VISITORS to the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair at The Sage Gateshead this weekend will see lots of art for sale – and also get a sense of a creative industry in action.

Artists from across the North East will be selling paintings or sculptures, either individually or through the galleries that represent them.

The Jim Edwards Gallery, based in Byker, Newcastle, and Alan Reed Art, of Ponteland, Northumberland, are highly successful single artist operations.

Then there are the galleries that represent several artists, such as Haslam’s of Hallgate in Hexham, the Tallantyre Gallery in Morpeth, the Balman Gallery in Corbridge and the Blagdon Gallery at the Milkhope Centre on the very outskirts of Newcastle.

Exhibitors range from the fiercely commercial, such as the Whitewalls Galleries and the Castle Galleries, which add an appealing splash of colour to prime city centre locations, to the Globe Gallery – recently relocated to an old bank at Blandford Square – where contemporary art goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to community involvement.

Online activity is very much a feature of the modern art world, but that doesn’t mean an art fair doesn’t matter to those who do business via the internet.

Emma McMillan, 25, set up her business, Gallereo, last year after returning from New York, where she was studying for an MA with Christie’s, the auction house.

Originally from Wallsend, North Tyneside, Emma studied art history at Northumbria University before heading off to New York where, as part of her course work, she was sent out to identify the next big thing, scouting around the many art galleries of the city.

There she alighted on the work of Dutch artist Hans Meertens, whose vibrant paintings seem to owe a lot to the influence of graphic novels and street art. Emma wrote an article in praise of the artist’s work and he subsequently contacted her and asked if she would write a piece for a book about him.