Venues sought to display paintings from Derbyshire Libarary Service Portrait Project

A project to celebrate local heroes in Derbyshire by immortalising them in art is looking for venues to display some of the portraits.

Seven Derbyshire County Council libraries hosted portrait artist Melissa Speed throughout August, in order to gather nominations from residents about which local unsung heroes they thought deserved to have their portrait painted for the project, called We Are All Derbyshire.

Library-goers were asked to fill out nomination forms at a selection of sites across the county. Melissa wanted to capture the likenesses of local people doing good work in Derbyshire’s communities.

Melissa, who appeared on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year in October 2023, lives and works in Derbyshire. She held sittings, getting to know her subjects, hearing their stories and taking reference photos, and she is now in the portrait creation phase, with some portraits already complete and ready for framing.

The portraits will all be revealed at the opening of the exhibition at a club in North Derbyshire towards the end of March before going on display individually or in small sets across the county in publicly accessible places such as cafes, some libraries, bars and community centres.

If anyone would like to exhibit a portrait, or two to three portraits, at their venue, Melissa would love to hear from them. It could be for any length of time up until Saturday 21st June. Email melissa @ weareallderbyshire.com

Councillor Barry Lewis, Derbyshire County Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture, Tourism and Climate Change, said: “I’m very excited to see Melissa’s work and look forward to having them displayed in our libraries and at other venues across the county.

“This looks set to be a memorable tribute to the marvellous people who make Derbyshire so special, and the role Melissa and our libraries have played in celebrating our communities.”

Melissa said: “I’ve been spending some time getting to know each sitter, as this helps me decide on composition. It's an absolute privilege and pleasure meeting these lovely, remarkable people and so uplifting to hear such positive stories.”

Once the exhibition launches, the portraits will also go live on Melissa’s website www.weareallderbyshire.com, and there will be booklets about the project with the portraits in them available to buy. The small booklets will be available at the exhibition event and via the website They will feature the portraits and a little about the sitters, as well as an overview of the project.

After exhibiting, the portraits will be given to the sitters to keep.