ArtWaves 2017 Post Event
Mon 22nd May 2017
You may have heard the rumours of a giant creature taking over Bridlington Spa, which was part of the third ArtWaves festival on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May.
The festival was the biggest yet, reaching an audience of over 2,500 in two days almost quadruple since the first in 2015. There was a fantastic diversity amongst those attending, young and old spraying side by side in our street art drop in session and creating watercolour masterpieces in our free drop in artist sessions.
This year ArtWaves took various steps to grow on what had been achieved previously, stretching into the week before with the ArtWaves Fringe, introducing an evening event and incorporating Arts Award for the young creatives.
Those attending could try their hand at doodling, urban art, den building, watercolour, pencil drawing alongside participating in the bookable workshops, browsing the art market, watching free artist demonstrations from national artists and experiencing the highly acclaimed Open Exhibition amongst so much more.
For the first time the Open Exhibition winner Stephen Carvill and his piece ‘The Bike Shed’ snapped up both the Audience Choice award and the Judges Overall winner. Stephen said, “I am delighted to be the Artwaves Open Exhibition winner, a real honour that will give me more confidence to show paintings in the future.
“The painting represents a very diverse group of people who come together because of a shared interest; motorcycling. I thank the judges and the audience for the lasting encouragement that they have given to me personally, I will always carry it with me when I'm working.”
Festival director Lauren Frost has commented, “It is fantastic to see the festival developing into a sought after fixture in the cultural diary. We wanted to create an event which truly showcases visual arts for all that it is; traditional, digital, contemporary, urban art and all in between.
“The response has been incredible and the festival is certainly taking the right direction to encourage creativity amongst such a vast demographic of attendees. I would like to make a personal thank you to all those who came along and supported the event. I’m very grateful to have had a hand in the development of the festival.”
ArtWaves will be returning in 2018, on 12/13 May in what is set to be an even bigger event.
