What's it about?
The UK county of Derbyshire is known for its beautiful landscapes, but it's also made up of so many wonderful people who help to make their communities great. It's time to celebrate the good in people!
What's been happening?
Throughout summer in 2024, I worked with libraries, community groups, and media to connect with the people of Derbyshire and ask them who should be celebrated in this portrait collection.
Once the nominations were received and the sitters chosen in autumn, I began meeting with these remarkable people to get to know them and take reference photos.
What's happening now?
I'm now busy creating the portraits that will form the collection. I work in soft pastels and use the different parts of my hands as brushes to blend the colours into a portrait.
My experience in creating portraits, which includes creating a portrait in front of an audience when I took part in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, as well as commissions and portraits which have been longlisted for art prizes, is helping me decide on the right composition for each unique person being celebrated.
What's next?
The portraits will soon be complete, and I'm sharing a few sneak peeks of works in progress via my Instagram page (@speed.melissa). They will then be framed locally by a professional ready for exhibiting throughout spring 2025.
The exhibition will start in Glossop, opening on the 28th March at Glossop Labour Club (no longer associated with any political party, but a great accessible venue at the heart of its community). The collection will stay there for a week before begin a tour around the county. People will be able to see the portraits in places such as cafes and libraries, enabling more people to connect with the project.
Alongside the website, which will also feature the portraits in spring, booklets will be available featuring the full collection and the stories behind them.
What will happen to the portraits?
At the end of spring, once the portraits have been on display across the county, the portraits will be gifted to the sitters.
So what's the funding for?
The project is mostly self-funded, though a small grant was awarded when I was planning the project which has covered the cost of the website (www.weareallderbyshire.com) and my travel expenses.
If you choose to support We Are All Derbyshire, you'll not only be contributing to the cost of framing, my materials, and the booklets, you'll be helping to share these uplifting stories of people doing small things which make a big difference to their communities and the lives of those around them.
If there is any funding left after the costs of framing and booklet printing have been covered, I'd love to make the exhibition opening night a bit more special with welcome drinks.
Thank you for your interest in We Are All Derbyshire.