The people of Belfast are a creative bunch and increasingly with the help of a number of city centre retailers, their work is becoming readily available to buy in a range of formats. It’s great to see retailers supporting local and bringing their work to the city shoppers.
The first is the Visit Belfast tourist shop opposite the City Hall. Recently this council run tourist information centre is supporting local and have a large range of products produced by local artists in the shop.
From screen printed designs by Flax Fox, to vintage art by Arbee cards, from the architectural designs on linen by Deborah Toner to my own digital designs of the city, they stock cards, mugs, prints and much more. It's a great shop full of pick-up gifts suitable for everyone.
On High Street is the Wickerman who hold monthly exhibitions of work by local artists and stock a huge range of locally sourced products. You could say they were one of the first in the city to begin supporting local.
Sheldon Art Gallery beside the City Hall have a selection of art, including prints and paintings by Belfast born artist, Terry Bradley. A few years ago, Terry painted a series of work called Sailortown which was inspired by the docks area of Belfast. His work is incredibly popular and well worth checking out his tattoo inspired paintings.
Every weekend at St George's Market is where you'll find a lot of the artists themselves selling their work. Many of the painters in the market sell stock throughout the country and have built quite a following of art lovers. Amongst the many artists in the market, Andrew Coombe paints hugely popular stags on large canvases and Patricia Logue paints beautiful and moody Belfast skylines. The market is essentially the city's artist hub every weekend.
Victoria Square hold a Sunday Fayre every week with a number of artists selling their work on the lower ground floor.
Slightly further afield in Holywood, the Yard Gallery stock a large selection of local art including paintings by a number of St George's Market artists, including work by Michael Mooney. They have the best selection of prints and original work available with a great entry to the art world price point of £20. They have a great coffee shop on site with art available to view throughout the premises. Well worth a visit.
Finally, it’s worth checking out Spacecraft at the Fountain Centre. Tucked away in an upstairs corner, this gallery, shop and exhibition space stocks a huge selection of creations and art by local people.
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