Jen Holtridge is an artist and potter working under the name Quite Contrary Pottery. Jen harnesses the wellbeing benefits of pottery to unlock people’s creativity, most recently working with disabled artists to spotlight endangered migratory birds of the Humber Estuary, with young people from the LGBTQIA+ community and people with lived experience of immigration and resettlement to represent their journeys.
Working in ceramics and photography, and often combining both, Jen’s work explores personal themes of contradictions, mental health, neurodivergence and always includes a sense of humour.

Instagram @quitecontrarypottery

Darren Neave is an artist and researcher currently undertaking a doctoral award at Leeds Beckett University. His practice-led research navigates the preposterousness of olfaction with sculptural resurrection, with links to re-use, ecological demise, corporeal embodiment and memory. This links with his research in consumerist delight and disgust, embracing commodification, the written word, a working-class and a queer, neuro-divergent background. Aside from his studies and practice, Darren co-directs the Turntable Gallery on the historic fish docks in Grimsby – the first dedicated space for contemporary art within the town.

Instagram: @thehazmatguy

Dale Christopher Wells is a multidisciplinary artist, award winning gallerist and renowned restoration expert. With over 22 years’ experience in the field, Dale has been integral in raising Grimsby’s artistic offering to a level of national importance. Currently co-Director of the Turntable Gallery in Grimsby, his work in the cultural sector has brought contemporary heavyweights to the town, seen a huge increase in public engagement and drawn the attention of the world press. Dale’s practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, performance and writing. He has shown country-wide and appears in public and private collections across the UK and beyond.

Annabel McCourt is a distinguished contemporary artist known for her provocative and thought-provoking works that challenge social and political norms. Her multimedia creations span installations, sculpture and public art; often exploring themes of power, identity and societal conflict. McCourt’s innovative approach and fearless commentary have garnered her international acclaim and numerous exhibitions.

Instagram: @annabelmccourt_artist

Dinosaur Kilby is an Artist-Curator based in Birmingham. He currently works at Wolverhampton Art Gallery as a Digital Producer. Between 2021-23 he completed an artist-curator traineeship at Eastside Projects. He set up and ran Cheap Cheap, an artist-led space, between 2019-2023. Dinosaur is currently working on Free House, a new artist studio complex and Prayer Room, a new exhibition space, both in Digbeth, Birmingham. He is also a founding member of Kühle Wampe, a horrible collaboration based across The Midlands.

Instagram: @dinosaurkilby

Sahjan Kooner is an amalgamation of inherited worlds and speculative futures, they work in a freelance capacity to support their practice and owe a great deal to their family. They are a student of the dream state.

Hannah is passionate about developing and producing interdisciplinary immersive arts and culture programmes that connect and build meaningful exchanges for intersectional communities. She has over 10 years of experience working in artist-led spaces as the Director of Asylum Art Gallery LTD and the Public Program and Projects Manager at Compton Verney. Her practice has manifested in response to her long-term chronic health condition. She explores the creation of eulogies and the tension between oral histories and digital archives, seeking to understand how to reclaim some sense of agency within a society which dehumanises within medicalised settings for birth, healthcare and death, scaring our neuroendocrinological functioning and changing our symbiotic lived experiences.

Instagram: @asylum_artist_quarter

Corinne is a disabled queer self-portrait artist and curator, producing art from the same 2 by 1.5-metre space: their bed. Primarily a photographer, Corinne’s self-portraits are laden with symbolism and explore themes of confinement, fragile health and queerness. Corinne’s childhood and imaginary friend “Daisy” is central to their practice. To escape childhood trauma, Corinne and Daisy created Daisyland, a magical Utopia they entered through a Fairy-Door on their bedroom wall. Daisyland inspired the Arts Council DYCP project ‘Daisyland: A Queer Utopia and Curatorial Platform’.

Instagram: @corinnesdiary

Originally from Scotland, Maddie’s childhood was largely spent by the sea; an environment that inspired her creative practice over the years. Maddie studied Art Foundation at Cumbria College of Art and Design then graduated from University of Central Lancashire with a BA (Hons) before completing a PGCE in Art & Design in 2001 and forging a successful career in Arts Education, whilst continuing her own creative practice in painting. Her work is inspired by the patterns, colours and landscapes of nature, as well as the thoughts, feelings and emotions she resonates with in her daily life.

Instagram: @maddiewebbart

Exodus Crooks is a British-Jamaican multidisciplinary artist and educator, interested in self-determination and how it is steered by religion and spirituality. Their art is research focused and follows the lead of the many radical Caribbean writers and thinkers advocating for indigenous ways of living. Exodus is currently experimenting with gardening, text, filmmaking, and installation to better understand indigenous thought and tend to the breaks that occur in the human experience. They are proud to be based in heart of the Midland’s vibrant art community, working closely with local galleries and organisations such as Grand Union, Vivid Projects, The New Art Gallery Walsall, and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Instagram: @exoduscrooks

Josh is an emerging British artist with work featured in New Art Gallery Walsall’s ‘Twenty Twenty’ collection. Born in Rugby, Warwickshire, Josh first studied Fashion at Kingston University London, later going on the attain a MA in Art History from The Open University. He lives and works in Birmingham. Whilst studying part-time for his MA, Josh began to experiment in ways of making work through textiles, polaroids, and illustration before arriving at the current practice of mixed media painting, monoprints and writing.

Instagram: @edgingtonisart