Bristol's biggest art collective is organising an auction to raise funds to save its studios.

Art lovers will be able to get their hands on a range of eclectic works by Jamaica Street artists as well as street artist Nick Walker and abstract painter Fernando Velazquez.

The auction is central to the artists' bid to buy the studios that house some 43 painters, illustrators, film makers, textile designers and sculptors.

The co-operative needs to raise £1 million to buy the building and it is hoped the auction will raise a substantial amount towards it.

A month-long preview exhibition of the work opened on Saturday at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, which housed the successful Banksy exhibition in the summer.

Andrew Hood, 45, artist and studio manager, said: "The thing about the studio is it houses a lot of artists who make a living from their art. It we lose our building, we lose our livelihood."

Resident illustrator Emma Dibben, 28, spends most of her time creating imagery for Waitrose. Her delicate food illustrations grace the supermarket's Essentials range and bags for life.

She said: "I really couldn't do my work without the studio. The community we have now, it's so important."

Nick Walker, who lives and works in Bristol, donated an artist's proof to the auction. When the print version was released in London last year people queued for 36 hours to buy a copy.

He said: "If people are prepared to queue for that amount of time it will raise a fair bit of money hopefully."

Nick, who used to work out of the Robinson building, said: "We got kicked out so I know how it feels.

"If people can pull together to stop this kind of thing from happening it's a good thing."