AN ART gallery in Basingstoke is calling on residents to get creative with Ukraine's national flower to help provide vital support to fleeing refugees.

Curators who run THAT Gallery, which is just about to reopen in Festival Place, are organising a pop-up shop with a very special twist.

Rachel Davis, just one of the curators of the gallery, is calling on residents to make anything creative using the theme of sunflowers, which is known as the national flower of Ukraine.

SEE MORE: Hook men stuck outside visa application centre in Poland as they try to bring Ukrainian family to UK

She said: “I just felt very strongly that the creative community, the local creative community, needed to get together and do something. There are lots of things that are happening nationwide and globally in the wider community but I thought we needed to do something here and the timing of use reopening the gallery got me thinking.”

Rachel said she did not feel it would be right to hold a regular reopening of the gallery, after it shut in December last year.

She added; “It just would not sit right in light of what’s going on, so I wanted to use the fact that we are reopening as an opportunity. Anyone is invited to take part from other retailers in Festival Place, other art groups and just anyone who feels they can paint, draw, sew or knit something with a sunflower theme that they can then donate to be auctioned.”

Rachel hopes the sunflower theme will be a sign of hope.

She added: “They are the largest sunflowers growers in the world and a lot of our sunflower oil comes from Ukraine so it is just a nice symbolism of it being their national flower.

“I think sunflowers anyway are many people's favourite flowers and they just represent cheerfulness and that’s lacking in the world right now. I think they will also look very impactful when they are all displayed together.”

READ MORE: Long-standing theatre volunteer shares concerns over Haymarket future

The customer service lounge in Festival Place will now act as a drop of location for anyone wanting to submit a sunflower-themed creative piece.

She is also hoping to run workshops for children to come along and make sunflower-themed artworks.

She added: “It really is just all about getting the community behind this and lot of people have been donating practical things but actually it might be a nice way of the community coming together to do something to help other people.”

Money raised from the sale of the art will be donated to help Ukrainian refugees.

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this story. We really appreciate your support.

Please help us to continue bringing you all the trusted news from your area by sharing this story or by following our Facebook page.