Offcanvas Wave

Get in touch

Venture Arts, 43 Old Birley Street, Manchester, M15 5RF

+44 0161 232 1223

info@venturearts.org

We’re always happy to hear from journalists and writers who are interested in Venture Arts and our work. Please contact Debbie Cowley, Marketing and Communications Officer, on 0161 232 1223 or email comms@venturearts.org

Artists

Deborah Makinde

Working mainly in illustration and printmaking, with scenes and characters from her favourite films and musicals.

Deborah Makinde works mainly in illustration and printmaking, with scenes and characters from her favourite films and musicals featuring most prominently in her work. She also has a love of animals, and since undertaking a Venture Arts Cultural Enrichment placement in 2018 she has been volunteering regularly at Manchester Museum, demonstrating artefacts from their natural history collection to visitors. Her favourite museum object, a taxidermy badger, inspired a painting which she sold to a collector in 2019.

In late 2021 Deborah ran a clay votives workshop with Manchester Histories, exploring disability history in classical civilisation as part of Disability History Month.

In 2022 Deborah took part in Narratives, the third in our pioneering Conversations Series, in which artists from Venture Arts work alongside other contemporary artists over several months, producing new work through an equal exchange of art and ideas. This collaboration resulted in an exhibition at The Lowry in January 2023.

Deborah Makinde's exhibitions and events

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[My art is inspired by] films, things from Manchester museum, animals and wrestling. [My proudest moment as an artist was] being in exhibitions and selling my badger painting. Art is fun, it makes me very happy!

Stencil print of two figures against a white background, by Deborah Makinde
Stencil print of beauty and the beast, by Deborah Makinde
Pencil and watercolour drawing of two men wearing black suits and sunglasses, by Deborah Makinde
Stencil print of a badger in black and white, by Deborah Makinde

Commissions

We are delighted when people want to commission work from us and our artists. This can either be as a group project or an individual artist creating one of their unique pieces for you.

To find out more and to arrange a studio visit please contact Katherine Long on 0161 232 1223 or email katherine@venturearts.org

An arm holding a white pen leaning over a large piece of art painted orange.