Young couple open brand-new art studio for the South Shields community

Northern Yin & Yang is a brand-new art studio which has been opened on Beach Road in South Shields to offer workshops and classes for those with an interest in art. 

The studio has been opened by established artist Laura from South Shields, and her partner and fellow artist Theo who is originally from America, but has now moved into the area.

Northern Yin & Yang originally opened at South Shields Market in 2023, but have now obtained premises, which will help them to deliver larger scale events to the South Shields community.

Laura, who studied Contemporary Fine Art Practice at York St John University, decided to move back to her hometown with her partner Theo, in order to share her passion and talents in art with the community, with the hopes of teaching and inspiring others to discover art and the positive impact it can have on mental health.

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Laura explained: “We want a big community drive, on how art helps with mental health. 

“I find that art is a place where people can have self-expression and freedom to unravel emotional knots, whether you think you are good or bad at it.”

The Northern Yin & Yang art studio will serve as Laura and Theo’s private studio to create in, with a gallery where people have the opportunity to purchase artwork from them.

However, they will also be delivering workshops and classes on a monthly basis, with private booking available.

However, Theo explained that they would still like to operate at South Shields market once every two weeks.

He said:  “It was nice to be at South Shields Market, there is a community there. Everyone has supported us, and we want to show we support the businesses there too.”

Theo has recently been visiting businesses in South Shields, and gifting them with a piece of artwork created by himself that depicts their businesses. Theo has created artwork for the likes of volunteer led sustainable clothing shop HoodEx CIC and discount food shop Daily Bargains. 

The main goal of Northern Yin & Yang is to inspire the community to explore art and discover what they are able to create.

“There’s no right or wrong answer with art,” Laura said, while Theo said: “There are no mistakes.”

Theo continued: “People can be amazed by what they can create.”

Speaking of what they would like to achieve with Northern “We are hoping to collaborate with other artists and hope to create something different for South Shields.

“I want our studio to be a community driven hub, where we can support local creatives and local artists through education, and opportunities to access the arts.

“Having a space where creative practitioners can come to life would be wonderful. “