SOME of the region's most talented and innovative artists are affiliated to the Green Door artists' co-operative.

These days notching up more than 100 members, the name Green Door Studios is synonymous with outstanding contemporary art, staging some of the best group shows that you’re likely to find in any gallery throughout the land.

One of Green Door's biggest and best showcase events is its Art Trail with artists across South Lakeland and north Lancashire opening their creative homes for all to see.

This year's art trail - the 12th - runs on Saturday and Sunday, April 8-9, and features paintings, prints, papercuts, photographs, jewellery, wood, glass, textiles, sculptures and ceramics from upwards of 50 GD artists exhibiting at 17 venues spread across the area, from Ford Park at Ulverston to High Dale Park, Satterthwaite, and around Morecambe Bay from Cark-in-Cartmel to Grange-over-Sands and over to Silverdale.

Members of the Green Door Studio at Kendal's Market Place will be holding a pop-up shop and a cluster of artists will be gathered in Leasgill.

Among those blazing a trail in Kendal will be film and digital photographer Colin Reynolds, who also works in some of the early forms of photography such as cyanotypes. “I’ll be displaying work based on traditional silver gelatin prints plus alternative photographic process work," says Colin. "I look for the play of light, cloud and the interaction with the horizon and structures that we find on the horizon. My aim is to create atmospheric prints that convey a sense of time and place.”

Elsewhere, Colette Bain will be part of a group of eight artists exhibiting at the Athenaeum in Leasgill. She says she's "fascinated by folklore and the uncanny.”

She adds: “A continuing preoccupation in my art is the way we see ourselves in other animals. I often draw on folklore and fairy tales; stories such as Mr Fox, an English variant of the Bluebeard story, and the tales of Skriker, the ghostly black dog, said to roam Lancashire lanes as a harbinger of death. Its known in other areas of the UK by different names, Barghest or Black Shuck for instance. I'm drawn to the uncanny, that combination of the familiar with the fantastical and by using old tins to 'house' the sculptures I create, I hope to enhance this quality in my work. I also love the marks of age and use that the tins bear. I don't attempt to clean up or disguise these as they tell a story.”

For those with a penchant for pottery, ceramicist Emma Louise Wilson will be exhibiting at Old Newlands, Natland: “My inspiration comes from nature or simple daily observations,” explains Emma. “The unique quality of porcelain enables me to work in detail, creating textures and original pieces. Each handmade piece goes through many stages and can be fired up to three times. My porcelain pieces, including bowls, dishes, brooches, plaques, often incorporate my surface pattern designs. I hope I will continue finding and sharing this beauty in nature, even its imperfections which I am particularly drawn to.”

Green Door administrator Janice Benson says the range of work in this year's event is possibly Green Door's widest yet. “There’s such a wealth of talent at Green Door, and the trail is a great opportunity not just to see art but to meet the artists and talk to them about how they create their work.”

Most trail venues will be open from 10am-4pm but some will remain open for longer. For further information visit www.greendoor.org.uk. Brochures can be downloaded from the website.