I visited Direct Art Action in Sutton Coldfield on 1st March 2018. I went there to look at art work which artists from the local area had as part of an exhibition. As well as looking all around I spoke to two artists who had their work on display, Fran Vere and James Ware. They showed us their work and we analysed a piece by each of them in detail. We also asked and found out about their careers then had a look round the rest of the gallery. I couldn’t believe how big it was as the shop used to be so full.

James Ware explores the human body by doing charcoal drawings and painting it which is fine art. Fran Vere does digital work by taking photos then editing them using Photoshop.  She layers different images. There were lots of different types of art work there like painting, drawing, photography, mosaic, 3D, metal, ceramics and many more that were all visual arts. There was also a shop where you could buy work from some artists.

I have seen some of this art work before but not all of it so I really liked what we saw as it was new and interesting. However some of his work was hard to understand without being told the meaning so I enjoyed looking at the work by the artists we interviewed best. I liked learning about the art work from the artists and how they created it because it helped you to understand and think about deeper meanings more. It would be good if the gallery could arrange for more artists to go there and talk about their work as I didn’t understand what all of the work represented.

I think it’s great that there is somewhere local you can have your work on display no matter what type of art style it is. I also learnt there are courses you can do after you leave school if you decide to do art like you could do an evening class. The curator of the exhibition started his art career later in life but he has been successful and has other projects as well. 

James Ware talked about using art as a way to relax or be angry if you’re in a bad mood, and what you create can be influenced by your mood. You don’t have to be the best painter or artist if it helps you. It doesn’t take a born artist to be good at it, learning to become an artist can be done with time and effort.