Activities for all as arts fair moves online

A Cardiff arts fair that was due to take place tomorrow has moved online – and has plenty of fun in store, writes Jenny White

A NEW online arts fair coming to Instagram tomorrow promises to provide a platform for creative people in Cardiff and beyond.

The fair is being organised by ArtHole, a Cardiff-based illustration duo, along with Frank Pellow, who recently took his Falmouth arts fair online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Falmouth and Cardiff fairs will run jointly on Instagram from 3pm to 5pm.

The ArtHole arts fair will showcase work by 13 artists and also include a competition that is open to all.

ArtHole are Kay Gooseley and Elliot James, a pair of illustrators based in Cardiff who put on pop-up markets and events for the local creative community.

“We wanted to help create an environment that encouraged local artists to meet face to face – something we felt there wasn’t enough of,” says Elliot.

“Our ‘mission’ is to bring together a wide variety of makers, in order to foster a community and encourage collaborations and new friendships.

“Along with this we hope to bring art to those who might find it too ‘hippy dippy’ to get actively involved with.

“The scene in South Wales is vibrant and colourful, with lots of amazing up-coming artists and musicians, so we consider it our role in the community to promote that and help it reach a wider audience, both within Cardiff and beyond.

“That’s why it’s so good to be able to collaborate with people in Falmouth.”

Elliot and Kay had an art fair booked for April 12 which they have had to postpone, so when Frank got in touch with the idea of collaborating and taking the fair online, just as he had done with his Falmouth art fair, the pair were quick to agree.

The art fair has been designed to offer a range of online activities that still evoke the feelings and ideas of a physical market.

These include Q&As with a wide variety of sellers, drawing challenges, playlists curated by guest contributors, and live drawing streaming throughout the day.

“We know that a lot of the sellers involved have their own activities lined up for the day, so we hope people will check out each of them throughout to see what they’re up to and interact with them,” says Elliot.

Visitors to the art fair will also be able to purchase work: each seller has their own webstore, and many of them will also be offering live commissions on the day.

“All the activities we have set up for this online event have been in order to promote these artists and their work, so we hope that it will encourage people their way, be it to buy something and support what they do, or leaving a message and establishing contact with them,” says Elliot.

There will also be two drawing competitions running tomorrow, in which entrants will be asked to draw something that they feel strongly about, relating either to Falmouth or to Cardiff.

These are inspired by the drawing corner which is a regular fixture at Frank’s Falmouth events: people are encouraged to create drawings on a set theme and at the end of the day their work is then judged and prizes are given out.

“We all agreed that this was something that we could take from the physical fairs and have work just as successfully online – perhaps even better as it would give anyone anywhere the chance to join in,” says Elliot. “We’ve managed to get our respective mayors to judge the entries which we feel is quite a coup. We’ll be posting the rules and everything on our Instagram before the fair and are going to set midnight on Sunday as the deadline for submissions.

“It’s open to anyone of any level of drawing - we actively encourage anybody to get involved!”

■ The ArtHole art fair will take place in Instagram tomorrow from 3-5pm @artholecardiff. The event will also feature on @popupartsfairfalmouth and on the personal pages of many of the participants, reached via the ArtHole and Pop Up Arts Fair Instagram pages.