As well as being a visual artist and designer in Lancaster, I'm also a volunteer at The Gregson Centre, a local Arts and Community Centre just a 5 minute walk from the town centre of Lancaster.

I'm really keen to encourage more people to embrace their creativity and encourage them to exhibit their work no matter their experience or background. As a creative person, with even a small body of work, you may think to yourself, "How do I get my artwork into an exhibition" or 'how do I exhibit my own art?" It can seem a daunting thing if you've never embarked on anything like this before, but just reach out and we will help, giving advice and tips.

This role has enabled me to nurture local artists and creatives and help facilitate monthly exhibitions with artists who are from all kinds of backgrounds, both grass roots level and also those more established with many years experience behind them. We are a very unique community centre here, and that community spirit is at the absolute core of what the centre stands for, it’s such a welcoming and inclusive place. We don’t have any set criteria for exhibiting, as long as it’s family friendly and not offensive!

Artists from the Lancaster and Morecambe area are keen to exhibit their work and offer their artwork and paintings for sale locally, but often don't know how to go about doing it, thats where I hope The Gregson and myself can help.

We have had such a different type of exhibitor each month, including wood crafts, willow weaving, photographers, college groups and Chinese calligraphers. I’ve assisted artists exhibiting here that have never shown their work publicly before and have had successful exhibitions which has helped their confidence and encouraged them to progress their art journeys further.

The centre has a good contribution from female artists too and that in itself is something to nurture and encourage. Females are very underrepresented in the creative sector overall, but the diversity and support of our community centre make it a really unique go to place to set great foundations on your artistic journey. We’ve all been there, wondering how to actually get our art out of the studio/living rooms/spare rooms and show it to a wider audience, so being able to assist and help artists realise their talents and potential is a really satisfying thing to do. I absolutely love my volunteer role here, it really does bring a lot of joy!

As a centre, the Gregson really encourage their exhibiting artists to have an art social evening, a very informal ‘meet the artist’ gathering, usually accompanied by the centre’s weekly jazz session, in which the musicians jamming form a very relaxing and entertaining ambience to the event.

The art socials are a great way to meet the exhibitors and chat about their work. We turn to art for a variety of reasons, whether as a creator or a viewer, but the one thing art does is connect us, it can be a great conversation starter! Art and creativity is a conductor of our emotions and also forms a very personal interaction too.

The popularity of the centre as a go to place for exhibiting artists is growing from strength to strength and the waiting list stands testament to this and the commitment from the centres staff and volunteers. The waiting list to exhibit is getting longer. Our next available slot is March 2026, I hope I’m still here in this role then, because i just love it.

How do I submit my art to an exhibition?

Please contact myself through the centre, and we can take it from there and get you booked in! Don't be shy, I'm often there in some capacity either as a volunteer, or just enjoying a coffee and the locally baked cakes!

Visit the website here www.gregson.co.uk