An Ashby man has set up a new website where galleries meet artists.

And he says it is a new way to find artists.

Matthew Warburton, an ex Toyota Quality assurance engineer, craftsman coachbuilder and teacher as well as an Ashby artist himself wants to do things a little differently.

He says there are problems in the artist/gallery world caused by the limitations of lockdown.

Gone are the weekends away to visit a trade fair, with all the expense it brought with the accommodation, travel expenses, parking charges etc - as well as time lost away from the gallery.

A similar story can be told for the artist.

But a solution has been devised.

Introducing a new, free-to-all website to introduce high quality artists to the gallery/retailer: Meet thy maker website.

Having had the heartache and astronomical expense of attending a trade fair some years ago he realised that there have got to be better ways of doing things.

Putting the customer first and applying world renowned Toyota thinking skills was fundamental at the heart of the new project.

Bring a lockdown into the mix and more people turning to the internet.

After a week of teething problems, tweaks and a great deal of web building learning, meet-thy-maker (MtM) was off the ground with 80 artists listed.

Hundreds of galleries were then invited by email with the free password to access the site.

The password is used to only allow gallery/retailers to view, not the general public, so that artists can use appropriate language to pitch to accordingly.

How it works

The gallery owner enters the site (and can sign up if they wish) and go to the search or filter functions.

They can filter by region and/or material area after applying the password.

The artists are then listed with high quality photos of current work, descriptions, biographies and contact details linking to the artist's own website.

The gallery owner can then make contact and begin discussions all from the comfort of the armchair.

A mini trade fair online but completely free to the artist.

The website also boasts a resources page for new and existing artists, an events page with upcoming art or craft fairs and artist call outs.

On the strength of feedback from artists. Matthew sees another avenue and is currently investigating having a sister website set up for the general public.

This will be announced to artists that have already signed up when it is up and running.