Preston art director’s project to empower Northern female painters and boost local arts scene

Jayne Simpson in her studio at The Birley Pic: Blog Preston

A Preston art director has launched a project to empower northern female painters and boost the local arts scene.

Jayne Simpson from The Birley is organising The Pearls and The Oyster at the city centre studios this autumn.

The project has grown from a successful free painting symposium called Bananas Are Not The Only Paint at The Birley in February, when Jayne brought together a diverse group of female painters from all over the North.

Female painters and symposium attendees outside The Birley — The Bananas Are Not The Only Paint symposium was a sold-out success Pic: The Birley

Jayne is running a Spacehive campaign with Crowdfund Lancashire to try to maximise the scope and impact of the new project.

Jayne said: “The audience in February told us they wanted more, so we listened and developed a programme, starting with an exhibition of all those painters that presented for free in February as well as a few others. We have now invited 12 and counting female painters in the North to exhibit with us this October and November.

“As well as an exhibition we would like to run a year of talks from painters – talks that are free and accessible to all – but we would like to pay our artists this time. We also want to arrange critiques, feedback sessions and mentoring with professional artists.”

Jayne is passionate about creating a platform for female artists, whose creative progress is all too often thwarted by other commitments and responsibilities.

“In working with female painters we aim to nurture those who nurture others; those who have had to prioritise caregiving over creativity,” said Jayne.

“Our female artists can often be time-poor or needing to take breaks for maternal reasons. There are many factors contributing to why female artists are often underrepresented but we hope our work will go some way to incubate and help all artists with ways to keep on being creative.”

Jayne Simpson's paintings Pic: Blog Preston — A selection of Jayne’s paintings hanging on the wall of her studio Pic: Blog Preston

Jayne is also keen to put Preston on the map, and encourage more local people to engage with the arts.

Jayne said: “Preston is a growing and progressive destination. It’s exciting to bring new visitors to the city, building on existing cultural strengths and improving our contemporary art profile while adding to the local economy.

“Getting the local community involved is also important – especially those people who may not get to experience exhibitions in the more established centres like Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds.

“I’d encourage everyone – regardless of background or ability – to take the chance to see exciting paintings and interact with professional artists for free in our inspiring, non-judgmental and safe Preston City Centre studio.”

The Pearls and The Oyster exhibition will run from the preview on Friday 4 October to Saturday 2 November at The Birley.

To support The Pearls and The Oyster crowdfunder visit the Spacehive website. Follow Jayne on Instagram @jaynesimpsonartist.

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This story was made possible by you, our readers, and a host of organisations in the city, through our Crowdfund Lancashire appeal, which unlocked support from the Lancashire Culture and Sport Fund provided by Lancashire County Council. You can see all our coverage and, if you know of an arts project or event in the city we should be covering, you can submit it for our event listings and/or send details to contactus@blogpreston.co.uk for us to cover it as a story on the Blog.