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PC : @ PopUpPainting
Popup Painting : ' Unleash your Creativity '
You don ' t need to know the first thing about art to start painting . Gareth Lewis Shelton , co-founder of PopUp Painting , tells Sleuth ' s Saba Chima how easy it can be to experience the joys of creativity .
Q . Tell us about PopUp Painting — what it ’ s about , how and when it was founded ?
PopUp Painting was something that we launched back in April 2013 . It ’ s founded by people who have no background in art whatsoever . Our Managing Director and one of our founders , Venessa , comes from a health service management background . Myself , I ’ ve got no art background ; at the time , I was about to start a master ’ s in political economy . And our third director , he comes from an aeronautical engineering [ background ]. We were introduced to the concept of ‘ sit and paint ’, which is really popular in America and has been since about 2008 . And then someone recommended that maybe we should try to do something like this in London — so we thought it sounded like an interesting and exciting thing and that it was worth trying . In February 2013 , we flew out to Boston , Massachusetts , to have a go at one of these in America to see whether we liked it and whether we thought it ’ s a good , you know , product . And to our surprise we really enjoyed it , and we spoke to people who were there — and most of them again
“ Most of the people who come to our events are young professionals , they ’ re about 80 % women , and they ’ re mainly just looking for something a bit different to do .
” weren ’ t artists , they were people with all sorts of backgrounds who were just looking for something different to do . We then launched in the April of that year , and we describe our mission as ‘ bringing art out of our gallery , into the places that people want to meet on an everyday basis ’. And I think that is really key , you know , […] some people see art as quite a stuffy thing , and we don ’ t think it is and shouldn ’ t be seen as that . And , I think bringing it to a place where people can have a drink and socialise […] gets rid of one of the barriers for people . Most of the people who come to our events are young professionals , they ’ re about 80 % women , and they ’ re mainly just looking for something a bit different to do , so they ’ re not looking for a serious art class--they ’ re just looking for an experience , something to dip their toes into .
Q . What do your events entail , and what can a first-time attendee expect the day to be like ?
So they can expect as they come in to be greeted by our very friendly team . [ There will always be ] at least two people working on one event . One person sort of focuses on guiding
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