5athegallery – St Helens

I had a nice day out in St Helens today. 5athegallery opened in 2003 just a short distance from St Helens Central station on the way into the town centre. The ground floor is quite a small area crammed with artwork, jewellery, sculpures but upstairs is a much larger room which is hosting the latest exhibition ‘COAST’. The works are by North West artists and the theme is a link to Liverpool’s Year of the Sea 2005. There’s plenty to see and a mix of styles e.g. Photography from Steve Deer, Patrick Ferguson and others, large oils by Ian McKay and Colin Callow and Bernard Atherton’s watercolours and loads more. Its a really nice space. I had a good chat and a coffee with the Manager Jess Bowstead before moving on to the Rainford gallery which is not in Rainford but is above St Helens central library. Unfortunately it was between shows, I see that on the 21st the Mark Makers are exhibiting here, I reviewed their exhibition in Runcorn back in January, I wonder if its the same stuff. So I went to see what was on at the Citadel Arts Centre – nothing, its closed for refurbishment. So I ended up at the World of Glass which was great fun, I watched a demonstration of glass blowing of a small vase. I’ll probably see the finished product again in one of the art & crafts shops I visit.