A COURTYARD shopping centre in Worcester has welcomed a number of artists as part of a city-wide art project.

The Hopmarket is one of the chosen venues for an outdoor gallery of art, organised by Worcester City Council, Worcester BID and Severn Arts.

The initiative – which was launched earlier this month with a theme of Hope and Joy – aims to create engaging and bespoke designs in retail units throughout the city.

The Hopmarket’s artists are illustrator Sarah Millin, textile artist Michelle Flint, freelance community artist Mark Riley and painters Cherrie Mansfield and Richard Nicholls.

Cllr Michael Johnson, interim chairman of The Hopmarket Charitable Trust said: "We are thrilled to be playing our part in this latest initiative to animate our local spaces and bring art to the whole community, particularly at such a time of upheaval.

"We encourage people to visit The Hopmarket and immerse themselves in this uplifting project."

Sarah Millin is exhibiting her piece, entitled 'Look Up' in Unit 5 at The Hopmarket.

She said: "When I visited the city centre during the pandemic I looked up towards the city’s skyline and saw – amongst other things – gargoyles and historical chimney stacks.

"From this I created artwork for 50 postcards, Worcester’s 50 reasons to be cheerful in these challenging times."

Textile artist Michelle Flint is exhibiting her images, entitled 'Finding Hope and Joy' at Unit 6 in The Hopmarket.

She said: "I wanted to make people stop and look at the work in detail so I have incorporated the theme of hope and joy as a phrase written throughout the design for people to find.

"A QR code on the bottom of the artwork links to a webpage that has the answer. The idea is that people spend time looking for the phrases and see if they can find them all."