This July Holmfirth Artweek will bring together local artists and venues across the region again in this celebrated community event.
Holmfirth Artweek returns this July, promising to be another successful year for the popular community event. The annual art exhibition, a firm favourite in the calendar, welcomes visitors from across the Holme Valley and beyond. Holmfirth Artweek is a local event with its main exhibition featuring over 400 exhibitors with over 2,000 artworks. It also links together dozens of fringe venues across the local area, that showcase more artists with thousands more pieces of art and crafts.
As well as supporting local artists, a percentage of sales from Holmfirth Artweek are donated to charity. Again this year this will be split between local charity The Kirkwood and long-standing partner Macmillan Cancer Support.
The event which has been a staple in the calendar since 1967, brings together a variety of artists across all mediums of art – from sculpture to paint to photography and beyond. It remains one of the UK’s largest and longest running open art exhibitions welcoming artists and visitors from the local area, as well as across the country.
For 2023, the event will run from Sunday 2nd of July to Saturday 8th July. The main exhibition, at Holmfirth Civic Hall, will be open from 10am – 9pm Monday – Friday and until 5pm on Sunday and Saturday. In addition to the main exhibition, each year there are specially invited featured artists who take over the top floor of the Civic Hall. This year Holmfirth Artweek are pleased to invite photographer and longstanding Artweek artist Eric Lee and contemporary wood sculptor Ralph Shuttleworth to this space.
Across the event there will be a wide variety of art from both professionals and amateurs, providing something to suit everyone’s taste and budget. There are also demonstrations on the stage in the Civic Hall, showcasing a selection of artists at work.
In addition to the Civic Hall, businesses and venues around the area also participate in Holmfirth Artweek by becoming a fringe venue and exhibiting and selling the work of even more artists. This helps to bring Holmfirth Artweek into the community and to raise extra funds for the charity partners.
This year almost 40 venues will be taking part – allowing visitors the opportunity to explore the wider area. The venues will range from bars and cafés to churches and community spaces, as well as open art studios which will offer visitors special access into the artists’ workspaces.
Holmfirth Artweek is a truly open art exhibition and presents an important outlet for artists, especially after a difficult couple of years for the industry. Last year, in the first full year back since the Covid pandemic, the event raised £26,000 which was split evenly between its two charity partners The Kirkwood and long-standing partner Macmillan Charity Support.
Chair of the Holmfirth Artweek team, Lynne Onyskiw said. “Last year it was great to see so many new artists displaying their work at Artweek and we wondered if it was a post pandemic effect – with so many people taking up new hobbies and careers in art and crafts. But this year looks set to have even more new artists coming forward to show us their work. We wouldn’t be able to run the event without our amazing volunteers. A lot of volunteers tell us how much they look forward to helping at Artweek, as it is such a lovely atmosphere. I like being there myself as there always seems to be something new to spot, no matter how many times in the week you come into the exhibition!”
Artweek is organised by an enthusiastic and experienced team of volunteers who work hard behind the scenes all year to ensure the event runs smoothly and is a success.
For further information please visit the website: www.holmfirthartweek.org.uk or follow Artweek on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
For those who can’t wait until the main exhibition opens on the 2nd, there will be a Preview Evening held on Saturday 1st July for ‘Friends of Artweek.’
For anyone who would like to become a ‘Friend’ and attend the Preview to get a first look at what’s on sale, you can find out more information on the website.
