The Portrait Challenge

The Portrait Challenge Bridport

Equal rights= we’re all equal, right?

Did you draw a window-rainbow for the NHS during lockdown?

The Portrait Challenge is a way for us to celebrate seeing each other again by painting or drawing the faces of people we have missed and people we love.

It is a chance to make our treasured friends, family and neighbours visible by putting our portraits in our windows and turning our streets into an art gallery! This is for everyone.

For five weeks we challenge EVERYONE young and old, to draw, paint, scribble or sketch each other and populate our town with a mass gathering of US!

After such tricky times, this a way to connect with someone you haven’t seen for a while, or to spend time with someone (at a safe distance) and turn them into a work of art, a family heirloom! Try different styles, try drawing in miniature or giant portraits. Make as many as you want – draw just one, or 10 or 100 portraits. Who will you draw?

Have a go, practice and improve if you want to.  Look out for pop-up portrait lessons around the town, in parks and online.

Learn something new, spread a smile, get to meet some artists, be part of something unique and special for our community. While our eventful town is coming back to life, let’s fill our windows with portraits and make August a celebration!

The Portrait Challenge, an event championed by Bridport Rights Respecting Town and the Lyric Theatre, invites everyone to celebrate seeing each other again by making a portrait of someone special to you – perhaps a shielded relative you couldn’t meet for months, or a local legend you missed during lockdown. Then make your portrait public, either online (using their hashtag #theportraitchallenge), in a window, or even both! You don’t have to be able to really draw or paint, it’s your efforts that count.

For any more info email admin@the-lyric.com

Follow/use #theportraitchallenge on Instagram & Facebook

Championed by: Bridport Rights Respecting Town and The Lyric Theatre

With additional support from: Bridport Museum, Magna Housing, SEAFAIR, Bridport Open Studios, Bridport Contemporary Gallery & a growing list of fabulous supporters