handmade wood panels. All the textures and grain of wood giving a slightly distressed finish, add character to the piece. After the printing process Diana embellishes the image with acrylics and finally a matt varnish protection, making them ideal for a kitchen or eating area to easily wipe over to clean. While these panels are a signed limited-edition print of 30, each are a ‘one off’ with the hand embellishment and textures of the wood. All are signed and numbered wood certificate is attached.
Diana sells her work worldwide from America to Australia! Liberty of London has stocked her ceramic art, and galleries in West Sussex ,Cornwall and Scotland exhibit her work. She participates with Handmade in Britain Art and Design Fairs and online shop, and will be exhibiting at Celebrating Ceramics at Waterperry, Oxford 15-17th July 2022. She also sells from her studio, which has a great exhibition area. She always welcomes visitors, please call beforehand, website for contact details www.dianatonnison.co.uk.
You can find more artwork previews ahead of the live gallery here.
