Arts festival launched with pop-up gallery in Banbury

The new space in Church Lane, Banbury, is dubbed The Haven and has been set up by the independent Church Lane Gallery that opened earlier this year.

An exhibition of work by graduates from the college's higher education programmes, including prints and sculpture, will be on display until Saturday.

It forms part of the fourth 'We Made This' festival, which sees students from the college take their end-of-year shows out into Banbury.

Louise Williams, course leader for the foundation degree in creative art and design practice, said: "This has proved to be an excellent opportunity to engage local people in the arts and support Banbury’s cultural diversity.

"The initiative also offers a platform to showcase students’ final projects to a wider audience.

"We’d like to thank Banbury’s town team for their support in making this possible in the old town.

"We hope to see hundreds of visitors at our pop-up gallery and shop over the coming weeks."

After Saturday, exhibitions will continue at The Haven, with foundation art and design students displaying their work from Saturday, June 17 until Saturday, June 24.

Banbury Town Team co-ordinator Neil Wild, said: "It’s great for Banbury town centre and the old town in particular to be able to host the college creative arts students again, but even more so this year as they’ll add to the interest already being created by the popular Church Lane Gallery."

Culture vultures in Banbury have a bumper month to look forward to as the town prepares to host its first ever 'Art Fest' this weekend.

The event will run in tandem with the Banbury and District Show in Spiceball Park on Saturday and give people a chance to explore and purchase local arts and crafts.

A 'try and test' area will be set up by paper manufacturer St Cuthberts Mill while pottery, painting and weaving demonstrations will also take place throughout the day.

The show will run from 10.30am to 4.30pm.