New gallery to add to Banbury's creative culture

The Church Lane Gallery will open its doors to the public on Saturday, February 25 from 10am and will be the first town centre gallery.

Plans to open a gallery has been a long time goal of The Artery owner and finalist in last year’s High Street Awards, Barry Whitehouse. With the help of town team coordinators Iain Nicholson and Neil Wild, the trio will see their collective dream come to fruition when the pop-up gallery, on the corner of Church Walk and Church Lane, opens its doors.

Mr Whitehouse said: “It’s such a privilege to be given the opportunity to realise my dream to trial a professional gallery in Banbury.

“It will complement the other creative places in the Old Town such as The Artery, Buzzy’s, Frogabilia, The Art Framing Workshop, and J D’Cruz, and will be a great asset to the town showing what amazing local talent we have.”

The Church Lane Gallery has an initial run until the end of March but it is hoped that if successful this stay will be extended. It will focus on promoting local talent and will be displaying works by Cotswold artist David Blakemore, urban artist Steve Green, glass artist Pamela Fyvie, ceramicist Diana Sainsbury, sculptor and artist Liz Dixon, animal artist Melanie Charles, along with paintings by Barry Whitehouse.

A new art event is also being planned for the summer. Banbury ArtFest will be in conjunction with the Banbury and District show in June, featuring 25 or more artisans displaying and demonstrating their skills. For more information or to be considered for the event, call 01295 275150 before February 28.