The mastermind behind Carlisle’s upcoming Historic Quarter Arts Festival is preparing for his next project, which will take place in Venice.

City artist Daniel Ibbotson has revealed that the festival that will be held until June 26 at venues including Tullie House and Carlisle Cathedral will be his last project in our region for the foreseeable future.

Mr Ibbotson confirmed that he will be curating displays to be shown at ‘Personal Structures’ exhibition at the European Cultural Centre (ECC) in Venice in April next year.

Previous artists to have exhibited their work at the ECC in recent years include Yoko Ono, Damien Hirst and Anthony Gormley.

He explained that the journey to starring in a city with such a rich artistic heritage and reputation started in Manchester at the Manchester Art Fair back in 2019.

He stated: “In all, the process has taken about 13 months from me appearing in Manchester in 2019. They didn’t contact me then until around November 2020 so that was the mad thing about it! They had spotted me at Manchester, liked my work and then got around to asking me via email if I wanted to be involved.

"Initially I did say to them it was out of my league but they got back to me to say that I could get sponsorship to help me. A lot of artists, it turns out, do it that way. Either arts councils or boards often help people to get themselves set up, or even private investors.

“They’ve sent me details of past exhibitions including booklets and everything else so I could have a look at what I should be looking to produce.

“The exhibition is a real mix of names from established world-renowned artists and more unknown people such as me!

“It will cost me a few thousand pounds in all to get myself set up at the gallery and so I am essentially working my socks off until then to give myself that headstart. If I start selling work and work hard, then things are certainly do-able.

“For me its surreal, though, and really is a dream to be asked to take part.”

He explains that his love of art began as a youngster but, as things stand, his hopes of going full time with his talents has not yet been possible.

He stated: “It probably started as a kid by drawing pictures of football players. I was obsessed with football, the likes of Kevin Keegan and Liverpool. I ended up playing for Preston North End until I was 16 but fell out of love with it and moved to London at 16. Eventually, I met a girl from Carlisle and moved up here but with raising kids, I was simply too busy for art for a while.”

Mr Ibbotson says that turning 47, the age his father sadly passed away, made him realise that it was time to follow his passion in life.

“I decided, ‘I’m going to make an effort with this’. And so for the past four or five years, I’ve made this a really serious part of my life. Working on a building site still full-time during that time as a decorator, I’ve had to do this part time and often I’ve got a lot of my materials for my art off the sites themselves.

“My plan when I get over there is to stay true to that. I’m going to arrive with a bag of goodies from Cumbria and mix them up with what I find over there.

“I will hopefully arrive a month early and then create the work off the cuff from there. I’m hoping I have just an incredible experience of it and at the end of it just create some work."

For him, the prospect of creating art in such a storied surrounding feels liberating.

“I love the idea of there being no risk involved at all. I’m not a big name so that puts me in a strong position – I can do what I want.

“I’ve got to essentially rehearse when it comes to my work, including techniques, so I don’t have to take lots over from Carlisle with me and just live in the moment.”