The Breakout Gallery in Haverfordwest has been sharing artists work at locations across the town.
The community are encouraged to vote for their favourite piece, the most popular is due to be announced at the exhibition closing event, at Haverhub community hub on Saturday 23rd October.
The exhibition, which is the fourth the Breakout Gallery have run, themed ‘New Beginnings’, is a celebration of art in Pembrokeshire and has seen beautiful paintings displayed at various locations across the county town, including in the town square and High Street.
The aim is to bring artwork into an outdoor space, offering locals and visitors to see the vibrant colours and creativity in the streets as well as to showcase the artists themselves. Launching in the summer, as Covid restrictions have been relaxed and we approach more sense of normality, the theme seems apt for a community that has missed its share of arts and culture.
Arthur Brooker, the artist who began Breaking out of the Gallery in 2016, said
“This is our biggest exhibition yet, with 50 different artists entering and 71 paintings to display across the town.”
Paintings are in several mediums such as mosaic, oil painting, acrylic and mixed media. Although the project encourages local artists to share their work, it is open to anyone and Arthur comments that they have had an artist apply from as far away as the Isle of Wight.
“We had to post the board to the artist for her to create her painting and then she posted it back to us.”
Over the summer months, people were able to follow the trail of artwork around the town and scan the QR codes on the artwork for more information. The art works are all for sale, with 60% going to the Artist and 40% to fund and grow the exhibition.
The painting with the most likes/reactions will be awarded a special prize as ‘The Peoples Favourite’ at the exhibition closing event at Haverhub.
The Breakout Gallery also hosted a series of talks and events during the final exhibition week. These included many of the artists involved with the exhibition, such as Richard Backlaw Jones and Rachel Barton, as well as general talks about artists and paintings.
The Breakout Gallery is a community focused arts organisation which was founded in 2016. In February 2016 Arthur Brooker decided to hold a small exhibition of his own work around Haverfordwest town.
He says
“There was so much of a procedure to make it happen, I began to ask friends if they wanted to take part too. And then we opened it up and put a public call out for others to enter into the exhibition.”
After taking a break for 2019, the exhibition was then put on hold in 2020 due to Covid. This year, following his stepping down from his role of art director at Haverhub, Arthur stepped back into his role as Art Director for the Breaking out of the Gallery exhibition.
Arthur notes the positive impact that the event has on the town.
“It has had a big impact on the town and we’ve had really positive feedback. People have really enjoyed seeing the streets full of colour.
It’s beneficial for the community as well as to showcase the artists work too. It also encourages visitors to spend more time in the town and increases the foot fall which is good for businesses.”
Arthur also emphasises the endless possibilities of having an exhibition outside on the street, where there is more space.
“Having an entire town of exhibition space means there is room to grow and expand the event if we want to. It’s also great as we don’t have to worry about paying rent, as we would for a building.”
When asked if he would consider expanding the event outside of Haverfordwest, to other towns in Pembrokeshire, he said they wouldn’t rule it out in future, if things continued to develop.
“What we do is different to anything else going on at the moment across the UK. If there was an opportunity to develop the exhibition in future that would be great.”
Arthur will be giving a talk about his own work at the closing event on 23rd October.
The Breakout Exhibition for 2022 is due to launch soon, with a call for artists to get involved. The theme is Connections.
There is also the opportunity to donate towards the project. Find out more on the Breaking out of the Gallery website.
If you missed the exhibition, you can still view the paintings online here https://www.facebook.com/breakingoutofthegallery/ and find out more about the artists and future exhibitions.
