Postcard subscription service launched to support Sheffield artists

Rachael Julie , 27, created the art subscription box The Art Post, which delivers postcards to friend s and family displaying Sheffield art to your door for £4.50 a month.

Miss Julie hopes the scheme will showcase artwork and raise money for a mental health charity in memory of Miss Sprague’s grandfather, Arthur, who suffered from serious mental illness.

The project aims to support artists who have been struggling to exhibit their work due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Miss Julie said: “My grandad took his own life because of serious mental illness and I want everyone to get the support if they’re going through something like that.”

A proportion of profits will be supporting a mental health charity in 2021.

The Art Post postcards display information about the artists featured and signpost the subscriber to more of their work.

Miss Julie hopes this will create more exposure for Sheffield artists, and will allow people to try out different pieces of art in their homes and encourage sales. And of course, you can send the postcards all over the world to say thank you, happy birthday or even set up a coffee table art gallery.

One of the early testers of the service, Lucy, said: “I’ve been so impressed with the quality of the postcards, they seem really premium. I also love how much information you get about each artist. I have even bought an original piece of art from one of the artists for my home.”

Lynne Chapman, 60, an artist based in Nether Edge will be one of the artists contributing to the project in coming months.

She said: “Sheffield has an amazing vibrant community of artists” but “it doesn’t have an ethos of buying expensive real artwork and it’s really hard.”

Ms Chapman believes the project to be an admirable way of helping to raise the profile of Sheffield artists both within and outside the city, and that Miss Julie is not charging artists to get involved will help a lot of people who are really struggling.

To find out more visit www.theartpost.co.uk