Artist Helen Peyton was bored with starchy museums and art galleries that displayed the “usual” artworks or artefacts.

So she came up with the idea of a gallery where all the exhibits are curated by members of the public.

The Social Museum and Art Gallery opened at Craven Museum last month – and it is already proving a success.

Anyone can submit something they consider to be art – a family heirloom, a found object, flotsam from a beach or a self-portrait. Artefacts with a story are especially welcome.

She said: “We are having an overwhelming success with people from far and wide delivering the most fascinating and unique objects.

“What is so wonderful about this exhibition is how unpredictable it is.

“Every day is different and I have no idea what treasures people are going to bring in.

“We have artefacts as diverse as a beautifully hand-decorated origami butterfly and a stuffed piranha called Pedro brought back from the Amazon in the 1960s.”

So far, Helen’s favourite exhibits include a wooden cello case that resembles a Georges Braque cubist sculpture. It was made in 1942 from scrap munitions boxes by a German prisoner of war in a camp near Cairo in Egypt.

Another favourite – loaned by James Mukherjee – was made in India in the 1930s and is a metal cage contraption that contains a gas light on a gyroscope to balance it.

“Believe it or not, it is a football for elephants so they can play in the dark,” said Helen.

Also on loan is a charango made from an armadillo.

A member of the lute family, the Bolivian instrument is about 66 centimetres long and is primarily played in traditional Andean music.

It is adorned with coloured ribbons representing the national flag of Bolivia and the colours of the University of Sucre.

“You read adverts for projects, museums and events saying ‘Something for everyone’. Well Smart Gallery is proving to be something from everyone,” said Helen.

Visitors and exhibitors are encouraged to stay as long as they want and to work alongside Helen to make their own artworks inspired by the displays, whether that is a drawing, a papier maché sculpture, an abstract painting or a print.

The SMART Gallery project runs until May 31.