Seahouses main street transforms into art gallery

Jun 13 2009 by Richard Fletcher, The Journal

THERE will be paintings next to pork chops and art work alongside asparagus in one seaside village next weekend.

When their intended exhibition space became unfit to use, people in Seahouses had the idea to transform their main street into a walk-through gallery.

Now artists will come from across North Northumberland to display their works in Seahouses’ shop fronts, where visitors will be able to view paintings of Northumbrian landscapes next to mannequins and butchers’ window displays.

The ‘gallery’ will encompass much of the main street, where shopkeepers have kindly agreed to take part in the street exhibition.

The project was originally going to be held in a vacant building in Seahouses, which organisers identified as being the perfect size and layout to hang the works.

But the idea hit a snag when the building was found to have been left in an unfit state to use inside, and exhibitors were facing a headache over how to make sure the display went ahead.

Luckily event organiser Graeme Cooper from Seahouses Development Trust, along with Belford artist Sarah Riseborough, came up with the idea of actually using the town itself as the gallery.