A new exhibition from local fine artist Ruth Fildes is celebrating the vitally important work of Altrincham-based Inch Arts at its base on Stamford New Road.
People are the Key features over 300 paintings of the people who support and take part in the charity’s classes, workshops, exhibitions and clubs, many of which use a variety of arts to help those with mental health or wellbeing issues.
We met up with Ruth – who has just completed a year-long residency at Inch Arts – and the charity’s CEO Jo Cushing to find out more.
ALTRINCHAM TODAY: So Ruth, tell us more about this exhibition.
RUTH FILDES: When I started my year-long residency at the beginning of last year I initially thought I would set up my studio space and paint here, but quickly I realised that my time was going to be spent getting to know people and talking to people. I loved hearing their stories and why they were here using the space.
AT: And you started to paint them?
RF: Yes, the people who work here who come and do the workshops or other classes. Anyone and everyone who would let me take their photograph!
AT: What’s your artistic background?
RF: I’ve been an art teacher for nearly 20 years but last Christmas I gave up my head of department role at Withington Girls to be a part-time teacher of art so that I could spend more time doing my own artwork. A few years before that I did an MA which was very much focused on encouraging art teachers to develop their own practice and how that feeds into their art teaching. I was also able to do more art during lockdown. Jo saw the work I was posting on Instagram and asked if I would like a solo show, and I jumped at the chance.
AT: How would you describe your style?
RF: I describe myself as a fine artist. My art is about capturing the person and when it’s myself it’s usually at extreme emotional times. My style of painting is quite loose and expressive and uses an impasto technique, but I do a lot of drawing and print-making and have now branched out into assemblage sculpture as well.
AT: What do you look to capture in people?
RF: I would like to take more extreme angles of people. It’s interesting because people want their portrait to look beautiful, but I’m the opposite, I want to challenge that. The more you get to know somebody, the more you’ll capture the essence of that person in a portrait.
AT: And Jo, Ruth’s exhibition says a lot about the community here at Inch Arts and the people who pass through?
JO CUSHING: Yes. There are a lot of people who depend on this place because we help them out. Our Human Voices group, for instance, is a discussion group that meets here and lets people talk about their experiences, with no interrupting, with the idea being that you get to know about that person and it breaks down the barriers that exist between you and all these other people you’ve never met before. It’s been a very interesting year with that group.
AT: What about the other groups here?
JC: We have a group called Trafford Young Carers, which is a really fantastic one involving young carers aged between 12 and 25. The aim of the project is to help develop the participants’ song-writing, musical vocabulary and studio technical skills, and we’ve got two young men from the Royal Northern College of Music who lead it.
It’s to help them develop a passion, because young carers don’t really have access to a lot of things but music is something they can do anytime.
The People are the Key exhibition runs at Inch Arts on Stamford New Road, from March 4th to March 25th. For more information about Inch Arts, visit inch-arts.co.uk or email ruth@inch-arts.co.uk
Main photo: Laura Marie Linck
