Arachne is the third collaborative painting project, bringing together artists from across Tyne and Wear to create large-scale paintings informed by Greek mythology.

Following in the footsteps of Glaucus & Scylla (2022) and Prometheus (2023) these works explore the themes brought up within the myth of Arachne – an artistic competition between Minerva, goddess of the arts, wisdom, and strategy; and Arachne, a mortal woman of incredible artistic skill and temperament.

Continuing our experiments with large-scale collaborative painting, this project also mirrors the myth itself by introducing weaving to the methods of creating. In doing so, we want to explore the boundaries of painting and sculpture – pulling the painting away from the wall and asking how this extension out from the frame might change these narratives and interpretations.

Drawing influences from artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenberg, and Diego Valezquez, the paintings meld together figurative aspects of the story with more expressive mark making which allows viewers to place themselves within the story.

This project has brought together artists to engage with sculpture and painting in different ways, weaving new threads into their individual creative practices.