Open Art Exhibition 2023

After 2022's great success in Southsea Library, Detectives co-produced  a new Open Art Exhibition 'A Wonderous Odyssey' in November 2023.

Using the themes The Lost World and The Poison Belt, supported by archives, books and objects from the Conan Doyle Collection, our Detectives hosted an 'Open Art' exhibition.

This was also open to existing groups and clubs for people in Portsmouth who have learning disabilities, are neurodivergent, have physical disabilities, mental health issues or any other marginalised groups and they were invited to submit work.

Detectives recruited Mandie Molyneux and Splodge Designs to offer inspirational workshops to encourage people in learning a new art form, or to embed previous knowledge.

Our Detectives were involved right at the beginning of the journey creating their own work and supporting the artists when delivering workshops to community groups. The final exhibition went up in Central Library reception in November 2023 and opened alongside the Detectives Immersive Theatre production of the same name, A Wonderous Odessey.

April Update

Planning for our next Exhibition project is going really well, here is some of the work produced to help promote our forthcoming Open Art exhibition!

Come and explore the breadth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Legacy

Enter the worlds mysterious and lost through art and creativity

The Detectives need YOU and your artwork for a new exciting exhibition coming soon!

May Update

We had our first Felting Workshops on 4^th and 11^th May, with Inter Activ Social Enterprise  and some of the Detectives.

During the workshops, many of our Detectives made felt pictures and balls which took only 45 minutes to create with different coloured felt inside.  

These textile pieces are inspired by the stories The Lost World and The Poison Belt, and will be shown in our forthcoming exhibition!

"Felting is very calming and relaxing process!" A participant quote

July Update

The second heat press workshop involved using 2 more techniques to transfer colour to fabric from paper. The artists showed the group how to select and layer their painted paper images with other textures such as textured paper and foliage, to create ghostly images and layers of colour.  The group were slightly nervous with anticipation when the heat press opened and the images were revealed, as no one had experienced the process before. The finished pieces were quite dramatic and will look spectacular when exhibited In November.

November Update

We showcased a selection of the artwork, 'A Wonderous Odessey', from our Detectives and community groups in the reception area of the Portsmouth Central Library on the 18th November to 2nd December. You can see all of the Detectives work here. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, on the opening day we held an immersive art experience show.