About Us

It all began as Loveartnortheast in 2013 with one small monthly arts' event. Within a few months we had doubled in size and soon had a number of monthly and annual across events Newcastle-upon-Tyne where we were based. These included a monthly art fair and annual exhibition at Newcastle Central Station.

The pandemic and a house move to north Northumberland led to changes, including a new name, new website, new events, new venues and a new online home for artists' studios.

The studios are now home to around 50 artists and continue to grow alongside our pop-up fairs, exhibitions and makers' markets across Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.

Meet our team

Lesley McNish

Creative Director

Missy Moo Moo

The Real Boss

Lesley founded The Tin Shed (formerly Loveartnortheast) after a long career as a newspaper and television reporter. Her aim is to help artists and makers, who are small independent local businesses, to reach wider audiences.

Behind every great organisation is a cat. Missy is a rescue, who has been with The Tin Shed for the past 7 years. She likes to do her thinking inside the box - any box will do - but this particular one has her aspirational name on it.

Our Journey (so far!)

This is where our journey began and continues today. Our journey has taken us to many amazing venues and to meet many wonderful people - artists, makers and visitors. Here are some of the events we have staged over the years.