Creative spaces for women and non-binary artists
Posted: 07 February 2022, in News
Blunt Knife Co. is a new, award-winning shop and event space in Edinburgh’s Old Town that shines a spotlight on women and non-binary artists.
We opened the space in August of last year and have slowly been building a community of engaged and passionate people wanting to get involved in the arts and find new and interesting work by lesser-known creators.
The shop sells art prints, books, homewares, jewellery, accessories and tees – all made by independent women and non-binary makers from Scotland and the UK. The event space has thus far hosted exhibitions, creative workshops, discussion groups, pop-up markets and spoken-word performance.
As a social enterprise, events are low or no cost, with all profits from the shop and event space going back into building the space and making it as accessible as possible.
Blunt Knife Co. is about empowering artists – not just by selling their wares, but by encouraging them to do what they love, to build their skills, to share their stories and to raise their voices.
More than that though, it’s also about the punter and sharing lived-experience stories and art from marginalised groups that might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream audiences. Whilst BKco. highlights women and NB people, it is for everyone who wants to discover something new.
With December and January events having been cancelled due to the pandemic, it’s been a slow start to the new year for BKco. But there are big plans for a full schedule of events and collaborations with like-minded organisations in 2022.
This has kicked off in February with an art exhibition with local group The Hen Collective, a song-writing workshop with musician Lou Maclean, and the Last Tuesday Craft Club – a free monthly ‘bring your thing’ meet-up where creators are invited to bring whatever they’re working on (craft, writing, drawing, etc.) and share a workspace with other like-minded people for a couple of hours.
We have two decades of experience working in the arts in a variety of roles – as leaders and as artists, as programmers and producers – and have a wealth of skills and experience that we happily share with visitors and collaborators.
With workshops, performances, discussion groups, talks, exhibitions, community projects and more lined up for 2022, keep an eye on @bluntknifeco on social media so you don’t miss a thing.
Marian Blythe and Emma Sweeney, Founders and Directors, Blunt Knife
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