Artcore UK, Derby

Artcore, an art gallery and an art activity centre, was established in December 1995 by Zahir and Ruchita Shaikh in Vadodara (formerly Baroda) city in India. It started as a dynamic group of young professional individual artists, who were continuously in a process of producing, creating and showcasing art. It was one of the first Contemporary Art galleries in Vadodara (Baroda), showcasing art created by young graduates and promising student-artists studying at the city’s famous Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University of Baroda. Both Zahir and Ruchita studied fine arts at this University. In a larger sense, Artcore was a gallery for the student-artists and by the student-artists.

Strong support from the community and our relationships with artists and clients have been the success behind Artcore. The combination of established artists and upcoming artists and exhibitions of such combinations was one of the reasons that Artcore became known and popular. Artcore’s events were always unique and interesting and they attracted buyers and collectors to the gallery. Young, upcoming artists brought new ideas and innovation in terms of work mediums and the established artists brought quality and saleability. Artcore has conducted multiple successful projects and workshops with various communities globally. It has grown and flowered over the last few years, moving from India to England and travelled many places in between.

At Artcore, UK, the strong belief in interaction with the community is continued. We hope to make use of our extensive experience in the world of art and our Indian heritage to establish an Exchange Programme between the artists of India and the United Kingdom. By doing the above we plan to make connections with the local artists and communities thereby offering them a platform to create and appreciate art. Artcore UK was established in 2009 in Derbyshire with the express idea of providing a platform to various kinds of art practice through residencies, exhibitions and workshops. These interventions are seen to encourage artistic expression and creative ideas and sharing it wth art lovers and appreciators as well as the general public. Artcore UK relies on the training of Zahir and Ruchita Shaikh as qualified artists to recognise and identify artists with potential, initiate projects that have meaning in public life, and bring art and its practise to the edge of public experience.

Over the last one year in Derby and Derbyshire, Artcore UK has already conducted various community-based participatory art projects such as Creative Coats (in the pre-Christmas season helping people discover new ways in which to give a ’new look’ to an existing facility with the help of mosaics and colours), Clay & Glaze Workshops (where participants learnt new techniques to work easily with clay and glazing their creations), the Five-Skills Project (where we did five workshops in five skills like sculpture, painting, mosaic, pottery, sand-casting in five different community centres). We now hope to bring together participants from these workshops to create a large public artwork for Derby in which the community takes pride. Derby City Council has also given Artcore UK projects to work in local schools, training students in simple but interesting craftwork from India such as tribal Warli patterns and the art of Lipan (wall and floor plastering with decorations such as mirrors and sequins).