Today I had a wonderful day at Manchester Contemporary Art Fair with some of my friends from college. It’s an annual event held over a weekend, it was quite a treat to go to, because I’d never been to an Art Fair before. I had read about the Vienna Biennial last year, but didn’t know they had Art Fairs in this country too. I was delighted to discover there had been one taking place every year since 2008 in Manchester.
The official opening night was Friday night, but unfortunately we couldn’t attend the opening. So, this morning I was up bright and early to meet my friends and catch the train from Blackpool North. The connection was great, a straight through train to Manchester Piccadilly. We stopped off for a coffee and cake ‘breakfast’ and then caught the free bus service into Manchester town center.
With the help of ‘Google Maps’ we quickly found the venue. Manchester Central Convention Complex is gorgeous old building and we were quickly inside and enjoying ourselves.
There was a cafe and bar, plus cloakroom for coats and bags. A good turnout of people meant the place was buzzing with atmosphere. However, it wasn’t too crowded to see the work and talk to some of the artists.
We must have walked round with a couple of breaks for about 5 hours and the time flew by! It was so interesting and inspiring, a really relaxing and enjoyable day out. The tickets for the event were only five pounds each – a real bargain! We saw lots of contemporary paintings, some interesting sculptures and photographs too. There was a good variety of work in many different styles and media. There were artists actually painting ‘live’ and there was a great ‘hands on’ activity area for children and families. The place was alive with creativity and didn’t feel intimidating like some art galleries do.
You can see on this page a few photos, they only gives the slightest hint of what was on display because the place is huge and fabulous. A definite ‘must do’ for my calendar next year for sure. If you like the sound of it, I can certainly recommend it. It’s a great excuse to get yourself over to Manchester for a weekend.
Maybe see you there next year?
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