Soaked CAS pop up art venue, vows to carry on

CAS, a group of artists recently took up residence in the old Argos unit in Carlton Lanes shopping centre, were enjoying a successful opening day on Saturday the 11th January. When the last guests had gone Emma Davies, the last artist to leave, was confronted by a fire alarm going off within the art space.

“I had no idea what was happening”, she said, “my husband and I, (Mark Davies a fellow artist) noticed water beginning to run down the walls where artwork was hung. We immediately knew we had to get the art out of the building and began removing original pieces, as quickly as possible”

A staircase to the upper floor was swimming with water, “It was like a waterfall, water was gushing everywhere”

Carlton Lanes security staff quickly cleared the whole centre and the fire brigade was called.

Artist Dawn Blatherwick returned to help with the removal of the artwork. “I live local and as we approached the centre, there was an acrid smell, we managed to remove a lot of the work to safety, before we were told to leave the space and let the fire brigade takeover”

“It was very nerve-wracking, not knowing if all the artwork would be damaged, I could see the firefighters through the window and then noticed all the water within the space”

“The lights had to be turned off to avoid a fire, and so when I was allowed in, I couldn’t see much, just the reflections of the blue flashing lights from the fire engine.

One of the firefighters said: “there’s work over there getting damaged”, and it was unfortunately Emma’s, I didn’t see that water had begun to come down the wall above her work. All the water was eventually removed and the centre staff came in and started to remove the excess with a big machine”

Dawn continues, “We want to use this space to be an art hub for Castleford and the surrounding communities, to offer art to anyone and everyone. We have had such tremendous support from the community already, including local councillor Richard Forster. This will not stop us, we will carry on”

Safety checks have to be made to make sure the unit is safe before the group can carry on. Emma Davies says “Once we can get access, we need to assess the extent of the damage and carry on from there. We want to fulfil our commitment of free art experiences for the public. We are grateful to The Artists Window, the charity that has made all of this possible, and we a determined to make a success of this opportunity”

The group have said, “we will not be beaten, we want this space to become a successful venue where art can be viewed, created and enjoyed. Please check notices on the doors to alternative venue information until we can reopen”

Written by Dawn Blatherwick of CAS Castleford Art Space