By LORETTA B MANELE

Wangaratta Art Gallery has launched its new Analog Art Club.

The free monthly activity aims to help you slow down, take a break from your screens and connect in real life simply through art.

Inga Hanover, exhibition officer at Wangaratta Art Gallery, said the club is a statewide initiative of the Public Gallery Association of Victoria (PGAV) and Arts Hub to encourage new audiences into galleries and get people to look at art work over a longer period of time.

“So often we spend more time reading the label about the art work rather than looking at the art,” Ms Hanover said.

She said the initiative involves an hour of people’s time where they come into the gallery - leaving their phones behind - and they can also do some sort of an art activity.

“So, the art activity might be talking about a piece of work, or a drawing or water colour and it’s just for once a month,” Ms Hanover said.

“It’s a way of coming into a space looking at new things because not a lot of people come to the gallery.

“So, it’s that notion of being confronted with something that is challenging, being confronted by something that is new maybe or a little bit scary."

Wangaratta Art Gallery ran its first session on Thursday, 23 October, with further sessions to run on Thursday, 27 November and Thursday, 18 December, from 1pm to 2pm.