Hull Open Studios

Hull has a vibrant, eclectic community of artist studios. On Saturday 10 May, 10am-5pm, the city’s artists and studio providers will open their doors to the public, celebrating a diverse range of practices from painting to sculpture, drawing and textiles.

Hull Open Studios 2025 is a rare chance to see artists at work in their studios, get insight into works in progress and buy work directly from the artists themselves.

Map

Participants

Humber Street Gallery

Humber Street Gallery presents a changing programme of contemporary visual art exhibitions. As part of Hull Open Studios, artists from our Talent Development Programme INTER_CHANGE will be occupying the Space 2 Gallery where they have been working over the past two months. Meanwhile, visitors will be able to visit In Therapy with North Sea by Solmaz Farhang, and our Arty Bods session will be on in the café space from 10:30am-12:30pm.

Juice Studios

Juice Studios is a not-for-profit creative hub in Hull’s Humber Street, established in 2020. Home to 12 individual studios and a co-working space for up to 10 creatives, we support a diverse community of artists, including fine artists, painters, printmakers, graphic designers, illustrators, glass workers, and textile artists. Our open-access print studio specializes in screen printing alongside traditional printmaking. We also host workshops, life drawing, and provide a flexible project space for exhibitions, photoshoots, and creative experimentation.

HARI

Hull Artist Research Initiative provides residency space for artists of all disciplines to explore a research subject or experiment with an element of practice. This acts as a space beyond the usual studio for specific activity which pushes artistic practice further. To support these artists’ enquiries, and enable engagement between artists and publics, subject experts, and other artists, HARI devises a bespoke programme of discussions and events for each residency it hosts.

Atelier 8.

Atelier 8. is a unique society of fashion and textile creative practitioners in Hull. A place where independent artists and designers are encouraged to reach their full potential. Where ideas thrive, boundaries are pushed, and the status quo is challenged. With eight full members and five fellows the society supports and nurtures creatives at all stages of their career. Members’ practices include fashion design, free-hand embroidered textiles, millinery and Nuno felting, amongst others.

Ground

Ground is a social centre and space for local, outsider, and social art which benefits the local community and wider public through the provision of low-cost artist studios, gallery, library, community space, print room, and shop.

We host a range of public and closed groups around art, music, environmental concerns, community development, alternative-education and addiction support, with a diverse audience that attend the sessions including ex-offenders, recovering addicts, neurodiverse people, and the LGBTQI+ community.

Ian Hinley

Ian is a figurative painter who has been working in Hull for four years making portraits and large allegorical works. More recently he has also been finding joy in making smaller work primarily featuring animals.

Studio Eleven

Studio Eleven is a gallery, studio and workshop space. Events include artists talks & workshops by leading professional artists, a membership scheme, and a rolling programme of exhibitions featuring contemporary studio ceramics and painting.

We have the only dedicated ceramics space in Hull, with equipment and kilns in a shared studio setting.   We offer a Membership Scheme, Beginners Course, guided Pottery Clubs, plus throwing – on – the – wheel workshops. Membership benefits include 10% discount on artist led workshops, access to the equipment, kilns, and materials at a reduced price.

We welcome visitors to our studio during the open weekend to see work in progress, our facilities, pottery and sculpture created by our artists members and the pottery clubs.

David Lau & Mei Lau

I work mainly with pencil/ink pens, drawing things that inspire me and help develop my artistic journey. Art for me is a form of therapy. I create art in a way that expresses how I feel based on the choice of style I use when beginning an art piece. As I am new to the art scene. I seek opportunities to grow as an Artist and to sell as a businessman in the art sector.

Amy Precious

Amy Precious is a contemporary artist based in Hull. Known for her colourful, atmospheric works, Precious uses oil pastels to explore synaesthesia, blending visual, sound, and sensory art. Her pieces capture personal and collective experiences, with a focus on political, societal, and cultural moments. Her work often reflects life in Hull and her travels, particularly to Málaga, Spain. Precious has exhibited locally, including at the Art House Gallery and the Hull Unthinkable Film Festival 2024.

Angela Bell

Angela originally studied textile design at Manchester where colour, texture and experimentation with different mediums were encouraged. Her work continues to be an eclectic mix and she likes to create an interesting surface on which to work using a variety of media, including machine embroidery. Angela has taken part in Beverley Open Studios more recently. She exhibits locally and nationally and has had work in Royal British Society’s exhibition at the Mall Galleries for the last two consecutive years.

Sandy Dorer

Mainly my practice centres on the environment and our imapct upon it. My work is calm, quiet and still with the intention of engaging the viewer to take time to make a personal connection. My work practice involves being in an area often collecting organic material which gives resonance to a piece, sketching, taking photographs and getting the feeling of a place. I work in oil on canvas as I like the historical connection.

Dom Heffer

I have been in my current studio for eight years. The paintings that I make depict anarchic situations populated by ‘stooges’. The atmosphere in the works is often a little perilous, or anxious. For me, these are predominant moods cultivated in western culture; by our governments, mainstream media and online environments. I am attempting to create images that are critical of this culture – whilst avoiding cynicism

Katryna Finnigan

I am an artist, and I mainly make art work made entirely out of magazines and recycled materials. I also draw and do a lot of enlargements, mainly of celebrities. I also do some painting.

I also play and perform the alto saxophone so I will be happy to perform this at the same time.

Fraser Briggs (FSR) – Misc Print Co

Misc Print Co was founded in 2018 by Artist/Designer, Fraser Briggs (FSR). Offering Design and Screen Printing solutions (garment and flat stock), Briggs, has worked with clients including acclaimed visual and musical artists (national and global), record labels, HBO/BBC, community projects and local business’. Alongside branding and art direction. Briggs also helps Artists develop their practice and offers on/offsite workshops for people to try screen printing themselves.

Art & Soul

Art & Soul, based at Fruit Market, showcases the work of over 100 artists and makers. Collections include Ceramics, Pottery, Jewellery, Original Art, Prints, and Photography, as well as a wide range of Greetings Cards and Gifts. The diverse selection on offer focuses on high-quality, handmade work, providing a vibrant space to explore and enjoy the creativity of UK artists and makers.

Matt Midwood

Matt paints, draws and prints familiar things either from life or his visual memory, objects our interest, places, spaces, buildings and people. Whether the artwork is figurative or abstract, what he strives for is something that looks real rather than just representation.

Bobby Beasley

Bobby is a photographer who seeks chance encounters and unpredictable moments. He likes to capture the humour in situations, enjoying the interaction, spontaneous nature and everything that happens along the way! Good work is when all of the elements come together.

Isaac Yeboah

My drawings are an abstract representation of my immediate experiences inspired by culture, fantasy, nature, mystery and the metaphysical which all intricately weave together a captivating imagery. A fluid connection which exists within the elements of the works translate a form of oneness which brings the drawings alive. Using the ballpoint pen as a medium on paper, I blend past and contemporary ideas and breathes life into vivid abstract imagery rich in detail and meaning.

Emily Fratson

I am a multidisciplinary artist with a BFA in Visual Art from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi (2013). My practice is underpinned by drawing, which I see as present in all aspects of my practice. I employ a range of processes and materials including ceramics, textiles, photography, painting, and digital media to explore themes such as placedness, domesticity, the lineage of making, and the line between art and craft.

Recently, I have been particularly drawn to using textiles- specifically quilting and embroidery. I consider these to be ‘legacy practices’ as they were mastered by my grandmother and passed on to me and the other women on my maternal line. I am in the early stages of developing a body of new work that considers my relationship to my grandmother and explores the push and pull between our ‘otherness’ and shared aspects of our being.

I am interested in rephrasing the existing language/ visual vocabulary around craft/domestic acts, Bible Belt Christianity, myth and the psyche.

Zivarna Murphy

Zivarna will show a body of ceramic work focusing on the tactile natural forms and textures of shells and fossilised shell bodies. They draw upon an exploration of the concept of donor bodies being left as empty shells and her ongoing examination of coastal erosion as a metaphor for human loss. You are invited to hold, listen to and smell the pieces. There will be a selection of vessels and wearable offcuts available for sale.

Chloe Barker

I consider my practice to be an intimate archive of my thoughts, discussions and experiences. I have amassed documentation through an ever growing collection of hand bound books which serve as the foundation of my creative work. My books consist of writings and drawings interconnected by their subject matter. Recurring motifs within my work have helped me form a consistent visual language, something I’ve found to be extremely cathartic.

Victoria Smith

Victoria Smith is a photographic artist, whose practice spans across analogue and digital technologies, from high quality commercial work to conceptual darkroom experimentations. Through a diverse range of exhibitions, residencies, and commissions, her work offers a nuanced perspective on both personal and collective narratives. Victoria also curates local exhibitions to provide a platform for local photographers to show their work to the public.

Old Ice Cream Factory

Old Ice Cream Factory is a live / work space in a restored and converted light industrial building which has had several uses besides a confectioners and ice cream manufacturers. It is surrounded by unusual gardens forming a quiet oasis close to the town centre. Rick Welton makes functional and sculptural hand-built ceramics. Trish Green is a mixed media artist with a particular interest in monoprints. Jeff Green uses found materials to create miniature townscapes.

Wild Giant Arts

Wild Giant Arts is a new street theatre company in Hull run by local artists and performers Stacey and Dave. We make roaming shows using larger than life puppets that we take to outdoor events and festivals around the UK. We build them here in our little studio in East Hull, where you can see our current work in progress, a giant dog puppet, and the inner workings that go into the creation of it.