Saturday 20th June marked the first ever online Paint the Day. Nearly 90 artists took part in the annual Wolverhampton-based visual arts competition, making the event a huge success. You can now access the online exhibition and take a virtual guided tour of works completed during this 8 hour visual arts challenge.
It has been a busy weekend for Newhampton Arts Centre has staff prepared for the online return their annual visual arts competition, Paint the Day. The Wolverhampton arts centre has been delighted by the response from the public selling out days in advance. Participants were asked to paint the day within a mile radius of their own homes this year due to current global circumstances. Artists took part as far as Bridgnorth, Shropshire and Bournville, Birmingham with many postcodes remaining local to Wolverhampton.
Newhampton Arts Centre also teamed up with many partnering organisations in Wolverhampton and the West Midlands this year, making Paint the Day 2020 is part of the Midsummer Festival. The free one-day festival that celebrated arts and culture in the West Midlands on Saturday 20th June with many events, workshops and online activity.
As artwork started to flood in from Saturday lunchtime, NAC saw an array of interesting subjects and recognisable places including some familiar Victorian buildings of Wolverhampton’s city centre as well as canal sides and wildlife with participators own gardens also proving to be a very popular theme. Many different mediums were used by artists this year including ink, pencil, Charcoal, pastels, acrylics, oils, watercolour, felt mixed media, collage, photography and even upcycled furniture.
The online exhibition is now live, where you can fest your eyes on all Paint the Day artworks made during this special Midsummer weekend. You can take a virtual guided tour of all the works or walk around our 3D exhibition at your own pace. The collaborative show celebrates the creative nature, raw talent and spectacular beauty of our surroundings and those who live within them.
The fun doesn’t stop there, NAC are asking all participants to keep hold of their artworks, to be displayed in a physical exhibition in the centre’s Muni art gallery. The show will take place later this autumn or when it is safe to do so. Specially selected judges will award cash prizes as well as the opening of the all-important public vote. The event also offers the chance for people to bid on artworks giving the public a special opportunity to own a very unique piece of history to hang on their walls.
“We were delighted to be able to run an annual event that many artists in the city and beyond look forward to each summer. The range and quality of the work this year was fantastic, and we’re working on plans to show the work in our Gallery Hall during the autumn when it’s safe to do so.”
- Trevelyan Wright - Chief Executive.
NAC staff would like to thank everybody who brought a ticket, made a donation and helped spread the word using the hashtag #Painttheday2020, making the event successful. The Paint the Day 2020 exhibition is online now, available at http://www.newhamptonarts.co.uk/paint-the-day-exhibition The show is FREE to access and runs until the 12th July. If you enjoy the show why not leave a comments on Newhampton Art Centre’s social media pages.
