A Norwich cooperative of 18 artists is celebrating a big step in its mission to break down barriers between art and would-be art lovers.

Norwich Art Shop, in the city's Upper St Giles Street, has been voted Norfolk's best art gallery in the Muddy Stiletto Awards.

Tom Potter, who founded the Norwich Art Shop project in 2015, said: 'It's been our passion to bring affordable, contemporary local art to our city; art that challenges more predictable offerings available elsewhere. I hope the recognition of being among what the competition organisers billed as 'the most brilliant, unique and unmissable local businesses' in a public vote means we've been successful in sharing some of that passion. As category winners in Norfolk's annual Muddy Stiletto Awards – which attract tens of thousands of voters nationwide – we are very proud to be in the company of local icons like The Book Hive, Bewilderwood and Norwich Playhouse.'

Norwich Art Shop is run by its artists, each curating their own rented wall space and donating a couple of days each month to meeting visitors and running the gallery.

Mr Potter said: 'The artists are a dynamic group ranging from founder members to newly joined recruits and from seasoned professionals to art students taking their first steps in the commercial art world.

'Together, they create a lively, ever-changing, atmosphere of experimentation and wildly differing artworks.'

Recent work from the cooperative's artists includes vibrant paintings on subjects from the Big Bang to summer meadows by Lisa Mann, third year NUA student Jessica Gower's re-working of waste plastics into beautiful flowers, Ro Seekings' three dimensional Masters degree work on non-verbal communication, and idiosyncratic heat press collages by north Norfolk artist Shane@arteesane.

The current Norwich Art Shop cooperative artists are: Catarina Cordeiro, Sarah Everitt, Chris Fry, Ben Gardener, Billy Gibbon, Jessica Gower, Hannah Hardy, Ken Hurst, Lewis Lenton, Lisa Mann, Linda Mcallister, Catherine Monk, Helen Oghenegweke, Lindy Osborne, Chelsea Purcell, Jo Rice, Ro Seekings, and Shane@arteesane.