A Salford-based artist has launched a collaborative exhibition with six local poets to inspire people to get creative.
Emma Evans, who is originally from Leeds, combines art and poetry in the exhibition called ‘Tales of Manchester. It launched Thursday 20th October at The Carlton Club, Whalley Range.
Emma worked with six poets who live across the area, which each creating a bespoke poem under the brief ‘Manchester’ to showcase the city’s history, diversity, and creativity.
She is passionate about inspiring more people to tap into their creative side. She explained: “We are all gifted in our own ways, it’s about honing into that and just giving things a go because life is too short and it’s all okay.
“We don’t need to be perfect; we just need to give things a go and not hold back.”
Emma lives in Monton with her husband Will, and together they own Wandering Palate, a wine and luxury giftshop located on Monton high-street. They set up Wandering Palate back in early 2021 as they felt that people should have a one-stop shop to find a special treat. When setting up Wandering Palate, it was important for Emma to have an outlet for her art.
She uses their café and bar area upstairs to exhibit her work and hold life drawing classes.
The life drawing classes are one way that Emma encourages people of all abilities to get stuck in and do something creative. But the latest in her efforts to inspire is her new exhibition ‘Tales of Manchester’ is Emma’s first official exhibition since before lockdown.
However, her local community in Monton are well-acquainted with her work after she quite literally ‘painted the town’ back in 2020.
In lockdown, Emma was on her way to the post office to send a letter to her Gran and was disappointed to see how empty and bare the high street was. She was saddened by how lifeless it looked and decided to do something about it.
After getting permission from all the shop owners, Emma took to the streets with her multi coloured paint pens and doodled the windows of every store.
To this day, customers will speak to Emma about her work on the windows and thank her for brightening their day during such a dark and difficult time.
One of the poets is Matt Concannon from Salford, also known as The Thirsty Poet.
His poem ‘M.A.N.C.H.E.S.T.E.R’ explored the iconic parts of the city that make it what it is. Speaking before his performance, he was excited to share his work from the stage and hoped each member of the audience would find something to relate to.
As a self-proclaimed “Salfordian through and through”, Matt was keen to celebrate Salford in his work.
The collaborative element of this exhibition made it a unique experience for the audience. Emma used each poem as inspiration for an original piece of art that would amplify their message.
The painting created from Matt’s poem was an explosion of the word ‘Manchester’ all over a canvas, which Matt felt summed it up perfectly.
Following the performances, visitors were invited to go and see the paintings again with a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the meaning behind each of them.
As the event came to a close, Emma seemed pleased with how it went. She said: “I’m absolutely buzzing. I’m really happy. It made me ecstatic when people were leaving and so many people said ‘I’m going to start painting again, or I’m going to pick up paints or start writing poetry again.
“Everyone walked out really energised and ready to create something, and that’s what I wanted to achieve.”
The exhibition will remain open at The Carlton Club until 17th November, when it will move to Wandering Palate until the end of the year.
More information can be found on her Instagram @emmaevansstudio
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