Chelsea Entwistle, Salford’s artist in residence, has hand-painted thirteen completely new collages to be used in Salford’s 2024 calendar.
The paintings will be sold at £20 each and available at the Civic Centre and all local gateways.
Earlier this year, Chelsea was asked to paint original pieces of art to showcase areas of Salford which are now complete. 300 calendars are being printed at first and pre-orders through Facebook have already sold out.
The profits will be going to the three Salford-based charities listed below. The charities have been chosen by Salford’s ceremonial mayor Gina Reynolds in her year of office.
- St Ann’s Hospice in Little Hulton provides supportive and specialist palliative care services to people over the age of 18 in Greater Manchester.
- START is a mental health charity in Pendleton which provides therapeutic arts and horticulture sessions.
- Agnes Hopkins Community Centre based in Swinton aims to reduce social isolation and promote inclusion and wellbeing.
Chelsea has spent the past six months looking over the history of Salford in order to include as many Salford based locations and people as possible; including Salford Lads Club, Buile Hill Mansion, Ordsall Hall, L.S. Lowry and Mark Addy.
“I’ve turned into a bit of a history nerd,” she laughed. “It’s amazing the amount of things we’ve got in this city that lots of people who are born here are not aware of.”
“A lot of things do come back to Salford and I think as a city we really need to brag more about how amazing it is. I always think stuff like this can bring back some community spirit, remind people of where they’re from and why they should be proud of where they come from.”
“I’m born and raised in Salford, I’ve lived around the precinct area my whole life. It’s been really nice to put art back into this city.”
Chelsea became the artist in residence for Salford shopping centre over a year ago and was put forward to create this calendar by Councillor John Warmisham for Pendleton and Charlestown. She describes him as “someone that has always promoted local people.”
“Salford’s one of those places where although we don’t all have a lot; everyone will go out of their way to help someone.”
Chelsea is a completely self-taught artist and has never been to art school but just loves to paint and share that with other people.
Chelsea added: “I love to paint all things Salford, even the scruffy side, the graffiti. I’ve never denied we’ve got a bad side.”
For a lot of her paintings in this calendar there is a connection between the month and the imagery inside the paintings. “I think I made it a lot harder for myself by doing that,” she adds. “But I’ve loved working on this project.”
The individual pieces are all available now to see at Chelsea’s exhibition window in the Salford Shopping Centre.
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