Art group from Derbyshire provides “bucketfuls” of inspiration for local artists

Speaking to the group's current day members, the words “relaxed” and “friendly” feature heavily in the conversation.

Club secretary, David Hardy said: “We’re hopefully bringing in people that do want to get away from being lonely and be with a bunch of nice folks. “It does turn out to be very much more of a social evening. There’s a lot of chit chat, and sometimes not a lot of artwork is produced but that’s the whole aim.”

The club secretary said: “What we do say to people is if you do come and you’re not artists, we’ll help them. We’re not teachers of art but hopefully our enthusiasm and our own journeys will spill out and enable these people to pick up a pencil, or pick up a paintbrush, and just enjoy a bit of creativity.”

This community spirit and enthusiasm has inspired all of the group's members including Phil Waiton. Phil has been attending the club for over a year and feels he has learnt a lot of skills in that time, and grown in confidence.

He said: “It's absolutely fantastic. If you have an idea and you're not sure how to tackle it then this is a fantastic place to come. The guys here are so helpful.”

Phil’s speciality is drawing mythical creatures. He is aiming to combine his love of drawing and motorbikes, by seeing his artwork printed on bikes and crash-helmets. He said: “Coming here gives you that enthusiasm. To see all these friends doing different work from week-to-week.

“For example if you look on the table at Carol’s work. The drawings of the tigers and the leopards are exceptional. That’s what you need; a little inspiration. There’s absolutely bucketfuls.”

The group meetings are led by the chairman of the art group, Andrew Bradley. Andrew said: “Lots of people have talent which they don’t think they’ve got. Lots of people say ‘I can’t draw’ or ‘I can’t paint’. I always say ‘you can say ‘I can’t draw well or I can’t paint well’, but by coming here, we’re not teaching, we are encouraging.

“They’ll come, they’ll have a go and we’ll give them some friendly advice as to how to improve.”

Once a month Andrew will set a chairman’s challenge to test everybodies artist skills. These challenges vary from changing the colours of a particular painting, creating pointillism images or negative paintings. The idea behind each challenge is to teach people about different forms of art and unlock new love for different styles.

The chairman said: “Come down and give us a try and see what you can actually achieve. You may surprise yourself, and lots of people do surprise themselves when they actually do start doing something.”

The art group has begun to embrace social media, to get their name out there and to encourage others to pick up the pencil and paintbrush.

Two newcomers to the group are mother and daughter, Claire and Jeanie Cadman. Jeanie became disillusioned with art after bad experiences with her art classes at school. The talented young artist said she was picked on during class, and that her teachers would spend very little time with her to help nurture her talent.

Jeanie said: “I just didn’t want to do art anymore. I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to sit down and paint because I just felt like my art was bad because they would make fun of it. My teacher wouldn’t say anything about it or look at it. I just thought I was a bad artist. So I stopped.”

Claire said she could see the difference in her daughter during this period as Jeanie was doing much less artwork at home.

For Jeanie, creating her artwork is a form of escapism and a way for her to express herself, but she had lost her passion and enjoyment. For her and her mother, coming to Clay Cross art group was an opportunity for her to reignite her passion.

Jeanie said: “There’s so much less judgement here. The people are experienced and they won't come over to you and say anything about your work, they just let you get on with it and support you.

“It’s just a blessing to come into a room with a supportive group of people, and be able to devote some time to art.”

Clay Cross Art Group members are currently working with Clay Cross healthy futures, who provide awareness of local projects that encourage health and wellbeing in the community.

Club secretary David was approached by CCHF on social media, asking the art group to open their doors to people and alleviate loneliness in the community.

David said: “We need the numbers so getting the extra people in would be absolutely fantastic, especially if it helps them get out of the house and get involved in another hobby. Particularly if they are not involved in any other art.

“So we saw it as a great relationship. So we’re currently looking to get a wee bit of funding through them to help us move forward.”

Alongside working with Clay Cross healthy futures, and their own social media push, the art group are hoping to encourage more and more people to join the groups weekly Monday meetings. The money generated by this will potentially go towards things like demonstrations or classes.”

The art group meets every Monday at the Holmgate Darby and Joan club on Valley Road. Contact the groups secretary David Hardy on [email protected] for more details.