| SEASONS' GREETINGS
CYFARCHION Y TYMOR
AND WARMEST WISHES
FROM THE WILLOW GALLERY
The gallery will close on Christmas Eve at 3pm
Café - last day open before Christmas: Sat 20 Dec
Gallery & café will re-open
Tuesday 13 January 2026
with our New Year Open Exhibition | | | Thank you
to all our kind supporters! I'd like to thank all our supporters and followers for another successful year at the gallery. We've had quite a year, with five exhibitions (representing artworks from more than 300 exhibitors) and over 20 workshops. We've also hosted three vibrant crafts fairs, two book launches and, just this month, a joyous evening of Welsh folk music. Even with difficult trading for most small businesses, the Willow continues to be well-supported as we go into our 15th year.
Thank you to my café team - to Margaret for her wonderful baking and keeping the café in fine form, and to Nick for assisting. Thanks also to Hilary for her work as editor of our Willow newsletter, and to local artist Reg Turrell for his regular 'Way of Seeing' contributions.
This year we said a fond au revoir to Karl Robinson-Bray after his long residency at the gallery. Karl now has a studio in the Ceiriog Valley, and we wish him all the best and good luck on his journey ahead.
Many thanks to all our artists and crafts people who supply us with their wonderful work, particularly our local Borderland Visual Arts and Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft. The creative arts in our area of the country certainly punch above their weight. In association with our exhibitions, our regular 'Meet the Artist' sessions provide an avenue to meet artists and learn more about their work.
This summer saw textile artists Alison Holt and Suzette Smart bringing together 'Stitch by Stitch 2025'. This memorable exhibition brought textile artists from all across the country to Oswestry - and in turn brought a nationwide audience to view their work. I thank Alison and Suzette for all their hard work, and am so proud of the reach the exhibition gained.
The gallery is a great place for young people to nurture their appreciation for art, creativity and imagination, and we continue to welcome visits from school groups. We also offer work experience to older students with an interest in pursuing a career in the arts and heritage sector.
As some of you may know, the site the gallery occupies is the subject of a redevelopment proposal by the owners. I currently don't have a timeline for this, as it depends upon the planning application and lease obligations. However, I am looking for alternative locations to relocate the business, and will share details as more information becomes available. Our current site is our second location on Willow Street (we started at the Malthouse) - so it won't be our first move to a new building! For now, business as usual.  The café and gallery will be back open in the New Year from Tuesday 13 January with our New Year Open Exhibition, and I look forward to our year ahead.
Have a wonderful Christmas from myself and the team, Anthony Smith
Director, The Willow Gallery
December 2025
Needle-felted Christmas mice by EMMA BAKER
| | | Winter Exhibitions Until Wednesday 24 December
Borderland Visual Arts Winter Collection
 Borderland Visual Arts provide a network for practicing artists living in and around Oswestry. Members meet on a regular basis to share ideas, support each other and organise events.
To find out more about Borderland Visual Arts, click here Cheshire Artists' Network
 Cheshire Artists' Network is a thriving artists' collective with members from all corners of Cheshire working independently across multiple disciplines, and come together to exhibit. To find out more about Cheshire Artists' Network, click here | | | A Way of Seeing with Reg Turrell
FRUITY LABELS  I recently joined Pete Monaghan's still life workshop and was attracted to the labels on the exotic fruits. They seemed to dominate, and I liked the idea of doing a different take on painting a still life!
I used free washes of watercolour, letting them diffuse into each other and creating back runs. Keeping a free approach to painting, the labels blended with the fruits and background. A black Inktense pencil was used to define some detail. Bar codes on labels are a very important part of the design, so I indicated these as part of the overall effect.
White tissue paper was placed in random areas to break up the image and create a more abstract design. Stencils were used to create more letters that emphasised them as being just as important as the fruits.
I enjoyed being challenged into tackling a subject that I would normally avoid. I wish my painting had developed into a more abstract design - but that's for another day!  ABOVE: Other work from Pete Monaghan's recent Still Life workshop. We look forward to welcoming Pete back to the gallery next year.
Pete worked in mechanical engineering and technical illustration before turning to art. He is now a full-time artist and printmaker. His work often features a blend of abstraction and figuration, capturing the essence of vernacular architecture. He also enjoys collaging everyday objects into his paintings. He tutors a small number of workshops annually, at various venues and with various themes. | | | | Upcoming Exhibitions
New Year Open 2026
Tuesday 13 January to Saturday 28 February
High-quality contemporary art from emerging and established artists from the local area
Spring 2026 Open Exhibition
Saturday 7 March to Saturday 25 April
Featuring Ped4ir Môn Photography Collective | |  Art & Craft Workshops
We offer a diverse range of artist-led workshops that allow you to develop your creative practice or just enjoy an absorbing day out. Classes consist of small groups, ensuring that everyone receives plenty of individual attention and guidance.
RIGHT: 'Mark-making for Expressive Landscape' with
Louise Diggle (28 March 2026)
Please see our website to see details of upcoming workshops. We'll have details of further classes shortly. | | |  Our shop | |  Our Café
A popular rendezvous spot surrounded by ever-changing artwork, our café serves a range of freshly-prepared light lunch options. Pop in for a slice of hand-baked cake created by Margaret along with a good coffee and tea selection.
LEFT: CATHY WILLIAMS
Scone
Oil on mixed-media paper | | | THANK YOU ? DIOLCH YN FAWR We are most grateful to everyone who came along and supported our November Craft Fair - it was good to see a steady stream of visitors throughout the day and plenty of customers. Also, a big thank you to our fabulous makers: it was great to see such beautiful handmade crafts, and we hope you were all pleased with your sales.  Some of our vendors at this year's November Craft Fair | | Other local events and information   Come and join Santa on his Christmas Train
Children receive a quality present hand-delivered by Santa; also enjoy a train ride, bouncy castle, soft play and other station activities For dates, prices & booking, see
www.cambrianrailways.com/santa-train/
For Mince Pie Specials (27 and 28 December)
and other tickets, see
www.cambrianrailways.com/tickets | | REVIVAL OF CINEMA IN OSWESTRY  After the closure of Kinokulture last year, Oswestry lost its beautiful little cinema. Now Maona Cinema is bringing the magic of film back to the town. Visit www.maonacinema.com for details and bookings. | | | | Frank Gehry dies at 96 The provocative Toronto-born architect was known for his gargantuan sculptural buildings of unconventional forms and metals - buildings we'd never seen before - including Disney Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Architecture, said Gehry, 'should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.' Tributes to Frank Gehry have flooded in from across the world, praising his 'extraordinary mind' and 'endless imagination'. ABOVE: Frank Gehry's shiny titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao | | | The art world had also paid tribute to Martin Parr  The celebrated photographer of British life has died at the age of 73. His work has been collected by some of the world's leading museums, including the Tate in the UK, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. LEFT: MARTIN PARR
Gourock Lido, 2004 | | SPIRITS ARE LIFTED THROUGH THE ARTS
New studies show that seeing original art can calm stress and boost health That art can lift spirits is well known - that it also calms the body not so much. A recent study by King's College London asked 50 volunteers aged 18-40 to look at artworks by Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin, while digital watches monitored their heart rate and skin temperature to track their interest and arousal. In addition, saliva samples allowed scientists to analyse their stress levels by the presence of the hormone cortisol as well as cytokines, which are also linked to stress and chronic disease.
The paintings included two of the best-known works in the history of art: Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882) and Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889). Half the group saw the originals in a gallery environment; half viewed reproductions elsewhere. The results were clear: going to art galleries is good for you – relieving stress and cutting heart disease risk, as well as boosting the immune system.
There's growing evidence to support that opinion. Last summer, a team of Cambridge psychologists conducted a similar project to show how appreciating artistic beauty helps us escape the 'mental trappings of daily life'. These experiments follow research by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport to quantify the improvements to physical and mental health from taking part in creative activities, as well as the economic gain – estimated to be an average of £1000 per person per year, as a result of improved work productivity and fewer trips to the GP. Nature Magazine's review of the current science suggests that art can play a rôle in public health, especially in the prevention of chronic diseases. And for the first time in its 202-year history, The Lancet recently ran a photo essay showcasing how art can enhance lives.
'When you experience an artwork, you don't just see it, you feel it,' art historian Katy Hessel writes in her new book How to Live an Artful Life. 'The best thing we can do is take time with it.' Time, of course, is what we are lacking in today's fast-paced world. But this seems to be key to art's therapeutic powers. Galleries are quiet, contemplative places. We stop scrolling and start really looking. When creativity is being outsourced to AI, galleries bring us face-to-face with human genius.
We are advised to exercise and eat healthily; so will doctors soon be prescribing a visit to a local gallery or museum? Against a backdrop of falling visitor numbers and funding crises, these studies provide another incentive for greater investment in the creative sector. The government recently announced a £270m funding package to shore up arts and culture across the country. But more should be done to ensure that everyone has access to what the team behind the King's College study called a 'cultural workout for the body'. Art is vital not only to the nation's economy, but to its health! | | |  A vibrant, not-for-profit art space packed full of contemporary artworks from local and national artists. We host exhibitions, art classes, craft fairs and other community-focused events - bringing together creative individuals and art lovers from our local communities and beyond. CONTACT US Tel: 01691 657575
email: willowgalleryoswestry@gmail.com
Website: willowgalleryoswestry.org
Facebook: Willow
Address: 56 Willow Street, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 1AD Gallery/Café open Tues-Sat 10am-4pm (3.30pm café last orders)
Closed: Sundays/Mondays/Bank Holidays Editor: Hilary Moorcroft
December 2025 | | |
WILLOW GALLERY Oswestry 
