It's that time of year again, when over 100 of the leading artistic talents in Bristol open the doors to their studios and welcome visitors into their lives to witness them in their element working at close quarters. It can only be the North Bristol Arts Trail 2012.
The initiative is the brainchild of a group of artists from North Bristol, known as 'The North Bristol Artists.' And whilst they may not win any points for name-originality, they certainly make up for it with the passion and commitment they have shown in making their art accessible to the wider community.
The NBA Arts trail has its origins in 1998 when founding members Sarah Cooper and Cath Read decided to exhibit their work from their homes in St. Andrews. The following year more artists joined them to create what was then known as 'Art on the Block' which became a regular Christmas event for the next 3 years.
Things have come a long way since those early days. Back in 2001 there was a total of thirty artists exhibiting from just seven venue; but last year saw over one hundred artists exhibiting their work mainly from their own homes, truly capturing the essence of what makes the trail so popular with families and individuals alike.
The program running time this year was between 10am and 6pm on Saturday and Sunday, plus an extra special sneak preview on Friday night at selected venues between 7pm and 9pm. The maps for the trail were available through a number of bristol venues, ranging from the Tobacco factory to the Watershed.
The trail has been specifically designed to cater for all artistic tastes by including work in all media from painting, pottery, photography and print to textiles, glass, jewellery and much more. The trail will be comprised of over 50 venues, covering Bishopston, Cotham, Henleaze, Horfield, Montpellier, Redland, St Andrews and Westbury Park.
The Bristol Arts Trail is yet another glowing indication of the breadth and depth of artistic ability in Bristol, but also shows a real sense of community spirit in the artists' willingness to welcome strangers into their homes to share their work with them, whilst expecting nothing in return.
So next time you have a weekend to spare at the end of November you could do much worse than to spend it in Bristol seeing the talent of local artists and meeting like minded local people. The only problem may be that one weekend will never be enough time to experience even a tenth of the creativity and magic that the city has to offer. But why not take that as a challenge and see if you can prove me wrong.
The initiative is the brainchild of a group of artists from North Bristol, known as 'The North Bristol Artists.' And whilst they may not win any points for name-originality, they certainly make up for it with the passion and commitment they have shown in making their art accessible to the wider community.
The NBA Arts trail has its origins in 1998 when founding members Sarah Cooper and Cath Read decided to exhibit their work from their homes in St. Andrews. The following year more artists joined them to create what was then known as 'Art on the Block' which became a regular Christmas event for the next 3 years.
Things have come a long way since those early days. Back in 2001 there was a total of thirty artists exhibiting from just seven venue; but last year saw over one hundred artists exhibiting their work mainly from their own homes, truly capturing the essence of what makes the trail so popular with families and individuals alike.
The program running time this year was between 10am and 6pm on Saturday and Sunday, plus an extra special sneak preview on Friday night at selected venues between 7pm and 9pm. The maps for the trail were available through a number of bristol venues, ranging from the Tobacco factory to the Watershed.
The trail has been specifically designed to cater for all artistic tastes by including work in all media from painting, pottery, photography and print to textiles, glass, jewellery and much more. The trail will be comprised of over 50 venues, covering Bishopston, Cotham, Henleaze, Horfield, Montpellier, Redland, St Andrews and Westbury Park.
The Bristol Arts Trail is yet another glowing indication of the breadth and depth of artistic ability in Bristol, but also shows a real sense of community spirit in the artists' willingness to welcome strangers into their homes to share their work with them, whilst expecting nothing in return.
So next time you have a weekend to spare at the end of November you could do much worse than to spend it in Bristol seeing the talent of local artists and meeting like minded local people. The only problem may be that one weekend will never be enough time to experience even a tenth of the creativity and magic that the city has to offer. But why not take that as a challenge and see if you can prove me wrong.
About the Author:
Hashim Javier writes regularly about all things Bristol for his site serviced flats bristol Past examples of his writing can be found here serviced apartments bristol
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