A POP-UP art gallery in a former shoe shop in Oxford is to close next month.
The gallery run by city artist Rona Marsden has been running for several months at the former Russell & Bromley shoe shop in Ship Street and has been exhibiting works by well-known artists including Desmond Morris.
Owners of the unit Jesus College wanted to use it to re-house Ladbrokes but the plan did not go ahead and at the end of last year the space was transformed into the art gallery.
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Ms Marsden, a member of the Oxford Art Society, has announced that there will be a private party to mark the closure on Saturday, March 14.
One of the artist’s best known paintings is of Oxford University’s notorious Bullingdon Club, when its membership featured David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
The Class of 87 painting, featuring the students lined up in their tails on the steps of Christ Church college, has been copied onto tea towels which are now selling well in the gallery.
Ms Marsden is originally from Toronto and studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, but has lived in Oxford for over 20 years.
Her themes focus primarily on relationships and past works have included the role of women in Japanese society, the family, pregnancy, motherhood, female ageing and teenage girls.
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David Stephenson, property director at Jesus College, said earlier that the college was happy to lease the space to the gallery instead of it remaining vacant.
In September city council leaders pledged to keep working to fill empty units.
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