Welcome

We are a collective of professional and semi-professional artists local to Ashford, Kent in the United Kingdom.

Originally set up in 1998 we have learnt and evolved along the way to emerge as a warm, inclusive and supportive group of committed artists that meet, collaborate, exhibit and take on projects together.

As diverse practitioners with the same commitment to quality and with our individual expertise, we can level up our skills across our members to take the hassle out of managing exhibitions, competitions, fairs, and a whole lot more.

We are an artist-led, voluntary organisation, that seeks to promote, encourage and enable its members, we also assist other visual artists in their early endeavours and participate in projects with the local and wider community.  We achieve this through offering peer-to-peer meetings, workshops, forums and open calls which can be local or international.

Our artistic range is diverse from traditional skills, and representational art forms to conceptual artwork that can include fairs, exhibitions, and well-being projects to performance and site-specific installations. Many of the group have awards, their work is bought by collectors and have exhibited at the Turner Contemporary, Folkestone Triannual, The Mall and Corkstreet Galleries as well as across europe and South America. 

If you are interested in discussing a project and want to discover what we can do for you, take a look at the contact page for the best person to contact.  
Please feel free to reach out to any particular artist if your interest is exclusively about their work.  Every artist’s contact details can be found on their member’s profile.

As a voluntary collective, we greatly appreciate any financial support or sponsorship to deliver our consistent quality. You can donate to Ashford Visual Artists here.

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Membership

We would love you to join us and what we are looking for is:

• Commitment
• Motivation to explore, develop, and consolidate your practice.
• Desire to execute your work to a high standard, with attention at every stage. 
• Willingness to go beyond your comfort zone with community engagement.
• Support our aims and members.

As a member, you will:

• Be invited to meet up for bi-monthly meetings to catch up, and discuss ideas, projects and proposals that are taking place.  

• Be promoted on our social media platforms.
• Have a profile page on the AVA website
• Gain access to our members area with resources to help you in your artistic practice.
• Be invited to our supportive WhatsApp group to meet the other artists and share your work and ask for advice. 

If your application to join AVA is accepted, the membership fee is £35 each year. 
Students and young artists aged 25 and under are offered a discounted rate of £25 each year. Membership years run April – April. 
Should you like to be part of AVA, please email Mary Sampson