Art Lab July 2026

Art Lab July 2026

Presenting:Jon Eland& Maria Di Gaetano

Saturday 11th July 2026 2-3:30pm

Everybody Gallery, Everybody Arts, Shaw Lane, Halifax HX3 9ET

All welcome, free

Jon Eland - But, am I an artist?
Jon Eland has spent years asking himself that question. It started early — Lego, a Polaroid camera, a childhood instinct to make things. At fifteen he chose graphic design over architecture, did an art school education, got a job, and then largely stopped making much for himself for a decade.

In 2006 digital photography and the early internet pulled him back in. Through Flickr, creative community-building, photography, textiles, ceramics and digital work, people started calling him an artist — a label he resisted initially.
It wasn't until he started working seriously in textiles in 2019 that he finally took it on. And even then, reluctantly.

In this talk Jon traces that slow, meandering journey — via the creative communities he's built, the art forms he's picked up and put down, and where he's landed: not in the art world exactly, but somewhere of his own making. A tinkerer. An investigator. A ‘Jon of all trades’ - who’s still working out where he’s headed.

Maria Di Gaetano: Bridging Intention and Transformation

Maria Di Gaetano is a UK-based artist and educator whose work focuses on the meditative nature of the creative process. Working with intuitive free flows in acrylics and ink, exploring hidden places of the mind in charcoal, and creating in oils, her art explores the raw texture of emotions and the permanence of intentions.

Maria has dedicated her career to guiding others through the creative process, using a range of media to strip away the unnecessary and reveal the essence of a subject. Drawing from a personal journey of sorrow and rebirth, Maria believes that making art is a powerful tool to help people reinvent themselves. It is a Kintsugi of life—the 'golden filling' that pieces together the broken parts of life.

At the core of her current "Art Lab" workshops is a unique synthesis of ancient and contemporary wisdom: the meditative discipline of Sumi-e (Japanese ink wash painting) and the transformative philosophy of Kintsugi. Maria guides participants through "the accidental truth of the strokes," helping them move from the vulnerability of an unerasable ink mark to the empowering act of mending with gold. This philosophy is something she proves can be achieved with any medium. Maria’s sessions are not merely art classes; they are "creative laboratories" designed to help individuals map their presence, honour their imperfections, and redefine their personal narratives.

Maria has curated her solo and group exhibitions in Cambridge, and her works have been exhibited across the UK as well as featured in two international art magazines.

Instagram: @mariadg.art

www.mariadigaetano.com

https://www.everybodyarts.org.uk/art-lab

https://www.facebook.com/groups/halifaxartlab