Chippenham artists are predicting that it won’t be long until empty shops in the town are filled with art and craft ware as the place becomes the Wiltshire centre for creativity.

Lucia Lovatt and Lucy Dowling, the local artists behind the recently-launched Chippenham art fairs and craft markets, are on a mission to make the town the core of the county’s art world.

The Chippenham art fair and craft markets are currently held on the second Saturday of each month at the King Alfred Hall in the Market Place, from 10am - 3pm.

But Lucia sees a bigger art boom ahead for the town.

“We want to put Chippenham on the map, with so many artists in Chippenham, we feel it should be a go to place for art in Wiltshire. We would like people in and around Wiltshire to anticipate the next event coming, look forward to it, and plan to buy there,” she said.

“The long-term plan is to have more frequent events, such as art and craft workshops for the public, and art exhibitions in the town.

“I can feel that Chippenham is bursting with all this talent and I’d love to make Wiltshire aware of this. It’s only a matter of time before our empty high street shops are filled with art, like other Wiltshire towns, and people are already talking about how to do this.”

This Saturday the town will host the Christmas craft market with 19 stalls selling paintings, jewellery, clocks, crochet and felt animals, Christmas wreaths, woodturning, yarn and wool items, printed china and bespoke family trees.

Lucia said the feedback on the fairs and markets has been enthusiastically positive.

“Most people say that Chippenham needs something like this, and they are excited to see what local talent there is,” she said.

“There seems to be a lot of people who have discovered art or crafts during lockdown and want to see what other people are doing. There is also a need to support small and local independent businesses, and go back to buying things that they can touch and feel, and see the quality, as opposed to hoping for the best when ordering online.”

Although some creative industries have suffered since the start of the pandemic, Lucia said there has also been some benefit for artists and she is encouraging others with a creative flair to sign up to show it.

She said: “I don’t agree that the pandemic has hit artists harder than many others. Most artists have been able to carry on producing art, albeit without showing it in person to people.

“Lockdown has been great for my own painting business. I started showing my work at small events then lockdown forced me to go online, where I have made my part-time passion into a thriving business that is now a lucrative full-time job. “Many people found art and crafting through the lockdown months too. Our art fairs, and eventually craft markets were born during the pandemic because there was, and still is, a lot of demand for artists to show all the work they had been working on during the lockdown months.

“We definitely encourage other artists and crafters to join us. We want variety for each event we hold, so our visitors don’t find they are looking at the same things each time they come.

“This is one of the reasons we decided to break up the monthly art fairs with alternate craft markets. We encourage a mix of artists and crafters too; we have people who are established in their businesses, who have been doing this for many years, and also a lot of first timers. It is so nice to see the smile on a stallholders face when they have made their first sale.”

It costs £20 for a stall at the events, space is free to anyone who is giving their profits to charity. For more details go to independentartistgroup.co.uk