Dartmouth has held a Galleries Week for many years when twice a year most of the galleries in Dartmouth launch new exhibitions on the same evening.
This October see the anniversary of the first Dartmouth Galleries Festival on Friday 14th October when from 6-9pm you will be able to see 9 new exhibitions.
Sarah Duggan from Baxters Gallery who co-ordinates the event said “Dartmouth has a rich variety of galleries and is a real destination for art lovers. We have always worked together to put on new exhibitions on the same dates and the resulting “Galleries Nights” are a real Dartmouth institution. People walk from gallery to gallery seeing the new shows and the atmosphere is fantastic.” Now we have added other elements over the 2 weeks that we show and there is a trail map that visitors can follow.
During the event, the second week of which is also the Food Festival, there are opportunities to meet artists and see demonstrations and on Friday 21st it’s Free Art Friday when pieces of artwork will be placed around the town for you to find and take home free of charge so keep your eyes peeled! You can look for clues on the Dartmouth Galleries Festival facebook page as to where you might find the art.
On Saturday 22nd The galleries will host an “Art Tasting” on Saturday 22nd from 10am – 1pm to coincide with the Food Festival weekend. There will be drinks and nibbles from local producers provided while you see exhibitions of paintings, ceramics and sculpture. Also watch out for easels around the town which are there for anyone to draw a Dartmouth view or whatever takes their imagination.
A selection of the galleries will be showing pieces from their new exhibitions in The Flavel Arts Centre from Monday 17th October for 2 weeks to give a taste of what you can expect to see if you follow the festival trail map. The work will be for sale and will show the diversity of art available in the town’s galleries.
The Flavel Arts Centre will host a talk by 2 artists inspired by the natural world, Jennie Hale and Sarah Gillespie, who will talk about their creative experiences on Wednesday 26th October
See the website for more details. www.dartmouthgalleriesfestival.co.uk

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