AMATEUR Black Country artists will showcase their talents at a forthcoming exhibition.

Twelve members of Back Room Art – a group which meets weekly under the guidance of art teacher Heather Wilson – will each display three pieces of original artwork.

The open exhibition, the sixth staged by the group, will be held at The Art Yard, Cradley Heath, from May 29 to June 24, and is open to all.

Exhibitors will be showing off a range of fine art painting skills such as acrylic oils, watercolours, pencil sketches and printing.

All are members of Back Room Art, whose weekly workshops are held in Heather’s home in Stourbridge.

She said: “Over the years I’ve taught adults of every age, from 18 to 80, so there will be a wide and varied range of artwork on show. Those who attend my workshops are almost always people who enjoyed art at school, haven’t done it for a number of years because of their careers or family commitments, but now want to give it another go. My aim is to inspire creativity and encourage their skills, and it’s really rewarding to help them reignite that talent, see them progress and gel with others to become a small group of friends.”

Heather, who teaches art at a Sandwell secondary school, set up Back Room Art seven years ago as a weekly evening class when she lived in Dudley. Since then it’s gone from strength to strength.

The Art Yard is a gallery run by volunteers to promote art education in communities and to advance activities to do with art, craft, film and associated techniques.

A number of Heather’s students have gone on study art at university after attending her group.

She added: “People like the idea of coming to the group and switching off each week, and we cover areas such as portraiture and still life amongst others.”