The idea's simple enough: put the names of 28 Bradford artists - many of whom have never met before - into a hat, draw pairs of names out at random and watch what happens as the creative juices get flowing as they work together to create art. Even they have been surprised by the results!

The big idea is to show that Bradford actually has a thriving arts community, something which can be easily forgotten when the media's focus - when it ever happens to accidentally stray onto any other part of West Yorkshire than Leeds - so often lingers on the negative side of life in the city. But, as the In Two Minds exhibition proves, there are artists out there - and plenty of 'em - who are willing to take part in what could have been pretty risky for everybody involved!

Caroline Hardaker and Nikki Sheen are two halves of one of the 'pairs' whose names were drawn out of the hat earlier this year. Caroline is a Bradford art teacher who does a lot of work at Bradford College and who is mostly involved in drawing, painting and ceramics. Nikki has been a professional artist in Bradford for the past five years and concentrates on photography, printmaking and installations. Both are members of the Supplyside Project which is aimed at bringing artists in the city closer.

Randomly thrown together, Caroline and Nikkie came together to create two very different pieces of work...

Caroline: "It did feel very risky!"

But how much of a risk was it to take part in what amounts to one big experiment? Quite a big risk, admits Caroline: "Initially, I found the prospect of working with somebody else that I'd never worked with before quite daunting. Also, I'm very dilatory. Unless I'm working to a deadline, I tend to let things float. I do think, though, that whoever you're paired with you'll find a link somewhere…But I think that we were particularly lucky because we immediately had this connection. It just worked straight away! It would have been very much harder to create something if there had been an element of discomfort between the two partners."

And Nikki agrees that it was lucky that their names were drawn together: "It was a bit of a risk because we didn't know who we were going to be paired with. Luckily I was paired with someone who I got on with straight away, so that was quite good!"

Deciding on the theme of the sea, a far cry from Bradford's urban landscape, the pair started work - and the results have recently been on show at the city's Yorkshire Craft Centre in an exhibition which vividly revealed the results of this adventurous mix 'n' match approach to art!

I found the prospect of working with somebody else that I'd never worked with before quite daunting!

Caroline Hardaker

Nikki explains that their seaside theme came up almost by accident - exactly the sort of thing the project was designed to achieve: "Caroline and I first met at her house and we just talked generally about what we did and what we're interested in. Caroline showed me a lot of work she'd done and there was a lot based around the theme of the sea. So, from there we decided that I'd go out and photograph some seascapes and send them to Caroline."

This approach did have its problems, says Nikki though it all worked out well in the end: "I merrily went off thinking that I'd got a day at the seaside, but thinking about it afterwards it didn't feel quite right because my work's based on objects rather than landscapes and portraits. Anyway, I had a collection of pebbles in my house which I photographed - which is what the picture is - and sent them to Caroline. She rang me up not long after and said, 'I can't believe it! Did you notice all the pebbles back at my house?' I'd never noticed! When I went back, there were pebbles absolutely everywhere. I was absolutely gobsmacked…That's why my piece is called 'I Never Noticed'!"

In contrast with Nikki's starkly simple image, Caroline says she went for a very different approach - a collage: "I used Nikki's photograph as the initial image then I put it into its own seascape. I just used the one pebble, then the suggestion of other things because I wanted that to be the major element of the picture. That's why I called mine 'But There Are Plenty More…' - as in pebbles on the beach. It's a collage using torn magazines, every piece is torn, nothing's cut. Most of my work's about edges, using the torn edges as part of the composition. Sometimes I'll paint the palette myself and then tear THAT up. I like to include unexpected items, fun things!"

Nikki: From Bradford to the seaside

Working together has obviously been a boon for Nikki and Caroline and they agree this approach challenges the traditional view of artists stuck up in a dusty loft somewhere, hiding away from everybody else while working on their creations. Unlike the world of music, especially rock music where collaborations are happening all over the place - think Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards etc - it's been a new experience - especially, it seems, for Caroline: "I've enjoyed it. Most of the time, you're working completely independently and I think that, in comparison with the music industry for instance, I'm not looking to sell or to get out there into the marketplace in any kind of commercial way. It's just about expressing an image that I'm interested in. So, coming into an exhibition like this, it actually stimulates you quite a lot. Even just looking round here and seeing how other people have linked together, and what's come out of that, I think it's been really productive. Though it did feel very risky at the beginning!"

It's not been such an easy ride for everyone taking part in the project, though, as Nikki explains: "There were rumours that certain people didn't get on. Without naming names it's slightly obvious from certain pieces of the exhibition. But, I think on the whole most people have had quite a productive time out of it. That seems to be the message."

Despite this, the In Two Minds exhibition and the collaborations it's produced really seem to have achieved their goal. Bradford's artists have emerged from their lofts and proved they can worked together to create some interesting, thought-provoking art in a city which is so often being highlighted for all the wrong reasons.

It may not lead to any big changes in the long run, but if it helps to bring artists together to create bigger and better things, and if it helps people outside Bradford to think of the place as something more than just a city of curry houses, past glories and the occasional riot then that might just be a good thing. In the meantime, Caroline and Nikki aren't ruling out working together all over again sometime...Watch this space!