Teacher in frame for art fair honour after beating odds

A PART-time art teacher is celebrating after being picked out of 130 artists to exhibit at a prestigious art fair in Edinburgh.

Claire Baxter, 32, of Harrogate, who teaches at Brigshaw High School, Allerton Bywater, Leeds, said her pupils would be impressed by her achievement.

ArtsBank Gallery in Saltburn-on-sea, on the Cleveland/North Yorkshire border chose her to exhibit at Edinburgh Arts Fair due to be held from November 18-20. Ms Baxter said: “Out of 130 artists they picked me which I am obviously very pleased about as it is, after the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the biggest show in town.

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“This is my second year teaching at the school and the pupils who know have been very pleased for me which is great.

“They relate to the fact that I am not just a teacher and am actually involved in industry – it impresses them, things like that.”

She admits her paintings are not the easiest to describe but says her characters inhabit a humorous landscape with Harrogate at night used as a backdrop.

The characters take part in scenarios such as one man who has a traffic cone on his head while another woman is pictured dancing down a street with high heels on. Fortunately, for Yorkshire art lovers her work can be seen in the county as well as Edinburgh at the Valley Gardens, Harrogate, over the summer.