IF you’ve been down to York’s central library in the last few days, you might have wondered whether it has been turned into an art gallery instead.

Stunning new artworks have been hung everywhere – on display boards in the foyer; on the walls in the coffee shop; and strategically around the main reading room.

There are scores, if not hundreds, of them – and they provide a colourful backdrop for those quietly going about their business of checking out books.

The range of works on display is astonishing. There are colourful landscapes of African scenes that radiate the heat of the African plains; York street scenes rendered in the style of LS Lowry; religious paintings that could have been the work of William Blake; portraits, still-lifes, a modern take on Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and much, much more.

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Artworks on display in the York Explore coffee shop

Some of the new work is of astonishing quality. Laura Limb’s Rainy Day shows a girl standing in the rain under an umbrella, in what looks tantalisingly like Exhibition Square (but isn’t, quite).

It is all monochrome browns and blacks – and yet the wet street shines with reflected light, and you can almost smell the rain in the air.

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Rainy Day by Laura Limb

Stuart Goakes’ Doors of old Lyon couldn’t be more of a contrast. It is a close-up watercolour study of three ancient, studded wooden doors in a stone wall in the French city of Lyon. You can almost feel the centuries of accumulated sunlight beating out from the old stone of the wall; and the texture of wood and stone is almost palpable.

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Doors of old Lyon by Stuary Goakes

The most astonishing thing about all these works of art, however, is that they have not been painted by professionals. They are all the work of ordinary York men and women who, over the last year, signed up for adult education painting and drawing classes run by City of York Council.

Many of the works have been inspired by great artists past and present. So Geoff Berry’s landscape with tree is in the style of South African artist Carla Bosch. It is all shimmering blocks of vivid colour under a tree canopy that appears about to float away. Remarkably, Geoff learned to do this on a ‘painting and drawing for beginners’ course held at the York RI.

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Landscape with tree by Geoff Berry

Moira Craig, who painted the Lowry-like York street scene, attended the same painting and drawing class for beginners. While Lowry may have been the inspiration, there is nothing slavish about the way she has followed the artist, however. Look closely at her street scene, and you’ll see that the pattern of stone paving in the foreground and the swirl of smoke rising from the chimneys has been done in black thread sewn onto the painting...

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Streetscape after Lowry by Moira Craig

Art classes like this have been going on at venues across the city – the RI, local schools, galleries and community centres – during the year.

The central library exhibition – entitled simply Inspirations – brings together their work in what has become an annual event.

“It’s a chance to celebrate and show off all the work that has been done,” says Claire Douglas, the city council’s ‘visual arts curriculum manager’ who’s also a tutor on one of the courses. “It’s really, really nice to see all the work from all the different classes put up like this.”

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Claire Douglas adjusts some of the artwork on show at York Explore central library

Inspirations is the right word. The exhibition is inspiring – and it’s a remarkable illustration of what ordinary people can achieve with a bit of expert tuition and a dollop of enthusiasm.

The exhibition opened last Friday, and runs until next Thursday. So you’ve still got a few days to catch it. Who knows? It might even inspire you to sign up for a course yourself...

HOW TO SIGN UP FOR AN ART CLASS...

The adult education classes in drawing and painting which the artists who feature in the Inspirations exhibition took are part of the city council’s wider programme of ‘Learning 4 Everyone’ adult education classes for people aged 19 and over.

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Classes include everything from arts and crafts to cookery, dance, photography, creative writing, bike maintenance, book-keeping and computing.

Classes take place during the daytime and in the evening at venues across the city, including Explore libraries, community halls and local schools such as Huntington, Fulford and York High.

Courses are individually priced, and there are discounts for those on the state pension or on Universal Credit. Art courses typically cost £95 for a ten-week course (£85 for pensioners, £35 for those on Universal Credit).

The new Learning 4 Everyone brochure for autumn and winter is out next Friday (June 23) and booking opens then. Brochures will be distributed to homes across the city, or you can also collect them from West offices or your local library. 

You can also book courses online at www.yortime.org.uk, by phone on 01904 552806, by email at york.learning@york.gov.uk or in person at York Learning’s Enrolments desk, Desk 22, West Offices, Station Rise.