Thursday, 19 March 2009

Original Paintings for Sale

Here at Artery Gallery, we have always prided ourselves on our eclectic range of original paintings on sale. With everyones tastes in art and paintings varying so much, it is very important to cater for these tastes and make available exactly the kind of quality, original paintings that our customers are looking for.

Abstract paintings, Landscape paintings, Seacscape paintings, Surrealism or Still Life realistic paintings, are pretty much all the main areas covered. It is then important to have a wide range of colours, themes and styles. Abstract paintings in particular are usually purchased because of the colours involved in the piece. Landscapes and Seascapes can cover locally related areas of interest or even just give the feeling of a particular area of note for the buyer.

Other paintings can offer something thought provoking and meaningfull within the painting, or simply give an uplifting feeling that can warm a room.

Abstract Paintings:

Derek Collins - Golden Lava

Peter Davenport - Red Breakwater

Contemporary Landscape and Seascape Paintings:

Susan Lincoln - Night Falls

Colin Carruthers - Loch Ailort

Thought Provoking Paintings:

Andrew Baines - Escape of the Corporate Battery Hen

Scott Carruthers - Chasing Rainbows

Photo Realistic paintings:

Bing Wang - Apples on a White Cloth

Alberto Bertoldi - The Last Energy

This is but a small example of the type of original paintings for sale at Artery Gallery. Artists from Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Italy, Australia and China, all from varying backgrounds. but all creating works of art of the highest quality.

www.arteryuk.com

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Artery Gallery Weekly Treat Ideas

Everyone needs a treat every now and again – a little pick me up to put a smile on your face. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to afford little treats and luxuries more often though?

Every Wednesday, Artery Gallery will post a money-saving tip, to allow you to splurge on yourself.

Wednesday 18th March

Save on your morning cappuccino, and make one at work instead for a month

20 x £2 = £40

and treat yourself to a Sarah Anderson silver link bracelet with silver heart charm instead!!

£40

www.arteryuk.com

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

New Andrew Baines Originals

"Escape of the Corporate Battery Hen" by Andrew Baines

We are very pleased to announce the arrival of 2 brand new original paintings by the much celebrated Australian surrealist, Andrew Baines.

In typical fashion, Andrew's work shows his usual element of humour mixed with day to day thoughts most of us undoubtedly have on our own lives, particularly when having to balance work and pleasure, or whether deciding on a career path, or even contemplating the tolls a career can have on oneself!

One thing is for sure about his paintings, a definite sense of calm can be felt when just looking at them. The soft tones and warmth within the skies provides the gentle ambience that anyone would welcome into a busy lifestyle.

www.arteryuk.com

Thursday, 26 February 2009

New Scottish Jewellery Designer Exhibiting at St Andrews


Joanne Timoney is a full time desginer-jeweller, working from her studio in Glasgow. Trained at Glasgow School of Art with a background in Retail jewellery, her work is unusual, but still wearable every day.

Her unique designs use precious metals, acrylics and resin, blended together to create quirky and modern jewellery for all ages and occassions.

As every item is handmade, no two are the same and all designs can be modified to suit the wearers tastes.

www.arteryuk.com

Saturday, 14 February 2009

Colin Carruthers - Scottish Landscape and Seascape Paintings

"Flowers on the Gauldrons" by Colin Carruthers

Exhibiting at Artery Gallery in St Andrews and Crieff with his new work is internationally selling artist Colin Carruthers. His seascapes and landscapes have been exhibited through Artery Gallery since the gallery opened in St Andrews two and a half years ago, and Colin has a great track record of selling out each of his works on every occasion.

Originally from Northern Ireland and now living and working in the West Midlands, Colin makes regular trips up to Scotland to capture its scenery and dramatise the textured poetry of the landscape in his art.

Colin says, “I regularly travel to Scotland, where I find the high drama of the Scottish Coast, a constant source of influence for my paintings. There's a challenge involved in my work. With every canvas I attempt, I am searching for something. Beyond simply looking at my paintings and gaining an aesthetic pleasure, I do think it's important that they offer up space for thought"

The strengths of his canvases lie in their versatile response to nature as he grapples with the relationship between memory, place and emotion. His work challenges our assumptions of the landscape and returns us to a new sense of engagement, both spiritual and practical, with our surroundings. His triptychs in particular, add that extra panoramic dimension to the image.

Colin explains, “People often value paintings of a place they have visited because they need to feel a connection with it and what to be reminded of where they have been. Lots of people have a longing to be by the sea, experiencing the freedom of being by the coast, the sounds, the smells, the sensation of being healthy and alive. I want my landscapes to share in that sensation”.

To view the work by Colin Carruthers at Artery Gallery, log on to www.arteryuk.com or visit Artery Gallery in St Andrews or Crieff.

Birmingham’s Arts and Business Awards recently approached Colin and in conjunction with the Sky Arts television channel, have made one of his images available for download. For your free desktop wallpaper of Colin's 'Flowers on the Gauldrons' painting, click here: http://www.skyarts.co.uk/skyarts/30th-arts-and-business-awards-downloads/

Thursday, 29 January 2009

The China Effect - Painting by Sheer Numbers

There have long been complaints on the forgeries of all kinds of goods from designer fashion to golf clubs, and watches to CDs and DVDs, all pouring out of China. This is nothing more than copying Western products for Western consumption. A strange way for any society to grow and prosper but what does this really mean in terms of our own values?

China's low wages and hunger for exports have already changed many industries, the art world, at least art for the masses, seems to be next, and is emerging as a miniature case study of China's successful expansion in a long list of small industries that when added together represent a huge chunk of it’s economic activity.

With the art market seen as a lucrative area, China continues to rapidly expand its art colleges, turning out tens of thousands of skilled artists each year willing to work cheaply. In the village of Dafen in particular, just outside Shenzen, factories have been set up purely for these art students and graduates to work, where the assembly line paintings are produced and sold throughout the world via the Internet.

The artists working on the assembly line divide up the colour, each possibly only using 2 or 3 colours. Working their way briskly along a line of up to 20 identical contemporary-style paintings, the artists will apply perhaps a few strokes of brown, while the next worker along applies the red, and so on.

The fact that the country is producing hand painted copies of old masters is only a small part of it. The main push by China has been in the broad market for works that retail for anything up to £200, with painters who work from postcards or images on the Internet. Due to the amount of interest the original works gain, popular artworks on all levels from across Europe and the US, are being copied in China and then exported back into the Western market. China's ability to turn what has long been an individual practice into a mass production industry will no doubt affect small-scale artists, as well as many galleries and various art colonies in the West.

When someone purchases one of these ‘Original Oil Paintings’, they are acquiring a piece that could have been painted by 10 different artists. So what is the advantage of owning such a thing? If all you want is something to decorate the walls and something that has no individual meaning or worth, surely a £1.99 poster would suffice.

So what can be done about the influx of copies arriving from China? As an art gallery, we are always trying to take steps to protect our exhibiting artist’s work, but the volume of artwork on the Internet is staggering and realistically impossible to keep track on what is being copied. The main aims are to protect the artists that create the original work and help the buyers protect their investments.

Perhaps copyright laws need to be more stringent. Previous laws were set up prior to this mass-production industry, so the principals and practice of copying art in general has changed considerably. If the laws on copyright were to be updated someway then that could go a long way in protecting the artist’s work.

www.arteryuk.com

Saturday, 24 January 2009

New Works From Artery Gallery's Latest Success Story

We are pleased to announce that we have just taken in 2 new paintings from Perth based artist Scott Carruthers, exhibiting here at the gallery in St. Andrews.

"Out By My Side" - by Scott Carruthers

Scott’s paintings have attracted many admirers during his previous sell-out exhibitions at Artery Gallery, where his original style and thought provoking images have captured the imagination.

Largely inspired over the years by the art of Andy Warhol, David Hockney and LS Lowry, the biggest inspiration for his work has been his two young children.

The stories behind Scott’s paintings are based on the mix of nostalgia from his own childhood along with watching his two young kids grow up. Not necessarily making any comparisons, but being reminded of the nostalgic years and how their life today differs in these modern times, yet in some ways have some similarities to Scott’s own childhood.

Scott explains, “Each individual painting is telling its own story, however the description is only secondary to the image itself. I like to add my own thoughts behind the piece so that the viewer knows exactly what I was thinking regarding the particular painting and my reasons for it. Although this is designed to work alongside and compliment the image, I do find sometimes that the viewer has already made up their own mind anyway before they even know my written description. I am always fascinated by people’s thoughts on my work and their imaginations are understandably diverse”.

Last year Scott Carruthers signed a major publishing deal with one of the UK’s largest fine art publishers, which has resulted in numerous exhibitions of his original work and limited editions going on show across the country.

Scott adds, “It’s great to have my original work on show at Artery Gallery once again as it’s where I enjoyed my first success as an artist”.

Artery Gallery, based in both St Andrews and Crieff, has been a major supporter of contemporary artists over the years and continues to boost the profiles of up and coming artists, as well as the well established.

www.arteryuk.com

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Happy New Year 2009

Here at Artery Gallery, we would like to wish all of our customers, artists and readers of this blog, a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Opening Hours

Our Crieff gallery will be closed from today for 3 weeks and will re-open on Friday 23rd January. We hope this does not cause any inconvenience and any enquiries can still be made at our St Andrews branch.

However....

In St Andrews, we will be re-decorating the gallery and closed from Tuesday 13th January through to Monday 19th inclusive. Business will be back to normal from Tuesday 20th January onwards, with a nice freshly painted gallery for you to visit!

We would also like to mention that St Andrews will be closed on Sundays throughout January and February, opening again from the first Sunday of March at our usual Sunday hours of 12pm - 4pm.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing and hearing from you.

www.arteryuk.com

Thursday, 18 December 2008

The Artery Gallery Guide to Pearls - Testing, Buying and All You Need to Know!

Here at Artery Gallery, we have a huge selection of genuine pearl jewellery with earrings, necklaces, tiaras, bracelets and even pearl hair slides available.

Buying pearls takes careful consideration, as they are a piece of precious jewellery, which will last a lifetime, seeing you through every trend and fashion imaginable. This is why Artery Gallery have decided to give you a helping hand with our pearl buying guide.

You need to learn how to know when a pearl is genuine, or simulated. A genuine pearl – freshwater, cultured, or otherwise, can be identified by rubbing it against one’s tooth. A real pearl will feel rough, gritty or sandy against a tooth, whereas a false, simulated pearl with feel smooth and silky. This will not damage a genuine pearl, but I wouldn’t imagine it would be particularly good for teeth, to do this on a regular basis!

Growing a Pearl

Pearls are formed in different ways, depending on what type of pearl has been developed. Saltwater pearls tend to come from oysters, whereas freshwater pearls tend to come from mussels – however, pearls can occur naturally in any shell, though a naturally produced pearl is very rare.

Cultured saltwater pearls are generally formed by injecting a tiny bead made from shell, along with a piece of oyster tissue, into a live oyster. The soft tissue helps form a ‘pearl sac’ and the bead irritates the inside layer of the oyster. As this occurs, the oyster starts to produce nacre, which is the mother of pearl coating found on the inside of any shell. By coating the tiny bead layer upon layer in nacre, it stops it irritating the inside of the oyster and this produces a pearl.

Cultured freshwater pearls are produced more or less the same way, but instead inserting a small piece of soft mantle tissue into a mussel, rather than a shell bead. This pearl growing technique for cultured freshwater pearls creates a pearl that is formed entirely from nacre without the tiny shell bead centre.

Names and Shapes

‘Potato’, ‘Rice’ and ‘Seed’ named due to their resemblance.
‘Baroque’ pearls are irregular shaped.
‘Button’ pearls are often flat one side and rounded on the other.
‘Coin’ pearls are grown flat like a coin.
‘Stick’ pearls (or ‘Biwa’) are long twig-like irregular shaped pearls.

Modern pearl culturing techniques now allow us to grow pearls in all different shapes, and can be seen in shaped such as stars or diamonds. Of course they would never grow like this naturally, but it makes a great alternative to more traditional styles.

Many people associate pearls with weddings, as pearls are traditionally white, however due to modern pearl growing methods, pearls now come in myriad colours, from emerald green, to deep red. Paler colours on the other hand are generally naturally occurring – pale pinks, peach, lavender, silver, gold, cream and white tend to be naturally coloured. The pearls take on their colour from the inside of the shell they are growing in.

Colours such as turquoise blue and fuchsia pearls tend to be dyed this way. Pearl dying techniques have changed massively over the decades, and now the colours look as real and even, as if it had occurred that way naturally.

Quality and Value

There are five points that measure a pearls quality – size, shape, colour, lustre and surface and the pearls are graded according to these points.

Pearls can vary greatly in size, but needless to say, the larger the pearl, the more rare it is, therefore more valuable, and worth a higher grade. The closer to a perfect round shape, will also improve value of a pearl, though a perfect round pearl is nearly impossible to find.

It really comes down to personal taste though, as many designers now make jewellery specifically from different shaped pearls particularly stick pearls.

The natural colour of a pearl also affects It’s grading or value, but obviously nowadays with new dying techniques, this isn’t as important as it once was. A colour is judged by basic tone, evenness and luminosity. Pearls from certain areas only ever achieve certain colours naturally – Tahitian pearls tend to be varying shades of blacks and greys (and are usually quite large) and South Sea pearls are found in shades of rich cream and gold.

The Lustre of a pearl is one of the most important things to grade a pearl. Lustre is graded from B – AAA. The lustre is the luminous shiny surface created by layer upon layer of nacre forming. Some pearls can appear chalky or cloudy on the surface, which is not as desirable. The best lustre for a pearl is AAA – a tip is to look in the surface of a pearl for your reflection. The clearer you see your reflection, the better the pearl. To reach perfection, the surface of a pearl would need to be flawless – no indentations, ridges or rings. This sort of pearl is extremely rare and valuable, as most pearls have naturally occurring surface indentations and ripples. This only adds to their unique quality though.

The worlds largest pearl was a 14.1lb pearl found in a giant clam in 1934, valued at 60 million dollars, and the most expensive pearls ever sold was in 2004 at Christie’s Auction. Reaching 3.1 million dollars. Although Artery Gallery doesn’t have any pearls worth a million dollars, we have many pieces of pearl jewellery to make you feel that way.

www.arteryuk.com

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Handmade Silver Jewellery

(Christine Forsyth - Silver Cuff Bangle)

Most of the jewellery you'll find on the high street has been mass produced, but at Artery Gallery, all the jewellers exhibiting design and create their own jewellery by hand.

Using pure Silver together with Semi-precious stones, pearls or Swarovski crystals, sourced from all over the world, the top quality artists you find at Artery Gallery create truly unique pieces of beautifully handcrafted jewellery.

Buying handmade jewellery means that you have a unique or limited edition item, not to be seen on anyone else. Choose the jewellery you like and make a statement that reflects your personality and style!

We have Scottish artists such as Christine Forsyth creating wonderfully designed contemporary silver jewellery and Angela Learoyd using a vast array of unique stones and beads. Together with Angel Neal, famed for her wedding jewellery and often featured in many high class magazines.

Jewellers from across the UK can also be found at Artery Gallery, with the lampworking style of Rachel Dawes. Lampworking is the process of making glass beads using rods of different coloured glass and an extremely hot specialist torch. Decorations on the individual beads can be added with different coloured glass to create elaborate and complex designs.

Birmingham based Lora Leedham’s jewellery has a very feminine, fresh and romantic style to it and the designs portray an emphasis on texture. Inspiration is taken from a hobby of photographing nature and looking at its textures and forms. The jewellery, as featured in magazines, has also made TV appearances, one of which was worn by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

One of Artery Gallery’s more renowned jewellers is Brazilian Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo. Following on from continued success exhibiting with Artery Gallery, her hand woven silver and gold jewellery has hit the spotlight in recent times thanks to one of her more famous collectors, British actor Orlando Bloom wearing her woven bands in publicity shots. Subsequently, links with the Orlando Bloom Files website have been set up exclusively with www.arteryuk.com to help promote her highly stylish jewellery, with Artery Gallery acting as distributors to Scotland for her work.

Buying and wearing handcrafted jewellery is a personal and special experience. All our jewellers are specifically chosen because of their innovative design, their high quality and real value for money.

Whether you are looking for earrings, necklaces or rings, with the jewellers we have assembled at Artery Gallery, we are sure that you will find the ideal romantic gift or a truly inspirational jewellery piece to enhance your image.

www.arteryuk.com

Friday, 28 November 2008

New Glass Artist at Artery Gallery - Mike Hunter

Multi-award winning glass artist Mike Hunter of Selkirk, on the Scottish Borders, is the latest exhibitor at Artery Gallery in St Andrews and Crieff. Mikes work really is of the finest quality, each beautiful piece is hand crafted and intricately designed with great care and attention to detail. He has a real passion for working with glass, which shows in the quality and defines his years of experience gained from working with some of the finest glassmakers.

He began his love affair with glass as a small boy, gazing with fascination at the colourful, magical twists contained in the marbles he played with. Later, as a 17-year-old apprentice with Wedgwood Glass of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, he remembers asking the master glassblowers how the intricately designed glasses he had seen at the museums were made. None of them could tell him.

It struck him then just how many skills of the 18th century were being lost as more and more machines were introduced to glassmaking, and he determined right then to figure out how they were made and to see if he could learn the techniques himself. On many trips to the museum, without being able to pick up the glasses, he peered into the display cabinets and took notes. After seven years of trial and error at the factory during his lunch breaks, he succeeded in perfecting a technique of embedding coloured glass canes and air into the stems of glassware – a technique not used commercially since Victorian times.

Mike went on to spend 11 years with Wedgwood, training under master glassblowers from the UK, Italy, Austria, Germany and Scandinavia, and attaining the position of master glass blower and coloured animal maker.

At his studio in Selkirk, Mike produces designs with cane-working techniques, creating traditional contemporary glassware styles based on the designs of 16th and 17th century Venice and 18th century England. He created his flagship technique of “vetro”, the Italian for glass, which demonstrates the combination of his natural talent for design with the highest level of technical skill. The result is a vast array of colour in design that speaks of his unique relationship with glass; the glass on the blowing iron becomes one with Mike as, with a sense of ease and speed, the molten glass is commanded into form – his “vetro”.

Mike has received high recognition and exhibited his work throughout Scotland and England. As well as a commission for Lord and Lady Milburn of Paxton House, Berwick-on-Tweed, he was invited to provide reproduction glasses for the Hornblower series on ITV, and he designed the trophies for the Scottish Businesswomen’s Association Awards in 1998 and 1999. His beautiful creations are stocked at the most exclusive outlets: Asprey and Garrards, New York and London, Harrods of Knightsbridge, The Room in Chelsea, Wing On Hong Kong, and Cameo in Paris.

www.arteryuk.com

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Buying and Investing in Art


Any time is really a good time to consider buying and even investing in good quality original fine art, and you don’t need to be an Oil Tycoon to do so!

Imagine a loved painting hanging in your office where you can enjoy the pleasure of ownership throughout your working day, or a wonderful artwork that greets you when you come home. These are good reasons to buy fine art, but the reasons to buy do not have to be limited to just this.

Investing in quality fine art has consistently kept pace with the stock market over the last few decades now and recently, due to the rise in the international art market and the much-coveted decline of stock market shares, begun to out pace it considerably. That not only includes works by the blue chip artists both living and deceased, but also works by lesser-known artists. Paintings by artists who are selling in the best galleries, emerging artists with new art theories and even those by well known artists of the past can be very affordable.

Investing in fine art does not need to cost the thousands to millions of pounds that we read about in the news. These are usually only over inflated prices anyway specially targeted for Russian and Arab businessmen with over inflated bank accounts!

Anyone can purchase a good quality piece of art at an affordable price if they know what they want and where to find it. The Internet is a great place to do research on the styles you like and on the artists themselves and is certainly less time consuming and more feasible than visiting the numerous art galleries. If you can visit your local and national galleries to help get inspired, this all helps, and it has to be said that seeing art exhibited in an actual gallery does help you connect with the work.

The common outlook and probably best advice is to just ‘buy what you like’ first and buy as an investment second, but it is very possible to do both, to have a painting you love and also something that you know you will not lose anything on. A painting wont break down or need upgrading, and if it is a piece you love, it will never get old and tired. So unlike pretty much anything else you spend money on, it wont mean you will be out of pocket on it. This means it can certainly be seen as an investment, especially if you have done that little bit of research and obtained an artwork by an artist that does establish him or herself. Or you may even just get lucky and have a billionaire bidding war on works by the same artist, and this sort of profile boosting is something money cant buy!



For business owners, Investing in art can be an affordable way for any size of business to increase and maintain customers and client bases.

Many small business owners, especially professionals such as doctors, lawyers, dentists and financial advisors, have experienced the benefits of displaying good investment quality art in their offices and reception areas.

Recent studies have shown that products benefit with increased sales when marketed with fine art. Professionals who display good fine art in their places of business experience that their clients and customers view them as having more authenticity, authority and professionalism. Restaurant owners have also come to find that art helps bring in customers, not just prints for decoration but good quality fine art.

A business purchasing original art can also reap the benefit of an investment that increases in value over time. There can even be a tax advantage as the art, or part of the purchase price can be deducted, just like any other office furnishing. Depending on the work and its value there are other possible tax advantages to be had from loaning work to shows or even local museums.

The overall important factor remains however, that investment in art is the visual pleasure received and if it has the potential to increase in value, even better.

A good place to start looking for original, contemporary art is at Artery Gallery of course!

Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Christmas Shopping Ideas - Art Gifts


Artery Gallery is a Four Star Arts Venue attraction with VisitScotland and has become a leader amongst Scottish contemporary art galleries.

Here at Artery Gallery we have gathered a wonderfully eclectic range of contemporary art and handmade craft from local, national and international artists.

With galleries in both St Andrews and Crieff, as well as an extensive and secure website, buying original art has never been more accessible and affordable.

Our range of paintings, sculpture, jewellery and useful art has never been stronger. All original, everything unique!

Paintings by popular abstract artist Derek Collins with his 'Flaming Art' and the stunning work by the renowned painter Steve Johnston.


Stunning handmade silver jewellery from Brazil by Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo and from a little closer to home in Scotland, contemporary silver jewellery by Christine Forsyth

The ever popular handmade steel clocks from Tim Fowler and Whittle Design

Beautiful vases by Daniel Kavanagh and useful sculpture and clocks by John McPhail

Click on the links provided to view these selected works or visit our main page at www.arteryuk.com where you can navigate around the Artery Gallery website and shop for your unique Christmas art gifts with confidence.
Or you can visit either of our galleries at;
43 South Street, St Andrews (01334 478221)
and
22 King Street, Crieff (01764 655722)



Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Buy British Made!

Since the economic downtown, everyone has become more wary of their own spending, and rightly so. It’s not just Britain’s economy that has seen a slide, but the world economy as a whole has slumped.


This does not mean though that no one has any money anymore, because employment is still high and people are still earning. What Britain needs to do now is simply look after itself.

Sir Alan Sugar was recently quoted as saying “Buy British to support the British economy”. This is not just a throw away comment to grab a headline, this is something that we should all think about doing.

There may well be some items that are unavoidable of course. For example, kids this Christmas will inevitably be after the usual computer consoles and electronics, and if you end up buying a British “Wii”, the chances are you have got the wrong thing!!

Unfortunately of course, so much stuff is made in China these days that it is very hard to find a British product, particularly in such areas as electronics and clothing.

The arts and crafts market however is a good example of where to find good quality British made products. Buying an artwork as a gift is ideal primarily because of its individuality coupled with the knowledge it has been handmade by a skilled craftsperson or artist. The receiver of such an art gift will also notice and appreciate the work and thought that has gone into finding and selecting the piece.

It’s not just a case of supporting the craftsperson as an individual business and helping to keep them in employment, but can also go someway in supporting the supplier of the artists materials, the framers, delivery and courier companies and of course the shop or gallery where you purchased it from. It’s a large circle of activity that gains the support with every purchase of a British made product.


So not only are you buying into an artwork that you can enjoy, or give to someone else to enjoy and treasure, but in your small way you are helping employment and the British economy stay as healthy as possible and regain it’s strength.


www.arteryuk.com

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008

Here at Artery Gallery, we wish to congratulate Lora Leedham, one of our extremely talented jewellery designers, in winning the Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008 for the West Midlands.


(Lora Leedham accepting her award)

The Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards West Midlands honoured the achievements of disadvantaged young people supported by The Trust who have succeeded against the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.

The award ceremony took place at the Birmingham ICC and was hosted by ITV Central presenter Joanne Malin. All the finalists were selected from the 3,800 young people supported by The Trust in the West Midlands over the past year.

Birmingham based jeweller Lora Leedham had a tough start in life, growing up in an area where underachieving at school and lack of opportunities were the norm. But Lora went in search of something more and was determined to make something of herself against such difficulties.

She took a huge gamble by starting up her own jewellery company with the help of The Prince’s Trust. The gamble paid off and her business is now booming with nearly forty stockists across the UK and Europe, including both branches of Artery Gallery.




Lora has been selling her work succesfully here at Artery Gallery for the last two years, with her Venitian Glass Heart Pendants in particular proving a massive hit with our customers.

Well done Lora and may your success continue.


www.arteryuk.com