ART work by homeless people was today taking pride of place at York City Art Gallery.

Rough sleepers in York have been involved in a project, organised by the Salvation Army and the charity Shelter.

Workshops, run once a week to teach the homeless new skills, have been running for a year and this is the first public display of the resulting work.

Mark Whitehead, who is homeless, said: "These workshops have given me something to do. When someone suggested I should take part I thought I'd give it a go, but I have really enjoyed them."

The paintings reflect a lot of the personal experiences of these individuals.

Biruta Trejonis, who started the project said: "We have shown as many paintings as we could, but obviously there are some paintings that are too graphic to be displayed to the public as they are very explicit."

The research project ends next month, but Biruta hopes the work will carry on. She said: "Homeless people are not all a bunch of layabouts. There are some very gifted and talented people out there. We have helped people to release their potential.

"These classes are a good stepping stone for a lot of people. A lot of them wouldn't be ready to go to college yet. We took the classes to them, at the place where they go for breakfast. These were familiar surroundings, that were accessible to them.

"From here we hope their self esteem and confidence improves and that it is a step towards integrating them back into society."

Mark said: "I think they should arrange more activities. We have nowhere to go and nothing to do. The art classes have been very good and I hope that funding for them is continued, as they have been enjoyable."

There are also IT, cookery and guitar classes on offer.

Ms Trejonis said: "In fact two people who were involved in the IT workshops have started computer courses at York College.

"We are trying to move them away from the dependency culture and help encourage these people to be self-sufficient. These workshops are the first step for many people."

The exhibition is in the main foyer of the gallery until Tuesday.