WORK by two Keighley-district artists is featuring on Bradford’s Big Screen throughout next month and April.

The talents of Dianne Cross and Jess Kidd are being showcased daily at 12.30pm as part of an ‘Artist’s Choice’ presentation.

Behind the initiative are Bradford UNESCO City of Film, in conjunction with the Not Just Hockney website.

Arts supporter Colin Neville, from Silsden, who curates the Not Just Hockney site, organises the bi-monthly Big Screen presentations to give a ‘shop window’ to local professional artists.

“The March and April daily presentations on Bradford Big Screen will again highlight the diversity and range of visual artists in the district,” he said.

“Over the last 12 months it’s been a tough time for freelancers everywhere and particularly artists, as exhibitions have dried-up and galleries have stayed closed.

“But this presentation is a reminder that local artists are still out there doing their thing, because their artwork is a big part of who they are as individuals.”

Being showcased alongside ceramics artist Dianne and multi-disciplinary artist Jess are – from other parts of the Bradford district – documentary photographer Nudrat Afza, jewellery designer Charlotte Whitmore, Andy Shaw – a sculptor in recycled metal – and oil painter Ian Middleton.

Dianne, from Riddlesden, said: “My hand-built ceramics evoke a feeling of the seashore and coastline.

“These imagined seascapes/marine landscapes encourage the viewer to see their own ‘picture’, rather than illustrating a specific view. Some are stormy, others quiet and calm or sunny and bright.

“Individually-constructed boxes, vases, wall pieces and vessel forms feature washes of cobalt and copper with occasional ‘pops’ of yellow over a matt white glaze.”

Jess, who lives at Cross Roads, said: “I’m a multi-disciplinary artist with a current focus on painting.

“I’ve started experimenting with 2D mixed media paintings, using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as a tool to enable my art.

“As I learn about CBT for my own mental health, I wonder how I could apply the same principles to a place through my artistic practice. How do people’s views of a place affect their lives in it?”

Mr Neville said he hoped that by illustrating the variety of artistic talent that existed locally, it would also help support Bradford’s bid to be the City of Culture in 2025.

“If we win the bid all the creativity in the area will be showcased to the world and it’s going to do a lot of economic good for the whole district,” he added.

“I guess, however, the word ‘culture’ can be a turn-off for some who think ‘it’s not for the likes of me’ or that it’s just about the world of the arts. But if they think that, they would be wrong.

“Culture happens every time someone thinks through a task in a creative way.

“So each time an amateur or professional cook, gardener, builder, dressmaker, mechanic, hairdresser – or whoever – thinks ‘what’s the best way to do this?’, they are all adding to the sum of what makes us human – which is really what culture is about.”