An art lovers guide to Liverpool: places to see it, buy it, and get into it

Liverpool loves its art which is why Liverpool Art Fair is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year.

There are more than 200 artists showing and selling original work at the Royal Liver Building until Sunday, August 18, with pieces from just £20 upwards.

And it’s not the only place across the city where you can see or buy art, or indulge in a spot of creativity yourself…

Where you can see art:

The Walker Art Gallery

Walker Art Gallery. Credit: National Museums Liverpool

As the ‘National Gallery of the North’ the Walker’s always worth a visit but it’s better than ever after a multi-million pound refurbishment. It’s got one of the most important painting collections in the UK including European Renaissance paintings, masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, Turner and Stubbs, Pre-Raphaelite artworks by Rossetti and Millais, Impressionist works by Monet and Degas and contemporary works by Hockney, alongside current exhibitions like Metamorphosis by Johnny Vegas and Emma Rodgers and, from Saturday, July 27, a ground-breaking photography exhibition, Queen by Magnus Hastings, spotlighting local drag icons and global stars.

Find more info here.

Tate Liverpool + RIBA North

Currently at RIBA North, Mann Island, while its Royal Albert Dock home is being redeveloped, the Tate space is smaller but with two galleries and a family area where there are activities alongside talks, tours and creative workshops. Nancy Holt’s film which documents the making of her large-scale sculptural installation in the Utah desert is being shown until Tuesday, July 30; and from Wednesday, July 31, you can see Brickworks, showcasing the transformative power of bricks in art and featuring sculpture, photography and works on paper from the Tate Collection.

Find more info here.

Sudley House

The Victorian home of the philanthropic Holt family in Mossley Hill Road, Sudley House is one of the few period homes with many of its original features and boasts the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection in Britain still hanging in its original location. It’s also got a Home and Away exhibition with foreign views from the collection of George Holt which highlight the Holt family’s interest in travel, and local views of Liverpool and the surrounding area in the 19th century when the Holts lived at Sudley.

Find more info here.

The Bluecoat

The Bluecoat art centre in School Lane hosts a year-round programme of events and exhibitions with artists from around the corner and around the globe! A current, ongoing exhibition, Plotting the Course, charts some of the developments that have taken place in visual art and performance by artists of colour as reflected in the Bluecoat’s art gallery programmes in Liverpool since the 1980s. It also holds regular art courses and workshops, as well as family art sessions, and more.

Find more info here.

Where you can buy it:

The Art Quarter Liverpool at MetQuarter

The Art Quarter Liverpool is a collective of local artists who create a wide range of work using various media such as painting, illustration, photography, textiles, glasswork, greetings cards, homewares and jewellery. The beauty here is that you’ll find the artists behind the counter so they can tell you all about the inspiration and stories behind their work, and they are available for commissions.

Find more info here.

The Nest

The Nest opened its doors at The Colonnades in The Royal Albert Dock in May 2018 and has grown to be a haven of all things design-led and delightful, selling the work of Merseyside’s artists, designers, photographers – it’s the perfect place for prints – and makers.

Find more info here.

dot-art

dot-art in Queen Avenue works with more than 100 artists to offer a huge choice of quality, locally-sourced art work for the home (or business) through its city centre gallery, external exhibitions and website. It has curated collections from its expert gallery team and past exhibitions and you can ask to view any piece at the gallery or have it shipped straight to your door. One collection, ‘A Window to Your Neighbourhood’, features dot-art artists of all abilities who entered a free competition to show their neighbourhoods from the six boroughs of Liverpool City Region.

Find more info here.

The Amorous Cat

The Amorous Cat Gallery in Lark Lane is owned by artist Jan Sear and husband, Ron, and is a community art gallery showcasing the work of local Merseyside artists. It aims to feature work from a variety of media with up to six or seven artists’ work on show at any one time, and from now until Sunday, August 4, you can see an exhibition and sale of contemporary artwork by Cleide Ellis – who has a studio above the gallery – as well as a selection of paintings, prints, greeting cards, coasters, and decorated terracotta pots by other local artists.

Find more info here.

Artefact

Artefact in Roscoe Street combines the charm of a vintage furniture store with the coziness of a coffee shop, selling carefully curated pieces from antique dressers to retro sofas while serving a perfectly roasted brew. It also opens up it walls to local artists who can share their work with a wider audience.

Find more info here.

Where you can get into it!

Cass Art

As well as hosting its own exhibition space and selling everything any artist would ever want or need, Cass Art in School Lane holds regular classes, demonstrations, and workshops to help us all become a bit more creative. They include a monthly Painting Class For All which will introduce you to watercolours, along with other events like a Japanese Sumi-E workshop on Saturday, August 31.

Find more info here.

dot-art

Not only can you view and buy art via dot-art, you can practice and develop your own skills too as it provides a range of courses – Abstract Painting, Collage Art Journaling and more – across venues from The Bluecoat and BOLD Place, to Victoria Gallery & Museum, Duke Street Market, Cotton Exchange, dot-art Gallery and dot-art Darkroom. It also offers online courses including an Introduction to Caricature, Pet Portraiture and Drawing Techniques.

Find more info here.

Pinot + Picasso

Pinot + Picasso has bought sip and paint sessions to Liverpool with a dedicated studio and bar in the Baltic Triangle. Each session is themed, so you could have the chance to do a portrait of your partner or your pet, or maybe a landscape or still life (and there are neon night sessions where the lights are turned off and it’s UV lit so the paint glows in the dark). There’s a bar in the Norfolk Street venue for drinks and people are free to bring their own snacks along, or get food delivered to the studio.

Find more info here.