Hidden behind an unassuming door on a busy street in Blackpool, there is a studio harbouring the best of the town’s talent. Since 2014, Abingdon Studios has been offering a space for local creatives to turn their ambitions into art.
Founded by Blackpool-born artist Garth Gatrix, the studio on Abingdon Street provides a creative hub for the town and an affordable space for local artists to blossom. After studying art at university and returning home to the town, Garth discovered a vital gap in support for artists and was determined to change this.
The founding director decided to rent out the space and turn it into ten different art studios where people can come to work in a supportive and inspiring space. Without the support of galleries or ‘big money’, the space is now pioneering an inclusive way in which people can express themselves, with Garth saying “we have to make stuff happen on our own, that’s Blackpool.”
About the space, Garth, 41, said: “We have got this mix in the town of creative people who don’t know how to turn it into a career. In a working class area, [the support] brings aspiration to a town like Blackpool.
“We have ten studios and a real mix of different artists from sculptures, films etc. we help people express themselves and find their voice
“We support them by putting their work in expeditions, giving them opportunities and taking them outside of blackpool to expand their portfolios.
Exhibition Opening at Abingdon Studios Project Space. Artist Kris Canavan -Credit:Benjamin Nuttall
“As soon as you have a work space you can present yourself very differently than in your back bedroom.”
Garth views spaces like Abingdon Studio to be ‘vital cultural infrastructure’, pointing to the Contemporary Visual Art Network’s report in 2022, which found that 94% of artists find affordable studio space to be critical to sustaining their practice. Therefore, he believes that helping to give artists space to work contributes directly to the ‘region’s cultural ecology’.
“We have got ten artists at the minute all making different work, of all different ages,” he continued. “It’s about whoever needs space and we are very intergenerational, we have mothers with children, people doing night shifts, it’s a reflection of how people are living and working whilst having their ambitions.”
Garth Gratrix, Flamboyant Flamingos. Solo commission installed at Grundy Art Gallery.
With the town recently being put in the running for City of Culture 2029, Garth believes that the status could show that Blackpool is a place where talent can thrive. The town is currently battling it out against cities such as Ipswich, Middlesbrough, and Milton Keynes in the competition – which could help them win a £10m prize.
Garth added: “I think that if there was going to be the a City of Culture which isn’t a city it should be Blackpool. It’s a place that’s not status quo. Blackpool offers that absolute provocation of what you think Britain is as a culture.
“I would like to think the town could be seen as ready for ambition and having more accessible space. Having a city of culture status would show we are invited to think differently about how we can live and work here.
“So many creative people are being pushed out into cities, I want Blackpool to be seen as a destination where you can move to and invest in.”
